“Celine...” Ciprian’s ragged whisper draws my attention. “Don’t move.”
A shadow falls over me, and Ciprian’s cheekbones sharpen as a writhing cloud of the deepest shades of black swirls through his onyx eyes.Nightmare magic.
A furious hiss of hot air sends the strands of my hair flying.
Shit, shit, shit!The basilisk hisses again, louder this time—sounding almost... scared?
I’m pretty sure he’s panicking because Ciprian hid me fromhim.I may be nervous, but no part of me believes Luca would hurt me. His form is irrelevant. Shifted or not, he’s still Luca.
“You’re freaking him out,” I say to Ciprian. “Turn it off.”
“I don’t want to,” he mutters, his lips barely moving as he speaks through clenched teeth.
“Angel—”
“No,” I cut Alistair off. “This is my choice. Respect it.” The message is for all of them, including my jittery body. Every instinct screams at me to run, but I know better. Luca is scared. I won’t leave him.
Digging deep for some much-needed nerve, I reach behind me without looking and feel around until I bump something solid. My fingers may be numb, but there’s no mistaking his scales for anything else. Sleek and smooth, Luca’s basilisk is cool to the touch.
I blink. He shudders. Then I’m surrounded.
The basilisk curls around me, coiling himself into a determined pile with me in the center. Almost, but not quite squeezing, he’s all I see.
“Fuck,” Alistair roars.
“Everything’s fine,” I say, raising my voice to be heard over the wind and through the basilisk barrier. “We’re okay in here. Right, Luca?”
I stroke his scales gently and avoid looking directly up at his head.
I’m not sure if Luca can turn his petrification off and on while he’s in basilisk form—fuck, he may not know either. He’s never fully shifted, not once in his entire life. His parents told him to keep his basilisk hidden, and he followed their instructions to the letter. For decades.
This is brand new to him, which means we’ve all got to stay calm.
That’s surprisingly easy for me. Luca’s basilisk is one giantlength of sinuous muscle and an awesome barrier against the biting wind. Hidden in his coils, I’m safer and a hell of a lot warmer than I was before.
“You’re kind of jacked, babe,” I tease him, wondering if he can understand me while he’s like this.
“She’s flirting with a basilisk.” Ciprian’s voice is exasperated, but no longer panicked. “Ow—fuck! Malach, this arrival spot you picked is not it, man.”
“This isn’t the celestial realm,” Malach says, his voice a low, tense rumble.
Luca stiffens, and I cock my head. His shift happened right after the gateway spat us out, almost as soon as we arrived. It seemed instinctual. But he’s controlled his basilisk for almost thirty years.Why now?What about this place made him lose control?
I tune everything out and think hard. Then it clicks.All the oxygen leaves my lungs with a whoosh.No, it can’t be.Except it makes complete sense. The barren, forbidding landscape. Luca’s primal reaction...
“I think I know where we are.” I have to shout to be heard over their arguing.
“Where?” Alistair demands.
I take a deep breath. “Do any of you know anything about the monster realm?”
My question sets off a chain reaction. Luca rattles, Ciprian curses, and Alistair goes deathly silent. Combined, their reactions confirm what I already know: we’re in deep shit.
“We need to find cover,” Malach says. There’s a slight hitch in his voice, a sign that his confidence is shaken.
“Cover where?” Alistair asks. “That mountain looks like the only option, and it’s got to be miles away.”
I sag against Luca’s side. “We need your human side back,” I tell him. He curls tighter around me, and I wince. I’ve upset him.Licking my lips, I backtrack. “But you shifted well. If there’s danger, Luca will bring you back immediately. I promise.”
