Page 57 of Interlude

“Start with your weapons. Once they run out of juice, go with the thorns,” he suggests, sounding unconcerned.

“They run out of juice?” I feel a moment of panic. “We didn’t get that far in my lesson because the smell of my blood triggered Saxon. To be honest, I’m probably more of a liability with them than without.”

“Pfft,” he scoffs. “It’s point and shoot. Just make sure you’re not pointing at any of us when you pull the trigger. It has a hundred shots, and then the laser will need to be repowered. Just move to your second weapon, and then once that’s empty, use your thorns. Hopefully by then we will have taken care of all of the Madovians. I can conjure more weapons, but they need to be calibrated to your blood, which will take precious time we won’t have.”

“How are you so calm?” I ask him, beginning to freak out now that this is becoming more real. My palms are sweaty, and there’s a funny taste in my mouth.

“I’ve been in battle before. Don’t forget I have a few years on you, Lila. I couldn’t remember how old I was when I first met you because my parents stole that memory, but now I know I was ten. It wasn’t long after that when my dad first took me into a firefight. It was against a group of warlocks who were trying to overthrow the crown. He thought it would be a good experience for people to see how ruthless the warlock crown prince was even at a young age. It’s how I ended up with the reputation I have. It also helps that I have the power to back that reputation up,” he explains as he takes my arm and leads me outside.

“If you touch my spikes, does it hurt?” I ask him, and he reaches to run his hand over one of them. Instead of stabbing him like I thought they would, they bend just like they do for me.

“They only become rigid if you feel fear,” Brannock explains, overhearing me talking to Xavier.

“Whoa.” Saxon scans me from head to toe, nodding with approval. “That was a good idea.”

Tirrian nods, looking smug. “I thought it would be best, considering we don’t know what we are walking into.”

“Surely the great warlock will be able to protect you from anything, but just in case, we are here as backup.” Silac speaks up for the first time, being sassy and giving me a wink. I’m kind of happy to see it, even as Xavier flips him off, because he’s been so worried about his family. At least this provides a distraction.

“But how are we going to find our way to the center of the death forest if the god has already gone ahead?” Maxsim asks, and he sparks with impatience. I’m so happy he’s here, but I’m worried too. Echo will never forgive me if something happens to him.

“Why is it called the death forest?” I ask, looking into the lush green foliage stretched out in front of us.

“That’s not the death forest,” Ghosie says, shaking his head. “The death forest is on the opposite side of the planet. We need to teleport there, just like the god did.”

“Oh, so that’s where he went. I’m glad one of us knows what we’re doing. How do you know that?” I ask him, and I see him blush, his furry multicolored cheeks darkening.

“Because the carevasta bears are space pirates. Raping and hoarding women is the least of our bad habits. Murder for hire is another thing that some of the bears would contract out for. It’s easy to slit someone’s throat when they are trying to rub their body all over you. The death forest is a good place to dispose of any bodies you don’t want to be found. It’s even better than letting them float through space, because no one is game enough to go searching there. I can assure you, I did not take part in these practices, but all bears know of it.”

“Right then, gather close. It will be easy for me to teleport everyone together if we’re all touching one another.” Xavier waves at us.

Saxon hands me my guns, and I stick them into the holsters in my leathers and put my arm on his to link us.

“You’ve got this. Just point and shoot. Headshots if you can, because that will kill them, but body shots will slow them down,” he tells me, patting my hand before reaching out to touch Silac who is next to him. He gives me a wink, and I watch as he changes to his half form. His body rises higher so Saxon has to stretch to reach his arm. Maxsim strides through the half circle and kisses me.

“Take care of yourself. Our omega will be upset if we get hurt,” he growls at me.

“Same goes for you.” I’m kind of shocked that he kissed me in this form, but I’m just rolling with it.

He steps back, and his body blurs, changing into his cat form. It isn’t quite as large as Zeydan’s fox form. Where he’s the size of a small elephant, Max is probably the height of a rhino. Between the two of them, they are intimidating creatures and could probably skull stomp the Madovians. I don’t know how big they are in their shifted form. If they are like Silac, then they are considerably bigger than their humanoid form.

Ghosie steps up on my other side and holds up his arm. His fur is covered by protective leathers, so I can put my hand on his arm without worrying about becoming infatuated. “Are you going to be okay?” I ask him. I’m not sure what abilities he holds apart from the mesmerizing fur and matter disrupter.

He gives me a small smile. “I’ll be fine. This isn’t my first raid. In fact, I probably have the most experience in stealing something from under the nose of others, and I’m fairly handy with a laser gun.”

Tirrian and Xavier complete the circle—Xavier on Ghosie’s other side, with Maxsim between them, both of them shoving a hand onto his fur.

“Let’s make this quick, Maxsim is freezing my balls off.” Tirrian’s teeth start to chatter, and Xavier chuckles as we dissipate, reappearing a few seconds later. I cough and stumble, but Ghosie and Saxon hold me upright. I look around to get my bearings, and I notice the green magic circling us.

“Don’t go beyond the green barrier. We are only protected inside it,” I warn the others as I get my first look at the death forest.

“Holy fuck.” Fear washes over me, and I shiver. “This is going to suck.”

Brannock

Iheave out the breath I’d been holding and drop my hands to my sides, pulling out both of my weapons now that we’ve arrived at the location. The site is eerily silent, much like when we were harvesting yesterday. The magic circle must deaden the noise around us, which is hardly ideal for the ambush we know is waiting for us.

“Are we sure the Madovian’s are hiding somewhere in there? They don’t have a circle to protect themselves with.” Lila sounds skeptical as she studies the forest in front of us with a frown.

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