Page 23 of Unicorn Shifter Academy
Closing my eyes, I concentrated.
But the change didn’t come.
Snapping my eyes open again, fear shot through my heart.
I hadn’t lost my magic, but had I already lost my ability to shift because of my feelings for the girl?
Cursing, I used my only alternative and released the last of my magic stores. The raw power was enough to break through the fiery barrier that the Khimaira had trapped us with.
It sizzled and diminished, leaving a charred exit to the sparkling path that would lead Bonny and her friends back to the Academy.
But they had to go, now.
“Run,” I choked out as I collapsed to one knee. “Run, Bonny.”
Her eyes blazed with various colors, making me wonder if I was starting to hallucinate.
Especially when her hair shimmered with the same rainbow hues and her long, elegant horn glimmered with sparkling power.
So… beautiful…
That was my last thought before darkness closed in over me, and I accepted it.
Because Bonny would be safe.
ELI
We’re almost there,boys,I mentally shot back to the squadron that would follow me through fire.
Literally.
The plume of smoke in the distance meant only one thing.
After nearly a week, we’d located the wretched beast.
Khimaira. I finally found you, girl.
Time to go back where you belong.
I was hopeful that I’d recapture the legendary beast before Raze found out about her escape.
He’d skin my ass for taking this long, and for not having answers for how she’d escaped in the first place.
One problem at a time.
Luckily, he’d been preoccupied, and the Elders had sent him off-world for some classified mission. I didn’t know what he was up to, and at the moment, I didn’t rightly care.
My hooves kicked up soft dirt as I galloped through the trees at full speed.
Which, for a two-hundred-thirty-year-old Unicorn Guardian such as myself, was nearly at the speed of sound.
Leaves and embers swirled in my wake and I knew that my squadron was struggling to keep up with me. While they were all graduate Guardians, most of them weren’t much older than fifty years.
We’d lost too many of our kind due to recent events. Raze and I were one of the few older generational members left, aside from the Elders, of course.
As I closed in on the wall of fire surrounding the beast, I stopped short, noticing something peculiar.
Unicorn Bears faced off the creature, as did two human figures.
