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“I don’t need to fight it,” I tell her, forcing a confidence I don’t feel. “I only need to touch it, remember?” She doesn’t answer.
The bear blows an exhale through its large nostrils. I bend my knees, preparing to sprint.
“Get ready.”
“I am,” she whispers.
“Go!” I let out a roar, waving my hands and running toward the thing for about three paces.
It snarls angrily and charges.
With a scream that’s half-battle cry and half-terror, I take off down the road. The bear follows, and I know immediately that I am not nearly fast enough to give Kendall the time she needs to get to safety.
The only thing I can do is take this asshole down.
While I run, I shed my gloves and jacket, dropping them as I go.
Behind me, the bear closes in, its massive claws scratching the dirt as it eats up the distance. I can feel its breath on my heels. Feel its madness in my bones.
Now or never.
Veering off the road, I grab hold of the first tree I come to and use my momentum to swing myself around to meet the creature head-on. It snarls and snaps its teeth as it whizzes past. I manage to brush my hand against its hind leg then stumble as I nearly face plant.
The beast careens to a stop and rounds on me, already coming again.
I straighten, eyes widening as raw fear pours through me. There’s nowhere left to go. My touch should have?—
From above, an enormous scaled wing crashes through the treetops. It slams into the bear, sending it flying sideways where it hits the ground, sliding to a stop.
The roar above me is deafening as the black dragon lands in the center of the road. Its glowing yellow eyes are narrowed in rage as it stalks closer to the bear.
For a moment, fear squeezes my chest, and I want to warn Legion to be careful. But the scent of rot hits me, and I take a step toward the bear, needing to see, to know that I wasn’t wrong. Two steps are all I need to watch as the poison spreads and the bear succumbs.
It falls onto its side, breaths shallow, as the rot spreads from its leg to its hindquarters.
I glance into the trees, gaze sweeping for Kendall. She’s not in sight, which means she must be hiding. But I need to know she’s safe. I’m just about to skirt past Legion to look for her when a ball of fire shoots from his mouth, consuming the bear.
The heat burns my cheeks, and I retreat as lava and ash rain down over the whole area. When I look back at where the bear lay before, there’s only bone and embers now.
My stomach lurches at the smell.
I turn and hurry into the trees, ignoring Legion, which isn’t easy when he’s the size of a house. I can feel his anger pricking at me right between the shoulder blades. But I focus on finding Kendall, making sure she’s okay.
“Kendall,” I call out.
A second later, she emerges, unharmed. Her eyes widen at the sight behind me, but I’m still doing my best to ignore the showdown I know is inevitable.
“Are you—?” Before I can ask if she’s okay, a hand closes over my shoulder, and I whirl, jumping away from the touch out of reflex. My arms and face are completely exposed, but Legion, back in human form, glares at me without a care that he came so close to being poisoned.
“What the hell are you doing?” he snarls.
I force my gaze to remain on his face despite the fact that he’s gloriously naked—and clearly unaffected by the cold weather. A fact I notice out of the corner of my eye and only serves to make it harder to focus on his words.
“Kendall and I were walking to the village,” I say.
“Are you insane? Do you have any idea the danger you put yourselves in?”
I cross my arms, refusing to let him make me feel bad. “I had it handled.”
