Page 85 of Courting Mayhem

Derek wrapped his arms around her.“On the count of three, we take her back to the circle of rock.”

Grabbing a hold of Zosia’s limp form, I concentrated on the circle and flinched as my muscles protested loudly. “Goddess, she weighs a ton.”

“One. Concentrate. Two. Don’t end up with tentacles embedded in your flesh. Three.” There was a flash of black and we appeared on the rock.

I heaved a sigh of relief. We had done it!

Splat!An Enforcer landed on top of Zosia.

Where had she come from? The heads-up display in my helmet blinked a warning. I glanced up.

Another enforcer fell from the sky and hit the rock with a loudsplat!

I nudged her with my foot. “You okay?”

She hissed at me.

“I guess that’s a yes.”

Derek pulled his laser pistol. “Let’s go kill us some Rodan.”

The bellowing roar of what sounded like a prehistoric Earth dinosaur sounded nearby.

“Is it safe to leave them?”

Derek looked at something behind me. “Yes.”

I glanced over my shoulder and did a double take. An enormous vortex had formed in the rainforest. “I hope that’s reinforcements.”

“It is.”

The maelstrom spat out eight king-sized enforcers. I had to admit they had arrived in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Slashes of incandescent green continued to shoot from the vortex, disintegrating anything they touched.

“What kind of enforcers are they?”

“They’re Executioners.”

“Oh. The Katanic’s boogeymen.” I waved at them all friendly like. “Protect the Empress while we go kill the Rodan.”

“For God’s sake don’t draw their attention.” Derek grabbed my arm and teleported us. Poof! We were in the empty birthing chamber. “Link with me.”

“Bossy much?”

“I need you to shut that smart mouth of yours and focus on staying alive.”

I patted his chest. “Relax big guy. Your muscles are all tensed up and if you keep grinding your teeth that way, you gonna break a fang.”

“If anything were to happen to you, your fathers will try to kill me and I would lose a piece of my soul,” Derek snapped.

Yep, they would. That was one fight I didn’t want to happen. Wait! What? “A piece of your soul?”

“I need you to focus on the job at hand. We’ll talk later.”

You bet your ass we would. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

“We’re going to combine our powers and annihilate the Rodan.”

“So, let me get this straight. You’re going to be in the driver’s seat and I’m just along for the ride?”

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