CHAPTER NINE
Heat explodes in all directions and I bolt.
Every muscle burns, my pulse punching at my neck as I hurl myself away from the patch of ground Dave incinerated seconds ago.
Flames slam into the side of the cage beside me, and the force blasts outward, hitting me full-on and knocking me off my feet. I crash to the ground—knees scraping through the dirt, and a scream tears out of me as the top layer of skin is torn off. But I force down the pain, swiping ash and sweat from my face, the taste of it coating my mouth as I shove myself up?—
Dave's giant red form looms over me.
And he isn’t fat or slow anymore. He’s big, strong, and fucking terrifying. Filling the cage, his wings flare wide, scraping the metal as they stretch.
My ribs clamp down around me at the sight of it, tightening until my lungs can’t expand.
What the hell kind of training is this? And why the fuck won’t my Threads answer?
There’s no time to think before Dave extends his neck and roars.
Fire erupts from his mouth into the top of the cage, bursting outward and licking down the sides, sealing us inside a sphere of heat.
I turn, spinning, scanning for a way out—door, walls, anything?—
Nothing.
He’s blocking the exit.
I’m stuck.
My body jerks as I suck in air, but it comes too fast, too shallow. I try again, but nothing.
My lungs won’t open.
The air’s too hot—too thick—and the fire’s too close.
Panic surges fast, shattering every coherent thought as my breathing turns to frantic pants.
No, this can’t be happening. Keep calm, keep focused, there must be another way out.
But then Dave paces toward me. Each step lands heavier than the last, trembling through the ground like approaching thunder, and the fragile grip I have on myself snaps.
Move.
Move!
I try—try to push up, to reach for my Threads, to do something, but my body won’t listen, as terror floods my veins.
With my hands shaking, useless now, I strain to draw in another inhale but my chest seizes and my vision flickers at the edges.
Fuck, fuck, fuck...
Dave’s chest expands, scorching heat building behind his monstrous jaws as he pulls in the air around us.
No—
He drops his head.
The sound hits first: a deafening and violent roar.
My eyes clamp shut, arms coming up, bracing—waiting for the heat.
