The monster lunged forward, snapping its jaws in its many heads. “I see clearer than ever, bear. I am not meant to be caged. We will be free to do as the Goddess intended and tear the fabric of reality from its moorings once this one is dead. She grows too powerful.”
The brood members woke slowly, stumbling to their feet. Declan stood on four paws, but his eyes remained glassy, like the dream still latched onto his mind. Worse than that, a team of men entered the camp in strange, dark armor that blended with the night with even stranger weapons pointed at us. They were definitely not of the Harrowlands.
I turned back to Noth, and Abner stood beside him. Pinching myself, I was unfortunately wide awake.
I tapped Ward’s shoulder. “Do you see a skinny guy with bad teeth and a face like a lemon?”
Ward nodded. “Yes. Do you see a man with a collar and chain?”
“Yep. My ex.”
Ward growled. “My attempted jailer.”
I took a gulping breath. “Nightmares manifested in the real world were not how I thought we were going to work through our mate trauma.”
“You want to try?” Ward’s hopeful voice sounded completely inappropriate for the amount of danger we were in.
I attempted to stick to the topic at hand. “Are they real?”
Ward kept his friend in his line of vision. “Noth is a powerful Nightmare Walker, but he’s never made anything solid in the waking realm. It must be the relic.”
“How can he hear its call? I thought all shifters turned into animals?”
Ward stood, sheltering me with his body. Unfortunately, the brood and the men in black surrounded us. “Not all of us shift into pleasant forms. The Elven council will be furious that their King is out here in his other form.”
Great. How were we supposed to fight Ward’s friend and a King to boot?
“Grab her,” Noth said and dream Abner started forward and the rest of the brood came closer. Did their dreams still govern them?
Ward stepped up. But that gave one of the scary men in black a chance to grab my arm and haul me away. I was a snake so fast he didn’t have time to pull away before my fangs buried in his forearm. I didn’t feel the least bit bad. My venom bubbled his skin and tore screams from his mouth, unlike the shifters. At this point in the quest, I was ready to be a savage if it meant this would end faster.
I chomped the next one, approaching with his tube-like weapon. Biting his unprotected neck turned out to be easier than I thought, but the stick in his hand went off with the sound of an explosion. My snake form muted the ringing in my ears.
The next man in black used a snarling, slobbering Declan as a shield, his weapon pointed at my head. I wasn’t as fast as the shifters surrounding us, but I moved faster than the human. I was absolutely sure that’s what they were beneath their strange clothes and mechania weapons. Declan tried to fight me, prevent me from getting close to the man. The mini-explosions sounded all around me and a searing line of heat grazed my side as I bit Declan and prayed my venom would snap him out of it again.
Be careful of their artillery,I warned Ward, who squared off with Noth. He had magic between his hands, speaking some spell that glowed with an unholy fire.
You may have to bite Noth even if I can get the relic off him,Ward warned.
It seemed to work on Declan. He wasn’t brawling with me anymore, even if he did retch up last night’s mead.
SHIFT!I commanded him and he popped into his human form, looking pissed.Find Noora and the temple boys. Wake them any way you can. They’re the only other ones not affected by the relic. If we can get them awake, he won’t be able to nightmare them, either.
Declan scampered off after barreling into the man in black so I could bite at his legs and arms. Two other shifters dove into me, rolling us back toward Ward. Every shifter I bit would only help us, but this was going to be a losing battle. The snow leopard on my right sunk his claws into my shoulder before I could bite him. Even though he turned very apologetic once my venom sank in, I couldn’t take many hits like that. My leg hadn’t healed from the arrow.
Contain the men in black,I ordered them.Or kill them. I don’t care at this point.
We can help you here,the snow leopard said.
I don’t know what will happen if you get too close to the relic. Keep the others safe.
They nodded. When did I turn into the person they would listen to? They slunk off into the night and I heard the screams of men shortly after.
I had to get back to Ward. I wouldn’t want to fight my bestie and we wouldn’t contain Noth forever.
Ward had Noth pinned with a frightening amount of magic. Thick, sorcerous ropes pulled taught with Declan and the gang’s effort. Ward sweat through his shirt, straining to keep Noth contained. The figment of Ward’s jailer surrounded him. What had to be his dead quest partners joined him. The Nightmare Walker wasn’t making this easy on my mate.
“You don’t really want to hurt one of the few friends you have left,” a half-decapitated man said, and Ward shook.
