I didn’t answer. Instead, Ireached. Wanting the equine. Wishing for it.
And Iskar came on board. Guided me through, until I rolled to my feet, shook my mane, and snorted.
And then, I embraced running as though my life depended on it. Which it didn’t, but perhaps my sanity did. I thundered along the trail with strides that ate up the ground. Pushing myself faster and faster, until everything around me was a blur and the sweat ran off my body, whipping to foam beneath my mane.
And it felt glorious.
The trail climbed beneath my hooves, and the trees gave way to a plateau. I slid to a halt beneath a sky roiling with clouds.
What are you doing, Marcus?Now Iskar sounded nervous.
I ignored him, and reared. Running on four legs reminded me of what I had lost—but I was no good to anyone like this. Riley was off on a dangerous mission, without me. She didn’t need a freking horse. And everything I had been, or could be, screamed that I needed to be with her.
Yet she was mated to another.
If you’d only listen to me—that doesn’t have to matter.
I mentally shut Iskar down. Because I couldn’t contemplate any of it, so long as I failed to control this thing inside me. Not only could it kill her—why would she want to be mated to a man that couldn’t look at her without growing scales?
She has given you no indication that even matters to her,Iskar stated.You are wallowing.
Wallowing?
Yes. Avoiding the issue by creating reasons why it could never work.
I pushed him away, again. Regardless of what I might want, the warrior in me screamed to be set free, just as much as the demon did.
Nothing that I wanted was possible until I conquered this.
Marcus, I applaud your sudden desire to tackle the creatures inside you, but there is no one to help us here. You could lose yourself to this, without it.
I am losing myself to this, anyway. I am tired of running from it. I need to freking face it.
I’m not sure—he began.
I opened the doors to everything I held inside, and blasted him with it. All the frustration, the anger, and the angst. Not fair to do so, but I’d had enough.There is no point in living like this. And I will not risk anyone else with my demons. So let them fly.
I sensed a burst of panic. But then he took a mental breath, and relented.I might not be able to stop this once we start,he warned.
Iskar, let it go.This time, I almost pleaded.
He hesitated. Then, he did so.
And the demon came for me. It rolled over me like a tidal wave. I couldn’t have stopped it if I’d tried, and the power of it proved what Iskar had warned—once started, there was no stopping this.
I fought my fear as it swept the equine form away, thickening my legs and arms with great ropes of muscle, my hooves giving way to strong fingers tipped with razor-sharp talons that glowed silver. I expanded, packing on muscle around a powerful body with a whippy tail. Silver spikes erupted the full length of my spine, each one flickering with an eerie light.
As they formed a crest around a skull with heavy, powerful jaws, the fear gave way to something equally primal, but more savage. I tilted my head back and roared.
And the sky responded with an answer, forking lightning across restless clouds as thunder rolled.
Hellfire,Iskar stated, breathlessly.
Then the lightning blasted straight into me, dancing between the spikes in the center of my scales, and forming a glowing, flickering crown between those on my head and my small wings. Far from burning as it did so, it flushed me with energy.
I reared up on powerful hind legs as the wind drove rain against my scales. It sizzled as it hit, as though I were that heated.
I felt powerful. Invincible.
