Perseus slowly raises to his feet, lifting me by the neck, until my feet are off the ground, as his claws continue to tighten around my throat. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to breathe.
Struggling to break free with my vision dimming, I hit his arm and kick his stomach to no avail. Then I’m suddenly falling to my feet, as a brindle-colored clawed fist connects with Perseus’s face with such force that his head smashes to the ground, cracking his skull as blood starts to pour from his mouth.
Following the clawed fist up to its owner, I see Achilles standing there without emotion, just staring at Perseus, stoic, and unnerving.
“I told you to calm down, Perseus,” Achilles says, quietly.
“Dumbass, when will he learn?” Lucius mutters, shaking his head. “Evander, you alright?”
“Yeah, just give me a minute,” I reply between coughs.
“I’m sorry for Perseus’ behavior. He is a phenomenal warrior, but his temper can get the best of him at times,” Achilles says, looking at me.
Glancing down at Perseus, I watch as his silver fur fades, and he slowly returns to his human form.
I wait for him to rise, but he doesn’t get up and the blood keeps pouring out.Holy shit did he fucking kill him?
“Lucius,” Achilles shouts.
“Sir.”
“Get Perseus up and back to his room.”
“Yes, Sir,” Lucius replies before walking over and picking Perseus up off of the ground, slinging him over his shoulders.
“Frida,” Achilles shouts again.
“Yes,” she replies, perking up.
“You’re up, get in here and take Perseus’ place as Evander’s sparring partner.”
“Yes, Sir,” she remarks with another smartass salute. “Don’t worry, Evander, my bite is worse than my bark.”
“Don’t you mean your bark is worse than your bite?” I ask.
“Nope,” Frida smiles, walking toward me with a playful look in her eyes.
As Lucius takes Perseus away, Achilles moves a few steps back to watch over our sparring. Turning back to Frida, I notice the same devilish grin on her beautiful face just like when we first met.
“I hope you’re ready for this. And don’t hold back, because if you do I’ll turn you into my new chew toy.”
“I can’t hit a woman,” I say, turning to Achilles, but as soon as we make eye contact my feet are swept out from under me.
“I told you not to hold back,” Frida replies as she kicks me in the back, sending me sliding across the ground.
Damn she is a lot stronger than she looks.
Jumping to my feet, she swings at me and I lean back just in time to dodge it. As I do, her arm comes back and her elbow hits the side of my head hard.
When I start to fall, her hand grabs the back of my head and her knee comes rocketing toward my face.
Throwing my arms up to block it, she hits my forearms with enough force to not only stand me up again, but to send me staggering back a few steps.
She stops and places her hands on her hips. “Are you going to take this seriously now or maybe you don’t see me as a threat?”
Before I can say anything she lowers her head, and I feel a strange power emitting from her as it looks like her skin starts to rip and blood-red fur comes pushing through the tears. Her beautiful face looks like it cracks, breaks, and starts to elongate.
Her elegant soft hands are replaced with ravenous clawed fingers. She begins to shake and tear at the loosely hanging flesh from her body.
