Page 1 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

ChapterOne

Robin

I'd been waitingtwenty-six years for my fated mate to claim me. By my estimation, that was three years too long.

I sat at my parents' breakfast table, set with a lovely birthday spread for my three siblings and me. As we exchanged gifts and passed delicious breakfast foods, my mind wandered to the one kobold I wished was here but wasn't.

My parents said I recognized Weld as my fated mate the moment he came to visit when I was a week old. As kobold/human hybrids, we hatch from our eggs walking on all fours and climbing on the furniture. I hopped onto the couch, walked right to Weld's lap, curled up, and went to sleep.

They said I even hissed at Tuft, his ex-partner. Over the years, Tuft had become like an uncle to me, while Weld banished himself to the far side of the plane like some demon.

Ignitas isn't a small place. It's about the same size as Earth, but with more wide-open spaces and less air pollution. We have teleportation, dragonet flight, and magical technology, not to mention plain old magic. Thanks to our magical gifts, I have what my dragon friend Galen calls a "dragon bond" with Weld. That means no matter where he is, on this plane of existence or any other, I can find him.

When I lost my tail a month after I turned twenty-three, Weld was in the middle of a year on the Earth plane. I wanted to go to him right away but worried I would interrupt his work. Weld had progressed from teacher to scientist and inventor over the course of my lifetime. I didn't want to bother him, especially if he needed to finish a project before we could mate.

The year I turned twenty-five, he was bouncing all over Ignitas on his dragonet, inoculating the wild bovinji population with a flu vaccine. We'd all heard the stories from other planes, about how the original species of kobolds had died of a disease. Our alliance with the humans to combine our DNA had infuriated the dragons who made us, but it had saved us from extinction. If Weld could save our dragons' main food source from the same fate with his vaccines, who was I to stop him?

Well, here I was, turning twenty-six. Weld was back in his place of banishment, the one I called his home, where he'd spent most of the last twenty-four years. It was past time for me to visit and claim my fated mate for my own.

I hoped he had a residence there, unlike the hole in the grotto where he used to live. I visited the tunnels between our cabins and the huge obsidian fortress occasionally. I couldn't imagine trying to hatch eggs down there. It was far too cold and damp. Still, Weld and Tuft had fought my friends' parents, Coz and Grindl, for one of the warmest spots.

And then they'd lost their clutch, anyway. I empathized with Tuft, my fellow omega. Tuft's fated mate, Axel, had commissioned a memorial marker for Tuft and Weld's eggs and placed it outside their cabin. It resembled a human gravestone with the two names carved above etchings of two kobold eggs.

Every time I thought about that little memorial, I was glad the eggs hadn't matured. I hated myself for being so selfish. I would have loved them, and Weld, regardless, but I wanted to be the first to give Weld a viable clutch of eggs. The two of us would cover them with my slick and nourish them until they were ready to hatch. And then, once our healthy young emerged from their eggs, we would raise them together.

That had been my dream since before my tail fell off. It had been the plan on my twenty-fifth birthday, the day everyone said Weld would rush in like a knight in shining armor from the picture books and sweep me off my feet. Since I turned twenty-five, it had been my wish every single day.

Well, fuck it. It was the morning of my twenty-sixth birthday, and I was done waiting.

Something wet and slimy hit my cheek and started to slide toward my jaw. Gross.

"I asked you a question." Clementine was the last to hatch from her shell. My brothers and I gave her shit about being immature, and this was how she proved us right, by flinging food across the table to get our attention. The cafeteria had made us a cherry gelatin fruit salad for breakfast. I wiped the slimy goodness off my cheek and stuck it in my mouth without checking for fruit. A burst of Earth pineapple lit up my tongue, and I grinned. My sister knew how to give the best presents, even when her delivery left a lot to be desired.

"I missed it, sorry." I met my sister's golden eyes. Her white hair was pulled into a braid tight to her scalp, making her look even more reptilian than usual.

"Are you leaving today? I want your room."

"Clem, we already talked about this," our omega papa said. "When Robin moves out, you both move out. No arguments."

"Well?" she asked, her gaze still intent on me. "Is today the day?"

"It sure as fuck is."

My alpha brothers, who sat on either side of me, hammered my shoulders with their fists and busted up laughing at my overzealous swearing. They already lived in the alpha cabins behind our house. Ernie was still searching for his fated mate, but Grover had met Cook at a softball tournament over the summer.

At my remark, my alpha dad slapped his hands to his mouth to clamp it shut. For a moment, I thought he was going to contain his laughter, but then he snorted and we all started laughing again.

Papa shook his head at us until we finally stopped snickering. I was relieved when he rebuked Clementine first. "For the last time, young lady, you are moving to the fortress."

She sighed. "I know, and I will, but some experiments are too dangerous, and Robin's room?—"

"No." When Dad banged his fist on the table, we all jumped. "You will review all dangerous experiments with Galen first. They will know the safest spot, and I assure you, it's not Robin's bedroom."

"Galen already said no." She was so uncharacteristically quiet, I wondered if our dads heard her at first.

"We're changing the wards," Papa finally said, shoving his purple-tipped black hair off his forehead with a sigh. "You and Robin are welcome to leave as much as you want in your rooms. If you need it later, call us to make sure we're home."

"But Da-ad!"

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