Page 133 of Mate of a Monster

My lips twitch and I look to the gifted at my feet. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“What is?”

“Seeing them breathe after a fight.”

Legend scoffs, giving my hair a nice little yank, but then chaos erupts behind us.

More exiles pour out from between the rocks with weapons drawn, snarling like animals who’ve just spotted fresh meat.

Sinner cracks his neck.

“Well,” he says with a wicked grin, “this looks fun.”

The next few minutes devolve into an absolute brawl.

There’s no magic or strategy to our methods—just fists, blades, and bodies colliding across the black stone.

One guy swings a rusted ax at Zev, who ducks like he’s dancing, laughing as he drives his elbow into the man’s ribs and knocks him flat.

“Oh, this is great,” he shouts. “I missed this!”

Silver flips someone over his shoulder like the guy weighs nothing.

Creed slams another exile into the ground with brutal efficiency, muttering something under his breath about poor life choices.

Legend moves like a storm beside me, grabbing attackers before they even reach striking distance and dropping them one by one with precise, controlled hits.

Knight catches a blade with his forearm guard and punches the attacker straight in the jaw.

London, meanwhile, fights like she was born in chaos. She drops one exile with a kick to the knee and another with a clean strike to the throat.

None of them die.

They just hit the ground.

Hard.

Eventually, the last one drops and the island goes quiet again.

Sinner exhales and wipes blood from his mouth.

“Gods,” he says, sounding almost pleased. “That shit felt good. Been a while since I’ve had a proper fist fight.”

Knight scoffs, but he grins as he grabs London’s hands and inspects her knuckles. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Please,” she says sweetly. “Treat me like I’m breakable some more.”

He snaps his teeth at her in response.

Zev stretches his arms above his head with a satisfied yawn. “We should do that more often.”

I glance around the cliffside. “Focus.”

Legend steps beside me. “We need to find whoever’s here doing the killing.”

“They had to travel by water,” Creed says, scanning the shoreline. “No one else can get in, and even then—”

The cry of birds overhead is our only warning something is wrong.