Chapter Forty-One
Daegal, his Beast, Mandal, and Zenobia were here, but I didn’t see Remy.
He might have been behind one of the jagged pieces of rock jutting out from the ground.
They ranged from a few feet to a couple stories high, and this island seemed to be full of them.
Aside from those many rock formations, the pebbled beach, and the towering walls, there wasn’t much else here.
No trees, no plants … not a speck of anything green.
I didn’t see any birds or animals, either.
Nothing appeared to be alive on this island, with the exception of the six of us.
And some of us were about to die.
A clear glass barrier suddenly encircled Mandal and Zenobia, spreading until it covered them entirely. It almost looked like they were now contained inside big glass bubbles.
“Protection spheres,” Daegal said, surprising me.
“As witnesses, they’re not part of this fight.
This keeps them from being injured by anything we do.
It also ensures that they don’t interfere, but they can still speak to us.
” He waved at Zenobia. “Say goodbye to Raine, cousin! I’m about to eat her. ”
If Zenobia responded, I didn’t hear it. A snarl cracked the air, loud as thunder. Daegal’s brows shot up as he spun around.
I did, too. And stared.
Remy?
His short hair was now hanging over his shoulders in long, raggedy waves.
I caught a glimpse of a thick black beard beneath those obsidian strands, but that wasn’t the most significant change.
Remy looked at least a foot taller and much wider, with bulging muscles that strained the seams on his previously loose-fitting caftan.
He now had claws as long as the Beast’s, and when another animalistic bellow came from him, I swear there were fangs protruding from his mouth.
His light-blue gaze was also gone, replaced by a bright golden glow.
What the hell?
“Berserker,” Daegal breathed in disbelief.
I had no idea what a berserker was, but when that golden gaze landed on me, nothing of the Remy I knew remained. Only raw, seething violence stared back at me.
I wasn’t the only one shaken. Incredibly, I felt my Beast recoil, and the Beast at Daegal’s side actually backed up a step when Remy—or the berserker—stared at it next.
When it’s here, you need to run.
I did, scrambling up the incline that led toward the tallest peaks on the island.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to go faster, faster, faster.
My legs pumped with speed I normally didn’t have as adrenaline fueled me.
God, the look in Remy’s eyes! It wasn’t him anymore.
It was that thing, and it wanted to kill me. It wanted to kill everyone.
A roar sounded right before lightning bolts lit the grayish sky with white flashes.
The ground shook so hard that I grabbed the nearest rock column for support before running again once the shaking stopped.
I only made it a couple dozen yards before more lightning struck, the flashes now muted because these bolts didn’t arc up into the sky.
The ground shuddered again and a sharp, piercing sound rose over the continuous smashing noise that sounded like a building was being demolished.
Was that Remy screaming?
I clutched the rock, torn between the urge to keep running and the need to turn back. Yes, Remy had told me to run and hide. Yes, the Remy I knew clearly wasn’t behind the wheel anymore. But he was in there somewhere, dammit! And I’d left him alone with a dragon and a Beast.
I pushed away from the boulder. I’d come to this island to help him. I couldn’t do that by hiding.
I started back down the incline. Even though there were dozens of those rocky, monolith-like formations between us, I still caught glimpses of Daegal from my elevated position. Or, more accurately, I saw the dragon inside of Daegal.
My. God.
Scarlet glinted off gray scales in that iridescent effect the other dragon had.
But that and the whiplike point at the end of its tail were where the similarities ended.
Daegal’s dragon had to be over three stories tall.
Its wings were double that length, and its massive body stood on thick legs tipped with claws as long as my arm.
Vermilion horns crowned the dragon’s triangular head before a series of spikes ran down the length of its long neck and back.
The crashing sounds I’d heard were tall rock formations being flattened like snapped twigs when the dragon charged at something I couldn’t see.
Remy. He was chasing Remy!
I ran down the incline. My speed, the slant, and the rocky terrain all acted as obstacles. I fell, blood spurting from my knee. I got right back up, ignoring the pain as I ran faster.
The dragon arched that long neck and opened its mouth.
Streams of lightning shot out, obliterating a cluster of rock pillars in front of it.
My ears rang while my heart felt like those lightning bolts hit it, too.
Nothing remained of the pillars when it was over except pebbles that glowed amber from heat. If Remy had been in there, he was dead.
Something leapt at the dragon, landing where its neck met its chest. A flash of blurring speed ensued, and then green liquid spurted out. The dragon roared, trying to bite its assaulter, but its elongated neck wasn’t long enough. Those huge jaws snapped below its attacker instead of into him.
I’d seen that move before. Remy! Alive, whole … and ripping into the dragon with so much ferocity I couldn’t believe it.
More green blood spurted, covering Remy to the point where I couldn’t see him beneath its emerald flow. My God, it looked like he was trying to claw his way inside the dragon!
“Nothing forged or natural can kill a berserker, Daegal!” Mandal shouted with a maliciousness I hadn’t known him capable of.
The dragon roared again, dropping down and rubbing its chest against the ground.
That didn’t dislodge Remy. From the dragon’s new roar, it only made things worse.
The dragon stood back up and folded its massive wings before slamming them together in front.
The bony protuberances tipping each bend in the dragon’s wings raked its chest, hitting Remy.
I was stunned he didn’t fall off, especially when the dragon did it again, more viciously this time.
Claws! I thought as I ran. If I got behind the dragon, I could ram the Beast’s claws into it and drain its violence before the dragon even noticed me—
I stopped short. The brown Beast was now skulking beneath where Remy was, clearly intending to attack him from behind.
“Hey, wannabe!” I shouted.
The other Beast swung around.
The dragon looked up, too. A lightning bolt punched the ground, but I’d already darted away. The forest fight had taught me to be quick after making any noise near a dragon.
Remy did something that claimed the dragon’s full attention.
It flew up, the downdraft from those massive wings almost knocking me over.
It only ascended a few hundred yards before bouncing off a previously invisible dome.
One glance at the pale, oddly textured structure, and I knew it was made from the same substance as the bridge: the ghostly, detached arms from every defeated opponent who’d dueled on this island.
Dammit, Remy and I would not be joining that tapestry!
The dragon slammed back down onto the top of the island.
The incredible impact knocked over more rock pillars and took me off my feet.
I got up, worried for Remy even as I squared off against the brown Beast, who got to its feet a lot more nimbly than I had.
A stench hit me as it gave a full-throated snarl.
“Tell me that’s not how my breath smells when I’m a Beast,” I muttered, gathering my courage. This was a lighter-colored version of my worst nightmare, and I was about to fight it to the death. My clawed hands started to tremble.
You defeated one as a teenager, Mom and Gran’s voices seemed to whisper to me. You can take down this one, too.
Damn right.
The other Beast ate up the space between us.
Strength, I thought.
That trembling stopped. I braced myself while holding my clawed hands out like knives in front of me. Remy had told me to go full Beast, but I wouldn’t unless I had to.
The other Beast opened its mouth. Rows of sharklike teeth gleamed in the low light.
Speed, I thought, and dropped down right before it reached me. Its momentum sent it over me, and I slid beneath its wide stance to come up behind it. Then I rammed my claws into the closest part I could reach, which was its ass.
Feed, I thought as it howled and swiped behind itself with those deadly claws. Then it bent and twisted to grab me. I moved out of reach, and in this, my smaller, human size helped. I was like a rabid cat twining around the other Beast’s legs while jabbing my claws into every part of it I could.
Feed, feed!
Fire scored along my arms and back. I was fast, but so was this Beast, and its claws were as long as mine. I bit back my screams as I sent more urgency into my demand.
Feed, FEED!
Power flooded me, covering a lot of the pain.
The other Beast’s movements became sloppier.
Almost drunken. But its claws kept ripping into me even though I kept trying to avoid them.
If this Beast had the same life force–draining abilities as mine, I’d be finished.
Still, my blood ran hot over skin that was starting to feel dangerously cold.
I was moving as fast as I could and the other Beast was slowing down, but I couldn’t avoid those deadly swipes entirely.
Feed, I kept repeating while dizziness competed with the power. Nausea rose, as did that creeping cold. I must be losing blood faster than my Beast or Remy’s power could heal me. Images started flashing in my mind, melding the past with the present.
My mother, smiling when she took the empty plate from the cute, brown-haired boy. “Wow. You were hungry, weren’t you?”
“Still am,” he replied, claws shooting out of his hand.…
Gran’s eyes when she sighted down the barrel of her Ruger at the Beast. “Fuck you,” she whispered, and pulled the trigger.…
Remy, leaning forward while pinning me with that jeweled gaze. “Stop pretending you don’t know what I am. You’re on my lands, but you entered without my permission.…”
A roar shook me out of my near unconsciousness.
The other Beast hadn’t made the sound. It was now slumped on the ground.
Suddenly, I was no longer clinging to a large monster.
I was holding on to the naked thigh of the gangly guy, my blood painting the lower half of his body, the tips of my claws now barely breaking his skin from his abrupt shrinkage.
That roar sounded again, followed by a boom that had to be a lightning strike. If the dragon was aiming lightning bolts, he must have shaken Remy off. How badly was Remy hurt?
I was torn. The Beast’s host wasn’t dead. Only unconscious. Did I stay and finish him off? Or leave to help Remy?
Another wave of dizziness swept me. I pushed through it while assessing my wounds.
If I was too injured, I couldn’t help anyone.
Okay, the deep lacerations on my arms and legs weren’t life-threatening.
I couldn’t see my back, which felt like it took the worst of the damage, but the blood running from it seemed to be slowing and the shallower rents on me were starting to seam together.
Remy’s healing abilities plus the added boost of the Beast’s powers were kicking in.
A new sound blasted my ears while the ground heaved and cracked. Seconds later, it happened again. I yanked my claws free, looking around. Had Remy cast the Flay spell?
No, I realized, seeing a huge form fly up before that ghostly barricade stopped it. It was the dragon, drenched in green blood, flying up only to slam itself back down hard enough to open more deep rents into the island. Berserker or no, there was no way Remy could survive if the dragon hit him!
I left the unconscious Beast and staggered up the mountain.