Ripper's POV

Ripper's eyes widened in horror as his mate crumpled to the ground, her body beginning to dissolve before his very eyes. A snarl of disbelief and rage tore from his throat.

How did that pathetic excuse for a human host manage to get back into her body? The thought ripped through Ripper's mind, a mixture of fury and bewilderment.

He leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding a stray bullet from the tan-skinned human. His claws extended, ready to rend flesh, but before he could strike, something slammed into him with brutal force. A yelp of pain escaped him as his spine collided with hard stone.

Dazed, Ripper looked up to see Cinder standing over him, her gun aimed directly at his head. Her eyes, once filled with affection, now burned with a cold determination that sent a chill through him.

"Sorry, Ripper," Cinder growled, her voice low and dangerous, "but you and I aren't meant to be together." The finality in her tone was unmistakable, a death knell for everything they had shared.

Ripper stared up at her, betrayal and disbelief warring in his eyes. In that moment, he realized that the Cinder he knew—the Cinder he loved—was gone, replaced by this human-minded version that looked at him not as a mate, but as an enemy to be eliminated.

Ripper's voice cracked with desperation as he stared up at Cinder, her gun still trained on him. "Y-you would turn on me? Your own love?" His words came out in a frantic rush, disbelief coloring every syllable. "I-I gave you back your life, Cinder!"

His mind raced, searching for anything that might sway her. "You and I, we can rule this world together! We could wipe out the last slivers of humanity." He saw a flicker of something in her eyes—was it doubt? Hope surged through him, and he pressed on, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. "You... you could see your mother again."

For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. Then Cinder's eyes flashed, a blaze of fury that made Ripper flinch. "My mother is dead, you runt," she spat, her voice laced with venom and an pain so deep it made Ripper's chest ache.

The gun in her hand never wavered, but Ripper could see the slight tremor in her fingers, the way her jaw clenched against some internal struggle. He realized with a sinking heart that the Cinder he knew wasn't just gone—she was fighting against everything they had been together.

"Cinder, please," he whispered, a final, desperate plea. "Remember who you are. Remember us."

But as he looked into her eyes, he saw only steel resolve and the echoes of a betrayal he was only beginning to understand.

Ripper swallowed hard, his claws curling into the mulchy ground beneath his feet. His gaze drifted to the lifeless body of the dinosaur that had once been Cinder, his mate. With a heavy heart, he took a tentative step towards her.

"Take one more step, and I'll blow your innards out, bastard," snarled a deep, guttural voice. The skull-faced man's words cut through the air like a knife, freezing Ripper in his tracks.

Ripper's jaws trembled, a mixture of rage and fear coursing through him. His hatred for these humans burned hotter than ever, a festering wound that would never heal. "Fine," he grunted, his voice a low growl of defeat.

He locked eyes with Cinder, who stared back at him, her gaze unwavering and cold. In that moment, Ripper saw no trace of the creature he had loved, only a stranger wearing her face. His heart clenched painfully in his chest.

"Take me in," he spat, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. "But never, ever expect me to yield, you hear?" The last words were directed at Cinder, a final, desperate attempt to reach whatever might be left of his mate within her.

But Cinder's expression remained impassive, her gun still trained on him with unwavering precision. The silence that followed was deafening, filled with the weight of everything that had been lost between them.

The tension in the air was palpable as Cinder's cold voice cut through the silence. "Bind him," she ordered, her tone devoid of any emotion that might have betrayed her former connection to Ripper.

Without another glance at her former mate, Cinder turned away, moving towards the lifeless form that had once been her dinosaur body. Her steps were measured, controlled, but there was a slight hesitation in her movement, as if she were approaching something both familiar and alien.

Ripper watched her go, a mixture of betrayal and longing etched across his features. He barely registered the movement of the three men converging on him, their weapons raised and ready.

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded at the base of his skull. One of the men had swung the butt of his rifle, connecting with brutal force. Ripper's world tilted, colors bleeding into a dizzying swirl. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was Cinder's silhouette, standing over her old body, a stranger in a familiar form.

As consciousness slipped away, Ripper's mind grasped at fragments of memories—Cinder's laugh, the feel of her scales against his, the dreams they'd shared of a world conquered together. But these images dissolved like smoke, leaving only the cold reality of betrayal and loss.

The world faded to black, and Ripper fell into the void, alone.

Cinder's POV

Cinder looked over the black beast that had once been a part of her life, her heart heavy with the weight of her memories. She reached out to touch it, feeling its coarse scales beneath her fingers, a tactile reminder of the creature that had once loomed large in her world. The giant jaws, which would have been poised to snap at her friends, lay parted in a grotesque stillness, as if her retreat from its body had somehow stolen its essence. Although the beast had dissolved into a shadowy remnant, she could still see traces of it, its presence lingering in the air with a haunting familiarity.

"Hey, we better leave and report back to Captain Connor," Ghost's voice broke through her reverie, cold and unfeeling as he fell back into his role. He had Ripper's body slung over his shoulder, the indoraptor's claws bound and muzzled, a grim testament to their hard-won victory.

Cinder nodded, steeling herself as she straightened. She felt the tension in the air, a reminder that their work was far from over. Ghost's grim demeanor mirrored her own inner turmoil, yet she knew they had to keep moving forward. As they turned to make their way back to base, Cinder's mind raced with thoughts of the world outside, the delicate balance that hung in the balance.

With each step she took beside her friends, strength surged within her. A reminder of what she truly was—a protector, a fighter, a force of nature. She might be a monster on the inside, a creature of scales and claws, but she was never going to be one on the outside. No matter what transformations she underwent, she vowed to uphold the values she had learned alongside her comrades.

"Let's go, then," she urged, determination filling her voice as they moved together into the shadows of the forest. They had faced monstrous challenges, and though the battle had left scars on their souls, they continued to press onward.

Cinder glanced at Ghost, his expression a mix of resolve and burden. They were each other's anchors in this chaotic tide. "No matter what happens next," she said quietly, almost as if speaking to herself, "we have to stay strong. For the world's balance, for those who can't fight for themselves."

Ghost met her gaze, and for a moment, the weight of their struggles seemed to lift. In that shared moment of understanding, they both knew that the real monsters in the world were the choices people made, not the forms they inhabited. As they pushed further into the depths of the forest, the path back to Captain Connor, to their allies, was illuminated by the resilient fire that burned within them.

Cinder was not just a monster; she was a warrior, and with her friends by her side, she would fight to protect the balance of their world, no matter the cost. Their journey was far from over, and as she moved onward, her heart beat in sync with the pulse of the life around her, an eternal reminder of her purpose. She was ready to face whatever came next, determined to reshape her destiny and that of the world, one step at a time.