Page 53 of Mated to the Monster God
“I... I won’t be your puppet,” I choke out.
He laughs, cold as cut emerald. “Oh, you will. And you’ll enjoy every second of the metamorphosis.”
A scream rips out of me—pure, primal—rage, fear, heartbreak woven into one cry.
Lightning. Or rather, gold fire. Something crashes from the treetops—a living shadow, claws splayed, golden eyes bursting into molten flame.
Sagax lands before me—muscle, fangs, raw, all hunger and protection. His wings, faint ripple only I can sense, splay in the charged air.
“STEP AWAY FROM HER,” Sagax roars, voice toppling thunder.
Krenshaw freezes, resin dripping from his palm. I stand behind Sagax, trembling, blood pounding like war drums.
CHAPTER 16
SAGAX
Idescend from the canopy like a vengeful burst of rain—silent until I land, and then every breath of forest screams.
The trees shudder under my weight. Rain arcs from my scales. Every droplet pulses with rage. Below me, Krenshaw’s guards fall backward in terror; bodies crumple after my claws shred metal like it's paper. The air roars with snapping limbs and grinding armor.
“Stand down,” I roar, voice rumbling thunder through the forest’s bones.
Esme’s scent is broken grief and trembling fire weaving through the rain-drenched air. She’s slumped against a crate, half-hidden and poisoned: pale, trembling, but my anchor all the same.
Krenshaw’s cronies had closed in on her—predatory. Now they lie broken. Their weapons clang against the wet ground, echoing in the charged silence between the trees.
Esme’s breath comes sharp and shuddering. Her eyes are wide—white flecked with green—and there’s a raw vulnerability I want to swallow whole.
A twitch at the edge of the clearing diverts my attention.
Krenshaw.
Swollen eyes flick between me and Esme. His mechanical legs flare with powered boosters—metallic agony echoing in my core. In one tortured motion, he rockets upward, jet thrust flaring in the rain like a wicked starburst.
I launch after him without thought—muscle and scale lithe with lethal intent.
I catch him midair: fingers clenching through reinforced bone and bio-metal. I slam him down so hard it cracks the earth. Wet mud sprays up. Lightning cracks overhead.
He skids across the forest floor, teeth bared in panic through stretched skin. Rain hangs him in a hurricane of noise—I taste the tang of ozone and fear burning on my tongue.
Krenshaw scrabbles to push himself up—ebony boots skidding on dirt, unnatural eyes hunting for escape. He steadies, dripping resin-stained sweat.
“You can’t—” his insult gurgles out, skin mask tearing with mechanical shriek.
I lean in, close enough for rain to course down my snout. My eyes glow molten. “Leave,” I growl. “And never come back.”
Esme crawls upright, legs weak but body trembling with that fierce spark that makes me believe she’s fire-wrought. “Sagax?—”
She stumbles forward, fear and relief entwined. I tighten my tail around her waist, anchoring us both to the ruin I’ve created.
Krenshaw laughs—a brittle, lifeless chime in the storm. “You destroyed them. What will you do with me?”
I push him—hammer down, fists turning the ground to dust.
Krenshaw vaporizes from sight—snatched into the shimmer of a Baragon relay. The forest hushes abruptly, like it’s holding its breath. I don’t waste a second. With Esme clutched to my chest, I pivot, crashing through underbrush, letting branches crack like bone beneath my stride.
Her body sags in my arms. Rain rivulets mingling with sweat trace pale trails down her temple. She convulses, twistinglike she’s woven from pain. That poison—he injected her with something feral. Something that’s melting her strength from the inside.
