Page 119 of An Inheritance of Monsters

Juno clutched me tightly, her nails digging into my flesh as my legs gave way to tentacles once more. I regretted having to release my new form so soon, but it was the fastest way to move through the Sea of the Void.

Beneath the skin of the water, the shore was just visible in the distance—and a frothing mass of foam swirled in the shallows, the slick, scaled forms of the Dagonites slipping in and out of it.

Juno squinted, then pounded her fist against my chest and flung out an arm, pointing urgently at the chaos of bubbles.

The Dagonites had a human male in their grasp, his clothing shredded and torn, spumes of blood vanishing into the water and drawing hordes of smaller fish.

But despite the claws tearing at him, he was fighting like his life depended on it—which it did.

I vaguely recognized him as one of the potential sacrifices to the comet, but Juno slammed my chest again.

Despite the salty water in her eyes, she was staring at me, beseeching me with her gaze.

I wanted to tell her no. He had been selected to come to Duskwood Island for one reason… to serve as blood in the ritual.

Whether we interfered or not today would make no difference in his fate.

But she put her hand against my cheek, imploring me silently, and I found that it was impossible to tell my little mate no.

Not after she had given herself to me, body and soul, and had unlocked the secrets to the Elder being hiding within me.

I only despised the idea of bringing her so close to the Dagonites for the sake of that human male.

“Please,” she mouthed.

We floated in silence, Juno unblinking, her mouth curved down… and I allowed the shift to take me again.

Tentacles became limbs, my back itched as the wings sprouted, my claws thickened… and we sank to the sea floor, bubbles rising around us.

I began walking, striding over the wide, craggy rocks towards the shore where the Dagonites tried to subdue their prey.

Juno clung to me, and when I felt her struggle, a spasm rippling through her chest as her oxygen depleted, I fed her bubbles of air.

But we were far from the shore, and the followers of Dagon were winning their battle.

The human was no longer struggling as intensely as they dragged him towards deeper waters, where they would eventually pull him into the trench where my father resided.

He only thrashed to reach air, gulping a mouthful until they dragged him back down beneath the surface again.

Juno kicked away, swimming alongside me as elegantly as a fish as the first of the Dagonites noticed our approach.

I towered over them now, and they had gone so long without noticing us only because the boy—it was an insult to men to call this weak, fleshy thing a man—had put up more fight than they’d expected.

The boy’s eyes widened when he saw Juno, and his mouth stretched in a scream when that gaze landed on me, but he slammed his hand over his mouth, holding in the last of his air.

Juno beckoned to him desperately, calling him closer, but the silvery claws of the Dagonites wrapped around him.

One opened a too-wide mouth, hissing at me through sharp, transparent teeth.

This human is not yours, I told him, reaching out to tug the boy from his grasp. I felt my mass expanding, the powers of the Void swirling within me.

The Dagonites screeched and whistled, noises that pierced my sensitive new eardrums.

Juno darted to the surface, only feet overhead, to take another gulp of air, and I began to pull the boy away.

But my father’s followers would rather waste a sacrifice than allow another to take one.

Claws slashed out, quicksilver lightning, and tore through his throat. I felt him shudder in my grasp, stiffening and kicking, as a dark cloud billowed upwards.

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