Page 86 of Mate of a Monster

Slowly, I lift my head.

Creed is already watching me. A slow smirk pulls across his mouth like he’s been waiting for this exact moment.

“We were wrong; the dragons were never on Exile to keep the exiles from escaping,” he admits. His eyes flick toward the image, then back to me. “They were there because you were. Protecting you until it was time.”

“Time for what?”

“For fate to call you home.”

Home.

This time, the word doesn’t draw flashes of the island.

Instead, I see the endless, open sky stretched over the sharp towers of Rathe, wings cutting shadows across the stone of the castle with a quiet certainty that makes something deep in my chest settle instead of burn.

Calm instead of combat, an idea I never dared to wish for, but suddenly, desperately crave.

And at the center of it is a burning chaos that’s welcome instead of hated. It’s like the world finally clicks into place around me instead of trying to shove me somewhere I never fit.

A purpose that isn’t to kill or be killed.

It’s reason.

I am more than nothing.

My breath catches as the feeling spreads, steady and grounding. Before I even understand what I’m seeing, blue eyes flash through the vision.

Standing in the center of it all, is Legend.

His hand reaches for mine like the distance between us was never supposed to exist in the first place. Dark hair falls across his forehead, those impossible eyes locked on me with something fierce and certain burning behind them.

My gaze drops to his throat. To the teeth marks pressed deep into the column of muscle, dark and undeniably mine.

Because he is mine and none of this is his fucking fault.

It isn’t mine, either.

My breath leaves me in a sharp gasp and the vision shatters.

I shove back from the table so fast the chair topples over.

“Yes, my little mate.” The beast stirs for the first time since I stepped into this room.

“You knew?” I say aloud, and Creed snaps to me.

Creed. I hold his gaze as something else settles.

Trust.

Call me daft, but I trust Creed Deveraux. The barrier in my mind falls, and I feel the moment he slips inside. Listening, watching.

The beast hums low in my mind and Creed’s eyes go white.

“Yes, Hellpet. As I told you before, I don’t call you Hellpet for no reason.”

“So, I have been controlling the dragons,” I muse aloud. “They do what they do because I wish them to.” It’s not just because they’re familiar with me.

It’s because they are a part of me.