Page 63 of The Purrfect Rival

Kalyna’s breath caught at the sight of him. Her fox surged forward with joy and relief, straining to reach him across the distance.

Behind you!

He reacted instantly to her warning, spinning to block an attack from a guard he couldn’t have seen. His golden eyes snapped up, locking onto hers across the chaotic room with such intensity that everything else seemed to fade into background noise.

Kalyna vaulted over the mezzanine railing, her fox agility allowing her to land safely on the level below. She sprinted across the room, dodging fights and leaping over fallen debris while Rust cut a path toward her with equal determination.

They reached each other in the center of the chamber. Kalyna’s hands found his shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric of his torn shirt as if to anchor him in place. His arms locked around her waist, lifting her briefly against his chest as he breathed in her scent.

“Are you hurt?” His voice emerged rough with concern, golden eyes scanning her for injuries. His hands moved restlessly over her arms and back, reassuring himself of her wholeness.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, her own gaze cataloging the cuts and bruises marking his skin. A gash across his forearm still seeped blood, making her fox whine with distress. “You’re injured.”

“Nothing that matters.” The dismissal was pure lion, concerned only with his mate’s safety above his own.

No magical light show accompanied their reunion, no dramatic surge of power—just the visceral relief of physical contact after separation, the completion of something essential that had been torn apart.

“Foxworthy homestead and the Leonid estate,” she said urgently, remembering their predicament. “Both under attack according to Boz. I sent warnings, but?—”

“Hezron dispatched teams to both locations,” Rust cut in, his expression grim. “But we need to end this at the source. Boz won’t stop coming after us.”

A bullet pinged off the concrete pillar beside them, reminding them of their immediate danger. Rust pulled Kalyna behind the column, shielding her with his body while assessing their situation.

The fight had reached a stalemate—lion shifters holding one section of the room while Boz’s guards maintained control of the exits. With the fox reinforcements arriving from the mezzanine, they might tip the balance.

“We need a coordinated push toward the north exit,” Rust decided, his tactical mind working through possibilities. “Hezron secured an escape route there.”

SIXTY

Kalyna assessed the battlefield with new eyes—seeing opportunities for fox illusions to create confusion among the guards, identifying which barriers the lions could breach with their strength.

“Fox illusions along the east wall,” she suggested, her mind already calculating angles of attack. “Make them think we’re attempting to breach there while the real push goes north.”

Rust nodded, catching her strategy immediately. “Lions take point on the northern push, foxes provide cover illusions and handle any lock mechanisms.”

They organized the combined forces with efficient precision—Rust directing the lions while Kalyna positioned the foxes for maximum effectiveness. The two groups, historically separate in their hunting and battle techniques, meshed with unprecedented coordination under their guidance.

“On my mark,” Rust called, his voice carrying the natural authority of both mayor and alpha lion. The shifters tensed, ready to execute the plan.

“Three, two, one—MOVE!”

The coordinated assault flowed like choreography—fox creating elaborate illusions that drew guard attention and firetoward empty spaces while lions burst through the barriers with concentrated force. Kalyna and Rust moved at the center of the formation, each anticipating the other’s movements without conscious thought.

When a guard appeared in Kalyna’s path, Rust was already there, putting himself between the threat and his mate. When a security door blocked their advance, Kalyna’s fingers worked the locking mechanism while Rust provided cover.

They reached a defensible position in a side room off the main corridor, discovering and freeing prisoners. Most were Enchanted Falls residents who had opposed Boz’s growing influence—fox, wolves, even some humans with faint paranormal bloodlines.

Hezron appeared, blood matting his hair from a gash across his forehead but his expression relieved at finding Rust and Kalyna together.

“Extraction teams are five minutes out,” he reported, wincing as he dabbed at his injury. “Most prisoners accounted for.”

Lucella materialized at his side, pressing a clean cloth to his wound with surprising gentleness. “You should see Elder Willow about this,” she scolded, though her typical fox playfulness was muted by genuine concern.

“Only if you promise to visit me during recovery,” Hezron retorted, managing a shadow of his usual charm despite the pain. Lucella rolled her eyes, but her hands remained gentle as she tended his injury.

Kalyna observed their interaction with interest—another potential bridge forming between fox and lion in the wake of her connection with Rust.

“You smell different,” Lucella noted suddenly, studying Kalyna with open curiosity. “Like there’s lion wrapped around your natural scent.”

---