Kaal appeared in the rear hold, jogging toward Mak and Saba.
Just as he was about to lean into the craft to speak with them, the energy barrier protecting the Corvette’s aft deck ripped with an unholy scream.
The air thickened with the stench of rot and sulfur. Shadows moved fast and unnaturally, melding through the shield like a swarm of winged nightmares.
‘Thesachemhad come to avenge their fallen master,’ Kaal growled.
Mak cursed. ‘Fokk, when will this end?’
He didn’t stick around for an answer.
Instead, he reached for a fresh weapon from the extensive selection in the spacious glove compartment.
‘Let’s finish this,’ Mak snarled to his brother. ‘Saba, stay put.’
Saba blinked, unsure she was going to obey him.
He and Kaal swung out, transforming into a pair of formidable spectral lycan venators.
Menacing and wolf-like, they had their fangs extended, as a storm of lightning and arcs of energy crackled over their fur.
In seconds, thesachemswere upon them.
Their forms flickered and warped, their wings a grotesque mockery of angelic grace, and their eyes glowing with malice. They were endless.
Mak turned to fight, using his claws and incisors in a blur of precise, lethal strikes.
He cut through the first wave with the efficiency of a war-born killer.
But the numbers kept coming.
Mak stumbled when one of the creatures struck, his balance faltering for a split second.
Saba didn’t think. Instinct took over.
She threw herself from the backseat of the skiff, landing hard on the deck but rolling to her feet.
Without a thought, she darted into the chaos. The firstsachemcame for her, its shriek splitting the night, claws raised.
She used her wrist comm shield to block its attack.
It bounced off the electronic shield just as another beast lunged at Mak.
A pulse, a burning sensation, exploded inside her chest, expanding outward like a detonation.
A wildfire coursing through her veins, demanding release.
Running towards Mak’s attackers, she engaged, as its demon-like talons raked across her arm, searing pain lashing through her.
A zephyr of whipping energy rose from within her.
Her eyesight tilted and dilated.
She weaved on her feet, but not from pain.
The scorching heat inside her erupted, flooding every nerve, each cell. A deep, electric hum filled her ears, and in seconds, she wasn’t just standing beside a battle.
She was the tempest itself.
