“Give him space to do that,” I barked, but the cat slid, jaws snapping for Lorian’s throat.
Lorian met the attack head-on.
He let the tiger’s bite hang off his heavy fur, turned, and body-checked it into a boulder hard enough to shake snow loose from the ledge above and fall down on them.
The saber-tooth hit the rock, letting go of Lorian before springing up to attack again.
Rune leaped forward into the mix. She took three steps and vaulted off a knee-high rock, palms pushing off the boulder as she launched herself into the air. Her hands pressed off Lorian’s large bear shoulder before she landedonthe fucking cat.
Everything slowed down, and all I could hear was my own pulse. I watched her run her hands over the cat’s body in a long petting motion.
The saber-tooth screamed. Its whole body convulsed like a plucked wire. Rune used the tremor to launch herself off its back, twisting backwards.
The cat’s claws swiped through the space where she’d been.
She landed in a low crouch, suit-protected feet whispering on the ice.
The cat staggered toward her two steps as steam curled from its mouth in a long, ghostly ribbon. Its muscles shivered. It blinked before its legs simply folded.
Its large body collapsed into the snow as it fell into a deep sleep.
Lorian stayed a bear for a moment, head swinging toward Rune. He huffed, nodded, and then shifted back into his regular form.
“Thatwas impressive,” he said, voice roughened from the shift.
“No,” Slater cut in, hand over his heart. “That was—okay, yeah. Fine. Impressive works. Marry me, venom baby?”
“Get in line,” Zuko scoffed, eyes bright. “She’s definitely marrying me, right, pretty little poison?”
Rune stood up and smiled at them.
“Fuck.” Koa dragged a ragged breath, fingers raking through his hair. “Rune, how did you learn to move like that?”
Rune blinked those golden eyes like any of that was normal. “I trained with the agents growing up. Shifting into my basilisk form is my last resort in a fight. My venom’s easier to distribute like this anyway.”
I realized I was already moving and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing once. I tried to ignore the butterflies it gave me. “Nice work, lethal darling.”
She looked up at me and smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. “Thanks, overachiever, but I didn’t kill it. It’s just sedated.”
“Good,” Eleanor breathed before going over and checking Lorian over. “Does it hurt?”
“I’m fine,” he grunted. “The academy suit stopped any serious injury. Though, I’m amazed it still works in my shifted form.”
“Let’s keep going,” Hawk said, his tone steadier than the hesitance in his eyes.
We trudged forward, cutting a trail through wind-shaved snow. Ten minutes later, we reached a cliff and belly-crawled to the edge. Below us was what we’d been searching for.
Glowing runes pulsed on the ground like a heartbeat.
The cultists stood in a circle, chanting. In the center stood a pedestal with an obsidian diamond-shaped relic on top of it. Red-black light pulsed within.
Rune’s lips curved into a smile, showing off her fangs. “Found them.”
Zuko grinned as he stared at her. “We did.”
Slater’s chaos manifestation, that black snake, slid off him and slithered down toward them. “He’s scoping it out.”
“I don’t even know what they’re saying.” Koa swallowed audibly.
