Unknotted

But doing so meant giving up on the Core’s promises, the ones thrumming in the cords straining toward her. Though those promises remained unclear, the magic confirmed that I and this woman, this infuriating woman, were part of some divine calling. She would be my destiny. If I could survive all the trouble that she would surely bring my way.

I relaxed my finger from the trigger. “You’re crazy, aren’t you?”

She stared up at me through her lashes, the look both alluring and intimidating. “Just a little.”

Her gloved hand smacked the gun, the other slapping the back of my hand and wrist. Her dual strikes twisted the gun from my grasps. Before it hit the ground, her fist slammed into my nose. Tears instantly welled in my eyes that flashed with pinpoints of floating lights.

Snarling back a swear, I grabbed my face and staggered back. Warm blood flowed from my nose and a metallic taste touched my lips and the back of my throat. Whatever peace the magic had brought, the peace that had convinced me to not pull that trigger, was shoved aside as my dominance overwhelmed me. A roar ripped from my chest, tearing up my throat.

Topaz and her friend threw themselves out of the door into the streets. I tore after.

“Rokan! Wait!” Tydeus shouted, struggling against his binds. “Rokan!”

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My dominance was seeing red, and it wanted submission or death.

Out on the street, though, I pulled up short. The troll was on hands and knees, struggling to rise, a hand pressed to her bleeding head. And Topaz? She was thrashing in the hold of blasted Travers. Hadn’t I already removed him from this fight?

“Stop fighting me!” The Ruani representative’s face was swollen and discolored like a bruised peach. He tossed something aside. The small object skittered across the ground and rolled to stop by my foot. An empty, hypodermic needle.

Topaz clasped her hands together and bludgeoned Travers across the face, knocking him aside. But, as she went to climb to her feet, she swayed and fell face first to the ground. Her eyes rolled up, before falling shut.

If it was the magic or my dominance, I wasn’t sure, but my red-filled rage shifted from her to Travers. Another roar thundered through me. I leapt, my beasts forms drawing magic from the air and taking control of my body, and landed protectively over her unconscious form. Saliva filled my mouth. I would devour Travers for daring to touch her.

He scooted back on his rump, eyes narrowing. “She belongs with me.”

I crouched low over her, tail slashing the air. “Mine,” I hissed.

Travers shoved to his feet, but his shoulders were bowed, and his eyes wouldn’t meet mine. Then—Core between, didn’t anyone know when to submit?—he charged me, shifting into his much smaller form.

I leapt to meet him, but he darted underneath my chest. I spun around, lifting my paws to look underneath myself. The little hybrid wove around my back paws, making it impossible to sink my claws into him. Dagger-sharp teeth snapped onto my ankle. A snarl of rage and pain burst from my maw. I twisted toward the pain, finding Travers grinding his teeth deeper into my ankle.

“That’s the last time you bite me,” I snarled.

Travers released me, scampered back through my legs, and darted down the street. I crouched to follow, then remembered I was charged with capturing Topaz. I turned, only to find the troll sprinting away, the unconscious woman bouncing over her shoulder.

A white van peeled round the corner, its back door rolled open. The troll tossed Topaz inside and leapt in.

“Don’t worry, Whiskers. I’ll put in a good word for you,” the troll shouted, and slammed the door closed.

I wasn’t surprised to see a gremlin with flame-red hair in the driver’s seat.

I opened my wings to pursue.

“Rokan! Rokan, untie me!” Tydeus shouted from inside the restaurant.

Huffing out a smoldering breath, I released my beasts form and ran back inside. Tydeus had knocked himself over and was on the ground, straining against his binds. His beasts form was too big to fit inside these binds or slip them, so he couldn’t shift.

I crouched, fingers working at the knots. “We have to hurry. They’re escaping.”

“We’re returning to Keadan.”

“What? Why? They’re right there. I can follow them from above.”

Except the tides turned. The dark restaurant was washed in grays and my senses dulled.

“Tides,” I rumbled. “How does she keep giving us the slip? You should have let me go after her. If we don’t catch her before the other territories do—”

“I know what’s at stake.” Tydeus sighed, his body relaxing against his binds, his head against the dirt floor. “Untie me, Rokan. We’ve been in Zalico too long. It’s time we end this chase.”

“But we’ll lose her.”

“I have a feeling we will cross paths with her again.” His stare, when it met mine, carried a weight that settled uneasily in my gut. “I am certain the Core wishes it.”