Page 37 of Kael (Monsters & Mates #2)

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

“I’m coming with you.”

Honestly, I’m not even surprised by anything anymore. That Varek has changed his mind and is insisting on joining me and Kael is not typical of him exactly, as I have to hand it to the guy, he’s usually steadfast in his decisions. But?—

“With Zeyv no longer around to cause problems”—my lips twitch despite the gravity of all that’s happened, but beyond Varek rolling his eyes at me, he doesn’t pause—“Shanae can handle things here.”

She steps forwards, lips parting I suspect to argue with our fearless leader. The shake of Varek’s head stops her, though.

“If the library does exist, between us, we can find it.”

Fair point .

“I still don’t know how you have info that Kael doesn’t,” I say, squinting at Varek like I might be able to read the answers off his shimmering purple face.

He simply offers a tight-lipped smile. “You’d be surprised how many secrets come to light when people think no one’s listening.”

Cryptic. Great. I also know that long before he founded this rebel group, he’d been captured by the royal guards and spent time in the queen’s palace.

I just don’t know for how long or what his purpose was.

It’s something I know I should never ask.

Nor is it anything anyone here really gossips about.

Kael’s fingers brush against mine—subtle, grounding. It’s enough to make my nerves tangle a little looser, but not completely. Because this? This still feels a little like jumping into a firestorm with nothing but a wet rag and good intentions.

I look over my shoulder at Dawson and Aelith. Iris stands between them, her posture rigid but hands gentle as she adjusts the monitoring equipment. Her mate, all mist and menace, lingers nearby like a living shadow. If either of them shifts so much as a toe, I know he’ll be there.

“They’re stable,” Iris says without looking up. “For now. I’ll let you know the moment anything changes.”

That “for now” feels like a blade against my spine. I nod, swallowing past the tightness in my throat.

Solan and Jack arrive, tension written across their faces. Jack’s gaze flicks to me, Kael, then the medical beds. He exhales hard. “We heard what happened. Heard it was bad.”

“It was,” I say, not bothering to sugar-coat it. And whether he’s talking about the fight or the medical status of Dawson and Aelith seems inconsequential. It’s all bad.

Solan steps up beside him, nodding. “We’ll stay here. Watch over them.”

“And Shanae?” Varek says, glancing over at her.

Shanae’s jaw is clenched, her lips slashed in a tight line. She nods, remaining silent—a testimony to just how pissed off at Varek she really is.

“She’ll have backup.” Solan gestures towards the door where the two unconscious bodies are secure.

A beat passes. Kael straightens beside me, his armour whispering against itself as he shifts. There’s steel in his stance now, not just physically but emotionally. He’s made up his mind. “The queen’s healers won’t help. Even if they could, they’d use it as leverage. She’d want something in return.”

“Like her son’s head on a pole,” I mutter.

Kael doesn’t deny it. “What’s happening between Aelith and Dawson is beyond medical science. This is something else. Something… older.”

“Something fated,” Varek says. “Something buried.”

I glance at Kael again, searching his face. “And you really think we’ll find answers in some dusty, maybe-imaginary archive?”

He meets my gaze evenly. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t let you go.” His voice is low, but it strikes with purpose. That does it.

I sigh, rubbing a hand over my face. “All right. Let’s go dig through some ancient scrolls and hope to the terrifying deities of Terrafeara that this isn’t a massive waste of time.”

Kael’s lips twitch. “Your optimism is inspiring.”

“I try.”

Then the air shifts. Thickens. I don’t need to look to know what’s coming. The temperature drops. Shadows bleed across the floor. A hiss like the rattle of a thousand bones sounds behind us.

And there he is.

Henny.

The Hendroy appears in a swirl of mist and malevolence, his towering form even more imposing inside closed quarters. His head tilts, glowing eyes zeroing in on Kael with no attempt to hide his distaste.

He doesn’t speak, but I feel it—a brush of his power skimming across my mind like a warning. Kael steps half in front of me. Reflexive. Protective.

Varek, unbothered, gives a nod. “We’re ready.”

Henny extends an arm, palm up, fingers tipped in wicked claws. The mist coils tighter, forming into a vortex of spinning black-and-violet energy.

My stomach flips. “Oh, fuck me,” I whisper.

“Later,” Kael murmurs through our bond.

My startled snort breaks the tension, and I shoot him a sideways look as we step towards the portal. “As much as I love you, I hate you a little right now.”

“You love me?” Kael says—asks?—through the bond, quiet, awed.

I freeze. Shit. That wasn’t supposed to slip out, but I don’t take it back.

“Unfortunately,” I say, because sarcasm is safer than sincerity, and I’m already halfway undone.

Kael doesn’t reply, but the flare of heat and emotion through the bond is unmistakable. He heard me. Felt me. All of me.

The vortex pulses beside us. Varek moves first. Then Kael. Then me.

As I step into the swirling dark, my heart thudding against my ribs, I send one last thought into whatever dimension fate is listening to.

Please let there be answers on the other side.

Because if not, I think we’ll definitely be royally fucked.

Maybe even here in this black void that wipes away my vision.

I barely have time to take a breath, though, before we land hard. Like, arse-meets-stone, ungraceful-as-hell hard.

The ground beneath me is cool and rough, the scent of moss and distant smoke catching in my throat. I sit up, disoriented, the mist still curling around my shoulders like ghostly tendrils, until it’s gone—vanished as though it never existed.

Panic grips my chest. “Shit,” I mutter, spinning. “Did no one think to talk about where we were actually going?”

Kael appears beside me, already upright, hand on the hilt of his blade. Varek is standing, too, brushing dust from his coat like he didn’t just get yeeted into another part of Terrafeara via a scary-as-fuck mist vortex.

“Is it safe here?” I ask, scanning the area. It’s… eerily quiet.

Stone structures rise around us—weathered buildings with jagged spires, smoothed by time and the subtle thrum of energy that hums beneath the surface. The stone itself almost seems to pulse faintly, like it’s alive. Or maybe that’s just the panic making my brain short-circuit.

No Glowranth in sight. No crowds. No chaos.

Just empty, watchful silence.

My arm aches suddenly—sharp, hot. I wince and glance down. “Uh. What the—” A mark glows faintly on my forearm. Ink-black with hints of purple, it spirals into a rune I don’t recognise, sleek and otherworldly.

Kael’s eyes land on it and narrow. “It’s from the Hendroy. His tracker. A tag.”

“Great,” I say, flexing my arm. “Mystic LoJack.”

His lips twitch. “We’re close to the citadel. The palace is further east.”

“Define ‘close,’” I urge. “Close enough for guards to skewer us, or just ‘hey, we’re in the neighbourhood’ kind of close?”

Kael’s eyes flick to the tallest spire visible in the distance. “Too close. But not immediate danger. Yet.”

“Comforting,” I mutter.

Varek steps forwards, his expression unreadable. “We’re not wandering blind.”

Kael arches a brow. “You know where to start?”

Varek nods once. “I have a contact. We’ll begin there.”

“Care to elaborate?” I ask.

“No.”

Of course not, but we follow him anyway.

The pathway is uneven, cut into the stone itself, bordered by sleek walls that glow faintly with etched runes.

The further we walk, the more I notice: floating lights that seem to be contained in orbs overhead, illuminating the streets like lanterns with minds of their own; doorways that seal with a press of energy, a quiet hum echoing as they slide shut; strange vehicles—hovering, low-slung transports that glide silently past alleyways, disappearing before I can fully focus on them.

It’s different, sure. But also… familiar. Like Earth and Terrafeara had a drunken one-night stand and this was their weird, beautiful, slightly terrifying baby.

“The tech,” I whisper. “It’s getting more advanced, right?” At least that’s what I heard. I suspect the multitude of species who are finding their way here, bringing their knowledge with them—as well as patches of their homes—will have helped significantly with that.

Kael nods. “The queen’s been pushing development. Integration from rift remnants. Borrowed tech. Stolen in some cases.”

I have a feeling the “stolen” here refers to species’ knowledge rather than an inanimate object. “And the energy manipulation?”

“Still the foundation,” he says. “It powers everything. Machines, defences, even transportation. Without it, this city wouldn’t function.”

Varek doesn’t comment, just keeps walking. Fast. Determined.

We continue to follow, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of contact Varek has in the heart of enemy territory. But one thing’s certain—we’re not here by accident. I can’t imagine Henny bringing us to a place we shouldn’t be.

“Where are we going?” I whisper, matching Kael’s quiet steps as we trail Varek.

“To someone who owes me a favour.”

That’s ominous and not at all encouraging.

We wind through side streets, ducking under archways and past stone pillars etched with softly glowing sigils. No people. No movement. Just the eerie sense that something’s watching.

“Wait.” Kael’s hand shoots out, stopping me as we near a narrow alley. “Someone’s nearby.”

Varek doesn’t pause. “We’re close.”