It was awkward to run to them in snake form, but I managed a waddle. Luckily, everyone was too busy with the raging nightmare monster to notice my wombling. Maybe I needed to do this human. I shifted as I skidded to a stop. More human screams sounded from the outskirts of the camp as our brood let us deal with this.
Noth fought his bindings hard, jaw snapping, ever more limbs reaching out as Ward shielded the group from his friend’s grasp. Everyone had their hands full just holding him down, so it was up to me to grab the relic. I looked for an opening to dive into the fray, but suddenly Abner stood in front of me.
I edged closer to Ward to avoid him.
“Evening. Don’t do this. You’re going to get hurt. You trip getting into the house,” nightmare Abner said.
I shoved him out of the way and he appeared corporeal enough, if more scrawny than I remembered him. Real enough to make me nervous. “I told you to never call me that. And I stabbed a giant worm in the eye. I got this.”
Abner tried to step between us. “You’re such a liar?—”
Ward punched him right in the face. Surprise squeaked a chirp out of me as Abner fell back on his ass in the dirt. I laughed so hard I doubled over. Godds that was satisfying, even if it wasn’t the real Abner.
“You’ve got this,” Ward said with full authority ringing in his voice.
Warmth flooded me with his words. He trusted me to do this.
“Shove off, ghosts.” I pushed Ward’s nightmares away from him as well. They drifted back towards us, chatting up a storm again. We needed to finish this before they harassed us to death.
“You will not hurt Noth. I can get the relic,” I told Ward.
“I can hold his head, but he can shift into any nightmare. You have to be fast,” Ward said, sweat beading his brow as Noth tugged an arm free of the enchantment. “I can only repeat the structure of this spell so many times before it snaps.”
“Can your bear sit on him?” I asked.
“My bear will tear him apart if I let him out. You can’t hesitate. Noth will fight hard for the relic. Snake in there and eat it.”
“Excuse me?” I blinked at him.
“Veretis’ Fang of Courage is the thing in the center of that crown. That is the one relic the history books say shrine maidens actually ate and wielded unmatched bravery in the face of adversity.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Noth roared into the night, jerking Declan off his feet. The wolf shifted, the spelled rope in his jaws pulling taught.
“Debate later!” Noora yelled and Noth lunged at her, only stopped by Brightpaw, pulling the magical rope tight.
I didn’t think, I just shifted and dove for Noth, crashing into him as he unhinged his jaw further than any wolf ever could. I wrapped around him as his mouth came slamming down on my middle. The punishing gnawing erupted agony across my body. Everyone started screaming. Venom leaked from Noth’s mouth, pumping through me, and my snake took over, reacting with her own bite. This time, I called the venom with a vengeance. The faster I forced it into him, the better. No one would harm my brood.
Noth howled a distorted wail as he released me. Whatever he bit me with raced through my system, my heart thundering. My mind slipped, like my human side couldn’t keep a grip on my control. Overwhelming fear spread through my bones. A nameless, primal fear that Noth snapped forward to eat from. His form bulked, but the fear also spurred my snake. My coils expanded, a rumble rattled my throat. I gripped my snake’s intent, yanking because she was about to destroy Noth on her own. No fear meant no barriers, no hesitation, no reason not to tear the threat limb from limb. Her brutality was terrifying, which only added to the fear sloshing inside me.
I only had one chance to distract her out of a bloodbath—I lunged for the relic, opening my mouth wide. A mouthful of metal and bone made me gag, but I chewed it all, struggling to swallow. The mess scratched and burned all the way down.
Wait until you see this,Veretis’ familiar voice echoed. The Goddess’ power warred with the fear venom inside me, eventually flowing around it rather than fighting it. My body snapped, lengthened and twisted around Noth tighter, even though he stopped attacking the moment I took the relic from him. The fear screamed I would become an even more horrific monster.
My vision swam. The ground grew pretty far away. The crunching and screams of the brood turning on the black-clad men sounded so distant.
SHIFT.I commanded Noth with all the power in me and he fell forward into a perfectly graceful looking elf, complete with long, pierced ears. I didn’t put any effort behind it, but the entire clearing of shifters shifted, finishing the fight with the remaining humans with fists and brute strength.
The Goddess’ power formed an endless lake, even if Noth’s venom made me a shaking mess.
Evie!Ward yelled into my mind. He looked so cute. More like a teddy bear than ever.
Noora shrieked, “Dragon!”
Shit.With this much adrenaline in my system, there was no way I could fight a dragon. Ward swayed on his feet from the effort of his spells and my instincts screamed, run! We needed to get out of here. My snake demanded my mate be safe. I reached down—that was new—and took Ward in my very long talons, clutching him to my chest. The fear rode me hard, my heart booming in my ears, my mind still hazy.
Safe, safe, SAFE!
