Page 97 of Mate of a Monster

I open a portal.

It tears open beneath our feet, black fire splitting the marble with a hiss, and the second the edge forms, I yank him forward with me.

We crash through to the polished floors of Rathe Castle and slam onto stone.

I land on my feet, though I stumble backward a step, boots skidding against the floor.

Legend hits the ground hard. The impact knocks a rough sound out of him, a gasp that turns into a cough as he jerks forward on his hands and knees, shoulders shaking. His magic flickers across his skin in unstable waves, smoke spiraling up and then collapsing again like it cannot decide whether to fight or surrender.

For a second, I can only stand there, chest rising too fast. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t plan to force him to his knees at some point, but I didn’t expect him to drop to them on his own.

And yet here he is: head bowed, shaking hands braced on the floor, breath coming in broken pulls like he is trying to pull air through a wound in his chest. I hope each one hurts harder than the one before it. Maybe then he’ll understand a fraction of what I’ve been going through, watching him with her.

When he raises his head, his expression is wrecked.

“Haide,” he breathes quietly, a plea that the bond inside me aches to answer.

My throat tightens.

I hate this.

I hate the way my lips threaten to tremble, and I hate the way my insides literally feel like they’re clawing through my organs, trying to break through my flesh just to touch him.

“Nightkin?” I don’t mean to sound so…broken. But I don’t know what to do.

His voice slides through my mind like warm smoke, low and steady. “This part is up to you, my little mate.”

The warmth of him curls around my spine, protective and insistent, reminding me that I am not alone in this. The Nightkin has been here and he’s kept his every word, even if the man he belongs to did the opposite.

Legend’s gaze flickers before hardening, like he sensed something he can’t name. Like he felt that warmth too— the faint brush of something in my mind. But if he did, I doubt he knows what it is.

That it’s him.

That a part of him has been with me when he was with her.

“He feels you.”

His hope flares through our connection and I quickly shut my side of the bond down. I bite the inside of my cheek and will the moisture stinging my eyes to go away.

Legend’s hand rises toward his chest, fingers splaying as if he can grab the bond and hold it in place. “It’s…” His lips part, expression completely crumbled. “I—”

He doesn’t finish.

Maybe he doesn’t know how.

Maybe there’s too much to fit inside a single sentence.

He flinches when I step closer but remains on his knees, scanning my face like he’s seeing it for the first time.

I sort of want to slap him.

I press my lips together to stop their quivering. Vulnerability has always been a trap.

“I think I hate you,” I say, and the words come out cracked.

Legend’s face tightens like I struck him.

His eyes squeeze shut for half a heartbeat. The expression on his face almost makes him look human, way too raw for a man who prides himself on being untouchable.