Page 35 of Claimed By Monsters

“Then we should get back there as quickly as we can.”

I lead the way, moving as fast as my legs will carry me.

Chapter Sixteen

Snake

Thechimeraseemsfrustratedwith her own abilities when she straightens herself up and cannot figure out the best way to drag me down from the air. Despite the fact she can exert control over the weather, she is not able to calm the winds she summoned.

It is an oddly amusing situation.

I am hanging onto a rope that is tied securely around her neck, and she begins to choke every time the windy weather whips my weight around.

It is too bad strangulation is not one of the things that can cause a chimera’s death.

If it was, this would simply be a waiting game.

Since it is not, even though I am enjoying myself, I know I must think of a way to keep her attached to the rope until my brothers are able to get back here. She is beginning to claw at it, and her nails are very sharp.

I decide to move down the rope. I take it slowly, inching forward one hand at a time.

I will get closer to her head and attempt to injure her enough to give my brothers another chance to poison her. I do not know where they were thrown to, but I know they are close. They will not waste any chance they are offered to destroy this chimera.

She begins to thrash around wildly the closer I get toward her head, and I have to stop moving to clutch the rope more tightly several times. I cannot risk losing my grip.

My hands hurt more the longer I’m forced to hold on tight.

I suspect my body will ache all over in the coming days.

It does not matter.

We must end the lives of the chimera of Nightshade.

I look down and see Scar rushing into our path. I cannot see what he is doing, but he comes closer, his hand raised. A moment later, Maria jerks backward swiftly, throwing me forward and almost causing me to lose my grasp. My hands burn as I hold on tighter.

She bucks and thrashes, making tortured sounds.

It feels as if she is losing her balance.

Whatever Scar is doing with his arm raised in front of her, it is having a spectacular effect.

The wind stops suddenly, dropping me down and sending me slamming into her back right before she collapses to the ground, falling forward.

I hope Scar moved out of the way, because she hits the ground fast and hard.

Looking around, I see my brothers moving toward me.

“Snake, are you okay?” Scar asks.

I sit up on the chimera’s back, nodding my head and hissing out my answer.

I still have one hand on the rope. The other is throbbing. It looks as if a few layers of my skin have been worn away. That is annoying, but it is not as bad as suffering a cut.

“You can let go,” Scar tells me. “We’ve got her sedated.”

“I’ve got the poison,” Scratch says, holding up a pouch.

Strange.Fox lost his pouch, and I know Scratch is very possessive about what he keeps in his.