Page 32 of The Monster's Daughter

I smash it again, harder. The casing cracks.

“Stop,” I hiss, smashing until the static cuts off, shards scattering across the tunnel floor.

Kage watches, frills twitching. “It’s hunting.”

“No,” I whisper. “It’swatching.”

We crawl faster, the shaft narrowing until we’re practically slithering. My breath comes in harsh gasps, my wounded shoulder screaming. The smell of my own blood mixes with the damp metal tang of the tunnel.

At last, a faint glow ahead—a hatch.

“Almost there,” I pant.

Kage wedges his claws under the lip and wrenches. The metal screeches, buckling. Cold mountain air rushes in, sharp and clean compared to the stink behind us.

We tumble out onto the rocky slope, snow crunching under our boots.

Behind us, deep in the tunnel, something hums.

A low, rising whine.

“Kage,” I breathe.

He grabs me, pulls me behind a boulder, his body curling over mine.

The listening post erupts.

A plume of fire jets from the tunnel mouth, spraying sparks into the night. The blast shakes the ground under us, hot wind rolling over my face.

In the flames, just for a second, something moves.

Not a person. Not a drone. Something metallic wearing the shape of a man, its limbs flickering like bad hologram edges. It stands in the fire as if the fire feeds it, head cocked, eyes like twin embers.

It doesn’t chase us. It just watches.

I can’t breathe. My heart’s hammering so hard it hurts.

“It’s not over,” I whisper, throat raw. “It’s just starting.”

Kage’s claws dig into the rock beside my head, his voice low, dangerous. “Then we end it before it begins.”

The wind howls over the mountains, carrying the scent of burning metal and something colder.

I shiver. Not from the cold.

But because I believe him.

CHAPTER 20

KAGE

The mountain shudders like a living thing. Dust rains from the cliffs above as the shockwave from the blast hammers into us, hot and gritty, slamming into my back hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. Bella’s weight is light against my arms, too light, her blood smearing hot across my scales where she’s pressed to me.

I leap the last ridge before the wave hits full force and duck behind a jagged outcrop, curling around her. The rock vibrates like a drum, heat licking over my shoulders. The smell is everywhere—burnt wiring, scorched meat, the bitter sting of ozone.

Bella groans, her fingers clawing at my chest. “You’re—heavy—” she coughs.

“You’re—bleeding—” I growl back, easing her onto the gravel.