“You can do this, Carwynn!” Finley’s words flung out like a helping hand I wanted to grasp.
I can do this.
My entire body screamed as I pushed off the floor, still clutching the gun.
This was totalbullshit. I should’ve been on the beginner level. Not advancedbeast-hunter-with-night-vision-and-a-death-wishmode. If I’d wanted to be slapped around, I’d have stayed back with Lights-Out Louisa.
Simulated creature or not, if it laid one more filthy paw on me?—
Thud!
Two cinderblocks of weight crashed into my shoulders, pinning me against the wall. A growl, hot and humid, sprayed against my cheek.
I screamed, thrashing. But claws dug in deeper, ripping skin. I couldn’t see it but could feel each ragged breath and hear the hungry laps of its mouth just inches away from my face.
All sound stilled.
“Is that feckin’ real?”someone hissed from above.
“It’s never done that before!”
Panic broke out in hushed voices.
“It can simulate Ancients?” Finley’s question turned demanding. “Loch?”
I managed to wrench my head just enough to glance up.
Lochlainn’s hands gripped the railing. Knuckles bloodless, turning stark white. His golden eyes scanned the space below, wild and darting, as if calculating the level of damage his body would endure from a jump at that height.
The drop would definitely split a man’s skull clean open.
What thehellwas going on?
“Lochlainn!” Finley’s voice boomed. He ran up to his side, hauling a leg over the bar readying to jump. “Call it off!”
Lochlainn fisted Finley’s pant leg and swung it back over the ledge. He shook his head, pointing. “The training barrier’s up! It’s impenetrable . . .”
There was a long pause as Finley’s gaze flung back to Lochlainn. “Then call it off!” he yelled.
“I can’t,” Lochlainn said, gravely. He scanned my face, trailing down. “But she’ll be all right.”
Finley’s gaze was serrated as he stared at Lochlainn in disapproval.
Pain bloomed, a burn searing through my veins.
Shit. This wasn’t a training simulation anymore. Whatever this was—whatever monster it conjured—was real.
It was right then I realized—I’d dropped the gun.
Another hot breath swept over my face, along with the wet sound of sniffing.
Some have said it’s better to play dead if large animals attack. So here I was, stiff as a postmortem corpse, letting whatever this was scent me like one of those meat-stick dog treats.
I couldfeelwhere its torso was. Each warm growl rumbled its chest, vibrating near my face. Too close for comfort.
Nope. Screw this.
I snapped out of fainting-goat mode. My hands lungedforward, locking around its neck, just beneath the source of the snarl, shoving its now-gnashing teeth away from me.
