Page 94 of Unleashed

“And Kelsharn is arrogant enough to do the same thing twice, thinking himself too clever to be caught,” Balir said.

“We need to gonow!” Vortok shouted.

“Nina, ride with Balir,” Aduun commanded as he initiated his change.

The pain of his body altering gave him clarity and focus, tearing his thoughts away from everything but the most important task — protecting Nina. She’d led them here, to their people, and he trusted her to lead them to the right place again.

As soon as Balir’s change was completed, Nina climbed onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck as he lifted his head and released a piercing shriek; once, that sound would have provoked Aduun’s beast, would have ignited his urges to violence and to protect his territory, but now it was the familiar call of a packmate.

A hundred bestial calls replied to Balir’s from all around, all much too close for comfort. Aduun knew what drove his kin. He understood their hunger.

Balir broke into a run, leaping off the platform and onto the path. Aduun flattened his quills and darted after his friend. The heavy pounding of hooves against the stone just behind Aduun meant the rockfur was following.

The stone pathway was raised above the cages on either side, but many of the beasts — thetribesmen— below were scrabbling for purchase, desperately seeking a way up to reach what was likely their first meal in centuries. Aduun wasn’t sure whether it was a boon or a curse that his people did not turn on each other. The allure of fresh, healthy prey was likely too strong for them to resist; why battle each other for the scraps they’d pick from their withered bodies when Aduun and his companions had ample meat on their bones?

Balir sped through the archway and turned sharply in the direction of the crystal formation. Aduun’s paws slipped on the stone beneath him as he turned, but he scrambled to catch himself and recover his momentum, bounding forward. He glanced back briefly to see Vortok slide sideways, kicking his legs, and crashing into one of the trees lining the street. Wood snapped. The tree sagged over, broken in half, and Vortok lowered his snout and powered onward.

They raced down the road. Aduun’s heart pounded rapidly, thunderously, and he knew that it was echoed in his companions’ heartbeats.

Nina sat up and twisted to look back at Aduun. Her eyes met his for an instant before shifting to look past him. They rounded, bright with alarm.

A chorus of roars sounded behind them, echoing off the walls on either side to become something haunting and blood-curdling. The clan was on the hunt, but this was unlike any hunt in which Aduun had partaken.

This time, he and his friends were the prey.

The open area came into view up ahead. Aduun growled deep in his chest and increased his speed, straining his muscles. He felt ravenous gazes upon him, heard the clicking of claws against stone behind him, and his quills rose in anticipation.

Was the hunger of his people stronger than their wasted bodies?

If he considered it with logic, he and his three companions should’ve been able to outrun the wild beasts without difficulty; Aduun, Vortok, and Balir were in excellent physical condition despite their own long captivity. But his instincts knew better. They were not being pursued by beasts; they were being pursued byvalos.

And valos did not adhere to the rules of nature.

Balir dashed between two of the double-peaked stones ringing the crystalline pyramid and slid to a halt. Nina climbed off his back as Aduun entered the ring. Vortok arrived a few moments later, sides heaving with snorting breaths.

Aduun turned to face the oncoming beasts. They were moments away. He flexed his paws, dragging his claws over the stone. He didn’t want to harm his people, but he would doanythingto protect Nina.

“Vortok, knock that crystal down!” Nina shouted, moving to stand next to Aduun. “I’m…I’m going to try to hold them off.”

Aduun moved in front of her, unleashing a roar. She needed to step back, to find someplace to hide, to stay out of danger.

She placed a hand on his flank; her touch was impossibly soothing, given the situation. “I don’t think I can do this for long, but we just need to buy Vortok some time. Trust me.”

Balir moved forward to stand beside Aduun, the red spots on his throat pulsing.

The eyes of the charging beasts gleamed with reflected light; they were not the eyes of Aduun’s beloved people, but of the creatures Kelsharn had always wanted them to be. Bloodthirsty killers that fulfilled whatever purpose he set them to, even if that purpose was devouring one of their own.

The ground shook as Vortok slammed his hind hooves into the pyramid. Crystal cracked, but a stolen glance backward revealed that the structure hadn’t broken.

Aduun swung his attention forward again and bunched the muscles of his hind legs, ready to intercept anything that came for Nina.

“Stop!” she yelled. The word resonated in both Aduun’s ears and his mind, producing a sharp, fleeting pain in his skull. Power washed over him, that inexplicable power Nina possessed, a force well beyond his understanding.

The wild, charging beasts stopped abruptly, many skidding or tumbling forward. Their gaunt features maintained their savagery as all the beasts looked at Nina. None of the creatures moved or made a sound.

A heavywhumpsignaled Vortok striking the crystal again. More high-pitched cracks, but no immense crash. Vortok’s hooves clacked on the stone as he repositioned himself.

Nina’s fingers curled, clenching Aduun’s fur, and her arm trembled. A ripple of movement flowed through the beasts. Aduun felt Nina straining and opened his mind to her.

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