We will kill him.Wow, I did admire my beast’s confidence.
I wasn’t about to argue. We were in trouble. I was in trouble.Do it. You’re in charge now. Protect Ethan.I retreated inside, gave her full control.
Her roar made my teeth rattle as she charged the cyborg.
It swung—faster than my normal, Atlan eyes would have been able to track. Faster, perhaps, than an Elite Hunter.
My beast wasn’t phased. She blocked with my forearm guard and plunged our claws into the cyborg’s thigh.
The cyborg swung his free arm down, slammed a blade into the top of my shoulder. My armor—or my beast’s new skin—deflected enough of the blow that the blade slid down my back, barely slicing into flesh. The sheer force of the blow, however, knocked me to one knee. It was like a loaded shuttle had just landed on my shoulders.
Holy gods, this thing was strong.
It pinned me down, a blade extended from its wrist, humming with surgical precision, angled directly for my heart.
I didn’t pray. I yanked my claws from its thigh and plunged them up, between his legs. Straight into his fucking groin.
His bellow made my bones rattle.
Its head snapped up as Ethan appeared on the edge of the roofline. “Get away from her, you fucking asshole.”
I saw the weapon my mate held in his hands. Knew what it could do.
I hit the ground and rolled as Ethan fired. A shockwave of electric blue plasma leaped across the space and wrapped around the cyborg. His body jerked in reaction. Sizzled. Smokerose from the exoskeleton armor it wore. The monster was wounded, but not down. Not yet.
Ethan fired again. The cyborg absorbed the hit. Took two steps back. I rolled forward and swept its legs.
The cyborgfloatedabove the sweep and landed on his feet.
I moved without thinking.
Rolled onto my feet and raced toward it. Two strides. I leapt onto its back and jammed my claws into the back of its neck.
This time, it didn’t make a sound. Didn’t bellow or rage or scream. The wounds I’d cut into its lower body were sealed. It still wasn’t bleeding. But it was hurting. He was slower than he had been.
Not slow enough. Gods help us.
“Move! Move! Move!” Ethan’s command broke through and I realized he couldn’t shoot the Scion’s weapon with me on the cyborg’s back. If he fired, he’d hit both of us.
The moment I withdrew my claws, it threw me off its back—hard. I flew through the air, my body slamming into the vent tower, ribs flaring in agony despite my armor. I fell onto my hands and knees, tried to regain my bearing as Ethan advanced on the cyborg, firing nonstop. He forced the creature away from me, placed his body between me and certain death.
The monster absorbed blast after blast. Didn’t go down. Couldn’t advance.
I had one weapon left. As the humans would say, myHail Mary.
“Ethan.” How was I going to tell him that we could both die on this rooftop? That the energy blast we needed to destroy this monster would probably kill us as well?
“You got a trick up your sleeve?”
Gods I was in love with this male. No fear in his voice, just acceptance. More raw courage than any Coalition fighter I’d ever met. “Might kill us, too.”
Ethan stepped backward, toward me. Almost close enough to touch as he kept firing. “Do it. He’s the one, the one who killed Eddie.” With one quick movement, Ethan looked back at me over his shoulder, determination in the lines around his eyes. “We have to end this. How many more people will he kill?”
Too many.
“We’ll have fifteen seconds to run.” I held his gaze.
He nodded then turned and fired another round at the cyborg who was still on his feet taking blast after blast. His metallic implants were so hot they’d begun melting, dripping down his face and chest like raindrops sliding down glass.
