Page 132 of Mate of a Monster

Not the throne. Not the games. Not the fake lines people drew around kingdoms, blood, and worth.

This.

The sky.

The beasts.

The fire.

The war.

I level out and glance to my left.

And him.

Legend dips his chin. The dragon he rides knows I need my mate close and stays nearby.

With one last look at Vicente and his men, I let out a small breath.

Good.

Let them protect my mate’s kingdom.

We’ll handle the fucking rest.

I turn my face toward the dark line of the horizon where Exile waits a hundred miles off the shore: old and hungry and full of the answers I need. The wind whips across my face while the black flames fan out behind me.

“Come on then,” I whisper to the night, to the Island—and to the dead and living and whatever the hell else still watches from between them.

Bitch wants a fight?

She’s going to fucking get one.

The cliffs of Exile rise out of the water like broken teeth, jagged and black against the sky. The moment my boots touch stone everything in my body snaps tight. The others follow, jumping off their dragons as the beasts lower themselves one by one.

We’re full sprint over the hillside and into the depths of the isle. I barely have time to catch my breath before someone pops into my path—and charges me.

Legend’s panic and rage shoot through the bond instantly.

“Hey, Haide!” the voice calls, rough and familiar. But his eyes aren’t right. “Miss me?”

I don’t even think. My dagger drives straight through his eye. “She’s controlling them somehow!”

The gifted jerks violently, body arching as the blade punches through bone. I’m already twisting my arm to rip the dagger free and slam it into his throat, but Legend’s hand clamps around my wrist, stopping me mid-strike.

“What the fuck?” I growl.

The man collapses between us with a strangled sound, unconscious but very much alive.

I blink down at him, then up at Legend.

He raises a brow. “Die here,” he says calmly, knocking the guy out properly with a clean hit to the temple. “Wake there. Remember?”

Oh.

Right.

Shit.