“Your beast’s strangled, Ti. What do you think’ll happen when he pushes for fucking dominance? We may not be able to get you back.”
Titus bristled at his tone. “We have mutual respect.” His beast understood why they hadn’t switched, knew Titus wasn’t ready. Not yet. “I didn’t exactly expect –”
A loud pop, followed by three more in quick succession.
Titus instinctively twisted to protect Rae.
The orbs had exploded. All of them. Titus had been able to call his magic, but it hadn’t been strong enough to shatter one orb, never mind four.
“What the fu –” Both Xander and Riley turned with him at the same time, the floor in the centre of the room breaking, fracturing. Silence, nothing other than the crack moving like a bolt of lightning across the floor, splitting the venue in two.
“Everybody get outside!” Riley shouted, the fissure opening, widening with every passing second.
The crowd finally reacted, shocked out of their stasis. Many scrambled back, screamed, the hole continuing to grow until it swallowed a table, and then began taking the stage.
Rae grabbed at the back of his jacket. “Cliff! We’re on a cliff.”
Fuck.
“Bishop,” Titus managed to push out, fists clenched as he tried to recall the fucking magic. “The Vector was Bishop.” He was sure of it, even if he wore a different face.
Something dark brushed across his senses, familiar.
Riley sensed it at the same time, calling arcane to his own hands while Xander pulled Kyra away, pushing her towards the exit.
“Xee!” she shouted, but he’d already exploded into a burst of colour, his powerful beast standing there a heartbeat later. He tore towards the fissure, tackling the hound that had pulled itself from the hole.
“Get everyone out,” Titus shouted at Rae, who’d already pulled out her dagger. “Go!”
“I’m not leaving you!” Her expression was severe, and so fucking beautiful in its defiance. She would fight beside him without question, but even she couldn’t deal with a Shadow-Veyn.
“Please! Go.” He couldn’t focus with her there, his beast’s concentration already split.
“I swear, if you fucking die,” she cursed him, reaching up to slant her lips over his.
He waited until she’d stepped back before summoning his power, the black flames crackling with their intensity. The magic swelled, fighting against him, his stomach rolling from the assault.
He tensed for his own power to attack him, eating away until it left him raw. Magic came from the extension of an aura, the chi, and his was fucking trying to destroy him.
He’d sensed the next hound, it’s claws huge as it dragged itself from the fissure. It was twice the size of the first, its usually sleek canine form stockier than expected, pure muscle covered in jet black fur. Its ears were clipped short, spiked with a barb that was repeated along its exposed spine.
It was covered in more fur than any he’d ever seen, even having a complete snout with a nose rather than just an exposed skull with gaping holes. It was as if the Shadow-Veyn were evolving the longer they survived up in the light, compared to being imprisoned down in the dark.
Red eyes rolled loose around their sockets, connecting to his. Titus didn’t hesitate, releasing the arcane in a powerful strike that hit true. It seared through the hound, disintegrating everything it touched, killing it instantly. The hound was a Veyn that would usually take two, or even three guardians to take down so quickly, and yet died within seconds using the same magic in which it was likely summoned.
Bile threatened, and Titus swallowed the nausea.
Riley had remained the man, a hound on his back while he fought another at his front. Xander took down the first who’d appeared with his powerful jaws, tearing the hound to pieces as Titus spotted another trying to crawl from the debris.
Four hounds, which meant it was a fucking pack.
The building creaked, tilting. There were a few guests left, a couple dead, their bodies crushed in the panic. They were caught on the wrong side of the fissure, their expressions terrified, flicking between the beasts, the hounds, and the growing gap that would soon leave them stranded.
A flash of red, Rae appearing at their side along with Cassiel. He seemed to freeze when he noticed her, reaching forward with his copper wings held high above his head. Titus was already moving, ready to leap across before a weight knocked him to the side, a hound’s teeth snapping at his throat. He caught its bottom jaw, razor-sharp fangs slicing into his fingers as he pulled with all his strength, its breath rotten carrion.
Caught beneath the hound he turned his head, finding Rae exactly where she’d been a moment before, threatening the Councilman for the celestrials with her fucking dagger. She seemed to turn to face Titus at the same time, eyes widening as the hound fought against his hold, shaking his head from side to side.
Cassiel gripped the blade, pulling it from her grasp with little effort and throwing it to the side as if it were a toothpick.
