Page 13 of Mated to the Monster God
He stares back.
And suddenly, it’s too quiet.
“Okay,” I say, voice rough with nerves, “you’re gonna have to explain.”
Sagax tilts his head. “What would you like to know?”
“Everything,” I snap, then soften. “Start with... this. You.”
He nods once and places a clawed hand on his chest, fingers splayed. “The blood was rich. Yours most of all. It contained... not just sustenance, butintelligence. Emotion. Memory. It called to something inside me.”
I swallow hard. “You’re saying my blood made you hot?”
Sagax blinks, slow and reptilian. “I adapted to your subconscious expectations of a protector. The humanoid form... it is based on the species you find compelling. Combined with traits from others stored in the samples.”
“Youcustom-designedyourself to be sexy?”
“I designed myself to survive. The fact that you find it... pleasing... is a byproduct.”
A flush climbs my neck. I don’t want to admit how much of abyproductit really is. But I can’t stop looking at him—at the way his muscles move under that thick hide, the gleam of his golden eyes that don’t miss a damn thing.
“You’re enormous.”
“I am like this to defend you.”
“Why defend me?”
His eyes narrow, and something like confusion flickers across his face. “Because you are mine to protect.”
My breath catches.
There’s no heat in his voice. No possessive growl. Just...certainty. Like it’s a scientific fact.
I sit back, crossing my arms even as goosebumps rise across them. “You can’t just say things like that. We’re not... this isn’t a thing.”
He crawls closer—slow, deliberate—and sits just in front of me, knees folded, tail curling around behind his legs like a python at rest.
“No,” he says. “But it could be.”
My pulse stutters. “That’s not helping.”
He tilts his head again, studying me like I’m a puzzle he wants to solve with his mouth.
I try to focus on anything else. The curve of his biceps. The ridged line of his collarbone. The way he smells—like ozone and wet stone, spiced with something animal.
“Your fear,” he says suddenly, eyes flicking to mine. “It’s fading.”
I flinch. “Stop reading me.”
“I don’t have to. Your heart rate is steadier. Your breath is deeper. You are not as afraid of me as you want to be.”
He’s not wrong.
That’s what terrifies me most.
I’m supposed to be freaked out. He’s a literal alien monster who lived in my bloodstream. But he’s sitting across from me now, so still, so powerful, and all I want to do is reach out andtouchhim.
So I do.
