Page 11 of Mated to the Monster God
He says my name like a prayer.
“Esme.”
His voice wraps around me like heat from a campfire, low and guttural, still laced with that same eerie calm that Sagax always had—but now there’s something else behind it.Weight.Resonance. Like it’s coming from a chest forged in steel and fire.
I blink up at him, mouth open, but nothing comes out. Words scatter like startled birds in my head. My legs go numb. My pistol hangs forgotten at my side.
He’s huge.
Not big. Not tall.
Colossal.
At least seven feet, probably more, all densely packed with muscle wrapped in a sheen of iridescent green scales. His shoulders are as broad as a doorway, chest rising like a living mountain. His jaw is angular, sharp—alien, yes, but... familiar.
The pattern of black stripes curling along his arms. The glint in his golden eyes. Even the way he tilts his head. Iknowhim.
This is Sagax.
My parasite.
My partner.
What the hell evenishe now?
I take a step forward, lips parting, and before I can say anything, hemoves.
Fast.
His arms scoop around me like steel cables wrapped in velvet. I squeak—squeak—and then we’re airborne. My feet leave the ground. My stomach lurches. I grab onto his neck, fingers digging into warm, unyielding scales.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”
“We are still in danger,” he says, voice calm like we’re chatting over breakfast. “I must remove you from it.”
Then he runs.
Not jogs. Not dashes.
Herunslike a goddamn landslide down a mountain.
Trees blur into streaks of green and shadow. My hair snaps behind me like a banner. I cling to him with both arms, legs curling up against his chest, because otherwise I’m going to bounce right off him and go flying into a tree trunk at seventy kilometers an hour.
I should be terrified.
I should be yelling, biting, flailing, demanding heput me the hell down.
But instead... I’m quiet.
I’mwatchinghim.
His body moves like poetry—graceful and brutal all at once. Every stride eats up the terrain like he owns it. His tail sways for balance, muscles rippling in perfect control. And I can feel his heartbeat through his chest, a deep, steadythump-thumpthat matches the rhythm of mine like it’s always been there.
I don’t understand this.
I don’twantto understand this.
But I can’t stop staring.
