Vera blazed a trail across the sky, letting out a low, beautiful song as she dove back down.
Nox and Everett stood beneath her, weapons raised high. At first, I thought Vera was targeting them. I put on a burst of speed, ready to throw out a shadow shield.
But when she landed, she spread her glorious, golden-fire wings wide, blocking Nox and Everett behind her as a raging lion burst through the air.
She pulled her two long swords free, one encased in lightning and one in shadows. She wasprotectingNox.
Did that mean he’d saved her? That the blood bead from Rose worked?
Scarven, in his lion form, swiped a paw at Vera’s face. She dodged, and they began to weave around each other, him with his claws and her with her swords. While he aimed to kill, I could tell she was merely defending herself, never taking an opening to do damage even though I knew how talented of a fighter she was.
Nox must have told her. Guilt swam to the surface. She was holding back formysake. Because they didn’t want me to get hurt.
How were we ever supposed to stop him if we had to walk on eggshells forme? They couldn’t even get a hit in. Scarven had gotten exactly what he wanted,again. To be untouchable. Invincible.
We were never going to win with both hands tied behind our backs.
Scarven’s snarl of frustration brought me back to the moment. His anger made him sloppy, and when he swung his paw at Vera’s stomach, she lifted her light sword to block it.
A sting shot through my right hand. I looked down to see the singed edge of my thumb, with a thin trail of smoke rising from the wound.
We knew this bond, thiscurse, worked one way. If he was hurt, I was hurt. But what wedidn’tknow for sure was if…
I clamped my lips together and dug my other thumb into the burn, grunting against the stab of pain.
Several yards up ahead, the lion stumbled backward, holding his right paw to his chest—the exact same spot as my wound.
It worked.
My thoughts raced. Whatever happened to mealsohappened to him. My pain could be a weapon. A way to gain the advantage.
But before I could dwell any more on that, the lion shook out his mane with a growl, and then he began to change.
It was slow at first, and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But he wasdefinitelygetting bigger. In the same way Tessa could alter her size in her jaguar form, Scarven was making himself larger.
Within seconds, he towered over Vera. A single leg was twice the length of her entire body. His shadow engulfed Nox, Everett, and Vera, dimming the light of her wings as his tail brushed the branches of the nearby tree line. Fates, his pawalonecould flatten a wagon, with claws as long and gleaming as a blade.
To her credit, Vera was unfazed. With a powerful flap of her wings, she rose in the air to meet him at eye level, swords crossing defensively in front of her face. He caught the side of her leg with a paw, making her cry out and fly backward a few feet. Rearing up on his hind legs, he batted at her with both paws, one after another in quick succession.
I jumped forward to try and send a shadow shield up right as four claws embedded themselves in her phoenix wing, shredding it to ribbons.
Her piercing wail was the most mournful song I’d ever heard.
The other wing flapped furiously, trying to compensate for its sagging counterpart. Vera barely kept control as she shot to the ground and rolled, then banished her wings. Everett sprinted to her and fell to his knees at her side.
Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion.
Scarven raised his monstrous paw above Vera and Everett, its shadow swallowing their still forms. Right as he brought it down to crush them, Nox appeared in its path.
“Nox!” I cried, thrusting a solid wall of shadows at them.
Out of nowhere, a large jaguar leaped into action and planted its front paws on Nox’s chest, shoving him out of the way. Tessa and Nox rolled on the ground as my shadows slammed into Scarven’s paw, shifting it just enough to crash into the ground right above Vera’s head. Rocks went flying, the forest floor trembling with the force.
Tessa shifted into her largest jaguar form, which still barely reached Scarven’s chest. But she was faster than him. She reared up and swatted at his neck, drawing his attention away from the others. When he lunged for her, her claws caught him in the upper chest, and he let out another roar.
I gasped and staggered back at the sting.
Blood seeped from beneath my leathers. The fabric clung to my chest, digging into the claw marks that now marred my skin.
