Page 103 of Power Shift
He turned his head. “Others are coming. As much as I’d love to help you bring this asshole to justice, you might want to make a decision on whether he lives or dies.”
“Not living,” I bit out. My voice sounded like I was garbling rocks, deep and rough and ancient.
Caelan blinked. “And you talk. Holy fucking hell. Okay. Right.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Then kill him, flower girl. Don’t let them hold you back with legalities.”
My teeth pulled back in a smile. Caelan swore and shook his head.
“Goddamn. You are hot and fucking terrifying and if you hurry up and kill him, we can make a detour, if you get what I’m saying.”
Another huff of laughter.
Finn whimpered and flipped onto his stomach, belly crawling away. I lifted my paw and put it on his back, holding him there.
The Chimera began to cry.
I dipped my massive head low, right next to his ear, and snarled. Saliva dripped onto his hair.
Caelan laughed.
I lifted my paw again and smashed it into his spine. His bones broke like toothpicks, snap, snap, snap. Tiny pieces of popcorn in a microwave.
Finn’s scream of pain made me smile.
I used a claw to flip him over. His arms and legs were useless, but he was still alive.
He needed to see my face, to see what he’d done to me.
Finn needed to see his retribution coming right for him.
Fire blasted through the clearing. I tipped my head up and screamed, a bone-shaking primal cry of defiance and rage, the sound a deep, resonant bellow announcing I was the apex predator tonight. The trees and ground shook, Finn’s crying softened to whimpers, his eyes round with terror.
I reached for him, split the Chimera wide open with a wicked, black tipped claw and dug my muzzle into his chest, searching for his energy source. I found the still beating meaty piece controlling his life and tore it from his ribcage, tossing it into the air before I swallowed it down.
Then I turned that sonofabitch into ash.
An eerie quiet settled around Caelan’s land. Energy slammed into me from Finn’s heart. I took a deep breath, reveling in my new power and focused on returning to myself.
A few moments passed until the familiar magic shimmered around me. My bones and muscles shrank until I was me again or…maybe not the me I once was.
The new me.
Caelan stood a few feet away watching me. Our eyes met.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” he whispered.
Cernunnos stepped into the clearing.
“Go away,” Caelan and I snarled at the same time.
The fae king’s surprised bark of laughter faded a second later, but he left us a gift.
An impenetrable, opaque bubble rose above us, at least a hundred feet around, ensuring we wouldn’t be disturbed.
Caelan and I both took a hesitant step forward.
A second later, we crashed into each other, a whirlwind of lips and teeth and hands.
I wrapped my bare legs around him; my breasts crushed against his chest. My hands cupped his face as our lips met, hot and hungry. Need roared through my veins, blazing hot.
