Page 16 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

After hammering on the wheel for an hour, I stared down at it, wondering where I would begin, if I had enough magic to fix it. The metal needed to be heated, reshaped, and then cooled to harden. Did magic users think about the mechanics behind their spells, or did they just will it into existence?

I'd lived on this magical planet for twenty-seven years, and I still didn't know a godsdamned thing about magic.

* * *

I took my first break at ten. I finished the water bottle that came with my breakfast and finished off the homemade granola bar Tim had added on top.

Through my bond with Robin, I could feel him still lying in my bed, awake. Before I thought too hard about what he might be doing, I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone wrapped their arms around me.

"What the fuck!"

I turned to find Lemon with his arms raised in supplication, his eyes round.

"Mister Weld, Sir! I only wanted to say hello."

"Never in my life has it been okay to hug someone from behind as a greeting. Especially not in kobold form. You could have gotten yourself jabbed in the heart with an elbow spike." I cleared my throat and rolled my shoulders back to begin the scene, the way Lark and I had done when performing our skits. "Hello." I gave him my best fake smile. "That's how it's done."

"Yes, Sir, I know, Sir, but I thought you needed a more appropriate gesture, as my boyfriend."

"Your … what?" How in the hell had this omega gotten the idea that we were anything? We'd only spoken one other time before the day I'd chased him off.

"Is this about the time I let you sit with me at breakfast when you were a teenager?" Some kids had been bullying him, and I empathized. He'd been a scrawny little thing then. Still was, and that had been years ago.

"Yes, Sir. You were so kind." He turned around and wiggled his backside. "Look. My tail fell off. I'm an adult now."

"Oh no." I clapped my hand to my forehead and shoved my sweat-soaked hair off my face. "One is bad enough. Now I have to worry about you, too?"

He blinked. "So that other omega isn't your fated mate?"

"What? Yes, of course he is. I didn't mean —"

"I still have a chance!" Before I could register his words, he closed the gap between us, raised up on his tiptoes, and bussed a quick kiss on my cheek. "I won't disappoint you, Sir. Pick me."

"What? No!" I yelled after him, but he had already disappeared around the side of the barn.

I sighed and continued around the tractor until I could see the corner Lemon had run past. Standing there, with his back and one foot planted against the building, hands on his hips, was my fated mate.

"What the fuck was that about?" he asked.

"Fucker hugged me instead of saying hello. Who does that?"

Robin laughed. "Clem. All the fucking time. I hate it."

While I didn't have siblings of my own, I would have expected that from a family member. I did not approve when it was a complete stranger. "I've talked to him twice in my life. Three times, now, counting today."

I didn't mention all the times I'd caught him staring at me. Sometimes, he hid behind the tractor and then ran away when I finished working. Other times, he stared longingly across the big house's dining area.

I probably deserved to have an omega objectify me after what I'd put Tuft through, but Robin was my fated mate, and he was here. Enough was enough.

"He's jealous," Robin said. "He's probably created a dream world where you two get together, and I ruined it."

I approached him and straddled his raised knee, rubbing my thumbs up the sides of his neck until his eyelids sank closed and he sighed. "You didn't ruin a thing." I leaned in, inhaling his musky scent. He smelled a lot like my shower all those times I'd had to use it after him. "Did you make a mess in my bed?"

His eyes flashed open, and then he squinted at me. "No. I'm a gentleman."

I laughed and scooted closer, enjoying the slide of my balls along his thigh through our clothes. "You smell like cum and slick." He tried to put his leg down, but I gripped his ass and held him in place. "You're tempting me again."

"Is it working?"

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