Page 44 of Mate of a Monster

And then he’s gone.

Pain ripples through me in hot flares, like the sun itself is touching me.

I scream, my back spasming as power surges through me. Not in waves but all at once. Too much.

The ceiling splits open, exposing the dark sky, and I raise my hands to shield myself from the falling rubble and shards of glass, riding out the pain until it slowly starts to subside.

Numb. Everything fucking numb and silent.

I sit up carefully, wincing, and press a hand to my sternum. A strong and steady flutter, and then another. Not quite a heartbeat. More like…

My feet carry me across splintered glass, pinching into my skin as I make my way to the shattered ornate mirror. With every step, vines twist and turn as the island reclaims her chaos and strangles the serenity of the Nightkin.

I stare back at myself through the spiderwebs in the mirror. I feel…different.

Holy shit.

I squint into the mirror.

Sharper cheekbones. Puffier lips.

Where my eyes were once a muted green, they now burn with every shade of jade. I flex my arm, watching the muscles ripple beneath my skin. Taut and perfectly sculpted, like I’ve been lifting tree trunks and squatting bodies nonstop for months.

I run a hand down my stomach, feeling the hard planes of abs that definitely weren’t there before.

My skin is flawless, not a scar in sight, except for the bruise around my neck.

“Damn,” I whisper, brushing my hand through my silk locks. I look powerful. Dangerous. Sexy as hell. Not that I didn’t always give off an I-could-kill-you-and-fuck-your-mate vibe.

But this is something else.

I feel stronger, faster, more alive than I’ve ever been.

A grin cuts across my face. Whatever the Nightkin did to me—whatever just happened—I like it. I like it a lot.

My thoughts stop at that familiar rumble of laughter.

“It’s just as I thought it would be in here. A fucking mess. Tell me, Hellpet, have you considered therapy?”

I want to laugh but I can’t. I can hardly breathe I’m so overwhelmed, but not in a bad way.

I feel him. Everywhere. Like he was always supposed to be there.

“This is what a real bond is supposed to feel like. Not just your voice in my head, but our thoughts and minds linked as one. Like both souls are knotted together.” I rub at my chest, a painful decay eating up the center, only it makes no sense.

That’s where the warmth is coming from, so why does it also feel like a lycan’s claws have reached in and grabbed hold?

“Hellpet,” the Nightkin—no,—my mate, purrs, but his tone weighs heavy on my heart. “The bond was always real, but it is not yet whole. You’ve only accepted the darkest part.”

“As in you?”

“Yes, me.”

“But I accept you. I want you.”

For a long moment, he has nothing, and then I’m fed the piece I’ve been missing. “I am the demon born of the royal blood that courses through his veins.”

But how could I have missed this? It’s so obvious now. “Ethos. You… you’re Legend’s Ethos. His royal demon, born only of a…”