Trying to protect a mate is going to get him killed.“Please tell me that Draco guy doesn’t know about me.”?
Nothing.Radio—no, not radio—telepathic silence.?
“BILL?”First the guy won’t shut up and now, when it’s life or death, he won’t respond?Of course, if he said yes, that would mean the scariest creature I’ve ever imagined, a monster king from another world who has killed millions of people, specifically wants to murder me because my mate is his mortal enemy.?
Yeah, that would freak me out.?
The street has emptied, the only people left are armed, dead, or injured and unable to move—like Special Agent Johnson.?
Damn it.Damn it.Damn it.Jerk.?
I race to Johnson’s side and drag him out of the street.My dad helps me get him over the curb and onto the sidewalk.He’s conscious, his gaze darting from side to side as he struggles to retain his grip on his pistol.My dad has shifted to medic mode, trying to figure out where the blood is coming from.?
“Don’t move, agent.We need to stop the bleeding.”?
Johnson ignores my dad and reaches for me, his bloody fingers wrapping around my arm.“More Wolven.There’s one more.”?
I do a quick body count.Eleven dead Wolven.?
BILL said there were twelve.Shit.Where is it?
Rygar’s roar of challenge echoes through the wreckage of our once innocent, happy, small-town festival.I glance up in time to see Rygar and the Draco charge one another, their movements too fast for me to track.Blades and claws clash and clammer.Weapons fire, the ringing blasts so loudly I wonder if my ears are going to bleed.?
Like every other person out on the street, I can’t look away.The Draco is massive, but Rygar is fast.It’s like watching the reptile king try to catch lightning in his hands while Rygar slices him with dozens of cuts.The Draco is bleeding dark, green blood.?
I close my eyes and let Rygar’s emotions flood me.He’s focused, cold as ice.I sense no fear, just resolve.?
Rygar truly believes he’s going to win.?
I feel the hint of a smile tug the corners of my mouth as I catch my dad’s eye.There’s nothing we can do now but wait.?
And pray.If I lose Rygar… No.I can’t.I won’t.I couldn’t bear it.?
To think I walked away from the love of my life because I was a coward.Because I thought I wanted a house and a fence made of painted wooden slats.Never again.If Rygar wants to live in a cave on an asteroid somewhere, that’s where we’ll live.The one place I know I belong is by his side, wherever that may be.?
Rygar and the Draco move farther from us as the battle continues.Roars of pain mix with grunts and bellows of rage.Rygar is slowing down, but the Draco is losing strength.The amount of green goo on the ground could paint a two-story home.They’ve moved beyond the barricade, past the smoldering remains of the law office into the open street.Car horns blare as people dodge the spectacle.I hear the sounds of cars colliding.Wheels screeching on pavement.?
From somewhere far, far away, the wail of police sirens carries on the wind.Must be from out of town, because all five of our law enforcement officers are already here, and one of them is trapped inside a burning car, dead.?
A Wolven’s howl fills the air, the challenge one of pure evil.??
I look everywhere.I don’t see anything.?
“The roof!”The warning shout comes from across the street.?
I crane my neck, looking straight up as the dark shadow of a Wolven falls from above.
Twenty
B.I.L.L.: Sometimes one must lose to win.
Stargazer Village, Thursday 11:00 am
I don’t even havetime to scream.
The Wolven comes down on top of me like an avalanche rolling me under his body.The force of its weight slamming into me knocks my head into the concrete.I lose my grip and my handgun skitters away, out of reach.
Dad leaps.The Wolven swats him away with the back of one huge hand.My dad’s body flies through the air and slams into the tempered glass in our store window.The glass splinters in a halo shape around his body before he falls to the ground.He’s not moving.
