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The creature was faster, lashing out with one brutal swipe of its long, sharp tail.
It slammed into them, the pain so bad Shay swore her spine cracked in half, and for several horrible seconds she couldn’t breathe.
They flew through the air like dolls.
Roman lost his hold on her. He smacked into the stone wall, the side of his head cracking against it so hard it instantly bled.
Shay struck the pavement several feet away and rolled, the skin of her arms and legs ripping open. White-hot pain splintered across her vision as the wood that was stuck in her leg was shoved in deeper.
She fought it—the pain—and pushed herself to her feet just as the monster went after her.
Roman’s magic was a force of nature as it swept out again, his attack smashing the creature into the closest staircase. Wood and stone exploded.
And Roman still hadn’t gotten up.
He pushed himself to his feet with visible difficulty, blinking as if dizzy. Red streamed down the side of his face and neck, the blood running into his eye and partially blinding him.
The monster was up instantly, bursting out of the destruction of the stairs.
With a spine-chilling bellow, it snapped its tail through the air, launching a hailstorm of barbs right at them.
Roman ducked, and Shay dove the other way, the act putting more distance between her and Roman. The barbs thudded into the wall, stone cracking and bursting into dust.
The spikes instantly grew back with a popping that was foul, and it struck again with another crack of that whip-like tail.
Roman cursed, dodging again. One of the spikes whizzed past his head, while another tore through the short sleeve of his shirt.
“Roman!” Shay cried. Shit—she couldn’t move. Her leg was going to buckle again, the muscles burning and torn—
The monster went for Roman.
It moved in a blur—almost too fast for hellseher eyes. It lifted Roman and slammed him into the wall, pinning him there with a deadly claw to the throat, like it had at the Facility.
Shay limped forward, injury be damned. “Roman!”
“Get out of here, Shay!” His voice was a crackle. “Get out of here, please—go!”
Shay grabbed a rock and threw. “Leave him alone!” Thunder rumbled overhead, but no lightning came to help her. “Get away from him!”
The creature tightened its claw around Roman’s throat—
Roman’s gold eyes snapped to her face—one last time. “Run,” he begged with a whisper.
The sickening snap of bone cleaved the air.
Shay’s stomach quaked.
The blood drained from her face.
“No.” The word was a choked whisper.
No, no, no—please!
With an animalistic scream that ripped apart her vocal chords, she launched herself forward, not giving a flying shit if she died too—
The creature’s head suddenly exploded.
Shay stumbled to a stop, staring with wide eyes as pulpy black blood and bits of bone sprayed through the air.
