Page 78 of What Lurks Between the Fates

He raised that hand to his mouth, his long tongue darting out to lick a path up his hand and take my blood into his mouth. He shuddered; his eyes glowing golden as I hurried to act in desperation. If his reaction was anything like Caldris’s had been…

His eyes rose to the top of the hedge, seeking the owner of the blood as I leapt from the top. I screamed as I twisted my body in the air, letting instinct guide me as I settled my legs around the back of his neck and squeezed his throat. I tucked myself into his head tightly as he reached for me, claws scraping against my legs and my back. One of my hands wrapped around his horn, holding on for my life. The moment he threw me to the ground would be the moment I died.

I reached around to his face, grasping the ring that protruded from the nostrils of his snout in both my hands. He roared as I pulled, burying my face into the back of his head as I screamed with the effort of trying to tear it through his flesh.

My back tore beneath his claws, a deep wound setting my skin on fire. Healing was almost instant, though. My body worked to fix the damage he caused as quickly as he could cause it.

“Estrella!” Caldris roared, the anguish of his voice striking me in the chest as he undoubtedlyfeltmy pain.

I screamed again as I settled into our bond, channeling what remained of my mate’s strength as I pulled. It filled me, the muscles in my forearms hardening as if they’d become his.

The piercing came free suddenly, the gush of blood following to cover my hands and the Minotaur’s chest as he yelped. I twisted my grip on the piercing as he fought to get me off him, maneuvering the sharp part of it toward his face.

I jabbed it into the fleshy part of his eye as he howled, tossing his head back in an attempt to dislodge me. Holding steady, I did it again until blood trickled down from his ruined eyeball.

The beast raised his hands to his ruined eye, pressing them against his flesh as he finally bucked me off. I fell with a thump. My breath left me for a moment as pain shot through my torso. I writhed on the ground, pressing a hand to my chest as he spun and searched for me with his remaining eye.

I gasped as air finally returned, filling me with an ache as well as relief.

The Minotaur’s hoof touched my foot, making me jolt back as he lunged for me on the ground. I wasn’t fast enough to get away—only to avoid him landing on me. His weight slammed down on the ground beside me and narrowly missed me. With his blind eye facing me, he was quick to rummage around as he turned. He found me, and his hands made quick work of groping along my flesh until he found my throat.

I tried to breathe through his grip, getting no air as he squeezed with all his might. His remaining eye glared at me, the gold shimmering as I gasped for breath.

My ears rang. I sank into the bond, the thread glowing and fading with golden light in time with my struggle. Caldris roared down it, his silent fury radiating toward me. My exhaustion made my limbs sluggish.

I was so tired.

Don’t you fucking dare.

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, surrounding me in a quiet, steely embrace that smelled of winter nights and evenings by the hearth. He was the shadows beneath the moon on the coldest of nights, and the comforting embrace of a lover after sunset.

Get up, my star. Get. Up.

My arms slid along the ground beneath me, fumbling for purchase, for any remaining strength. Darkness flickered at the edges of my vision as the Minotaur leaned in, coming close enough for me to reach. His tongue snaked out of his mouth, dragging over the blood on my cheek.

“I’m going to savor you, sweet blood. Been a long time since I had one of—”

I thrust forward with the sharp edge of his nose ring, stabbing him in the other eye. Where before I’d settled for multiple, shallow wounds, I thrust hard and deep, twisting the piercing in his eye and lodging it deep. Blood dripped down onto me, staining me with the stench of dark magic.

I pushed through, yanking the piercing back and taking what remained of his eye with it. I gagged as he finally released my throat. Breath returned to my lungs suddenly, flooding my sight with the return of light. He screamed, a high-pitched bleat which echoed up the path in the Labyrinth as that mighty jowl opened wide, preparing to swallow me whole.

I pressed two hands against his chest, holding him back as he snapped at me, and his rotten breath wafted across my face. Maneuvering my leg between his, I raised it sharply into his groin and reveled in the pained hiss that left his snout.

“Get. Off. Me!” I yelled, shoving him back.

It took every bit of force remaining in my body to roll him over to his back, to free myself and hurry to my feet despite how battered my body felt. His hoof connected with my face as I scrambled. My nose cracked beneath the force of the blow, and my blood poured upon the ground at my feet.

I thrust a hand into it, grabbing a ball of mud and forcing Caldris’s magic into it. The mud shifted to ice, a jagged, solid ball.I raised it in my arms and threw myself atop his body. I brought the sharp end down on his face, plunging it into his snout as his fist struck my face.

I saw stars, my vision swimming as I reared back and swayed. He got to his feet as I fought for my balance, reaching blindly for the axe he’d dropped at some point in our scuffle.

I shook off my dizziness, racing forward to meet him as he stumbled around to find it. I cracked my elbow across his face, knocking him to the side, then wrapped my hands around the hilt of the axe.

My body dragged forward with the weight of it, sagging with the effort as I tried to summonanythingfrom that well of cold within me. It didn’t answer, remaining silent as if I didn’t need the help. Tears stung my eyes as I glanced over my shoulder, using both arms to drag the axe closer to where the Minotaur stumbled toward me. His nose twitched, the hole I’d made pumping fresh blood as he scented me.

I paused in front of him, watching as his body stilled, as if he knew exactly what was coming.

“Don’t worry,” I murmured, kicking out and wrapping one of my legs around the back of his knee.

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