Chapter Thirty-One #2
My attacker lurched to the side, trying to roll away, but a dark blur darted over my head. Agony ripped down my cheek and shoulder, a burning rush that stole what little breath I had managed to drag in, and then my attacker’s body was jerked across mine to slam into the bars of Zharrek’s enclosure.
Zharrek snarled again, the sound more violent than I’d ever heard. I blinked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing as he yanked his tail barb from the chest of the Morraki who had stabbed me.
Motion on my other side pulled my focus to the others two Morraki, and I realized this wasn’t random. They had been waiting for Rhydek to leave, somehow expecting me to be alone so they could attack, and they weren’t going to leave until their job was done.
Until I was dead.
Digging my heels into the sand, I managed to push myself closer to Zharrek. He was slamming into the bars, his snarls a constant echo that drowned out any other sound as I watched the two males pull out blades longer than my arm.
My back hit the bars as Zharrek’s thick paw swiped between them, but he couldn’t reach the attackers.
His tail darted forward, slicing one of them on the arm and forcing them to step back, but the bars were thick enough to shorten the varku’s reach, and even with my back against them, I was still in range of a thrust from one of the blades if they were quick enough.
Zharrek’s tail kept darting through the bars, but the two Morraki were watching him, dodging each strike. It was only a matter of time before one of them distracted him while the other finished what they came to do.
I fumbled behind me, hand smearing blood on the bars as I dragged myself upright. Pain ripped through me, blocking the sight before me with blinding white, but I couldn’t sit in the sand and wait to die.
I also knew I had no chance of escape, even if I hadn’t been injured already. Their longer legs meant I could never outrun a Morraki.
My eyes cleared in time to see one of the attackers lunge, and I managed to turn enough that his blade only grazed my arm. His snarl as Zharrek tagged him in return was lost beneath Zharrek’s roar, and no one noticed the click of the lock disengaging.
Not until the door slid open.
I grinned at the look on their faces as Zharrek surged from his cage. There was a chance I would become a casualty for releasing him too, but at least they weren’t going to get away with what they’d done.
I only hoped there wouldn’t be any other deaths, and that Zharrek might have a chance to escape.
Chaos erupted as I let myself slide back down to the sand. Rhydek was close, the bond pulsing in my chest, but he wasn’t going to make it before the fight was over.
I couldn’t follow the movement with the dizziness making my vision blur, but I heard everything even over the pounding in my ears. The wet crunch of bone. The tearing of flesh and cloth. A scream cut short.
The scent of blood filled the air, thick and metallic, making my stomach churn. A heavy thud followed by silence beneath Zharrek’s growl told me it was over, and I tried to send a wave of reassurance through the bond to Rhydek.
Curling in on myself, I pressed one hand to my stomach while the other dangled uselessly at my side. Pain radiated through me in blinding waves as I tried to think of what I should do to stop the flow of blood, but everything was fuzzy.
My vision dimmed at the edges and then a rough tongue was lapping at my arm, great gusts of hot air blowing against me in quick puffs. I tried to turn my face away, but all I could do was whimper when the muscle tensed to respond and then spasmed.
“Taryn!”
My name was roared from a distance, the tug of the bond easing with each step Rhydek took, but the noise drew Zharrek’s attention. Everything dimmed, and I realized he’d placed himself over me, poised to attack.
Rhydek’s panic, raw and uncontrolled, flooded my chest, so strong it stole what little breath I had left. He was close enough to see Zharrek outside his enclosure and probably blamed him for what he had felt from me.
I forced my eyes to where my attackers had been. They were nothing more than pieces of raw meat… but there was enough left to show there had been others there.
Still, I knew Rhydek would react first and think later. So would Zharrek, and fear for both of them drove me to suck in a breath to speak.
“Zharrek.”
I couldn’t see his head, but there was a subtle shift in his body and the tone of his growl changed. I could only hope he would listen to me.
“Zharrek… threk…”
The word came out slurred, barely recognizable, and for a heartbeat, I was sure he wouldn’t move. Then slowly, reluctantly, he stepped back.
“Threk. Nessha.”
I’d learned the word for nest and had been using it to teach him to go to where he slept whenever Rhydek poured blood into his trough. Footsteps thundered in the corridor, getting too close, and I needed him to listen.
Zharrek tensed, his growl building, but I sucked in another breath and firmed my voice.
“Zharrek, nessha!”
A whine escaped my throat from the pain, and Zharrek’s gaze flicked between me and the approaching sound, but with visible reluctance, he turned and retreated into his enclosure. No one else would have believed he might listen, the varku they’d labeled feral, and he’d proven them all wrong.
The moment he crossed the threshold I lifted my foot and placed it on the edge of the door, crying as I pushed.
The lock snicked and I toppled over, gasping into the sand.
Rhydek arrived at my side with the fury of a storm a moment later, glowing like the sun as he dropped to his knees beside me, too close to Zharrek’s bars but seeming not to notice.
“Taryn—”
His hands hovered as if he was afraid to touch, but the pain was fading. His nearness eased the tug of the bond, and the tightness in my chest relaxed with the scent of leather and pine in my lungs.
“He saved me.”
Rhydek’s fear was overwhelming, suffocating, but I needed him to see it wasn’t Zharrek’s fault. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I couldn’t let him be blamed.
Rhydek’s hands pressed against my face and arm, trying to stem the bleeding there before he noticed I held my stomach. He shook, panic beating at my chest as he looked from one wound to the next as if he didn’t know what to do.
“Rhydek.”
Golden eyes locked on mine, slit pupils so wide the beautiful color was almost gone. I wanted to tell him I’d be fine, that I was strong, but numbness was spreading through my limbs, thick and heavy, and I’d never been a good liar.
“He saved me. Don’t blame him.”
My voice was hoarse as I forced the words out. He swallowed, his hand tightening around my arm as he nodded. My cheek burned as if I was too close to a fire, but my stomach had become a distant throb, dulled by cold.
“I know. I saw.”
Lips twitching, I sighed. I tried to push my relief towards him, but I wasn’t sure it made it through the flood coming from his side.
Arms slid beneath me, the movement sending a fresh wave of agony through my body and making me cry out. I heard Zharrek’s roar as the world spun, and I forced open eyes I hadn’t realized I’d closed.
“Stay with me, Taryn. I won’t let Shaevrin have you too.”
Rhydek’s voice sounded odd, but I couldn’t turn my head to look at him. All I could see was Zharrek slamming into the bars that were growing farther and farther away.
I tried to do as he asked, I really did, but the world was dimming. I was tired and cold, and his words blurred together, his voice fading, but the bond in my chest remained steady.
I clung to it as everything else blinked out.