Page 106 of Mate of a Monster

I catch him just in time and he takes us both down, landing in the pool of his blood.

Now the mating bond is almost complete.

Chapter Twenty-One

Haide

My knuckles split against Zev’s forearm for the third time this afternoon, and it is more than necessary but not nearly enough. Still, if I don’t work off some of this tension now, I’m fucked.

The sting of my knuckles barely registers over the restless energy crawling under my skin. The need to move, to hit something, to burn through the pressure, builds in my chest.

“Again.” I reset my stance on the courtyard stone, boots scraping into position.

Zev circles me, that familiar smirk playing at his mouth. “You’re sloppy. Something on your mind, Luda?”

“Shut up and fight. That bitch is going to show her hand eventually, and I want to be on my game.”

“You’re always on your game.”

“I said fight.”

He lunges. “You will kill her.”

I sidestep, grabbing his wrist and twisting. “Duh.”

He rolls with the momentum and comes up behind me, arm locking around my throat in a hold I could break if I weren’t distracted by the heat tracing my spine.

The bond.

Always the fucking bond, dragging my thoughts toward him no matter how hard I work to burn them out.

Zev’s breath skims against my ear. “You know, if you wanted to work off tension, there are better ways.”

“Name one.”

He shrugs. “My room. My mouth. My—”

I elbow him hard in the ribs. He grunts, loosening his grip enough for me to slip free, and I spin to face him with a grin.

He swipes the blood from his lip. “Nicely played, nicely played.” This is easy. This is Zev and me. How we’ve always been.

“Tell me how nicely you’re going to play when Legend wakes up.”

“Who me?” He smirks, thrusting his leg out, but I jump to avoid it, only to get elbowed in the gut a second later.

My knees buckle and I fall to the floor with a grunt, clutching my stomach.

I wait for the beast to rumble or threaten his life, but he’s oddly silent. A fact I hadn’t missed.

The training room doors are thrown open and Sinner smirks our way. “Well, this should be fun.”

“Not in the mood for your games, Sinner. If you’re not here to tell me you found her, go away.” I jump to my feet and blow the hair out of my face.

“I wish, but nope. No sign of her yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

I huff. “Then what do you want?”

“So many things, newest little royal, but I’ll settle for seeing my brother’s face when he realizes.”