Then it was just me, Vox, and the beast that was once Hayle. Vox edged closer toward me, never taking his eyes off the creature. He dragged a shirt over my head, and I could smell Hayle on the collar.Smart.
Alucius and Braxus bowed their heads, going down onto their front paws. I blinked wildly. “Hayle?” I breathed, and the beast huffed. “Are you hurt?”
The beast rolled its eyes. If there was any doubt in my mind that the creaturewasHayle, it disappeared with that familiar gesture.
As I stepped closer, I could feel Vox at my back, ready to grab me out of harm’s way if need be. I reached up and brushed my hand across its shoulder. It wasn’t the usual tawny color of a lion, rather a deep bronze that was almost mud brown, and its fur was not even really fur. It felt more like velvet over stone, soft but so hard, I knew the bullets would have bounced off his flesh. He had two tails, each with a puff of white fluff on the end. Like a pom-pom or a rabbit’s tail.
From the head down, he was probably cute. If you ignored the wings that were razor sharp and soaked in blood.
And if you made it to the front of this creature, the word cute would not only be incorrect—it would be a deadly assumption. Because despite the creature having Hayle’s eyes, it had teeth the length of kitchen knives.
“Whatareyou?” I breathed, but the answer came from outside the doorway.
“The Spryrix!” someone gasped.
I whipped around, and the beast had his head over my shoulder in an instant, his teeth bared in a way that made the woman in the hallway shrink back against the wall. Iker appeared in front of her, still shirtless, but his face went pale as he took in Hayle. Iker was covered in gashes, and there was still a wound weeping blood on his shoulder, making me a little worried he might pass out. He lifted his sword, and I stepped forward, ignoring the beast’s growl.
“Whoa, it’s okay. He’s… friendly.” Well, that statement would hold until they saw the bodies in the room with heads missing. “I could really use the human version of Hayle back now,” I muttered to the creature—a Spryrix, I guess?—and a quick burst of magic brushed against my skin. In the place of the golden lion-thing was now my very naked Soul Tie.
I looked down at his stomach and briefly wondered where all the heads had gone. Like, he couldn’t have digested them that fast, right?
“They feed the shift.” Hayle answered my unspoken question, wrapping me up in his arms so tightly, I almost couldn’t breathe. “That was so close.”
I held him just as closely, because he was right. Iker was bleeding, and Vox was bruised and battered, not to mention the line of blood across the point of his shoulder where a bullet had grazed him. If the beast hadn’t appeared, we’d be dead.
“They were impervious to my power,” Lierick said as he walked in, eyeing Hayle warily.
“Mine too,” Vox grunted, pulling pants on and throwing Hayle’s to him. “We need to get out of here before my father sends more.”
The prostitute Elkie let out a squeak of protest. “No, you can’t. You don’t understand. You’re the Spryrix,” she told Hayle, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I’m aware,” he said stonily, and I turned around and twisted his nipple so hard, he yelped.
“I’m gladyouwere aware, Hayle Taeme. I feel like possessing the ability to turn into a ten-foot beast with huge wings is something you should’vetoldthe woman you profess to love. Unless you didn’t trust me?”
And that was the crux of it. How could he keep a secret like this from me, unless he was worried I would spill his Line’s secrets?
“Avalon…”
Vox stepped in, lifting his chin toward the growing crowd filling the hallway, as people climbed the stairs to find out what the ruckus was. “We should discuss this later. We need to go.”
Elkie stumbled into the room. “No, you have to go see the Baron. You’re the Spryrix.” She kept repeating it, and I wondered if the stress of the night was getting to her. Was she in shock?
Hayle bared his teeth at the girl. “I don’thaveto do anything.”
Elkie looked over her shoulder at Iker. “I can’t talk about the reason why, but I promise you, it’s important that the Baron of the Sixth Line knows you’re the Spryrix. Whatever it is you came to Doend for, it isn’t as important as this.”
She seemed almost hysterical, and I rested a hand on Hayle’s arm. This could be the leverage we needed to get the Sixth Line, their resources, and their men on our side.
He huffed a disgruntled sigh. “You know nothing of our reasons for being in Doend,” he told her flatly. “If I need to see the Baron, we’ll wait for twenty minutes at the edge of town, where the border of Doend meets the forest. If he triesanything…” He didn’t expand, but Elkie swallowed hard and looked at the bodies littered around the room like unloved toys.
She nodded furiously. “We’ll send our fastest runner. Please, Heir Taeme, just wait.” With that, she disappeared downstairs, and the rest of us moved quickly to collect our things.
“I don’t like it,” Vox murmured, and Hayle grunted his agreement. “What if they were the reason my father knew where we were? What if the Baron of the Sixth Line is using this as leverage for favor from the First Line?”
We looked at Lierick, who shrugged. “She was in shock, but she didn’t appear to be lying. She seemed almost excited. Reverent, even? I don’t think this will be a double cross, but I can’t be sure.”
Vox sighed, his arms coming around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head. “We should stash Avalon somewhere safe, just in case.”
