Page 119 of Rebirth

Dropping the attackers in my grasp, I ignore their whines and cries of pain as I move through the conflict, tentacles grabbing and snapping guns in two in a move that stuns me at the raw stretch in my grasp.

Some of them run. Some get on the vehicles and retreat, while others stay and fight.

I hear one scream, abandoning their useless gun as they race at San’ten with double knives. He allows them to sink the blades into his chest before he snarls down at them, so many sharp teeth baring over their face that they go pale. Taking hold of their wrists, he snaps the bones, huffing in disgust as the man’s screams fill the air.

Looming behind me, He’rox’s tentacles form a cage around me as I move through the chaos, rendering those attacking helpless.

There is so much destruction, but it ends soon, and I see the moment they realize they’d lost the fight even before they’d arrived.

As Mina steps on the last gun, the sound of it cracking under her feet echoes in the air. Only the sound of whimpering remains, those attackers injured on the ground, some trying to crawl towards the woods, some who can run already on their way.

He’rox must read my mind because he opens his cage and says, “Go.”

I move. Faster than humanly possible, I dash across the camp, He’rox and the Vullan at my back as we corral the attackers.

“Have mercy!” one screams.

San’ten rips the blades from his chest, and I swear his eyes roll back as if he’s enjoying the pain. “Mercy?” he says. “We know no such thing.”

I cringe at his words but the ba’clan pulse against me and it’s almost as if I can feel them communicate with his ba’clan.

His gaze snaps to mine immediately and I nod.

He may be vicious. Scary even. But he isn’t about to hurt these people. He just wants to scare them shitless.

“You’re monsters,” one woman spits. She has a nasty gash across her face, probably from before judging from the scab across it. “All of you.”

Her gaze locks with mine and for a moment, I pause.

She’s talking about me.

I look at the tentacles writhing around me and then He’rox’s, which enclose mine as if they’re mates.

He moves forward, one tentacle snatching the woman from the ground.

“Which monster?” he growls, voice chilling the air. “Tell me you refer to me and not my mate.”

Warmth swims inside me. His mate.

I am his. And he is mine.

“I can see inside your soul, human,” he continues, “and I see nothing but darkness there. You are the real monster here.”

He drops her to the ground as if she’s trash and she scrambles backward, eyes darting to her companions, most of whom are either staring at us with defiance, or hiding with their gazes averted, tremors racking their frame.

“There is a bigger threat here,” I say, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Our world is still under attack, and instead of working with us to rebuild it, you’ve come to destroy the start of something good. Something great. The Gryken, those beings that used those huge machines to destroy this planet, they’re the enemy. They and what they left behind.”

My gaze skims over the group of wounded people, and I check to see if any of those dark veins are present. I see none. At least not yet. There’s a chance these people are untainted, but that doesn’t solve the problem of the Corrupted we have in the center of the camp.

And as for me…I walk amidst the people before us, noting how they cower and move away from me. The tentacles at my back wave, my ba’clan on full display, and I don’t try to hide it. Not only for myself, but for him.

I turn to face He’rox. My beautiful monster.

He needs to know that what he did to save me wasn’t a mistake. That I’m not ashamed of what I now am.

I hold his gaze as I continue speaking.

“Look at them,” I whisper. “They’re beautiful.”

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