Page 41 of Kael (Monsters & Mates #2)

My scream catches in my throat. I shove up my sleeve just in time to watch his markings etch themselves into my skin in glowing blue and gold.

“Oh fuck—Kael, what the hell is this?—”

He looks at me, stunned, his mouth moving, but I can’t hear him. There’s a ringing in my ears, sharp and high like pressure building inside my skull. Then comes a burn on my shoulder—hot, fierce, biting—and I collapse to my knees with a strangled cry.

Kael drops with me, holding me tight.

I see his lips move again as my name appears aloud and in my mind. “Sonny.”

But everything else? White-hot light and the sound of my pulse, my breath, the crackling roar of energy rising.

This isn’t a library. It’s something more. Something ancient. And whatever we’ve just activated… we’ve crossed a line we can’t uncross.

The tile vanishes beneath Kael’s boots. Just gone—like some twisted trapdoor in a nightmare—and with it, we fall.

A-fucking-gain.

“Shit!” The scream rips from my throat as we plummet into open air, no wind, no up or down, just black and endless.

I can’t even think—I only feel Kael’s grip, his hand crushing mine, our fingers laced so tight, my knuckles grind together. My other arm flails, useless in the void, my hand still gripping my dagger. We’re just falling. Fucking falling.

This is Alice in Wonderland bullshit on steroids. And then—light.

Not a lot. Just a faint pulse where my sleeve’s shoved up, a soft glow bleeding out of the sigils carved into my skin. Kael’s are glowing, too, jagged and bright and electric, like living veins of light along his arms.

My eyes adjust and then—oh fuck. No, no.

Below us. Fast approaching. A jagged, impossible mess of ground—dark metallic rock, with shards like broken glass, like a blade-toothed basin ready to swallow us whole.

Kael sees it too. His fear spikes, hot and sharp, crashing into me like a wave through the bond. “I love you,” his voice says inside my head, clear, intentional.

“No—don’t—” I try to twist to look at him, to say it back, to do something, but I can’t move. His arms clamp around me, iron and desperation, pinning me to his chest.

I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I feel him twist, his weight shifting, rolling in midair. Then?—

We hit.

It’s brutal.

My body jars with the impact, but it’s cushioned. All the pain—all the sound—hits Kael first. And he takes it all. His grip loosens the second we land. Just enough for me to scramble back with a strangled sound stuck in my throat. My knees skid on the floor, slick with something I pray isn’t blood.

“Kael?” My voice cracks.

He’s sprawled on his side, his body twisted at an angle that makes my gut roil. His chest is rising. Barely.

I crawl to him, my heart hammering wildly in my ribs. Light flares around us—faint, from slits in the walls. Not natural, not powered by anything I’ve seen before. Just… presence. Like the room knew we were coming.

But I can’t even look at it. All I see is him.

He coughs. Blood sprays across his chin, glistening and wrong. His markings are dim, barely glowing. His skin is pallid, like the light inside him is leaking out too fast.

“No. No, no, no,” I whisper, cradling his face, pressing my hands to his chest, desperate. “You are not doing this. You are not leaving me.”

His eyes flutter, meeting mine for the briefest soul-shattering moment. And fuck, all I feel in the bond is love. Bone-deep, galaxy-wide, soul-warping love.

“Kael.” My voice breaks. “Stay with me. I love you. I love you, and you’re not dying. Do you hear me?”

I shake him gently. Then harder. “I just got you,” I whisper. “You don’t get to be my fated mate and die before we even figure this shit out. I need you, you stubborn, perfect idiot. I need you.”

And still, he fades. His energy’s draining away, like sand through a sieve, and the terror in me crystallises into something cold and determined.

I don’t know what to do, but I know I’m not letting him go.

Not here.

Not now.

Not ever.

As I press my hands to Kael’s chest, still trying to stop the bleeding, something snags beneath my palm.

My dagger.

No.

No, no, no.

It’s mine. The hilt, the edge—I’d know it anywhere. Lodged deep in Kael’s gut like a sick joke, like a betrayal I never made.

“Kael,” I whisper, my voice so broken, I barely recognise it.

He doesn’t answer. Not with words. Just that same faint smile on his lips. Serene. Fucking serene, like he’s floating on some peaceful cloud while I’m being ripped to pieces from the inside out.

I swallow a scream and wrap shaking fingers around the hilt. “Sorry,” I breathe. “Sorry, sorry, sorry?—”

And I pull.

It comes free with a slick, awful sound, and the blood—fuck, the blue blood bubbles out thick and fast, too fast, too much. He doesn’t flinch.

“Stop smiling,” I whisper, pressing my hands to the wound again. “You don’t get to look like that. Like you’re ready. You’re not ready. I’m not ready.”

His eyes flicker open—barely. His voice is a rasp. “I love you.”

“No,” I whisper, tears sliding down my cheeks. “Don’t say goodbye.”

“It’s okay,” he says. “You’ll be okay.”

“The fuck I will!” My voice rises. “If you die, I die, remember? We’re fated, bonded—tied together in this twisted, beautiful thing, and we’ve only fucked once, Kael. Once. I’ve only had your cock in my mouth once. Do you really think I’m done?”

His face twists—not in pain but in something closer to horror. The peace vanishes. “No. No, I?—”

“Exactly.” I shake him, voice cracking. “So stay. Don’t you dare leave me, Kael.”

He gasps, barely audible. “Heal me.”

“I don’t know how!” I scream.

But my hands are already glowing. Not like before. Not a flicker. Not a pulse.

It’s like my soul has been pulled from my chest, turned inside out, and pushed into my palms. Gold-and-blue light floods from my skin, straight into his. I pour everything I have into him. Every drop of love. Every ounce of rage. Every breath, thought, memory?—

But his heart… it’s slowing. Mine isn’t.

“What the fuck?” My voice shakes. “Why isn’t mine stopping too?”

Why am I still here if he’s leaving?

Tears pour down my cheeks. My arms tremble with the force of energy burning through them. His wound isn’t sealing. The bleeding slows, but he’s still fading.

Kael’s voice brushes against my mind—weak, frayed. “You were always stronger than me.”

“No,” I growl. “We are strong. Together.”

The bond pulses. Hard. Then again. I scream as I push harder, as the energy inside me threatens to tear me apart. I feel my own strength draining, my limbs going cold, but I keep going.

I have to.

He’s mine.

And I refuse to let the universe take him from me.

The bleeding doesn’t stop. My hands are slick with his blood—his fucking blue blood—and I keep pressing, keep begging, but his eyes keep sliding shut. The glow in his markings is fading, and his grip on me loosens by the second.

“No. No, no, no—Kael.” My voice breaks, ragged and thin. I’m losing him. And I can’t.

I can’t.

Tears blur my vision. My body shakes as I lean over him, fingers slipping in blood and panic. I’m supposed to be his mate. Fated. We’re supposed to be stronger together. That’s what everyone keeps saying. That we’re rare. Precious. Some fucking miracle.

But what kind of miracle lets this happen?

“Come back,” I whisper. “Please, Kael. Please.”

I kiss him. His lips are cool. Still. He doesn’t kiss me back.

My tears smear between us, my nose pressed awkwardly to his. I’m a mess. A snotty, broken, ugly mess, and I don’t care. I want him to feel me. Hear me. Need me.

I need him.

And I realise—suddenly, painfully—what this is. What he did. What the prince did for Dawson. He gave him his life.

His life force. Piece by piece, breath by breath, he kept his mate alive.

That’s what I need to do.

I pull back, frantic, scanning the space as if I’ll find instructions etched into the stone, a glowing how-to manual hovering in the air.

Nothing. No answers. Just Kael. Pale. Still.

Too still.

I crawl over him, straddling his body, lowering myself carefully so I don’t cause more damage. My arms curl around him, my hands splayed across his ribs and the back of his neck. I press my forehead to his, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Come back to me,” I whisper, trembling. “Take what you need. Take everything.” My heart thrums wildly in my chest. I imagine that rhythm sinking into him, like a thread. A rope. Something real.

“I give it to you,” I breathe. “All of it. Whatever it takes. My life, my strength, my soul—Kael, I’m yours. Always.”

The bond flares. Hard.

A white-hot light explodes behind my eyes. Energy surges through me like a tidal wave. The burn is instant and blinding, my body locking up, like something ancient has snapped into place and is demanding I surrender.

I feel it leave me. My life. Thread by thread, it flows from me into him. I’m shaking, gasping, my lungs struggling for air. My pulse slows, my thoughts start to drift—soft, quiet.

It’s working. I think. Maybe.

Kael’s markings pulse once, faintly. His lips part. A breath escapes him.

My body collapses. My mind unravels. I sink into darkness, the last thought in my head not fear, not regret?—

Just love.

“Come back to me.”