And I felt anger so potent, so intense I tasted it coating my tongue. “I’m going to fucking tear you apart,” I hissed at the creature and gripped the piece of shit, yanking it away from Ada. She kicked out, loosening her foot from its hold, and scrambled backward.
I had a tentacle in each hand, feeling the slimy creature fight me harder. Its beak-like jaw lunged toward my face, and I jerked backward as it snapped at me, the chittering sound growing louder.
“I’m going to give your mangled body to my mate as a prize,” I seethed.
Ada gave what could only be called a war cry and charged forward, a large branch in her hand as she swung.
“Fucking hell, Ada,” I gritted the words out when the stick hit the side of the creature, barely missing taking off my arm in the process.
“Sorry,” she yelled out. “You looked like you needed help.”
The creature turned its broad, flattened head toward Ada and snapped, and she screamed and jumped back, swinging the stick again and connecting with its skull this time.
It made a gods-awful screech and thrashed around even harder, two of its tentacles wrapping around my legs as it tried to take me down so I was on my back and it would have a better advantage.
My body grew bigger, my muscles thickening. With a deafening roar, I felt my body change into that of a lethal predator. The only thing I could think about was protecting my female.
With every single ounce of strength I possessed, I roared again as I ripped the creature in half, its body splitting in two, death sounds coming from it.
I was staring at the ground as I tossed both halves of the creature aside, my chest rising and falling as I felt all the adrenaline rushing through my veins. I wanted to kill something else. I wanted to offer up body parts to Ada so she’d know I’d be able to protect her.
When I felt myself start to calm to a more sane level—for me, anyway—I looked up at Ada only to see her staring at me with wide eyes and… creature gunk all over her.
Dark goo covered her from head to toe, the slime dripping down her dark red locks, over her face, and down her chest before making a slopping sound as it hit the forest ground.
For long moments we stood still, and all I could do was stare at my poor little mate who was covered in disgusting parallel-dimension-creature innards, knowing I shouldn’t do what was happening right now but unable to stop the smile that formed into a huge grin on my face.
“Even dirty as fuck,” I said, stifling a laugh, “you look hot, baby.”
She shook her hands out, flinging slime off her body, but it made a little dent in how much covered her.
I reached out and ran a finger over her brow, taking off a large chunk of the slop before shaking my head. “No fixing this, baby; you need a bath.”
She narrowed her eyes and I braced for that fiery tongue my mate liked to use on me, but I was left blinking in shock when she tipped her head back and started laughing.
Ada placed a hand on her belly, her eyes squeezed shut tightly as she laughed almost hysterically. I started to get worried she’d gone and lost her mind after being stuck in this shithole, but after a second she sobered and shook her head, still laughing softly as she stared up at me.
“All I can do is laugh at all of this.” She held her hands out and grinned.
Fuck, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever set eyes on.
And she was all mine.
Chapter
Ten
Ada
“You think it’s safe?” I asked skeptically as I stared at the small pool of crystal-clear water that was fed by the twenty-foot-high waterfall that cascaded off the rocky outcropping above.
“In this fucking place?”
I glanced at Sebastian after he spoke and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Not likely. But it looks nice, yeah?”
I gave a dreamy sigh at how nice “it” actually looked as I stared at my big, burly mate.
After shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on the water again. But after a second I felt a tingling on the back of my neck and lifted my hand to rub the sensation away. I glanced around the small clearing, but I saw nothing but thick trees. I heard nothing but the distant cry of strange creatures on this plane. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling we were being watched, and that thought had the hair on my arms standing on end.
When I looked at Sebastian to see if he felt it too, any worry was whisked away as I took in the state of him before glancing down at myself.
We both had creature gunk all over us, and even if the water wasn’t safe, I was desperate enough to wash this shit off.