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But she spun out of reach at the last moment, his strike leaving a thin gash from shoulder to side in its wake instead of a mortal wound.
As she spurred her warhorse into a rear, its front hooves flying, she shouted, “Kill her! Kill him! Now, now, now!”
One of the horse’s hooves managed to clip Zai on the shoulder, knocking him down from his own steed. He rolled as he hit the ground, immediately springing into a defensive crouch.
A Hunter stabbed the lioness directly in her belly, once, twice, finally making her scream.
It was a soul-shattering sound.
Zai would recall it for an eternity. All the blood drained out of his face when he heard it.
And the guttural, devastated roar that followed shook him to his very core—
As a giant liger leapt out of the shadowed woods, taking out the Hunter that had stabbed his Mate with a clawed swipe across his face and throat.
The Queen had been in the process of rearing her horse again to stomp Zai into the ground, but she froze against the new threat.
After the liger ripped two other Hunters to shreds in a matter of moments, he focused on the Queen and Zai instead. He came at them with an earth-shaking roar, faster than Zai had seen any Beast move.
The Queen knew she was outmatched immediately and spurred her warhorse around, making him kick up his hind hooves directly into the Beast’s chest as he leapt into the air. She didn’t wait to see how he fared with the blow before urging her horse into a sprint, kicking up leaves and debris as they galloped into the darkened forest.
The Beast should have been stunned by those gigantic hooves, but he stood up and shook his head from side to side, crazed, golden eyes narrowing upon Zai.
The moment their eyes met, Zai felt as if he’d been struck by lightning, split right down the middle. It was enough to make him hesitate, and that split second of indecision left him open to the liger’s attack.
The Beast reached him in one gigantic leap, right paw extended, claws the size of curved daggers stained with blood.
Zai turned at the last second, and the claw ripped down the side of his face instead of tearing through his neck. Immediately, the blood that gushed from the wound filled his eye with a red haze, flowing freely down his face.
Half blinded, he knew he was no match for the Beast. He dodged the liger’s attacks by pure instinct. He wouldn’t survive another blow.
This was the end one way or the other. Whether by the liger’s hand or by Queen Gaia’s for betraying her.
But suddenly, a slew of arrows struck the ground around them, a couple hitting their mark in the liger’s shoulder and side.
More Hunters were coming. The Queen must have rounded her remaining troops and doubled back.
The liger roared long and low, knowing that the battle was lost. If he didn’t run now, he wouldn’t have a chance of escaping. There must be at least a dozen Hunters coming this way.
Zai could hear the galloping hooves of the Hunters’ steeds as they drew nearer. He lay still upon the ground where he fell, his neck arched to keep the liger in his sight.
The Beast’s vengeful eyes bore into him one last time, every muscle locked, all of his teeth bared in a ferocious, murderous snarl.
I will find you, Dark One,he thought he heard the liger say.
But surely he was mistaken. Only Beasts could communicate telepathically to other Beasts. And only Mates of other Immortals could do the same. Zai was neither Beast nor anyone’s Mate.
You bear my claw mark,he distinctly heard as the liger slunk backwards without looking away from him.
I will hunt you down, and one day, I will make you pay.
With that, the Beast turned and bounded into the forest, the stardust of his dead Mate swirling in the breeze around him, before he disappeared into the darkness.
So, too, did darkness descend upon Zai, when a Hunter’s war hammer knocked into his skull.
Chapter Three
“The Queen who followed Gaia harkened a New Age for all living beings. Ashlu Da-ni-gal surpassed her mother in beauty and wit, and where Gaia ruled through violence and terror, Ashlu exceled in manipulation and cunning. But her reign began on shaky ground, for Queen Gaia’s sudden demise proved that she was not invincible as once thought. It thus became incumbent upon the new Dark Queen to prove success where her predecessor had failed…”
