Page 125 of The Tribrid Princess and the Taste of Chaos
The manananggals shriek, and I launch myself at them. We collide, ripping through flesh and bone as the fight begins.
With Everything I Have
Jayce
Ican barely catch my breath as the last body falls. I drop to the ground, blood dripping from my teeth as I cast a cold look over the three corpses, making sure they’re dead.
Their blood is spreading across the road. My chest rises and falls as I shift back to human form – my body aching from exhaustion and anger. This shouldn’t have happened.
I shouldn’t have brought her out here. The forest is burning behind us, and the road is scorched and broken. Everything smells like blood and fire.
She stands there, staring down at the manananggal she had killed. I’m proud of her, though. She fought, and she did a fucking good job of it.
“You were fucking incredible,” I say, walking over to her. She wraps her arms around my waist, holding me tight, her heart thumping.
“I’m so sorry about your bike.”
Ouch, yeah, that’s gonna hurt. “Let’s not think about that. At least you’re safe,” I say. I wrap my arms around her. She’s still wearing my jacket, and I like how it looks on her, how my scent covers her.
Then, I hear it.
Quiet, yet measured footsteps…
But with every step, it’s like a tremor damning me. My entire body ripples with an odd energy, and my instincts are spiralling.
We need to leave. Now!
Sienna stiffens, and I know she’s heard it, too. We both turn, scanning our surroundings, but we spot no one. The road behind and ahead of us stretches into the dark, flickering from the remnants of the fire.
I catch a flicker of movement from the opposite side of the fire, emerging from the trees, and instantly, my mind is telling me to move. To put distance between us right fucking now.
It’s new. These emotions are foreign to me, but I know them both. Fear and dread.
He is tall, with a powerful build. His hair is black and tousled, falling into his shadowed eyes, and his face is masked. A long, black coat moves around him in a way that doesn’t match the wind around us.
Underneath it, he wears black cargo pants, a top and boots that strike the pavement with the sound of finality. His double belt holds a couple of weapons, but they don’t bother me as much as his cold, cruel, dark eyes.
He stops just a few feet away. I can’t sense his aura, nor any power from him.
Just a wall of silence and something else extremelydangerous pressing in behind it like a tide waiting to drown us.
Sienna lifts her hand and summons a barrier. She, too, knows he’s dangerous. The barrier shimmers, but even with it there, his eyes remain fixed on us.
Then he starts walking towards it. I tense as he approaches the barrier; he does nothing, but the barrier shatters.
Sienna gasps and stares at him, her face pale.
There was no sound or movement from him. He just got rid of it. He now tilts his head up sharply, and we are both thrown back with such force that it reminds me of being in Dante’s presence.
I break my fall, but Sienna hits the ground hard, rolling across the gravel and coming to a stop with a cry of pain. My rage explodes.
I lunge.
How dare he fucking touch her?!
I shift midair. Fur erupts through me, my growl ringing through the night sky as I ready to rip into him. The fury of my wolf is one with my own, my aura surging through the air.
Even as he inches closer, he doesn’t move. I slam into something unseen, crushing the breath from my lungs as it sends me crashing down. My body skids across the ground, and I feel nothing but rage.
