A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(78)

I was going to be sick for the third time in less than an hour.

The wolfbeast lunged at me again and this time made contact, his claws ripping out a chunk of my hair. I yelped in pain, which only seemed to excite the monster. He dove for me again, knocking my body into the mossy ground below. Pain bloomed in my shoulder and elbow, my wrist already pulsing in agony. The wolf’s breath washed over me and smelled of something more powerful than magic—metallic and astringent.

I realized with utter clarity I was not going to survive this.

As if the beast had heard my thoughts, he reared back with a violent howl and lunged forward to dig his razor teeth into my abdomen. I screwed my eyes shut.

I just hoped it would be swift.

Please, please, please, please—

But the pain never came.

Instead, I heard the deafening wail of a creature howling in agony.

I could hardly understand the sight before me. Gray and golden fur rolled in a heap on the forest floor, a tumbling mess of snarling, blood, and whimpers—the chimera. He had lunged at the wolfbeast, effectively saving my life. And now, he was ensnared in the monster’s claws. Like a dogfight, they were moving so quickly I couldn’t intercept. I waited for the right moment and lunged forward, driving my blade into gray fur, and knocking the wolf into a tree.

The chimera fell to the ground, one goatlike horn severed, and a piercing wound spurting blood from his neck.

No! A cry caught in my throat.

The wolfbeast cackled, exposing rows of pointed teeth, and stood before me. I looked down at the wheezing animal at my feet, who had given his life for mine.

For the chimera, I was going to pretend to be someone brave until I was one. I angled my hips toward the beast, swung the sword to shoulder level and brought it down on the wolf. He dodged, then charged me, but my body took over. Weeks of training—of sweat and blisters and aching arms and sheer determination—all came together in an instant like a key sliding into a lock. I swung repeatedly, nipping him on the shoulder, the neck, the arm. His howls became my fuel, and each time my blade found its mark, I was emboldened. Stronger. The sword felt lighter in my hands. More than that—it was an extension of me.

Of my rage.

I moved like Dagan, step after careful step, circling the creature. When he charged me, I brought my sword down on him and sliced one of his claws clean off. He howled and I felt it in my bones.

I was not capable of stopping.

The clearing glowed. I could see him better in the soft, yellow light that surrounded us. Sweat poured down my brow but a breeze I couldn’t place warmed and cooled me at once.

I felt taller. Fiercer. More whole.

I could have sworn I saw fear enter the wolfbeast’s eyes. He lunged at me once more, and with everything I had left I stabbed forward, burying my sword to the hilt in his chest.

He gurgled out a screech that felt ancient in its power, and with a dying breath reached his remaining clawed hand out toward me. If he made contact, I didn’t know. I turned and ran for the chimera, bloodied sword still dangling from my hands. The golden creature was whimpering, bleeding out onto the damp leaves of the forest.

“No, no, no,” I pleaded. “You’re all right.”

It was the larger chimera. He had come back to help me. A kindness shown for saving his mate’s life, when I had been the one to cause her near-death in the first place. I could not let him die for me. Tears rolled down my cheeks and landed in his fur.

His eyes were dimming—there wasn’t enough time.

I pushed my hand into the chimera’s neck wound and closed my eyes, focusing on his pain. But I was so tired, so weak—I had used my powers up on his mate, and then some. Nothing came out, or even pricked at my fingers.

“Please, please, please.” I wasn’t sure who or what I was praying to.

I thought of that day with Dagan. The way I had pulled warmth and light from the atmosphere. I pictured taking what little moonlight still shone, sucking it into my fingertips and redirecting it through me into the softly crying creature beneath me.

Something beneath me shone bright like a sunrise. Emboldened, I strained against the weakness and focused further on the ether around me—the sky itself. I could harness it. Make it work for me. The glowing intensified. I could almost hear the chimera’s lungs filling up with air once again.

But the forest was starting to feel very hot.

Which made no sense.

It was summertime, but the Shadow Woods had been icy all night. My hands were shaking, and the ground felt uneven. Was the earth moving? No, the trees were moving. The chimera was now up and looking at me curiously. His neck…

It was better. Healed. How?

Physical relief surged through my bones. I tried to get a better look, but the creature’s coarse, honeyed fur was blurring into the moonlit night.

A wave of nausea rolled through me. Something sticky was dripping down my body. The chimera tried to nudge me with his furry snout, but I tipped backward and landed on the dirt with a thud.

Something was very wrong.

A voice thundered my name a million miles away.

The chimera took off into the woods at the sound echoing off the trees. I tried to tell him goodbye.

A man’s blurry figure, with a familiar cedar and leather scent, rushed to me, hands pressing into my chest like a heavy weight.

“No, not goodbye,” the figure assured me, but the voice was panicked. “You are going to be fine.”