Page 99 of An Inheritance of Monsters

Something grunted and I reeled back. A moment later, a flashlight beam flicked on and was aimed directly in my face, blinding me.

“Juno?” Porter’s confused, groggy voice asked. He was sprawled in his armchair, and had been sleeping, papers scattered all over him.

Great. I was dripping water from another world all over the skeptic’s bedroom floor.

“Damn it, not again,” I muttered.

Chapter29

Rask

Ipeered out from under the bed, following my mate’s scent.

At first, I had been concerned to smell her appearance in the room of a human male.

Did she have second thoughts about being mated to a monster?

But as soon as I emerged from the Void, taking in the scent, I recognized this scent as older, less virile.

The male she’d disliked before.

And her lovely floral scent was overlaid with the salty water of the Sea of the Void.

“What are you doing in my room?” the male asked, putting the horrid flashlight on a table so its light shone upwards and spilled everywhere.

I backed up an inch, my eyes slitting against that painful glare.

“Um.” My Juno stared at him, water pooling on the floor around her. “It was an accident, I swear.”

I sniffed again. There was more than her natural scent and seawater… I smelled something darker, spicier, and very faint.

The scent of aV’uthli, who was not Voraal… and aMlul’drawho was not me.

A low growl emanated from me before I could hold it back, and both human heads shot in my direction.

“What was that?” the male took his spectacles from his face and wiped them, peering at his bed again.

I disliked the underside of his bed. The only treasures he had left for me were potato chip bags and a pair of holey underwear.

Disgraceful.

But Juno looked relieved, and I noticed how pale her face was.

How many times did I have to tell my mate, she was as frail as a butterfly wing until the comet had passed?

She needed to stop getting cold and wet, or I would take her to my cavern and keep her there until the ritual had been accomplished. I would not allow my Juno to die before that.

“It’s nothing,” she said hastily, as the man began to rise from the chair.

He shot her a look. “Is this a practical joke? My door is locked. I have no idea how you got in here, but I’m not in the mood for pranks, Juno.”

I did not like the tone he was taking with my mate.

So I disregarded the rules and dragged myself from under the bed, my claws digging into the floor.

As I straightened up to my full size, looking down at the man, I showed him all my sharp teeth and spread my arms. AnotherMlul’drawould understand this posture and back down.

“Do not speak to my mate like that.”

---