The Mate of A Monster

pen and locked on the ceiling beams above her. She struggled for air. An invisible force

her lungs to expand, contract, and expand again. Next, she worked to uncurl her cramping fingers—knowing

sery could only s

't have

nore the spreading fire shooting through each nerve,

e pain clawing through muscles and bones the closer they came was nothing. The

would happen should the hated

he could never accept thei

has

nough now that she couldn'

to drag away friends and loved ones who were never seen again. All settl

k them in

lers were expected to go to their knees

ak unless

or fought...were

able things: whippings,

en—those the settlement needed most. They tore families apart. Scre

numb to it. S

ld hear it in the settlement after dark, the hum of sad moans, the creak of n

the stain that th