33. Cherry
Cherry
Iskid to a sharp stop, mere feet from the edge of a cliff. I didn't realize I’d been running uphill until I see the valley, a couple of hundred feet below.
I spin, finding Blaze stepping out of the trees right behind me. How the hell is he keeping up with me?
“There’s nowhere to run now, my little mate.”
I growl, hating hearing him call me that.
He takes a step toward me, and I back up, my feet knocking stones over the edge. I glance to my sides, but he’s right, I won’t be able to make it past him now. I’m trapped.
The snapping of branches has my head turning to my right, my heart leaping for joy when I see Maddox and Chase step into the clearing. Growls reverberate through the clearing, but Blaze doesn’t even turn to look, his eyes locked on me.
My other three mates appear on his other side, and more hope fills me. Not only do none of them look injured from the rogue attack, but they’re all here. Blaze can’t take me now. They won’t let him.
I’m so preoccupied with watching my mates that I’m slow to react when Blaze lunges for me. I gasp, taking a step back—into thin air.
My backside drops, and my front claws extend, digging into the ground as my bodyweight pulls me backward. My back legs scramble below me on the side of the cliff. My wide eyes look up just in time to watch Chase lunge for Blaze.
Then Blaze shocks the hell out of me by shifting into something rather monstrous. He’s a mix of a wolf and a bird. Is that what a phoenix’s head looks like? It looks way too ugly to be one, but nothing about Blaze is natural or normal, so I’m not surprised his shifted form is as distorted as he is.
Maddox runs toward me just as my front claws slip over the edge. Instead of free-falling, I find all four legs clawing to an extremely steep incline. It’s almost straight down, but there’s just enough of an slope that I don’t fall, I slide.
Suddenly, I slam into a hard surface, the wind getting knocked out of me as I come to a sudden stop.
“Cherry! Don’t move! Are you okay?” Maddox yells through the bond.
I lift my head, seeing him peering over the edge from where I just fell, forty feet above me.
Glancing around, I realize I’m on a small shelf in the middle of the cliff, still over a hundred and fifty feet from the forest floor.
I press my body tightly against the cliff face and away from the edge that’s only slightly larger than my small body.
“I’m okay,” I tell him.
“Hang tight, Cherry. We’ll take care of Blaze, then we’ll get you out of there.
” I watch as his head disappears and growls fill the air.
A large squawk has my eyes widening in surprise.
What sort of fighting abilities does Blaze have in this form?
Surely their teeth are far more harmful than a beak?
I hear the sounds of a fight, and now that I’m not in immediate danger, I take a second to check my bonds. An overwhelming sense of anger is all I can feel. It’s so strong, it overwhelms me. Suddenly, I’m angry too. I push the fear down as I stare up at the cliff and growl.
How dare he attack us in our own home. How dare he think he can just come and take me away from my mates. How dare he attack them.
A burst of flame suddenly rolls through the air right where I’m staring, and my jaw drops open in surprise, the anger quickly turning to shock.
Did he—Did Blaze just breathe fire?
Wait, isn’t that one of the phoenix’s abilities? My fear returns in full force. The guys have no defense against fire. The only person who can withstand it is me.
I take a deep breath as I reach inside, finding my own anger and frustration coming to a boiling point, like a small burning ball of emotion. I grab onto it and squeeze, letting it start to fill my entire body.
I have no idea what I’m doing, except that instinct is telling me to let this feeling spread, let it move through every inch of me.
And when another burst of flame soars above the cliff, followed by the howl of pain from one of my mates, I throw my head back and howl, letting the heat burst from me.
For a moment, I’m blinded and weightless, and I have to blink a few times before I regain my vision. Glancing to the sides, I see beautiful wings filled with red and gold feathers. It takes me a moment to realize they’re my wings.
No longer am I in my wolf form.
I shifted.
Into a phoenix.