Page 104 of Moon Chosen

Nik’s words were cut off as the brackish pool below the rails erupted into a nightmare of chaos and death. Dropping the reeds through which they’d been breathing, Skin Stealers emerged from the water, their deadly triple-tipped spears weeping water as they shrieked their terrifying battle cry and attacked.

The first spear struck Grace, skewering the canine behind her shoulder. The force of the blow knocked her from the rail, and with an agonizing yelp the beautiful female Shepherd fell into the water.

“NO!”Crystal shouted, pulled a knife from the leather sheath around her waist, and with no hesitation jumped into the water after her Companion—landing in the middle of the Skin Stealers.

“Crystal!” Sheena was screaming and pulling her own knife free when Wilkes tackled her so that she fell to the bank instead of leaping to her death after her mate.

Nik went to his knees and began firing arrow after arrow down into the pit of water and death while spears whizzed past him. He tried to sight Crystal, but there were too many reeds and too much roiling water.

Another canine screamed in agony, but Nik didn’t look around. He kept firing and firing. There were so many of them! And they’d all been hiding in wait, just below the surface of the water.

“They’re targeting the canines!” Wilkes shouted. “We have to get back to the boat or they’ll kill them and take us! Go now! Nik, cover us.”

“Will do!” Nik shouted.

“Not without Crystal and Grace! I won’t leave them!” Sheena was screaming and thrashing as Wilkes tried to drag her away.

“Then you and Captain will be as dead as they are!” Wilkes shouted back.

“Don’t let them take me alive!”The horrible cry came from the pool. Nik saw Crystal then. She was in bloody, brackish water to her chest. One arm was wrapped around the body of Grace, and with the other hand she was brandishing her dagger, slashing and jabbed at the circle of Skin Stealers who were closing around her.

Nik shot once, twice, and two more Skin Stealers disappeared under the water. Two more immediately swam to take their place in the closing circle.

They wouldn’t kill her, Nik knew. Not right away. Skin Stealers believed they could absorb the power of a Companion through the wearing of their skin, and that power was transferred to them only if the Companion was alive when the skin was stolen. They would take Crystal to their Temple in the heart of the ruined city, and there they would flay the skin from her body carefully, meticulously, keeping her alive as long as possible. Then they would feed on what was left of her body, eating the raw flesh from her in ravenous, bloody bites.

“More of ’em are coming from the find!” Monroe shouted.

Nik spared a glance up. Skin Stealers were pouring from the hole in the building.

“Crystal!” Sheena screamed.

“We can’t save her!” Wilkes said. “Nik, end it for her and follow us.”

Time seemed suspended. Nik stood, and as spears hurled past him, he sighted down into the pool. Crystal looked up and met his eyes. She threw her dagger, catching the closest Skin Stealer in his neck. Then she hugged Grace’s body tightly to her, smiled, and nodded to Nik.

He didn’t let himself think. He pulled the trigger of his crossbow and watched his arrow bury itself to the feathers in the middle of Crystal’s smooth white forehead. With a sigh that Nik would hear in his nightmares for the rest of his life, she collapsed over Grace’s body and the two of them disappeared together under the water.

Then Nik was backing after Wilkes and Sheena, firing arrow after arrow into the horde that converged on them from above and below.

All of the boats except for the ones carrying Wilkes and Monroe, and him and Sheena had already launched when Nik got to the beached kayaks. From his peripheral vision he could see that Monroe’s Viper had been struck, and he was half dragging, half carrying his Shepherd, who had a spear protruding from his haunch, into the ballasting mat.

Then, not twenty yards from him, Thaddeus cried, “Odysseus!” Nik watched as the biggest male he’d ever seen emerged from beneath Thaddeus’s kayak. The little boat rolled dangerously, sending the Terrier sliding off the ballast and into the water, where a Skin Stealer instantly grabbed him. “No!” Thaddeus screamed again, and then his cry was cut off when the huge man backhanded him. Thaddeus fell backward, hitting his head against the wooden seat, knocked unconscious. The Skin Stealer grabbed the back of his tunic like it was a puppy’s scruff, easily pulling him from the boat.

A spear sizzled past Nik’s ear and he fired four more arrows, trying to aim for the big man swimming toward shore with Thaddeus under his massive arm, but Skin Stealers seemed to multiply from beneath the water, surfacing to form a living wall between his arrows and the retreating male.

“Go, Nik! Go!” Wilkes shouted as Odin leaped onto the other mat, balancing the kayak. He and Monroe pushed it into the river, jumping aboard as the current caught it and they shot into the river.

“Here, Nik! Help me!” Sheena called. He glanced behind him. Tears streaming down her face, Sheena was trying to wrench free the ballasts from the sides of their kayak. Captain was aboard already, crouched near what had been Crystal’s seat. Instantly Nik knew what was happening. Without Grace as balance to Captain’s weight, they’d capsize. They had to get rid of the ballasts if they were to escape.

Nik didn’t waste time with words. He surged through the shallow water to the kayak. Using the heel of his boot, he kicked violently at the arm of the ballast, splintering it at the same time Sheena managed to wrench the other one free.

“Get in! I’ll launch,” Nik said.

Sheena scrambled into her place in the front of the kayak and Nik bent, using all of his strength to propel the little boat out into the river. As his feet lost contact with the riverbed and he hurled himself over the end of the kayak, a spear caught him, embedding itself in his upper back.

White-hot pain blasted through Nik’s body. He struggled to sit—struggled to lift the paddle that was tied to the body of the boat. Moving on pure adrenaline, he sliced the water with the paddle, biting a bloody gouge in his lip to keep from crying out in pain. Around them it rained spears. One thunked into the wooden side of the kayak. Another buried itself just behind Nik.

Ignoring the pain—ignoring the fact that he could feel the strength leaving him with the blood that was washing hot and fast down his body, Nik paddled.