The weight slammed into him again – and again. He heard a rib crack, and suddenly breathing became a whole lot more difficult.
Rhys scrambled to find his feet before it could get him yet another time, turning around just in time to see a giant, hairy wild boar charging at him, crashing into his legs and slamming him against the wall once more.
A giant, hairy wild boar withenormous tusks. One of which was currently glistening with Rhys’s blood, which dripped slowly to the floor.
Rhys staggered to his feet, pain sluicing through him, and he looked down to see a massive gash torn in the leg of his pants – and in the flesh of his calf. Blood spurted onto the floor as he stood.
His leg wobbled, threatening to give way beneath him, but at least he understood the situation now.
It’s James.
James is attacking me.
James knew that Michael was the one who sent the documents. He’s the mole.
His mind reeled for a moment, before settling into a kind of curious blankness. He couldn’t get caught up trying to think about this right now – he simply needed to concentrate on surviving, finding Maisie, and then escaping.
With the current priority beingsurviving. Blood was still gushing from his leg, though he could feel the injury starting to heal, the flesh knitting together. It’d been sheer luck that had kept him from any badly broken bones thus far, though his ribs were definitely the worse for wear – but he knew it was only a matter of time, especially given that James was clearly readying himself for another charge.
There was no escape – the griffin was simply too large to shift within the confines of the lift, and the enormous boar was blocking the exit.
Unless…his griffin said – and once Rhys realized what it was intending, he nodded.
Let’s do it.
He held his breath, his heartbeat loud in his ears, as the boar paused – and then charged.
Now.
He shifted – but only partway, his arms and legs elongating, his hands turning into the fearsome talons of an eagle.
He couldn’t stop his shift once it had started – but hecouldleap into the air mid-shift as James charged inside the lift, digging his talons momentarily into James’s hind quarters even as Rhys’s rear legs slammed into James’s back, allowing him to leapfrog over him and propel himself out into the corridor before his shift completed.
He slammed into the corridor wall in griffin form, shedding a few feathers in the process, but still very much alive. In the lift, the boar squealed in pain, blood streaming from the wounds on its back where Rhys had raked it with his talons.
Quick as a flash, the griffin stuck its head inside and pecked at the buttons, selecting the lowest of the basement levels before pulling its head back out again. The boar shrieked as it realized what was happening, hauling itself to its feet and attempting to charge back out of the lift – but it was too late, succeeding only in slamming against the doors as they closed. Rhys could hear its guttural howling getting fainter as the lift descended.
Good job,he told the griffin as he shifted back to human form – the corridor was far too narrow for him to do anything as a griffin.
Of course,the griffin preened.It was my plan, after all.
Rhys ran for the stairwell, still limping somewhat from the goring his leg had received from James’s tusk, but able to move well enough. Fear for Maisie drove him beyond any kind of pain as he bounded up the stairs, racing toward the floor where the medical bay was located.
Maisie,he thought desperately.I’m coming. Hold on.
He ran down the corridor, bursting into the medbay without a moment’s hesitation – and fury ran through his veins in a fiery rage.
Because Maisie was lying motionless on a gurney, clearly unconscious – or worse – while the orderly who had taken her away earlier was hovering above her, syringe in hand. The contents of the syringe were a sickly, sinister green color.
Wyvern venom.
Rhys didn’t slow for a moment, his momentum carrying him across the room before the orderly could do anything except turn to face him, her mouth opening in surprise.
The griffin shrieked in fury.No mercy for those who would harm our mate!
Rhys delivered a devastating blow to the orderly’s sternum, all of his rage and fear channeled into that one point. He heard the crack of bone beneath his fist, saw her eyes go wide, and thought of nothing except the fact that he wished he’d hit her harder.
In the end, he settled for delivering a swift punch to her face before she could fall, knocking her unconscious. It wasn’t enough to kill her, given that he knew she was a shifter – and just how many people did James have working with him? – but he needed her out of the way.
