Page 136 of The Stone Secret
The cadets were all a head shorter, even in their goyle forms.
We looked like children playing war.
There were five graynites, but there might as well have been fifty.
The odds were against us.
How could they be here? How had they bypassed the wards? None of this made sense, but it was happening, and my body was flooded with adrenaline, my beast alive and ready to fight.
“The girl,” a gruff voice demanded. “We take. You live.”
“Fuck you,” Curi growled. “You want her, you’ll have to go through us.”
All the males growled and snarled in agreement.
“Then. You. Die.” The graynite threw back his head and let out a roar that turned my legs to jelly and my bowels to water. “Attack!”
The world blew up with the sound of battle cries and the thunder of footfalls as the goyles and graynites clashed.
A golden sword cut through the night.
Hawke!
Curi fought alongside him, taking on the same graynite, but a moment later, a swipe of its tail sent Curi flying through the air.
I rushed toward him. “Curi!”
Shar grabbed my arm and dragged me back. “No!”
The wall of cadets was already down to five. How had that happened?
Dark eyes locked on me. “Kill the females.”
A graynite leapt over the cadets, his talons aimed for me and Shar but was knocked out of the air by a stony blur.
Touron!
The graynite hit the ground with Touron on top, but my buddy barely had time to land a punch before the beast had him by the throat.
Touron bucked and clawed, attempting to get free. The graynite stood slowly, lifting Touron into the air and squeezing.
He was killing him. The bastard was killing him.
I broke free of Shar and sprinted toward the creature with a blood-curdling scream.
Its head whipped my way in surprise, and I buried my talons in its thigh.
It let out a screech and released Touron.
I yanked my talons free and rolled away, coming up in a run, hoping to the gods that Touron had managed to get clear of the beast.
The ground behind me shook.
It was on my tail.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was headed toward Willowman. Shit, shit, shit. “Watch out!”
He turned at the sound of my warning, golden eyes lighting up like flames before he hit the ground.
