Page 33 of Exiled Mate

As humans, they still carry some kind of reptilian features. I’d heard rumors, but I never actually knew that it looked like this until now.

The announcer screams something else, the crowd jumps to their feet, and then the two people in the ring circle each other.

My heart is in my throat.

“Terra!”

Ember appears at my side. I pull her in close for a hug. “Ember,” I say, my eyes glued on the ring below me. “What the hell is going on?”

“Rylan told me that he didn’t want me to get hurt. I could take that guy, Ter, I just know it,” she growls.

Shoving my best friend’s god complex aside, I shake my head. “Rylan beat him once, he can do it again, right?”

Thresher and Rylan crash on the arena below us…

And Rylan is immediately thrown against the side of the cage.

The crowd around us screams with delight, but my eyes widen. “Ember, was that supposed to happen?”

“I don’t know. I feel like sure, he’s strong, but I didn’t know that he was that strong. Rylan’s a pretty good fighter…”

The crocodile shifter circles Rylan and delivers a blow to the stomach that sends Rylan reeling over the edge.

“That’s not right,” I whisper.

Rylan struggles to get up, and I note the way his legs shake.

I realize with a sickening certainty that he’s very, very weak. His birthday is…

“Fuck,” I whisper.

Ember’s eyes shoot to me. “Terra?”

“Rylan’s thirtieth birthday is tomorrow.”

She sucks in a breath.

There’s no way he can survive this.

Thresher moves in again, but Rylan partially shifts his claws and rips them into Thresher’s front.

Ember hisses. “He has to go for the belly. Everything else is probably covered in skin that’s a little thicker.”

I can’t look away.

Rylan and the crocodile are going blow for blow, but every time Rylan lands one on the massive bulk of the croc, he manages to get something new on Rylan.

There’s blood. So much blood. Enough that I can smell it.

“He’s going to die,” I whisper.

It feels… final.

I’m going to watch Rylan die in front of my eyes.

Next to me, Ember shifts on her feet.

“Fuck it,” she mutters.

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