The other four Dragons spun to meet him, and every guard on the roof moved toward them. But Sebastian moved like quicksilver, impossible to engage, there and gone so fast the only sign of his passage was the blood he’d drawn.
My mouth hung open as I stared. Then I saw Grievan running for the stairs, the woman with him. Each held a struggling cub bundled in cloaks.
I was halfway to them before I even realized I’d jumped down off the roof. There was no way those kids were leaving with that underworld monster.
Something whizzed by me to impact the stone parapet—a crossbow bolt. Apparently, not all guards were trying to pin Sebastian down.
I ducked behind the small shed. Emerged, hunching over, only to have another bolt shoot over my head. Grievan’s guards knew their stuff. I made it to the shelter of the chimney, and paused. Another shaft pierced the air where I would have been had I kept moving.
I needed to delay Grievan’s departure into that stairway. I opened my mouth and gave my best imitation of Trix’s bark. Sharp, high-pitched, like an invitation.
The results were everything I could have hoped for. The younglings weren’t yet thirty pounds, but they were strong in their beast forms. Galvanized by the sound of their friend, the cubs uttered little baby roars, and the woman cursed as her burden squirmed wildly.
I leaped from my hiding spot and somersaulted into the open. Bolts rained down around me, but I kept moving, my gaze fastened on the woman struggling with the Sabre cub.
Grievan was having similar issues. Tiny, well-armed paws battled free from the makeshift sack to score his arm. But between them and me was a blue-skinned guard leveling his crossbow on me.
My body took over, and suddenly I wasn’t running, but cartwheeling, my eyes focused on a spot in the middle of his chest. His bolts shot increasingly wide as I spun ever closer, and my last revolution brought me to a crouch at his feet. My thumb swept over to the release on my bicep knife, and I straightened with one fluid move to drive it straight into his chest.
It lodged there, and after a hard tug, I left it. He collapsed.
There was no mistaking the wide-open stare that glazed over.
I’d killed him.
For a second, I froze. My brain groped for coherence—how had I done what I’d just done—but then I raised my eyes to meet those of the woman.
She dropped the cub and turned to run. But the dark-haired baby Sabre was true to her heritage—she battled free of the cloth to wrap her sturdy little legs around the woman’s leg, and sink her tiny teeth in deep.
The woman screeched, but I was already in motion, lunging past them to where Grievan had reached the stairwell door.
His cub—it must be Alyssa—was having more trouble getting clear of her wrap. Or rather, Grievan was doing a better job of keeping her confined within it. I tugged the long knife free from my thigh holster.
Another guard stepped between me and Grievan, swinging a sword. Instinctively, I raised the knife, but it was an uneven contest—the heavier sword hit the blade and spun it from my grip.
But for that instant, his sword arm was committed to yanking my knife away—and it seemed my inner warrior had a plan. She spun my body in a graceful arc, and my foot crunched into his jaw.
It was a solid hit, and his eyes rolled back in his head before he crumpled.
The door was just closing behind Grievan. I lunged forward and got my arm through before it did so.
“Alyssa!” I called.
An answering screech from the bundle, and a second small-clawed paw thrashed free from it to slash at his arm. Grievan was made of sturdy stuff—he grimaced, but adjusted the squirming bundle so he could draw a knife.
I was already on top of them, grabbing the knife arm. He was strong, but I was enraged. And I now knew that I didn’t need to be armed, to be deadly.
With my hand wrapped around his wrist, I grabbed for his throat with the other. And as my fingers sank deep, I unleashed the monster within me.
His eyes widened as they stared into mine, and what he saw there must have terrified him. He dropped the knife, and then Alyssa, and tried to pull free, hammering and clawing at my arms and hands. But my lips peeled back from my teeth as I chased the blood vessels to his chest, and then—to his heart.
Seconds later, I let go, and he crumpled to the floor at the top of the stairs, eyes wide open and staring. I nudged him with my foot, and he went over the edge, rolling limply down the full flight until he hit the landing.
Just as I had each time I’d used my power to attack, I shook all over. Why was it so different from what happened between Matt and me? After draining him, I could have leaped to the moon.
“Meowrr.”
I looked down into Alyssa’s golden eyes.
