Page 35 of Their Pretty Little Monster

Knowing Sage, she’d want to be as far from the others as possible, and seeing most are on my left, rushing in that direction, I pivot my direction to the right in a wide swing.

Pulse surging, legs pumping, I move like the wind.

Suddenly, I catch the flick of silver hair dancing between trees up ahead amid the shadows, and there she is.

The girl moves fast… admirable.

My cock hardens at the promise of marking her. I run full speed directly toward her.

The little thing glances back over her shoulder, and for a split second, our gazes clash.

Wide eyes.

Her mouth falls open.

Grinning, I charge ahead, driven by her fear.

But she moves just as fast and darts right into shadows, vanishing from sight.

I’ll find her; she won’t get far.

When I hear the distinct sound of her cry, anger crashes into me. I’m suddenly careening to her like a tornado, my mind going to a dark place—warped, raw anger at the thought of anyone touching her.

Skidding around a thick tree, shoving aside a low-hanging branch covered in leaves, I practically ripped it out of the ground to get past. There in front of me, the snorting asshole on all fours straddles over her as she frantically crawls backward to get away from him, kicking him in the face.

That’s my girl.

Every muscle in my body coils, and I lunge at the fucker, anger lashing at my insides.

Reaching him, I snatch him by the back of his neck, squeezing and wrenching him back with such force that I throw him into a tree. I pounce on him, anger blinding me, and my hands are around his spiny throat.

“You dare fucking touch what’s mine?” His eyes are bulging, his claws swiping at me, but I feel nothing. It’s all part of the ritual—if you want a girl someone’s claimed first, you have every right to challenge him to fight to the death.

“Lord, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’s yours.”

Liar! This fucker knowingly turned his attention to the wrong female.

A hard smack abruptly collides into my back. Enough for me to release the fucker and swing back around, half expecting another asshole wanting to claim Sage.

But instead, it’s her, standing there with a branch gripped in two hands, shaking.

“You don’t need to kill him!” She lifts the branch with anger, and from the corner of my eye, I notice the man I challenged is scrambling away.

It’s his lucky day that I don’t chase after him, not when my sights are set on my beautiful human.

“Would you rather I let him rut you?” I reach for the branch and rip it out of her grasp, tossing it aside. Then I go to grab her, but she shoves against my hand, recoiling. Her face is red from running, her breaths rushing, and I love seeing her so worked up.

“No, but… You can’t just kill someone.” She suddenly twists and bolts away from me.

I laugh, adoring everything about her.

Adrenaline has me charging madly, my pulse pounding because I’m racing right behind her. With the wind blowing in my face comes her sweet nectar scent pouring all over me.

The Essence of Ethros in the pink mist is coming into play, bringing out our primal hunger, our savage needs to rut. She has no idea why she’s so wet… but I inhale it so heavily in the air that it calls to me.

I quickly dart to the right and come around to intercept her, arriving directly into her view.

She screams, then backpedals and swings around, but I’m moving too fast, and I have no intention of stopping. I crash into her, my arms looping around her, my movement pushing us both forward in a moment where there’s nowhere to go but down.

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