Behind the rebel, the sky flashes brightly again, highlighting the mud-splattered skull like some sort of grotesque art piece. I grit my teeth together, the force of it strong enough to send pain shooting to my temples, dig my heels into the ground again, forcing my hips up with a shout. The male’s eyes widen as he abandons his next hit to brace himself and keep from tipping forward. But his momentum can’t be stopped, and when he’s close enough, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him towards me. Bone hits my shoulder, my face narrowly escaping the scrape of the horns as I wrap a leg around his hip, using the other to launch us both to the side.
Rolling off the rebel and reaching for my spear, I chance a look at Kai. The shifter king is still passed out, his face thankfully turned to the side so he doesn’t drown in the downpour. Scrambling to my feet, the rain pelts my face as I wheeze through my next breath, pain radiating down my arm from my shoulder.
There is no moment of reprieve, as the larger male is once more upon me, swinging his sword low towards my side. I thrust my spear out to intercept him, the reverberation of the impact making me wince as we take turns blocking the other’s onslaught. With the chaos of the storm and the darkness cloaking the jungle between bolts of lightning, the rebel and I are more reckless in our movements. When his footing slips in the over-soaked ground—his arms instinctively stretching out to balance himself—I take advantage and jab my spear forward.
He howls, dropping his guard as the jagged edges of my weapon shred through the skin and muscle of his torso right beneath his ribcage. Holding the spear with one hand, I send a punch into his jaw, dropping him to one knee.
My head jerks abruptly to the side, my teeth knocking together as I stumble back a few steps. The ends of my ponytail plaster to my face from the impact of the surprise punch, and I’m driven backward as I retreat from the attack until my back slams against a tree trunk. Silver glints at my side in the small patch of moonlight glowing through the tree line. The angry storm bursts with lightning again, illuminating the rebel I stabbed with my spear still on the ground, clutching his side. The second male stares at me from where he punched me before spinning around and sprinting towards Kai.
“Fuck!” I shout, reaching with my right hand to yank the dagger that was thrown earlier from the tree. Taking a step forward, I wind my arm back and then snap it forward in the direction of the running male. His arm reaches out to Kai right as the dagger hits him, slightly off the mark from where I was aiming but still embedding into his forearm.
Kai begins to stir, his raspy groan catching the attention of both males. My temple pounds above my eye from the punch, but I force myself towards the prone king, holding my spear tightly in both hands.
The female rebel attacks from the side, her steps crashing over the pebbles giving me enough warning to spin away from the swing of her blade. My boot sinks into a muddy pool of water, momentarily holding me in place as she circles behind me.
“Gods, you’re fucking annoying,” she hisses, yanking my head back with a sharp pull on my ponytail. Her arm wraps around my neck right as I free my boot. With a growl, I kick my leg back as hard as I can, the impact of the hit rattling my body. She screams as she buckles behind me, blindly swinging her shortsword up while I force myself from her grasp. I cry out when the tip of it slices into my forearm with painful precision, the cold rain mixing with my warm blood as it trails down towards my fingers. “We should shift into our anim—”
“No! We’ll be identified!”
Kai groans again as he shakily pushes himself up to his hands and knees.
“Fuck, he’s waking up! We need to go,” the largest rebel heaves, his breathing ragged as he cradles his side and stumbles to his feet. The female shouts out her frustration but doesn’t advance towards me again, looking to the shorter male who holds his arm to his chest.
I back up until I’m once more in front of Kai, whose head hangs between his shoulders as he sways on all fours. The scent of blood mixes with the rain as lightning continues to roll across the night sky in rapid succession. I get a better look at the masks the three are wearing. The shapes of them are long and angular, the eye sockets large enough to show not only the rebel’s eyes but the skin around them. Sticking out of the top are indeed two long horns that twist and curl in different directions.
“What the fuck,” I whisper as Kai comes to stand behind me, still very much wobbly, but his presence alone is enough to get the rebels to back up another step.
“This won’t be the last attempt. Next time, we are going to kill whoever stands in our way,” the female seethes.
“You can fuckingtry,” I taunt back.
She bares her teeth at me in response, but then the male cradling his arm—the dagger still sticking out from it—grabs her shoulder and pulls her back. Blood pools at the feet of the third rebel, his gait shaky.
“You might want to get that checked out,” I say with a smile, pointing my spear at him. The rain pings off of it, washing away some of the crimson from the tip.
“I’ll kill you,” he pants, his eyes catching the silver light from above through the sockets of the skull before they all turn and hobble back into the jungle.
I keep my stance at the ready for what feels like minutes, just in case any of them decide to double back. When I’m sure they’re gone, I relax my hold on my spear and spin around to face Kai. “Are you alri—”
He steps up to me, his hand wrapping around my wrist as he lifts it up. His eyes are fully molten—the gold shining brighter and illuminating them in a way that isn’tmortal.“You’re hurt,” he rumbles as he carefully inspects the cut on my arm.
“I’m fine.” There is too much adrenaline in my body at the moment to indicate anything different.
Kai lets go of me, only to bring his hand to my neck. His fingers wrap around the side and back of it while his thumb pushes under my jaw to tilt my face up higher.
“You protected me.” He says it like an accusation.
“Yes, well…” I swallow, my heart kicking up its rhythm for an entirely different reason. “Deals were made that need to be kept.”
His fingers tighten, pressing into my skin as he pulls me closer until our chests are touching. I can’t help the way I lean in, my body curving to the contour of his. The wood and metal ofmy spear is a hard line between us, the bloodied tip angled only a few inches away from our faces.
“Tell me what you did to them,” he demands, low and seductive.
Desire uncoils, pulsing through me as if I’ve been struck by the very lightning flashing above. It leaves me temporarily paralyzed as I hold Kai’s stare. “I think I shattered the female’s kneecap,” I rasp.
Kai’s breathing quickens, his heartbeat a deep thrum against his chest. “What else?”
“I threw a dagger at the other, impaling it into his forearm.”
