39. No Cuddles?
No Cuddles?
Rez
How are they not horses?
The gorgeous black creature before me rears back on his hind legs, and that’s when I see it.
“Oh! Okay, I see what you mean.” I grimace as I notice the extra…
orifice? …with the razor-sharp teeth protruding out of its chest. By the looks of it, it can extend out too, which makes close fighting a no-go for me, at least not from head-on.
Shit. How come an ordinary-looking horse with a peek-a-boo, I see you head can be so dangerous?
“What are they?” Moni asks, pulling out her sias.
‘They are Pucanucks. They are as dangerous as they look. And watch out for their tails, they aren’t made from hair.
’ Slayer sounds almost gleeful, but that can’t be right.
‘They are coarse with thick vines, and of course, they are poisonous,’ he says as I find him in the crowd, as he’s prancing around.
Well then. Stay away from pretty things. Got it.
I relay the information to everyone else on the ground and watch how they second-guess their fighting stances. Moni resheathes her sias and rubs her hands together instead, and I see a few vines twitch at our feet.
Before we can say anything else, the one before me charges, and I at least have the fortitude to roll out of the way in time to have it skid past me.
“Move out,” Knots yells as he pulls his sword and blocks a mouth that flies out of a chest like a damn monster in that one alien movie.
Moni uses some of the vines to wrap around one puca that comes out of the trees as Chester tries to spear it in the chest, but it doesn’t go down. Zeke runs towards the trapped one and tries to cut into its skin, but bounces off of it as he’s unsuccessfully yelling that their skin is too tough.
‘You have to disarm them to disable their defense system,’ Slayer tells me, and just his tone makes me visualize his cocky smile.
‘And you don’t think that would have been good advice to give before we started attacking?’ I hiss, getting annoyed at his antics. I don’t care if he’s part of my mate or not; he’s about to be mentally castrated.
I quickly yell out the information to the others as I watch everyone dodge and struggle, yet catch Slayer prancing around like a kid in an amusement park. Either he must have thicker skin that’s immune to these things, or he’s not getting touched.
Shit, if only we had time to regroup and figure out a way out of this mess. We need a shield or something.
‘Yes, you do. You might as well shield everyone and let me work,’ Slayer mocks, and I almost curse him out when I feel my magic respond, coming to the surface, and I almost cry in relief as I get an idea.
I don’t know how strong I’ll be, but it’s like when I was back in Hell with Murmur, I won’t know until I use it and push my limits.
“Everyone to me,” I yell as I move away from the trees and give us more room. In doing so, I pass a beam of sunlight that hits a side of the tree, and something catches the glare—a camera. I forgot about those.
As everyone gathers closer, they face out and push the massive pucas back until everyone is close enough for me to try and pull this off. I reach down to that silver pool of thread that Murmur helped me visualize, and I pull as hard and fast as I can and imagine a massive dome over us.
BOOM.
I see the ground and the sky as I fly through the air until I land against a hard body and turquoise eyes.
‘Hey, Rezzi-bear. Did we just die and go to heaven?’
‘I doubt it, else I don’t think we would be hurting this bad,’ I point out, slowly rolling off of him.
“Damn, that’s a punch,” Zeke groans.
“Well, next time, tell me there’s a force field going up, and I won’t boom us to smithereens,” Moni pouts.
“It’s okay, baby,” Chester says, trying to comfort Moni.
“I was aiming for that puca that was charging us,” she confesses in a soft voice as her bark turns blue.
“That was your boom?” Ryker moans as he peels himself off the shield. “Damn, I don’t remember it punching so hard. Great job, sis.” He gives her a shaky thumbs up, and Moni slowly lightens up to a brighter blue.
“Thanks.”
“I’m sorry. That’s on me. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure my magic was going to work that well, nor hold this well, to be honest,” I declare as I watch the pucas circle my now tri-colored shield.
It was once clear, or I could barely see a silver glimmer to it, but now, depending on how I turn my head, it’s woven with red, blue, and yellow, along with my silver.
How odd.
A puca backs up and charges, and slams into the shield, causing ripples to roll over it, but the hard barrier holds, and if anything, I smile at the sensation.
“What’s the smile for?” Lynx asks, catching the look on my face.
“You won’t believe it, but that tickles,” I chuckle.
“Yeah, your goose is cooked.” Lynx shakes his head at me.
“I think the only thing that’s cooked is Knox and his Hell-bent Slayer,” Knots points out.
What in the—
‘Slayer! What in Fates' name are you doing?” I screech as I find him outside my bubble, riding one of the pucas.
Yeah, you read that right. A nine-foot cat is on top of a horse, facing its tail so it can rip it off, and Slayer is using his tentacles as arms to wrap around its midsection as straps to stay on.
‘What does it look like?’ he laughs, ‘I’m having the time of my life.’ He throws me a smile full of teeth before he reaches down and yanks a corded vine from the horse's tail.
‘I thought those were poisonous.” I cover my mouth as I feel my knees going weak. Lynx stands behind me, supporting some of my weight as I try to take in everything. How the hell did I miss Knox in my damn shield?
‘They are, but not to me, babygirl.’
“Um, I’m not one for trying to rain on anyone’s parade,” JP starts, and I turn to give him my attention. “It obviously seems like Slayer can handle himself with the pucas, and your shield is holding, right?”
I numbly nod as I mentally check my magic and the shield.
“Yeah, we’re good,” I say confidently.
“Good.” He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Because I’m confident that Slayer can easily take down their defense system on, what? Five to seven pucas here?
“Yes,” Chester concurs. “What’s the problem?”
“Look further into the woods; the shadows,” JP demands. We all turn to look at our surroundings, seeking deeper into the trees, and my mouth goes dry as my world stops spinning.
“Does everyone see them from their spot?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“Yeah,” Chester says in defeat.
“Unfortunately,” Knots concurs.
“Fuck,” Zeke whispers.
“I’m pretty sure this is Shit’s Creek now, where are those paddles?” Lynx asks.
“I don’t have enough weapons for this,” Ryker admits.
“We’re not supposed to die,” Moni cries out before Chester shushes her and gives her comfort.
“Do your Conquest powers work on animals?” Knots asks Ryker seriously, stepping in front of him to gain his attention.
Ryker throws him a ‘what do you think’ look and doesn’t answer.
“What?” Lynx steps in. “I thought it was a good question.’
“Ahh shit,” I throw up my hands. “It’s true. We’re about to die if those two are agreeing on the same thing,” I call out before turning my back on them.
I have to think. There’s got to be a solution. I’m with Moni, we’re not supposed to die, so we need to come up with a game plan quickly because I don’t even think a blitzed out Slayer can take out all the pucas that are waiting on the edges of this forest. But let’s be sure.
‘Um, Slayer?’
‘Yes, baby girl, you want to play also?’ he purrs.
‘Not exactly my type of playground right this minute. But I am curious about how you're feeling and if you think you can continue taking out the defenses on all of these pucas and maybe twenty to thirty more.’
‘HUH?’ He misses the horse he’s trying to jump on, landing in a crouch, and turns to look at me with narrowed eyes.
I point to the woods, and he turns his head, his hackles rising before his entire body sinks to the ground.
‘Shit.’ His green eyes flare to silver as he finally takes a long look around.
His tentacles go straight up into the air and start vibrating to the extent that I can’t see them, but I can kind of hear them.
They make a warbling sound, or I’m ashamed to say, a vibrator dipped into your tub.
That sound. ‘Can you make that shield and all of you guys disappear?” I scoff at the idea. ‘Or look like you disappeared.’
‘No, I can’t, Slayer, but tell me why?’ I plead, getting freaked out by the calmest, badass predator that Knox has. No offense, Barron and Dusky.
‘None taken,’ Dusky yawns.
‘Slight offense, but I understand.’ Barron preens his feathers.
It’s going to take a while to get used to seeing their images in my head.
Before Slayer can explain, something crashes behind me on the other side of my shield.
“Shit. What was that?” JP asks.
“A tree,” Zeke answers, backing up from that side of my shield.
“What’s strong enough to move a tree?” Moni asks, turning back to a darker gray.
“A better question is what’s big enough to tear down a tree?” Zeke once again answers.
“Zeke, fucking tell us what’s coming so we can prepare,” I yell, losing my cool.
“I don’t know what it is,” he confesses. “It almost looks like an animal I saw on a human zoo show once.”
The pucas at the edge of the woods run towards our shield and slam into it all at once, and I no longer feel those good ripples that tickle, but pain shoots throughout my body, causing me to take a knee.
“Rez, you okay?” Lynx asks, grabbing my arm.
“Oh my butter bees. We’re in trouble,” Moni says, before fainting.
I gawk at what appears at the side of the woods and feel as if I’m about to join Moni, too.
Levi
As soon as I unlock the bathroom door, Reaper is out the door and down the hall.
I swear, he’s a menace that only a mother can love at times.
Instead of going down the stairs to meet Emer, I head back to the sitting room to retrieve him.
I find him sitting on the sofa, which I believe Rez had told him not to do.