Page 63 of Mate of a Monster

“This is exactly the type of thing I feared,” she says, louder than her usually soft tone. “Chaos invites catastrophe. She arrived and the sea answered. We have to end her, Legend, once and for all. We have to protect our people.”

The air in the chamber changes, and Arabella’s mouth clamps shut.

Heat brushes the back of my neck before the sound reaches my ears. A quiet hiss followed by a harsh crackle, like kindling turning to—

The room gasps when the far corner of the space erupts in flames. The chamber warps like fabric pulled too tight and then tears open in a spiral of black fire.

She steps through, her body at ease like she didn’t just step into a den of fucking demons.

Water drips from her hair onto the floor in slow, deliberate taps. Slowly, she wipes the ash off her jaw, holding herself in a way that does not read reckless or wild.

Fierce. That’s what she is. A force not to be fucked with.

The relief hits me so hard I nearly stagger, but it’s unwanted and unwelcome.

The sensation is immediate and violent, a loosening beneath my ribs that feels dangerously close to something I do not allow myself to name, and just as quickly as it rises, rage follows.

She shouldn’t fucking be here. And she definitely shouldn’t have been on the front lines of that fight. Our fight.

In my fucking realm.

I thought when she broke free of the hellhounds, she was fleeing. Disappearing.

Leaving.

And I didn’t want her to. Worse, she shouldn’t make my chest unclench the moment I notice that she’s unharmed, eyes still bright, and jewels at her temples pulsing with color in a way I don’t remember them doing before. As if they’re not just decorations on her already perfect fucking face but that they’re alive. Every pulse that beats within them is answered by the organ in my chest. It slams against my ribs only to soothe into something else.

Warmth. Need.

I lock it down, hard.

Arabella’s voice cuts through the silence like polished steel. “Murderer!” she screams and everyone’s attention turns toward my mate.

Instantly, I shift to shield her, and Haide’s lip curls, her pupils dilating.

“Take her back to the prison and reinforce the restraints!” Arabella barks, hoping one of the guards will answer. “This time make certain she cannot manipulate her way free. Don’t let her harm another innocent!”

“You!” Master Halvryn pushes through the crowd in a torn robe, his eyes red from seawater and smoke as he rushes Haide.

My feet jerk forward without permission, every nerve in my body firing, screaming at me to protect. Kill.

Mine.

Arabella’s small hand latches onto my wrist before I get too far, and my feet freeze. Still, as Master Halvryn reaches Haide, my claws break free, and Arabella gasps in pain. I can scent her blood, but I can’t pull away from where I’m currently locked into.

I wait for him to go in for the kill, knowing she will likely make a mess of his insides.

He doesn’t.

The two-hundred-year-old Argent Fea drops to his knees before her.

What the fuck?

It’s not a polite bow to an outsider he doesn’t know, nor the dip of a head before a sovereign.

It’s a full fucking kneel, gray hairs and forehead kissing the stone at her feet.

“My house bears the Ember Debt,” he says, voice rough and shaking. “By the Covenant of Flame and First Oath, I bind my blade, my bloodline, and my final breath to the one who saved our children. I am in your debt until my debt has been fulfilled.”