Page 84 of Griffin Undone
He snagged one coat sleeve, but I was already moving. I somersaulted over him, feeling the material rip down my arm as I flipped and came quickly to my feet. I was across the small living room in seconds. Maddox’s head whipped in my direction before all his attention focused on the massive body standing in the now empty doorway.
Sun.
Two Archai flanked the shifter, still on the porch. Neither wore Grim’s distinctive robe. All three had glowing eyes trained on Maddox. I slumped back against the paneled wall, relief stealing the strength from my muscles.
“Back for more, gentlemen?” Maddox asked, his gaze on Sun. Anticipation lit his eyes, though they glowed red instead of the beautiful gold I’d seen so often in Arik’s eyes.
A curse came from outside the door, and abruptly the two warriors behind Sun retreated, the sound of a fight breaking out. Anigma reinforcements? Whoever they were, Sun didn’t even glance back. He advanced instead.
So did Maddox—toward me.
I glanced behind me. A long hall led to a bedroom and tiny bathroom, both with no exit. At the other end was a window big enough I could crawl out that way, but I knew from experience there was nothing beneath it.
I was trapped.Great.
Automatically my weight settled into my hips and feet, and my hands came up, open, spread like a criminal surrendering to the police. Energy crackled beneath the skin of my palms, and I tried to breathe it away, tried to lock it back inside me. Sun was somewhere behind Maddox, and unleashing my power—
The thought made me sick.
My power surged in response to my fear. Being attacked wasn’t a problem when you had a weapon like mine—if you could control it.Thatwas the problem. Anyone who said they could concentrate when they fought was either completely emotionless or had been fighting so many years that everything was automatic, muscle memory. I had neither advantage; I’d learned that with Walter. Just thinking the name brought back the memory of the gargoyle’s body disintegrating beneath my hands. Could I do that to Maddox? Yes. Could I do it without hurting anyone else? There were now at least three shifters in this room or somewhere nearby that I’d rather not turn into human confetti. I just didn’t have the control to guarantee the outcome.
Watching Maddox’s approach, I tried to gauge my options. I had to get this right.
Maddox lunged across the room. I threw myself to the side.
Midflight, I drew my energy together and pushed it across the room with a shouted, “No!” Maddox took the blast in the middle of his stomach and flew backward like one of those cartoon characters catching a cannonball in his gut. He hit the far wall with a distinctcrack, but I didn’t stop. Knowing it might mean the difference between surviving and not, I threw another blast of energy in the shifter’s direction, using a loud yell and surging adrenaline to give it impetus.
The second strike hit Maddox high on his chest just as he tried to leap forward. His back hit the wall again, the plaster and wood splintering into a thousand pieces on impact. Dust from the brick wall of the building puffed out around his massive body. It would’ve been funny if I wasn’t bracing myself for retaliation. Wondering where the hell everyone else was.
I glanced around for Sun. The phoenix was frozen in the middle of the room, one foot in front of the other as if he’d stopped midstep. His gaze was on me, round and amazed. As I watched, something calculating entered the look, something I’d seen time and again in Arik’s eyes, when he was trying to figure out how he could use me. Sun was evaluating my power, deciding what to do with me, with it.
My gut sank through the floor. It didn’t matter where I went; I’d always be a weapon, wouldn’t I?
A high scream of pain drew Sun’s attention to the door. The next moment, a large shifter dressed all in black—an Anigma soldier?—shot through the door and tackled Sun to the ground. I had half a second to stare as the two grappled before a massive body hit me like a freight train. Distracted, I went down under the rib-crushing weight.
Maddox. In full shift.
The massive canine was easily twice the size of a wolf in the wild and felt like it weighed five hundred pounds. I used every trick Arik had taught me to escape, but Maddox was a warrior with centuries of fighting experience, even in dog form. Every twist, every strike and duck and shift of my hips was countered with expertise and a certain grim satisfaction that glowed in its red eyes. The front paws, as big as saucers, locked my arms down, preventing gestures that might give my power impetus. The wolf’s body weight stole my breath but not my ability to move my legs, and when my knee managed to slide between its hind legs and catch it unaware, striking what might well be the monster’s only delicate parts, the wolf snarled with rage. A quick snap of its jaws cut a searing gash across my cheek, and I flinched back with nowhere to go. The wolf brought its muzzle down right next to my throat and growled low and mean.
I went limp, conserving what little energy I had left. Breathing quick and light, all I could manage with the animal’s body crushing mine, I waited for my chance. The sickening sound of metal cutting through bone and flesh gave me one.
Maddox’s werewolf roared and reared back, claws digging at the knife sticking hilt-deep into its shoulder. I watched it hover there above me as if frozen in time, and then, without conscious thought, my hand rose and I pushed my open palm toward its face. “Off!”
The werewolf took the blow like an amateur boxer on the receiving end of a heavyweight champion’s fist, its body flipping in an awkward curve backward to land five feet away. A quick arch and push brought it to its feet, swaying, those deadly fangs catching the light as it growled its fury into the air.
And then a rough grip on my arm dragged me backward down the hall.
“Arik?”
I’d waited two days for him to stop hovering and go out to feed. He must’ve come back earlier than expected, only to find me gone.
My luck was shitty tonight, wasn’t it?
“Arik!”
That was Sun. The big male darted across the living room, gaze locked on us. Maddox lunged into his path, the knife from his shoulder now gone. The two males came together like Titans of old, power reverberating through the room. Sun’s long, gleaming knife flashed in the light. One of the males fell, I wasn’t sure which, but then they were tumbling across my living room out of sight. Shards of wood and cinder block splintering the air said my homemade bookshelf had met its demise.
I didn’t see the rest. Arik yanked me forward, and all I could focus on then was him, his glowing gaze caressing my body, anxious, worried. His lips tightened when his eyes settled on the blood smearing my face.
