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But she had no time to process what she was seeing or hearing, for the light spoke. No form fell from inside the shower of gold—there was no person to see. Just a voice. A disembodied voice that held not an ounce of emotion.
“A dog from the underworld thinks to challenge me?”
Logan’s powerful hindquarters shoved her back, deeper into the closet, as he turned to face their attackers. Logan’s sides heaved and his long, powerful legs were spread as if ready to pounce.
The trojans shouldered each other restlessly, jockeying for a better position. Their mouths agape, they emitted a sharp hissing sound that hurt Kira’s ears. She moved back, her chest tight with fear and the knowledge that this might be her end. Her eyes moved to Logan and a sob caught at the back of her throat. Was it to be his as well?
The light shimmered so brightly that Kira had to close her eyes, and even then she felt the burn behind her retinas. “I’m curious as to why such filth is interested in the human?”
The voice grew louder and Kira stumbled as she moved backward, deeper into the closet. Logan’s tail slapped at her shoulders. She had no choice.
“Who sent you here? Who protects this human?” The voice was louder now, angry.
Heat seared her backside as a cloud of intense pressure tugged at her clothes. Kira yelped and almost fell to her knees, but she grabbed onto Logan instead, her fists sinking deep into the fur at his haunches.
Mist moved ever faster, gray swirls of cool, icy fog that coated both her and Logan in a cloud of energy. For a blessed moment the intensity of the mysterious stranger’s light was gone and they were sucked toward the back of the closet. A roaring filled her ears and the pressure inside her head ramped up big time. It felt as if she were in the middle of a powerful vortex, one that if allowed, would rip her into pieces.
Kira had never felt so insanely alive and so very, very frightened. It was a weird dichotomy that left her full of adrenaline. The cells in her body felt as if they’d been seared from the inside out, and she clenched her teeth, pulling herself up onto Logan’s back as the pressure behind them built.
All hell broke loose as Logan snapped his great jaw, taking off the hand of one of the trojans that had managed to get close enough to them. Dark liquid spewed everywhere, and the pain of it as it splashed onto her cheek ripped a scream from her throat.
It drove the point home. This was real. This was happening.
And these might be the last seconds of her life.
Kira’s arms grabbed hold of Logan’s neck as she positioned herself atop him, and she buried her head in his thick fur. He smelled of animal and anger and violence and protection. She closed her eyes and whispered, so softly she knew no one would hear.
“Just so you know—it was absolutely worth it.”
The sound and chaos magnified, and Kira closed her eyes as tightly as she could and held on with the last bit of strength that she had. Every part of her screamed in pain, and she cried out, afraid and sad.
She was dying and there was nothing to do but meet her fate head on. The rush in her ears was near deafening, and it felt as if her head was going to explode.
Kira forced her eyes open—if she was to meet her end, she would see it coming. But the light was blinding and though she tried, she couldn’t see anything. There was only the touch and feel of the animal she clung to. His warmth seeped into her bones, and for a second the sensation of floating drifted over her bones.
The pain disappeared. She sighed. And then there was nothing.
SILENCE SURROUNDED HER. Nothing but white noise in her ears. No screams from down the hall—Maggie-Mae freaking out because it was time for her meds; or Hank, the deaf giant, protesting his food choices. There were no messages over the intercom or the sound of shuffling feet.
No heavy breathing in her ear, or cold, clammy hands on her skin. There was nothing.
She liked it that way. Adrift on a sea of ignorance where a blanket of nothing meant the monsters in her head, the ones who populated her dreams, were slayed—however temporary.
Of course it couldn’t stay this way—not in the world she inhabited. Slowly Kira became aware of a sound, like a plane drifting across a robin-egg blue sky on a hot summer afternoon. It droned a sad lament that was more of a nuisance at first, like a bee buzzing around her head, and then it pressed down on her. Hard.
She tried to inhale but realized she wasn’t breathing. Had she ever been?
Her arms flailed and she tried to open her eyes as the pressure in her chest mounted. As terror punched her square in the gut. She felt as if she was underwater. Everything was distorted. Everything hurt.
Where the hell was she?
Suddenly her lungs expanded and she inhaled great gulps of air. Her rib cage ached as if bones were broken, and it was cold, so very cold. Kira shuddered as she tried to understand all the sensations that slipped over her body and burrowed beneath her skin.
Images fell into her brain. A beast. Red eyes. Mergerone. Hands. Fists. Pain. And then him . . . the savior.
Logan.
The droning in her ear exploded, and she screamed as the pain inside became too much to bear. Her eyes flew open and she clawed at whatever it was that covered her—a blanket or something of the like. It was harsh and heavy and she kicked her legs as she wrestled with the shit-beige covering.
