Page 118 of An Inheritance of Monsters

I took a step closer, holding a hand out, and he took it.

He still felt like Zirin, even if he now towered over me on legs. “Will you… can you go back?”

Yes, but now, in this form, I will be able to defend the Void against the comet.He put a hand on his chest.I will be able to move between land and sea as a guardian.You did this, little one.

I ran my hand over his and down his stomach.

It hadn’t occurred to me that the monsters had to physically mature in their own ways. I supposed if they were new to the Void, the guardians-in-waiting, as Rask had once put it, it made a certain kind of sense.

No matter what form he took, I was ecstatic that the monsters and I were now fully bonded.

I reached up to touch him, his long facial tentacles wrapping around me, clawed hands delicately cupping my shoulders.

“What a beautiful monster you are,” I whispered.

Chapter34

Zirin

The sensation of legs was like nothing I had ever imagined.

And even better was knowing that I could now leave the water and follow my mate wherever she might want to go.

I was no longer confined to the pipes and ponds and Juno’s bath tub. If she wanted me in her bed, I would be able to wrap myself around her to sleep.

The fledgling wings on my back quivered as I considered what it would be like to walk the island with her.

Juno’s fingers ran along the ridge of my spine, tickling the new appendages. “Do all of theKleelook like this when they’re mated?”

Yes, I told her.I just didn’t believe I would ever experience it for myself.

She smiled, opening her mouth to say something…

And a shrill, sharp scream rang out, echoing across the waves.

Both of our heads snapped towards the sound, Juno already rising to her feet. “What was that?”

Her face had gone pale, and I knew she was thinking of the madman she’d released into the Void.

It was not the mad human. I took a step, my legs still unsure beneath me, watching my footsteps carefully to ensure I didn’t walk on Juno and crush her.Stay with me.

She nodded, remaining close enough to keep her hand on my arm.

We strode from the grotto, standing on the shelf of coral that abruptly dropped away into an abyss of icy water, and a flash of something bright caught my eye.

The silver gleam of scales beneath the waves, rippling and vanishing.

A noise I couldn’t make before rumbled out of me, and Juno let out a small shriek when I abruptly scooped her up.

Dagonites. I tried not to squeeze her too hard, now hyper aware of her small and fragile bones. This mature form of mine was powerfully strong.Beneath the waves. We must find a door for you.

“Zirin, you could stop them now… couldn’t you?” A faint line creased between her brows. “You’ve gained your Elder form now.”

I could, but I will not risk you.

The Dagonites would leave me be, but if they were swarming, that meant someone had been found as a fitting sacrifice.

I plunged beneath the waves with Juno in my grasp as another scream rang out, a human voice calling for help.

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