Page 136 of Land of Monsters

“This is not our war. We couldn’t give a fuck about fighting you. You are nothing to me.” Z’s eyes darted to Zoey.

“You think we’re gonna let you walk away after kidnapping and raping women?” Ryker snarled.

Z took a few steps back, Hanna tensing as the stinger skimmed her throat.

“Don’t fucking touch her,” Scorpion roared.

Z nuzzled into her neck, his eyes on Scorpion, but then paused, as if something caught his noticed about her. His tongue flicked out, looking like a hairy comb, every fiber picking up the taste of her skin, his nose sniffing her. Hanna stiffened under his touch.

“Interesting.” He hummed. “You’re like them.” He indicated Joska and Samu, but his attention stayed solely on Hanna, like she captivated him. “But even stronger.” He tasted her again. “Powerful.” His eyes glinted with excitement. Lust. “You are extraordinary. A queen hidden among the slaves.”

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, her cat teeth showing in her mouth.

“You can fight it, but you know the truth, don’t you, wildcat? You don’t belong with them.” He moved her blonde hair away from her neck and whispered something in her ear.

Hanna went still, her nose flaring, her teeth chomping down. A smile twisted Z’s face as he placed a kiss to her throat. His stinger moved in a blink, slicing behind her ear.

She screamed.

“Hanna!” Scorpion bellowed, lunging for her.

Z shoved her forward, crashing her into Scorpion, both of them colliding to the ground.

“Someday soon, wildcat. You’ll come for me.” He winked, then turned and took off, the rest of his crew following, including Joska, Samu, and Balazs.

The dwellers roared in fury, tearing into the ground and chasing after them into the forest. Ryker, Croygen, Kat, his pirate crew, Eli, Ember, Warwick, Wesley, Brexley, Caden, and Birdie followed behind.

“Viper?” Scorpion cupped Hanna’s face, tilting her neck to show the wound. It didn’t look like a normal stinger wound, but almost a mark on her skin. A P symbol.

Primul.

“I’m fine.” She shrugged off the injury like it was nothing.

“He stung you!” Scorpion pushed her hands away, using the sleeve of his shirt to swab the gash.

“It’s fine.” She tried to reassure him, but her eyes wouldn’t meet his. “He didn’t inject me with any poison.”

“Are you sure about that?” Scorpion huffed, still wiping at her cut.

Hanna looked away, staring back at where thePrimulescaped.

“Raven?” My mother took my hand, taking my attention from them, panic hinting in her tone. “Where is your brother?”

?

The soul is infinite in the love it can hold, the parts it stores away and carries at all times. You can hold so many various types within your body, burrowing deep or skimming the surface.

A twin was wound through your DNA, baked in your essence, entrenched in your makeup. A piece no one couldreach. It was a bond nobody could truly understand unless they were one.

Rook was as much a part of me as I was of him. There was no me without him. My partner in crime, my best friend, and sometimes my worst rival. But if you touched one of us, hell would rain down. We protected each other, defended each other, and would kill for each other. And there wasn’t even a question that we’d lay our lives down for the other.

Every strike of my boot’s sole grew louder in my ears. A numbing terror gripped my stomach as I tried to detect Rook’s absence. To see if part of me had been ripped out, the pain so deep I no longer understood loss.

Rook?The cry came from the marrow of my bones, black dots sprinkled through my vision, my lungs quivering as I ran up the steps to the castle, my family trailing behind me, their own fear choking the air.

The courtyard came into view, and I stumbled to a stop, my lungs compressing.

Rook’s dweller lay in the middle, his enormous mass taking up a section of the small yard, the arrows torn out and scattered over the cobblestones.

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