Funny.
Two days ago, I would have seen this opportunity as a means to finish them off cleanly, but now…the idea felt wrong. Maybe this was my soldier’s sense of honor, or some bullshit nobility, but I couldn’t leave an injured male at the mercy of an animal.
“Lyrae. On the count of three, I’m throwing you my knife.” Ryland’s calm, steady voice was a shock to my system, momentarily distracting me from the looming threat about to devour me. “Make sure you catch it while Varian distracts this thing.”
“Bad idea,” I grit out. “I run, you two find cover.”
“Fuck you and your bullshit plan. Varian…now.”
A clod of rock and sand shattered against the side of the Grimbeast’s head, and for one second, the creature was obscured by a thick burst of dust. It roared, shaking that thick black fur, dirt spilling off in pale waves.
A blow meant not to incapacitate, but to distract.
“Catch, Lyrae.”
The flash of spinning metal had me raising one hand. Muscle memory had my fingers closing around the warm hilt, still heated from Ryland, as if he’d been grasping it for hours.
A century of experience sent me lunging forward, my body a long line of muscle as I plunged that blade straight through the Grimbeast’s gullet with both hands, before twisting with a sideways jerk to sever the carotid artery.
One hard yank and the honed edge sliced through sinew and flesh, a hot fount of blood drenching my hands and my front.
The beast’s threatening growl turned to a wet, frothy gurgle before it collapsed sideways.
Right on top of me.
“By the gods, get it off.” I clawed at a thousand pounds of twitching muscle and bristly fur, trying to escape the crushing weight. The beast jerked and grunted, desperate little movements that only crushed me deeper into the sandy ground.
Death by Grimbeast would be my epitaph, not even a death I could brag about when I got to the Great Beyond.
How fucking embarrassing is this?
“Hang on, stop thrashing around. I’ve got you.” Varian slid his hands beneath my armpits and hauled me out from underneath all that twitching, bristly weight. “By the gods, that was close. Too fucking close.” He collapsed beside me, panting.
“Nice shot with the clod of dirt.”
“Nice shot with the knife, commander. But gods, you’re a fucking mess.” He managed a wry smile. “Like…really a mess. You stink. And I think that might be brain matter in your hair.”
“Well, you look like…” I scrambled around for something to say, but honestly, with amusement dancing in his golden eyes and those perfect teeth, Varian looked…
A shadow fell over us and I squinted up at Ryland, fists wound tight into my only shirt. My ruined shirt, soaked in Grimbeast blood. “That was possibly the most fucking reckless display of stupidity I have ever seen,” Ryland hissed, nose brushing mine. “I had everything under fucking control.”
“You were about to be eaten for dinner.” I squinted, trying to read his expression with the sun at his back. “And you seem pretty pissed for someone whose life I just saved.”
“I was waiting for the right godsdamned moment to strike. You should have stayed hidden.”
“Instead, I saved your ass. You should be thanking us, really, since you….”
One second, I was down in the sand, the next I was yanked against two hundred pounds of hard, tensed up muscle. Beneath Ryland’s shredded cloak, fresh scratches marked his chest, but those forest green eyes…those eyes belonged to someone I’d once told my secrets to.
Someone I’d trusted with my life.
“That was reckless and stupid and you could have died, Lyrae.” He held me like I weighed nothing, the lines of his face hardened in anger, lips parted so the edge of his teeth showed. “You take a risk like that again, and I will drag you outside that ward and tie you up for the dragon to find. I swear to the gods I will.”
“Just fucking try it.” I shoved at his chest, and only managed to plant my palms against warm, bare skin, slippery with sweat and blood, his heart thudding wildly against my hand. “I’ll fight you every step of the way.”
“You and I always liked the fight, didn’t we?” His lips were an inch from mine, angry breath tangling with my own. “As I remember, the fighting always came right before the fucking.”
“Too bad this time there will only be fighting.” But gods, how good his body felt, smashed against mine, every hard angle and bulge achingly familiar. I could do it. Close the gap between us, yank him down for a kiss, and every part of me wanted to.
