Dropping to my stomach, I sidle along the last leg of the balance beam, finally getting to my feet two minutes later with a victorious grin. It’s stolen out from under me alongside the floor, this part of the course out of sight from my previous vantage point and unable to prepare for. By some miracle, I manage to grip the ledge of the hatch as I fall through the trap door. Even knowing what’s waiting for me below is nothing more than foam blocks, the dark shadows have my heart working in overdrive. It offers me a temporary boost in strength and, with an embarrassing amount of struggling, I work a leg above the edge of the hole and haul myself back up to flat ground.
Each breath is a shaky rasp, but I force myself upright through sheer force of will. I’m a sweaty mess, my clothes clinging to me in all the wrong places, but I couldn’t care less. I’m going to finish this damn course if it’s the last thing that I do.
My jog turns into a sprint as I eye the small chasm and jump like my life depends on it, dropping into a sideways roll to stick the landing without breaking anything. The mats stink here; so much old sweat built up that I have no worries of other shifters frequenting this place. If evenI’mstruggling, there’s no way they’d survive this hellscape.
Black netting offers two ways down; rolling, or inching my way on my butt. I’m far too fucking tired for the latter and throw myself down without a second thought, nauseous by the time I finally reach the bottom and stop spinning.
Raiden offers a hand to haul me up. “How do you continue to impress me?”
“It’s the low expectations,” I pant, on the verge of death. “By everything unholy and otherwise, please keep them; they’re far easier to surpass this way.”
Three chuckles surround me. Legs like jello, I wobble when Raiden releases my hand. Stone wraps an arm around my waist to steady me, unperturbed by my damp shirt. I’m sweating buckets at this point, exhausted enough to lean on him for support.
“There is no reality where I could keep up with any of you, but I wanted to at least finish, too.”
Kodi fake coughs under his breath, “That’s what she said.”
I can’t even muster the energy to flip him the bird, all of my concentration on putting one foot in front of the other. “Hey, Kodi?” Walking backwards, he meets my eye, raising a dark eyebrow. “This was exactly what I didn’t know I needed. Thank you.”
A soft smile takes the place of his usual smug smirk. “I aim to please, firefly.”
Chapter 25
Kodiak
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Easing the SUV to ahalt, I lean over the center console and crane my neck to look past Raiden at the morbid display. The longer I stare, the harder I have to grit my teeth to hold back my shift, obsidian scales crawling across my skin.
Dozens of lizards are nailed to the front of the house with their throats slit, red rivulets streaking down the siding and door. More are hanging from the trees, strung up with fishing line, their dead bodies swaying in the breeze. Others are mutilated beyond recognition, dismembered body parts and guts strewn across the cement path leading up to the house and turning my stomach.
I’m going to eviscerate this bastard. Brutally.
Raiden’s pet terror-dactyl is having a field day, her talons and beak coated in gore as she feasts on the carnage defacing my home.
Raiden’s voice is a disgusted hiss. “Not particularly subtle, is he?”
