Tears gather in her eyes, and she angrily wipes them away before clenching her jaw. I can’t imagine how she feels. She’s always been one to follow her father’s words and do what her family wants. If they say jump, she asks how high while already jumping.
“I’ve always been the obedient child, Sera,” she reminds me.
My shoulders drop as I picture all of our hard work crumbling to the ground.
“I’m going to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.”
“What?” I ask, whipping my head up and catching a slow, evil smile cross her lips. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re killing Rez and taking our men.”
CHAPTER 1
Savage Beast
Rez
“How the fuck are we going to defeat that?” Knox yells, back in his human form again.
When L.A.M.B. mentioned the Gatekeeper’s beast, I only imagined one, which, technically, I’m still staring at one creature.But what is it?I don’t know of any monster that has the body of a lion, the wings of a bat, and a scorpion’s tail. Let alone one that has porcupine quills all over it and is a jack-of-all-trades type of monster, considering the way it keeps changing shapes.
I didn’t think of the monster at first. Then again, this isn’t supposed to be our fight to have. This is supposed to be L.A.M.B.’s, but somehow, we’re the ones designated to come, and they’re the ones staying behind, holding back a mob of demons.
How did my life come to this?
Movement catches my attention, and my eyes widen as I watch my best friend step before the monster and mimic its form.What the hell is he doing?
‘Lynx! What are you doing? Stop. Get back here so we can come up with another plan!’I yell at him through our link. Did he hit his head and suddenly get the idea that he’s invincible and can take this thing on?
It’s no use as Lynx launches himself at the beast with his claws out, but it’s what I see from the corner of my eye that has my throat closing and my heart shuttering to a stop. A large venomous barb at the end of the scorpion’s tail swings right at Lynx’s open flank.
“NO!!!” The group yells, and I throw out my shield to protect Lynx, but I feel the barb smash through it, jarring me to the core. Someone’s hands steady me, but my eyes are glued to my best friend as I watch his imminent death race towards him.
As the scorpion barb pierces Lynx’s flank, his claws dig into the tail and pull the monster off balance as he rolls to the side, toppling the beast on top of him.
“Lynx!” I yell, breaking free of whomever has me, only to stop short when I reach the mass of limbs. Instead of seeing blood and the barb impaled through Lynx’s body, I find it wrapped around him in a hug and his paws kneading against the tail as if he’s a baby kitten suckling his mother.
A streak of pale white whips next to me, and I get a quick look at Moni before she lands on my shoulder. “Is—is he dead?” Moni asks, grabbing my earlobe.
Before I can answer, a sound vibrates throughout the cavern.What?
“Is someone…purring?” Knox asks as I lean down and take a closer look at Lynx. His eyes are half open, and his cheek is rubbing against the beast’s chest.
“Lynx?” I ask apprehensively.
The pile of limbs shifts, and in its place is not my Lynx at all. Instead, a tall, broad-shouldered man with jaw-length blond hair stands in front of me. He’s shirtless, and a pair of blacksweatpants hang off his slender waist. He glances at us, and my breath catches as his eyes meet mine. His dark turquoise eyes look so much like Lynx that I swear I’m looking at his twin.
As Lynx shifts, he reaches down pulling him up and into a bear hug.
“What?”
“I’m lost?”
“Did we die?”
“This has to be a trap.”
The pair release, and the taller, older man, swings his arm around Lynx’s shoulders as he faces us with a smile in his eyes and looks back down at my best friend. Lynx is all smiles as he glances back and forth between the man and our group until his eyes focus on me and my mixed expression of shock and confusion.
