Page 25 of Mate of a Monster

Then she says it.

Quiet. Cruel and precise, the way she says everything that’s designed to leave a mark.

“I’ll always win.”

I have nothing. I give nothing. Because I’m afraid I’ll give everything.

My forehead presses to hers. The contact hits me like a blow to the back of the knees. The temperature of her skin. The specific smell of ash and sea salt and blood between us.

Ours.

I wake sitting up.

The bed. Rathe. My hands brace against the mattress and my lungs drag air in a rhythm that isn’t controlled, the sheets beneath my palms damp.

What the fuck was that?

Nothing. Just my own body.

Arabella twitches beside me, her breathing even, her pale hair fanned across the pillow. She doesn’t stir. I stare at the shape of her in the dark and feel…absolutely nothing.

I look down at my hands and pause. Black streaks stain my fingers, through the creases.

What. The. Fuck?

Chapter Five

Haide

The entrance to the dragon lair here is a jagged hole in black rock, and I’m lying in the damn dirt right at its crossing.

Thyrix fills the shadows just beyond the threshold, curled tight with his tail tucked over his snout like a brat hiding from chores. One blue eye cracks open then narrows in my direction.

Pushing up on my elbows, I ignore the throb in my ribs and, well, everywhere else.

“What the hell happened?”

“You did your favorite thing. Face-planted and made it everyone else’s problem.” His tail flicks, scraping stone. “Your toy thinks he can force us out.”

“Toy? What toy, smartass?” My throat feels like I’ve been screaming all day, and I reach up to rub at my neck.

The moment my eyes move back to Thyrix, both ours widen.

I tense and he sinks his chin deeper into his coils like he wants to disappear.

“Thyrix?”

“Drakaryth.”

My brows snap together, face scrunching, and I slap the side of my head. “Yeah, you are so dreaming right now.” I hit myself again. “Wake up.”

Stop, Haide.

My attention snaps up, and I swear the dragon I’ve spent all my life talking to, pretending he talked back—is talking fucking back.

Slowly, I push up on my knees and crawl closer, lowering back onto my ass once I’m in front of him. “Is that really you, in my head?” I whisper.

He huffs, nodding.