Page 75 of Warrior

King picked up his pace, charging ahead.I brought up the rear.

The attack was coming from both sides, and this was the best way to protect the others.

Suddenly, King peeled Mila’s hand from the strap and burst into a full sprint.He tackled the first hellhound that came out of the shadows.

“Get them through, Marinah!”he bellowed, his claws ripping into a hound’s throat.

“Not on your life,” I shot back.“Landan, when you hear hellhounds coming from behind us, yell.”

The hallway was too damn tight.The walls closed in like a vise, barely enough space for King and me to maneuver.Our massive forms didn’t give us the advantage here.

Another snarl echoed ahead, followed by more claws scraping stone.Their glowing eyes pierced the dark, moving low to the ground, their bodies sleek and oily black.Their breath was thick with rot, and their fangs dripped with poisonous venom we had to avoid.

The first lunged.

I twisted, feeling the scrape of stone on my back, and slashed out with my claws.My strike landed, raking deep across its shoulder, but the hound barely flinched.It snapped at my throat, and I ducked, driving my knee into its ribs.

The narrow space forced us into brutal, close quarters combat with no room for retreat and no space to breathe.

King was a force of destruction beside me, his claws flashing in my peripheral vision.He caught one of the hellhounds mid-leap, twisting its body violently and sent it crashing into the wall.Before it recovered, his massive jaws clamped around its throat.

A sickening crunch, but it wasn’t dead.Decapitation was the only way.The hellhound thrashed, claws groping for King, then another slammed into him from behind.He staggered, growling, barely keeping his balance in the cramped space.

My attention on King allowed claws to rake my side, sinking into flesh before I could pull away.Pain ignited like fire, burning into my veins.I snarled and ripped free, leaving skin behind.The wound sizzled, the heat spreading from the wound, but I didn’t have time to deal with it.

The beast came at me again.

I pivoted, slammed its head against the stone wall with a sickening thud, and drove my claws into the back of its neck.

My muscles bunched as I twisted.

The resistance lasted for a heartbeat, thensnap,the head came free, black ichor spraying across the walls.

One more down.

King had another by the throat, his jaws locked in a death grip as he wrenched his head violently to the side.A wetpop,and another head tumbled to the floor.

Two down.

More moved toward us in the darkness.My arm throbbed, the wound burning hotter, but I ignored it.I bared my fangs, my claws flexing.

The fight wasn’t over.

And neither were we.

King swung his claws and decapitated the hellhound in his grip.“I’m in charge,” he grunted, “and that means you do as I say.”

I slashed at the nearest hellhound, slicing deep into its neck.Its head flew through the air and thudded against the wall, spraying more blood across my face.

I couldn’t help but laugh.“You really think you’re in charge?”I called out sassily.

The head of King’s latest kill sailed past me.Blood sprayed across his chest as he spun to face the next one.

“Any bites, baby?”I yelled, slicing through another hellhound that lunged at me.I’d been on my best behavior for far too long and both me and Ms.Beast needed this bloodshed.

“If you get so much as a nick,” he roared back, “I’ll tan your hide!”

We held the line.

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