Page 179 of Cherish

With a roar, he starts swiping razor-sharp claws at my stone chest, over and over and over again. I’ve managed to get my arms over my face, but that’s as much as I can do to protect myself. Panic squeezes my heart as I curl up as much as I can with a giant fucking bear camped out on my chest.

Hudson must sense my distress, because I hear him grunt painfully, one leg dragged along the ground, then another, as he manages to push himself to his knees. Unfortunately, his eyes are still swollen shut, so he has no idea where I am—nor can he see the bear on my chest.

I start to scream at him for help, but I stop myself, scared he might try to disintegrate this bear who, given he apparently hangs out near a Celestial tree, might just also be Celestial himself. If using his ability on Celestial bees brought Hudson to his knees, I can’t imagine the damage to his psyche if he gets in this bear’s mind.

Luckily—depending on how I’m measuring luck now—the bear must decide I’m not worth much more effort. He stops clawing at me and rolls off my chest in an impressive sideways somersault, then lumbers away.

“I’m okay, Hudson,” I choke out after a minute and really hope he can’t tell I’m absolutely lying. I am definitely, one hundred percentnotokay. But I’m not dead, either, so at least there’s that.

“The bees…” Hudson starts with a ragged breath. “The honey…” He shakes his head, then tries again. “The bear…is a…soul eater.”

Yes. I can agree with that. He’s nearly devoured mine twice now.

I struggle to sit up, biting my lip not to make a sound so I don’t interest the bear again.God, please, not the bear, I mentally groan, my gaze darting from the bear to Hudson, who has sunk back down to the earth, exhausted. I eventually get my weight onto my elbow as I keep one eye on the bear, who is under the tree now.

My eyes widen when I realize it’s even bigger than I thought. And its fur is golden and shimmery, each hair burning as brightly as a full moon over the ocean on a clear night. If it hadn’t just cracked my rib cage in half, I might even consider it majestic.

Suddenly, the bear turns to look at Hudson, and my heart flips into triple time.

I scramble to my feet as fast as I can, which is not as fast as I would like, and scream, “I’m the one you want!” I start limping toward the tree—and the honeycombs—as fast as my battered body can carry me. No way am I leaving this bear alone with Hudson. No freaking way. I’ll die before I let him have my mate.

The bear meets me halfway, jumping forward with a roar that shakes the honeycombs in the branches. But I don’t care, because as long as he’s focused on me, he’s not going after Hudson or Jaxon or Flint or Remy.

Behind his back, I lock eyes with Heather, who’s sitting in front of Macy on Eden’s dragon back. Eden is diving toward the bear, just as I am, and Heather’s branch is raised like a bat.

“No!” I scream at her, throwing up a hand to ward her off. “Don’t do it!”

But it’s too late. She swings for the fences, hitting the bear in the back of his shoulder. He whirls around with a roar and hits Eden hard enough to send them all careening several yards away. Heather slams into the ground headfirst. And then goes still.

“Heather!” I shout. Hudson must somehow make out Eden’s downed dragon body just as I see Macy trapped beneath her, because he fades to them and shoves at the heavy dragon until he can drag Macy out.

Terror and anger race through me, and I lash out with a stone fist, hitting the bear in his nose as hard as I can.

He bellows in fury as his head snaps back, and when his eyes meet mine, there’s unholy rage in them. He rears up on his hind legs, and this time, when he swipes out at me, he hits me with everything he’s got.

I fly backward, slamming hard into the side of the mountain beside the waterfall. And then everything goes black.

98

All of the Bitter,

None of the Sweet

I come to slowly. My ears are ringing, and my entire body feels like it’s just been run over by a tank—several times.

I blink, try to clear my foggy brain and figure out where I am. And that’s when I see Remy laying on the ground near me, nearly unrecognizable from the damage inflicted by the bees but at least breathing. I think. Please please please don’t let him be dead.

“Remy!” I whisper urgently. He doesn’t stir, so I do it again. “Remy—”

I break off when he groans, a low, broken sound that strikes terror through me like a switchblade. I reach a hand out to him—just to feel the warmth of his body and reassure myself that he’s still alive—and as I do, I realize I’m looking at my own skin.

My bruised and bloodied human skin. Somewhere between when the bear hit me the last time and me hitting the ground, I lost my gargoyle.

I reach for it deep inside me, try to wrap my hand around the familiar platinum string, but I don’t feel it there. I don’t feel anything but the pain of what’s happened here today.

Fear claws through me, has my heart in my throat and ice trickling down my spine, as I turn my head and look for Hudson.

I don’t find him right away. Instead, I see Jaxon and Flint on the ground, in the exact positions they’ve been in since this fight began. I can’t see either of their chests moving.

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