Page 24 of Guarded By the Bigfoot
I glanced back at the door he’d disappeared through, my heart pounding.
Another message popped up.
Captain Garris
Woods, respond now, or we’re coming in hot.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard. I could buy time, delay them, tell them I was gathering intel or securing the area. It wasn’t a lie, not entirely. But it was dangerous. If Brock failed...
No. I couldn’t think like that.
Taking a steadying breath, I typed a response:
Situation under control. Do not deploy. Will report within the hour.
I hit send, then dropped the phone onto the counter. The monitoring crystal pulsed red, casting sharp shadows across the room.
Outside, the wind howled.
The Dreadnull was getting closer.
12
BROCK
The mountain peak pierced the stormy sky like a broken fang, snow-covered slopes now pulsing with sickly green light. The fracture in the Veil loomed before me, no longer a mere tear, but a wound in reality itself, bleeding corruption into our world. Each surge sent ripples through the air, distorting space and time in ways that made my instincts snarl in warning.
Parker’s presence echoed in my mind. Every step away from her felt wrong, but I forced myself forward. This wasn’t about me. It was about the duty etched into my very existence.
The wind howled around me, carrying the stench of corruption. It moved in bizarre patterns, forming shapes that flickered at the edges of my vision, faces that appeared before dissolving back into the storm. As I approached the fracture, reality itself seemed to splinter under the crushing weight of the Dreadnull’s presence.
“Hold steady,” I said into the shared link between us. Responses echoed back. Thorne’s lupine growl from the forest below. Draven’s rumbling acknowledgment from the peaks. Othersstationed across the terrain answered in turn, each of us locked in position, the last line of defense.
The fracture pulsed again, stronger this time. The wave of energy that rolled out made my bones ache. I planted my feet firmly on the earth below. Power surged through me, gathered from a lifetime of vigilance. Golden light erupted from my hands, rippling across my fur as I reached for the edges of the tear.
The moment I made contact, pain shot through me. This wasn’t the Dreadnull’s usual force. It had grown darker, more ancient, more ravenous. It clawed against my soul, leaving me reeling.
Images invaded my mind. Forests withering. Rivers turning to ash. Children’s laughter becoming screams. I roared against the onslaught, my light growing brighter, meeting the putrid green energy pouring from the fracture. The colors crashed together, staining the peaks with an unnatural glow.
The force knocked me to one knee. The fracture widened, and with it, the pressure intensified, weighing on my chest. My instincts warned me of danger, but my power wavered, struggling to hold back the tide.
I thought of Parker. Her fierce determination. Her stubborn heart. The way she’d looked at me before I left, her eyes blazing with anger and something else, something I didn’t deserve. Her love.
I gritted my teeth and pushed harder, drawing on every reserve I had. The golden light around me burned brighter, meeting the green energy head-on in a collision that shook the ground beneath my feet.
But it wasn’t enough.
The force broke through, tearing my defenses apart. My legs weakened, and I barely caught myself before falling. Sweat soaked my fur despite the freezing wind. My breath came in short gasps, tainted with the taste of decay.
The fracture expanded, and I roared, pouring everything I had into the barrier. The light dimmed, then flickered, threatening to fail completely.
“Parker,” I gasped, her name escaping in desperation. I reached for the connection between us, a thread of warmth in the growing cold, but even that felt fragile now, stretched thin by distance.
The darkness encircled me, probing for any weakness, and I felt my strength ebbing.
Memories flashed through my mind. Centuries of standing watch. Fulfilling my role no matter the cost. And then Parker. Her laughter. Her hand in mine. The feeling of wholeness she brought me.
The thought of her sparked something inside me, but still, it wasn’t enough.
