Page 14 of Whisker me Away
Before Kieran could argue further, another scream echoed from deep within the maze. This one was weaker, more desperate, and it sent his protective instincts into overdrive.
"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "But you stay behind me and you do exactly what I say. No heroics."
They plunged into the maze together, following the sound of increasingly faint cries for help. The corruption here was unlike anything Kieran had seen before. The corn stalks writhed likeliving things, their leaves dripping with black sap that hissed when it hit the ground. The paths shifted and changed around them, walls closing and opening with malevolent intelligence.
"This way," Freya whispered, her magic apparently able to sense something his tiger couldn't. "They're close."
They rounded a corner and found Jenny and Mark collapsed in the center of a small clearing, black veins crawling up their arms like poisonous tattoos. The corruption was feeding on them, drawing their life force to fuel its own growth.
"Get them out of here," Kieran ordered, dropping to his knees beside the unconscious teenagers. "I'll carry them."
But as he reached for Jenny, the corn stalks around them began to move with violent intent. They lashed out like whips, aiming for Freya with deadly precision. His tiger roared to the surface, bringing partial shift with it as claws extended and eyes flashed with gold.
Kieran moved faster than humanly possible, intercepting the corrupted plants before they could reach his mate. His claws tore through the twisted stalks like paper, but more kept coming. The entire maze seemed to be converging on their location, drawn by Freya's presence like moths to flame.
It wants her,his tiger realized with crystalline clarity.The corruption isn't random. It's hunting her.
The knowledge sent Kieran into a protective frenzy that bordered on feral. He shifted further, letting his tiger's strength flow through human limbs as he fought back the encroaching darkness. Partially shifted, he was stronger, faster, more dangerous than anything the corruption could throw at them.
"Kieran!" Freya's voice cut through his battle rage. "The kids!"
Right. He scooped up both teenagers, his enhanced strength making their combined weight feel like nothing. "Can you clear us a path?"
Freya nodded, her magic flaring around her like green-gold flame. Where her power touched the corrupted corn, it withered and retreated, opening a narrow corridor toward the maze's entrance.
They ran through the shifting passages, Kieran's partial shift allowing him to move with inhuman speed while carrying their burden. Behind them, the maze collapsed in on itself with sounds like screaming wood and dying dreams.
They burst out of the corn maze just as the entire structure imploded, leaving nothing but a circle of blackened earth and the acrid scent of defeated corruption. Kieran set the teenagers down carefully, noting that the black veins on their skin were already fading.
"They'll be okay," Freya said, kneeling beside Jenny to check her pulse. "The corruption didn't have time to take hold properly."
Kieran nodded, still partially shifted and breathing hard from the combination of battle fury and protective instincts. It wasn't until he caught Freya staring at him that he realized what she was seeing. His eyes were still flashing with gold, claws extended, canine teeth slightly elongated. He looked every inch the dangerous predator he was.
He expected her to flinch, to step back the way most humans did when faced with a shifter's true nature. Instead, her green-gold eyes darkened with something that looked suspiciously like heat.
"You saved them," she said quietly, her voice carrying a note he'd never heard before.
"It's what I do." Kieran forced his shift to recede, claws retracting and eyes returning to merely human. "Nothing special."
"Isn't it?" Freya moved closer, close enough that he could smell lilacs and magic. "The way you fought that thing, theway you put yourself between it and everyone else. That's not nothing, Kieran."
The admiration in her voice, the way she looked at him like he was something worth looking at instead of just another problem, made him want to kiss her right there.
"You should get back to Rowan," he said, taking a deliberate step backward. "He's probably worried sick."
Something flickered across Freya's expression. "About that..."
"Congratulations, by the way." The words tasted like ash in his mouth. "You two will be very happy together."
"I didn't say yes."
Even though he already knew, her saying it was like a weight benign lifted. His tiger immediately perked up with interest, but he forced himself to remain neutral.
"You didn't say no either."
"No," she admitted, her voice soft. "I didn't."
They stared at each other across the few feet of autumn night, the air between them charged with want and the kind of electric awareness that made smart people do stupid things.
