“Are you okay?” Noc positioned himself in front of me, drawing the brunt of the beast’s attention.
“I’m fine.” Black swirls toyed with the corners of my vision, but they faded with the force of the sun. Still pacing and roaring, the beast tested the edge of the water before retracting her foot. Salt water corroded Laharock scales if they spent too much time in it.
Kost, Calem, and Ozias joined us.We’ll handle this. Together.Noc was right—this was not a beast I could tackle alone. Kost’s rigid stare was locked on Felicks. Quilla hadn’t moved. Their stillness made them a nonthreat to the Laharock, who only had eyes for us.
“Kost, tell us what to do.” As much as I wanted to take point, this is where Kost excelled: calculation. And with a beast that could predict the future? He needed to be the one at the helm.
He drew his head back, stared. “If you insist.” His fingers went to his temple. “We need to separate the mother and child. That’s how we win. Felicks is showing me…a water beast? A fish? I can’t quite make it out.”
A grin tugged at my lips. “Selenis.”
Taking several deep breaths, I channeled all my power into my hands, and the door to the beast realm swung open. A tremble disrupted the ocean waves. Selenis would act as a conduit and could divide the beasts.
Light shattered the space around us, and my water beast emerged. Iridescent blue and purple scales ran the length of her torso, and her tail slapped against the water, long fins trailing wide behind her. Webbed hands grazed the waves, and she brought a few droplets to her fish-like lips. Her hair was a mixture of seaweed and tentacles, fluttering behind her as she moved toward me. Her endless oval eyes were the color of rubies. When she extended her palms outward, circular black voids rimmed with pink flesh shuddered.
“What about us?” Oz crouched low in the water, his gaze tracking the mother’s path.
“Noc, Calem, and myself will bait the mother. Once she’s far enough away from her young, Selenis will erect a water wall dividing them. Then, you will transport Leena to the baby so she can tame it first.” Kost dropped his hand. His stare found Felicks, and something like pride filled his expression. “The mother will fall in line after that to be with her child.”
“Done and done.” Calem leaped into the shadows without a backward glance.
Noc stilled. “Ozias takes Leena?”
Unmoving, Kost didn’t meet his gaze. “I don’t make the predictions, Felicks does. This is our best chance at survival.”
The air was thick with tension. Noc clenched his fists. Shook them out. “Fine.” He gave me one parting glance full of so much emotion that my breath caught. “Be safe.” Darkness shrouded him, and he disappeared after Calem.
Inky tendrils festered around Kost’s fingers. He stared only at his beast. “It really was the prediction.”
I hate that you fit.
My heart gave a violent twist. As much as it must have pained him to see Noc’s reluctance to leave my side, I knew Kost would always do right by his family. His loyalty to Cruor, to his brothers’ safety, came first. After all, in his eyes, I was just a job.
“I know.”
Oz looked back and forth between us, thick brow furrowed tight. “Am I missing something?”
“No.” Kost closed his eyes. Opened them. “Be careful. We’ll be on the other side of a very powerful water wall. I’m not sure our shadows could carry us through something like that.”
Oz nodded. “Understood.”
“You too, Leena.” And then darkness swallowed him whole. My throat ached.Kost.I wanted to examine that flare of warmth—of concern—further. Maybe Iwasn’tjust a job anymore. Maybe giving him Felicks had done the trick. Maybe… But the assassins had already gone to work, and I wasn’t about to be the one who held us back. I pushed my thoughts aside.
“Selenis.” I called to my beast, and she slithered through the ocean waves to wait obediently for my mark. “When the mother is far enough away, erect a wall. Don’t harm the child.”
She smacked her lips in answer. Right hand submerged into the wake, a small whirlpool formed around her fingertips as the vacuum in her palm drew in water. She extended her left hand, pointing it directly at the beast. Droplets leaked from the quaking void, flesh sealed across the opening until she used her power.
“Now what?” Muscles coiled in Oz’s neck as he watched his brothers from afar.
“We follow Kost’s plan so they don’t get injured,” I said. Oz flinched, and I placed a gentle hand on his arm. “I’d sooner get hurt than them. Baby Laharocks aren’t great at controlling their power, as it’s not yet set in stone.”
“I don’t want you hurt, either.”
“That’s what I have you for. To protect me.” I beamed up at him, and his expression smoothed a hair. He looked beyond me to the Laharock. She’d spotted Calem to her left, and heat poured from her body. Calem grinned, flipping a black blade in his hand. He tossed a knife directly at her chest plate, and it clattered to the sand at her feet. Steam curled from her nostrils and she bared her teeth, inching her way closer.
The heat around the Laharock intensified, and the sand beneath her feet glowed a fiery orange. Tacky strands clung to her claws as she stalked toward Calem. He leaped back, wide eyes glued to the glass forming beneath her heavy tread.
Noc tossed a round of knives at the Laharock, only for them to scatter like pine needles beneath her feet. But it drew her attention. Rounding on him instead of his brother, the beast growled. Calem and Kost reappeared, each one flanking a different side and shooting weapons with ease. They worked together, trading off when the Laharock got too close, and inch by inch pulled her away from her young. It was the long game, but it was the only one that would work.
