Asher stepped to his right as he peered down a tunnel, and a rib bone crunched under his boot. The answering roar was louder than the previous one, and Asher cursed under his breath. “Don’t you dare fuckin’ say it,” Asher shot at Darian before the smirking siren could comment.
“If I have to choose between your friend and us, I won’t hesitate to end his life,” I told Lyr, but the tiger shifter didn’t have time to respond.
A beast prowled into sight from one of the tunnels to the left, and its angry orange gaze fixed on the displaced tomb. Opening its jaws, it roared again, the sound making the stone walls rattle, and then the creature attacked.
CHAPTER 11
~ Raine ~
Iwasn’tpreparedforthe monster that stepped from the shadows. The beast had the head of a mountain lion but with tall horns, a sleek scaled body with four clawed paws, and a long tail that ended with a snake’s head. Its glowing eyes fixed on Kade, and I cried out as the creature leaped into the air, its front paws outstretched.
Kade shifted to his wolf form in an instant, and the pair of them became a heap of fur and claws, growling and snapping at one another. In a swift movement, the chimera’s large teeth gripped the back of Kade’s neck, and the beast threw the wolf to the side. By the time Kade was on his feet again, the monster was bounding toward Asher.
Asher tightened his grip on his axes as he eyed the creature and prepared to go for its throat, but Lyr shouted in alarm, “Don’t hurt him!”
Cursing, Asher dropped his axes at the last moment and lifted his hands, straining to hold the chimera back as its powerful jaws snapped at his face. The beast’s tail curved around, the snake’s fangs coming dangerously close to Asher’s legs. “If you don’t want me to kill it, a little help would be nice!” Asher grunted right before two of Darian’s stars glanced off the beast’s hind legs, and Kade barrelled into the creature’s side, sending it sprawling with him.
My dragon strained to be let out, patches of my skin rippling and thickening, but Lyr’s hand landed on my arm. “You can’t shift,” she warned. “If you do, your dragon might kill him.”
I placed my hand over hers as emotion clouded her eyes. “Then you’d better get that thing under control,” I told her seriously as smoke trailed from my mouth. Because my dragon wasn’t happy that there was a little kitty hurting her monsters, and all it would take was the scent of their blood, and I was pretty sure I’d be roasting that thing.
Lyr shifted, her clothes tearing off her as thick black and white fur sprouted over her skin, and she changed into an impressive snow tiger. She wasn’t as large as the chimera or Kade, but she darted forward with incredible speed, quickly moving to distract the chimera from Soren who had joined the fight, and then skirting away before the creature could swipe at her with his paws.
“We need to knock him out,” Soren yelled as Lyr continued to distract the chimera and the rest circled the beast. The chimera’s tail snapped out, nearly clamping onto Darian’s arm as he dodged out of the way.
I thumbed the pommel of my sword as I watched in agitation. Fire burned in my belly, and I shook my head, mentally trying to keep my dragon at bay as my skin grew uncomfortably warm.My treasures. My mates.The thoughts echoed in my mind, and as Asher was thrown backward, my teeth started to elongate into fangs. I was sure I was about to give in and shift when Locke stepped up beside me and turned my head, so I was staring at him and not the beast attacking my mates.
His eyes were pure onyx black, his fangs protruding from his lips, but otherwise, he was calm as he stared at me. “Give them time,” he said as he held my gaze.
“Why aren’t you helping them?” I hissed back, but I already knew the answer. He was there forme.To protect me even though I was now a monster just like them.
“I’m here for the same reason you are,” he said. “Because I’d much rather kill the feral monster than watch it harm those I care about. I’m not sure if I’d be able to control myself. But if you think I should risk it…”
“No,” I replied quickly, remembering the worry in Lyr’s gaze when the fight began. Whoever Vasken was, he was important to her and her mates, and I didn’t want to be the one responsible for his death.
The chimera’s roar was deafening, but the cry abruptly changed to a whimper and then there was silence. I pulled my gaze from Locke’s and peered over to where the others were around the chimera. The monster was at Asher’s feet, its chest barely moving as it breathed, and it transformed before our eyes, its massive form shrinking until a naked male was lying on the stone instead of a beast. I could only guess Asher had been the one to render the monster unconscious because he pumped his fist into the air and turned to grin at me like he thought he’d won some kind of competition. I rolled my eyes, but all I really felt was relief.
Kade and Lyr shifted back to their human forms, the pair of them appearing battered and bruised, but otherwise unharmed, and Darian and Soren stared on with grim expressions.
“Next time, I suggest we contain the beastbeforewe try to take away its toy,” Darian suggested as he began retrieving his stars from around the room. Yanking out a star from where it was lodged in a stone pillar, he wiped the weapon on his pants and slid it into his belt. Locke and I moved closer to the disarmed male on the ground, my inner dragon finally settling now that the threat was unconscious.
“What do you plan to do with him?” Kade asked Lyr and Soren as he grabbed his weapons belt from where it had fallen to the ground when he’d shifted.
Lyr sighed, staring at the bony male at her feet. “For now, we’ll have to leave him here, but I’ll return with Dean, Nic, and Soren when I can. It’ll take time, but I’m hoping we can bring him back to his usual self. If we’re lucky and we can convince the fae to remove the curse, that’ll help.”
“Even if the curse is removed, the mind can be hard to heal,” Darian said quietly, and I didn’t miss the way my siren watched Asher subtly for his reaction to the comment. But Asher wasn’t paying attention as he strode over to me and lifted me into his arms, making me cry out in surprise.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked as he propped me on his shoulder like he was placing me on an imaginary pedestal.
“I figure I deserve a reward seein’ as I didn’t fuck up for once, and I managed not to kill that thing. It just so happens I choose you to fulfill that role,” Asher replied.
I scoffed in disbelief. “That wasn’t a game, Ash. We were helping out Lyr and Soren, and there’s still a tomb that needs to be transported.”
Asher grinned as he dropped me from his shoulder and caught me with both arms. “Could have fooled me,” he said, then he smashed his lips to mine. I melted into him, all too glad to have some attention after I just had to sit by and watch them fight. When our lips parted, Locke, Darian, and Kade were around us as well, staring at me like they all expected a turn.
“I think you’re all forgetting about our cargo over there,” I said with a grin, indicating to the stone tomb.
“He’s only sleeping, lovely, and we haven’t forgotten,” Darian said with a devilish smile. “But if you don’t kiss me like you just kissed Ash here, I’m going to start thinking your dragon has a favorite.”
