Page 12 of Mated to the Monster God
I catch a glimpse of my reflection in one of his scales—wide green eyes, flushed cheeks, jaw slack.
Oh no.
“What thehellhappened to you?” I manage to gasp, wind whipping against my face.
“The blood,” he answers without looking down. “Yours. Others. From the medkit. It accelerated my transformation.”
“Transformation?! You’re aleech, not a... a damn supermodel on steroids!”
“That is a crude but not inaccurate analogy.”
“Put me down!”
“In approximately thirty-six seconds. There is still one Baragon drone pursuing.”
I twist in his arms, looking back—and sure enough, one of those glass-headed freaks is barreling through the undergrowth behind us, running like some deranged freight train. No hesitation. No faltering. Just relentless death.
Sagax leaps over a fallen log like it’s a speed bump.
“You’re insane,” I mutter, gripping tighter. “You were a worm. A literal worm. Now you’re...hot. That’s not fair.”
I slap a hand over my own mouth the second the words come out.
He glances down at me, one brow arching.
“I’m what?”
“Shut up!” I hiss, face burning. “That wasn’t for you. That was just—ugh! Why do you have to look like...that?”
“Would you prefer a different configuration?”
“I don’t know! Maybe something less like you were chiseled by a horny goddess with anger issues.”
He doesn’t respond, but I swear I feel thesmirkripple through our still-present connection.
This is too much.
My body is humming—adrenaline, fear, confusion,need. I don’t know whether I want to punch him, kiss him, or scream at the sky until it splits open and gives me a goddamn break.
“You’re really not dying?” I ask, quieter now. “You’re not gonna disappear on me again?”
“I am stable,” he says. “Stronger than I have ever been. And I will not leave you.”
A beat passes. I let my head fall against his chest, just for a second. Just long enough to feel the warmth. The strength. The truth of what he said.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Okay.”
He slows.
Trees thin. The light shifts.
We’re not safe. Not really. But for this moment, I’m not alone. And in the mess of everything—he’s still here.
He slows to a halt, his footfalls fading into the hush of the jungle, and I realize just how far we’ve come. The forest here is dense, moss-draped, and thick with the scent of wet earth and life. A hollow tree looms before us, massive, ancient—its trunk split open into a natural shelter, like a cave made of bark and shadow.
Sagax ducks inside, still carrying me like I’m a child—or something precious. He finally lowers me onto a bed of dry leaf litter and curls in behind me, his massive form filling the hollow like he was made for it. The filtered light turns his scales a dusky gold, gleaming at the edges like fire under the skin.
I stay on my knees, hands planted in the dirt, staring at him.
