Page 28 of Mate of a Monster

I don’t respond.

“When you want real answers,” the Nightkin murmurs, his presence receding like I imagine his hairline would if he were human. “You know where to find me.”

Then he’s gone. The hum of his presence ceases, and the warmth that rested at the base of my skull vanishes, leaving a deafening silence in its wake.

Something prickles through my gut, unwelcome and strange.

I shake it off and continue through the forest line until I’m standing at the foot of where I know Zev is sleeping.

“Get your ass down here!”

He pokes his head over the platform, and then I’m staring into Zev’s eyes through his creepy new face mask.

“We should get you a scarf or something.”

“Funny.” He watches me closely, then swings his legs over. “You okay?”

“No. Tell me what you saw before I clocked out for the millionth fucking time.”

His eyes narrow beneath the mask and he jumps down, coming to lean on the tree trunk beside me. “What happened?”

“Tell me what you saw first.”

“Yeah, okay. The dragons started circling above us,” he explains. “More and more joined, and with each one they came lower.” He scrubs a hand over his chest. “Then I don’t know, really. They opened their mouths but no fire came out. And then you just covered your ears and started screaming like someone was carving your eardrums out.”

“Damn. Was it really that loud?”

“That’s the fucked part,” he mutters, shaking his head. “It was completely silent. I didn’t hear a thing.”

The words settle heavy in my chest, a ball of uncertainty climbing up my throat. I hate it.

“Your eyes rolled back and you fainted,” he continues. “The Nightkin caught you before you hit the ground. Picked you up like you weighed nothing.” His jaw tightens. “I tried to follow but he wouldn’t even let me near you. He got all possessive and shit. I thought he was taking you back to where he sleeps, but then the dragons suddenly stopped circling. They created a line in the sky and he followed.”

“I woke in the lair.” I drag a hand through my hair and start pacing before I realize I’m moving. “They’ve had their wings cut.”

Zev’s brows lift. “What?”

“Not literally,” I snap, grabbing the nearest dead branch and wrenching it free from a low limb. Bark splits under my grip. “They’ve been banned from the skies over Rathe.”

His eyes widen. “Holy shit. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

The branch splinters in my hands as I strip it down without thinking, carving it into something sharper.

“Wait, how do you know they were banned from the skies?”

I look away. “Thyrix told me.”

The confession is met with silence at first.

He blinks expectantly.

“Yeah. It seems like not only can I heal, and not die around the Isles Kiss, but I can also hear the dragons.”

“Plural?”

“Pretty sure that’s what knocked me out. All their voices coming in at once fried my brain.”