Page 33 of Ruthless Monsters

My lips curl upward.“Never doubted you.”

“Oh, puhleeze, even I doubted me!”she retorts.

“That’s because you forget about all the awesome things you do.”

She’s thoughtful for a moment.“Hmmm, yeah I guess I am pretty amazing.”

“And seeing as you’re amazing,”I tell her.“Do you know what his story is? Celzar’s brother?”

Shade adjusts her grip on my shoulder.“From what I’ve heard, after King Celzar created The Haven and started cuffingeveryone, Prince Mason and his sister Princess Nerelia started speaking against the king, trying to convince centaurs not to agree to the cuffs.”

“Nerelia?”

“The princess in the palace,”Shade tells me.“The one in the crystal garden.”

I’m not sure how she’s figured this all out, but I’m grateful she’s helping me piece this all together.“And so what, King Celzar imprisoned them?”

“Yep. And anyone who was loyal to them.”

I blow out a breath.

“Our new princely friend here is second in line to the throne after Nerelia,”Shade explains.“I’m pretty sure he’s been in prison for a long, long time.”

My expression softens, and I stare ahead at where the male, Prince Mason, is still carrying the female prisoner. I think about how lonely I’d been as an only child.“And to think I always wanted a sibling,”I muse.“Maybe I was better off alone.”

“It’s times like this when it’s good to remember that you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family,”Shade replies.

“Unless they’re friends who turn into family,”I amend, and she practically preens on my shoulder.

Nate brushes against my right side as Dante keeps close on my left, and I suppress the urge to reach out and grab them.And you also don’t get to choose your mates,I muse internally as I clench my fists to stop myself from touching my shifter and my demon. Even now while we’re escaping, I can’t help but think about the way it felt to have my mates around me, to have Danteinsideme, and I bite my lip, glad for the darkness. Dante is the only one who has happily accepted that we’re mates, and his hand curls around my waist, pulling me tighter against him. I lean closer to the demon, trying not to make it obvious howbadly I want him, because I hate that he has power over me. That all of my mates do. Everything in me wants to be around them, but now that I am, I’m reminded of how out of control they make me feel.

I try not to think about it as the minutes blur by, and eventually we reach what appears to be a dead end. There’s chatter up ahead, and then the massive wall of rock that’s blocking our path starts to move, revealing a wide opening. Light floods the tunnel, and we pass through quickly before the passageway is sealed again behind us.

“I hope we’re doing the right thing by following these guys,” I mutter, blinking as my eyes adjust to the light.

Dante’s hand squeezes my waist. “We’re together and out of the prison. I’d say it’s a good start.”

We continue to follow the rebels and prisoners ahead of us until the tunnel starts to widen even more and then opens out into a large cavern. I stop walking.“Okay, when I heard we were going to a rebel camp, this is not what I pictured,”I say to Shade.

“What had you expected? A tiny group of refugees huddled in a cave?”

“Uh, yes. Something like that.”

“Yeah, well, me too,”she laughs in my head.“It’s amazing, right?”

I peer at the small city still some distance away. The narrow streets are packed with rebels who are chatting and rushing to and fro, weaving between buildings made from stones. Bird creatures, just like Prax, the creature I met in The Haven, pull carts amongst the crowd, and crystal lanterns line the streets, emitting a warm glow. Around the cavern walls, large holes dot the space, separated by thick, rocky walls, and I stare in fascination as I see even more rebels milling about inside these spaces.

“Are those…houses?” I ask out loud in disbelief.

Shade follows my line of sight.“Yup. But with an open area that overlooks the city. From what I’ve learned, they started building those homes as the city grew larger.”

“Looks like it,” Nate replies, unaware that Shade has already answered my question. “Reminds me of the bunny burrows back in the beast realm.”

I raise a brow at him. “Bunny burrows?”

“Yeah, you know. The burrows the bunny shifters make. What? You didn’t think all shifters were sexy jaguars like me, did you, gorgeous?”

I stare at him. “I know there are different types of shifters. I guess I’m just wondering what you were doing in a bunny burrow.”

---