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"Please don't," I choked out. My ankle rolled again as I clambered to my feet, leaning against the back of the truck to support myself. A massive body appeared at my side, and I looked over in horror to find Typhon beside me. His old wounds had all reopened, and new ones covered his dark fur. One back leg dragged behind him, completely useless, and he looked ready to collapse.

"I'm not here to hurt him," the stranger said quickly, holding up his hands. He didn't drop the remote control, though. "I didn't want any of this."

"You came here with those men to capture Typhon and lock him up again. What did you think would happen?" Forcing a bit of iron into my spine, I stepped in front of Typhon, putting myself between him and the other man.

"I'm not with them," he said, then winced. "Well, I came with them, but I'm not with them. I came because I hoped I could help Se— Typhon." He hesitated over the name, eyes darting to the creature behind me. "He was my friend before all this happened. I'll prove it."

Before I could protest, he turned me around and a moment later, my hands were free. My fingers tingled as the blood rushed back into them and my shoulders burned.

"Who—"

I never got to ask my question.The stranger suddenly jerked and hit the back of the truck like someone had tackled him, but nothing touched him. His head cracked against the tailgate, and he went to his knees, the control falling from his hand. I snatched it up before I could talk myself out of it, even if the idea of hurting the creature again made that persistent nausea churn back up.

"Quinn!"

I turned toward the voice, staring when I saw Lain and Ori running toward me, flanked by two coyotes. Ori's focus was on the truck, but Lain only had eyes for me. A man and woman I vaguely recognized hurried past us, going around to the front of the truck. The engine suddenly revved, then abruptly cut off. The leader of these men, the one who'd set the other chimera on Typhon, was still inside and part of me kept waiting for him to come out shooting, but it never happened.

"Quinn, are you okay?" Lain reached me first, throwing himself into my arms so I had no choice but to hug him. It took me a moment to realize he was trembling as badly as I was, but when I did, I hugged him tighter, probably too tight, but he didn't protest.

"I-I'm okay," I lied. "What are you doing here?"

"Ori got in touch with me when you called them, and I got here as fast as I could. I'm so sorry it took me so long."

"Lain, all of that is going to have to wait," Ori cut in. They stood behind Lain, arms crossed over their chest as they scanned the scene, clearly trying to put the pieces together. On the surface, Ori looked calm as ever, but I noticed their eyes kept going back to the other creature lying on the ground.

"What's going on?" I asked, almost a plea. "Who are these people? What do they even want? Why are they trying to kill me?"

It wasn't until that very moment that reality truly sank in and I realized just how very close I'd come to dying today. The world whited out for a moment and I might have fallen if it weren't for Lain still hugging me. These men had come to take Typhon away, and if I had to die for that to happen, they would have been perfectly fine with it. They hadn't even cared that my dog was in the car with me. They would have killed Romulus, too.

"Rom," I croaked, pulling away from Lain to look for my dog.

"He's okay. Scared, but okay." Lain gripped my shoulders until I looked at him again, and some of my panic bled away at the sincerity in his eyes. I trusted Lain. He'd never lied to me, not once in the years we'd known each other, even if it was starting to look like he'd hidden a few fairly crucial things. That wasn't something I was prepared to deal with right now, though.

"Okay. Thank you." Everything felt strangely distant, like a heavy fog had taken up residence in my brain, but I forced myself to focus. Rom was okay. I could focus on the problem and on Typhon.

Typhon. Shit.

I broke away from Lain and immediately turned to find Typhon behind me. His massive head hung low, and his sides heaved as he sucked in wheezing breaths. Dark blood oozed from more wounds than I could count, and his wing hung limp at his side, completely mangled and useless.

Legs shaking, I dropped to my knees in front of him, gently taking his face in my hands. Where once the strange, not-quite-feline face and massive fangs had terrified me, now they were just part of the being I was falling in love with. I knew, deep down in my very soul, that Typhon would never hurt me, no matter what he'd been created to do.

He looked up at me, burnt gold eyes dull with pain, and weakly nuzzled into my hands.

"We're going to get you some help, okay?" I whispered. "We'll get you fixed up in no time. Everything is going to be alright."

He couldn't respond, not in this form, so he just sighed, eyes drooping.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I jerked, finding Ori standing behind me.

"Quinn, we have to get out of here before we do anything," they murmured, kneeling beside me. "Typhon, I need you to change back to your human form. We can't move you like this."

"Y-you could take our truck."

For a moment, I'd completely forgotten about the fourth stranger. He was still on the ground, slumped against the back of the truck with a bruise blossoming on his temple. The woman stood beside him, clearly on guard to keep him from fleeing. She looked familiar, but I couldn't come up with a name. I barely knew my own name at the moment.

"That would only draw more attention." Ori glanced over at the other creature, still prone on the ground. Whatever the stranger had done with the remote seemed to work. I couldn't tell if it was even conscious or not, and right now, I didn't care, so long as it kept its distance.

"What are we going to do with him, by the way?" Lain asked, jerking his head toward the man. "What's to stop him from running back for reinforcements?"