The hissing velociraptor sprang forward, flinging its entire body into the whirling chain. It knocked Ethan sprawling. Dazed, he lay on his back and looked up at the dinosaur that stood over him. All he could see was its soft-looking underbelly and cavernous maw as it bent to bite off his head.
Gripping the hilt in both hands, he thrust his sword straight into its belly. As it screeched, he rolled to the side. Destiny grabbed him and pulled him to his feet as the velociraptor crashed to the floor.
“Where’s yours?” he gasped.
She jerked her thumb at the second velociraptor, which he now saw also lay dead. “If there’s any others, go for the back of the neck. Swing hard. I had to use both hands.”
“Me too,” said Ethan. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to get trapped again.”
Together, they bolted out of the palace. The streets were as empty as when they’d looked out the window.
“Maybe that was all of them,” Destiny said, a little doubtfully.
“I hope so.” He kept his hand on his holster as they walked down the street and toward the jungle. Despite his victory over the velociraptor, he still felt far more comfortable with a gun. He was also uneasily conscious that he had only six bullets left.
Now that Ethan was feeling better, he could take in more of his surroundings. The palace was in the center of the city, surrounded by gardens and smaller buildings. Four slim and graceful towers stood at the north, south, east, and west edges of the city, about ten blocks from the jungle. They were watchtowers, he guessed, as they were the tallest buildings in the city. The tops were flat and turreted, large enough for four people to stand watch.
They had just passed the eastern tower when Destiny shouted, “Drop!”
Ethan instantly dropped to the ground. He grabbed for her, but she was already grabbing for him. Together, they threw themselves behind a low stone wall around a small ornamental garden. A black dart flew past them, through the open gate they’d gone through, and stuck quivering in a tree.
Ethan quickly scanned the garden. There was only one gate. They could easily jump over the wall, but they’d be seen immediately. Trying to escape seemed riskier than trying to take their enemy. Destiny settled down, no doubt coming to the same conclusion.
“You got good eyes,” he murmured.
“My tiger warned me,” Destiny whispered. “She smelled him.”
“Ask her how many people there are,” Ethan whispered back.
A moment later, Destiny said, “She says just one.” Gloomily, she added, “Probably another hell pig shifter.”
“Surrender!” shouted a male voice. Ethan recognized it as belonging to Ayers. “I’m not telling Lamorat I lost you again! I want to bring you in alive!”
Ethan also yelled, but a little softer, hoping to lure the man closer as he strained to hear. “Like I believe that, Ayers! Your scaly little buddies tried to bite our heads off.”
“Yes, but I knew you wouldn’t let them!” called Ayers. He did sound a bit nearer. Ethan crouched by the wall, Sig Sauer ready. “I sent them to draw you out. And those weren’t shifters. They were real Achillobators. Animals.”
Destiny made a beckoning motion to Ethan: she was going to help lure their enemy in. “Achillo-whats? I thought they were velociraptors.”
“Achillobators,” said their enemy loftily. “We recreated them from fossil DNA. Jurassic Park called them velociraptors, but that’s not what they were. Real velociraptors are the size of a chicken.”
“What do you mean, you sent the Achillobators?” Ethan called. “Are they trained?”
“I’m not just a shifter. I also went through the Ultimate Predator process, which gives you special powers. I can control dinosaurs with my mind. So you better—”
Ethan quickly peered around the edge of the gate. He spotted their enemy, a man lurking in the open doorway of a building, also peering out. They fired almost simultaneously, then ducked back. Ethan heard the crack as his bullet struck stone, and saw another black dart slam into the ground behind them.
“Surrender!” yelled Ayers again. To Ethan’s disappointment, he was obviously unhurt. “Like I was saying, we don’t want to hurt you. We want to give you powers greater than anything you’ve ever imagined!”
“And torture us and use us as slaves!” Destiny yelled.
At the same time, Ethan shouted, “If the process doesn’t kill us, like it does most people!”
“We’ve got version 3.0 now! It’s the safest yet,” Ayers called. Ethan noticed that he didn’t respond to Destiny’s charges. “Also, Lamorat figured out that Ultimate Predator is more compatible with extinct and mythic shifters than with regular ones. It’s so safe now, we’ve even started using it on ourselves. I assure you, I would never take undue risks with my own life.”
And then Ethan saw Destiny do yet another thing he’d never even known she was capable of: she lost her temper. Her face darkened with blood, and she screamed, “Of course not, you fucking asshole! You only used it on expendable people like Shane—and Justin—and Cat—”
She broke off, her lips curling strangely. Her eyes were strange too: no longer brown, they gleamed green as a cat’s, the pupils contracting into slits. Destiny snarled, a deep, guttural, terrifying sound.