“Hey, you did good.”
“Yeah, it’s really hot though,” Adebayo replied, covered in sweat. “I’ll be fine.”
Levi nodded and ran up to Orson who was bleeding from all of the cuts he had gotten. He looked up at Levi with a smile. “You look like shit.”
Levi checked the damage to his own body, realizing he didn’t feel most of the pain. But he had taken a fair amount of cuts and slashes to his chest, arms and legs. “Where’s Lyra?”
“She’s not here?” Orson asked, looking for his phone somewhere in the carnage.
“No,” Levi replied, reaching for his own phone. His bloody hands called out to her as he listened for a ring. But they were too far for the sound to carry all the way. Before Levi could complain, he realized he had left her alone with Val. The woman had been silent about how she felt, but now, finally alone with Lyra, Levi knew it wasn’t going to end well. “We have to find her, now!”
Orson and Levi quickly took off, heading in the direction Lyra and Val were supposed to head in. As they rushed through the woods, Levi ducked backward as something slammed against Orson, sending the man off into the distance. Levi turned to see a werewolf had been tossed at the man. Orson had taken the hit head on, and was completely knocked out.
As Levi turned around, he felt his heart drop to his stomach. Garret stood in the clearing. One hand was covered with blood from what he had done to Isaac, the shifter in charge of watching over the person in Garret’s other hand—Levi’s son, Adam.
“This is the piece of shit that’s making you throw away everything we stand for,” Garret growled. “I’m going to kill you both, and make sure the pack has a proper leader who will take it into the future.”
Levi didn’t waste any time reacting. He felt taken over by his inner dragon. His eyes quickly morphed, and wings shot out of his back. He dashed forward, driving a shoulder into Garret faster than the man could react, pulling Adam off of him. He quickly checked the boy to see he had only a few injuries on his knuckles.
Levi put Adam down and turned to Garret. “I’m going to make you wish you were never born.”
Garret attacked, but Levi was fueled by rage and love for his son. As Garret swiped down on him, Levi grabbed his own hand and swung it around, slashing Garret across the face. He was done with the dragon. Garret was more than anyone could handle, and he was going to put him down for endangering his family.
“No!” Garret yelled, staggering back before he attacked again.
Levi jumped to the side, quickly landing one-two punches, knocking out the man’s teeth. Garret swiped at Levi’s throat, but Levi ducked low before driving his clawed hand into Garret’s chest. He pulled his hand away and kicked the man with all of his strength. The impact of the blow sent Garret barreling backward through the trees.
Garret quickly drew flames to his hands, sending them at Levi with no regard for the forest around them. The flames came in long powerful streams that burned right through everything they touched. Levi ducked and rolled out of the way, but before he could, he took a blast of fire directly to the chest.
He fell to the floor and Garret quickly rushed over to him, stomping Levi’s face into the dirt. He grabbed Levi’s hair and lifted his face to his own, saying, “You are not better than me. You are nothing, and you will die like the fool you are.”
“Oh yeah?” Levi whispered weakly, kicking the man between his legs as hard as he could.
Garret bucked and let go, slapping Levi with the back of his hand as he staggered a little. Levi wiped the blood off of his mouth and brought his hands up, getting ready to continue the fight.
Chapter 14 - Lyra
Lyra and Val walked through the woods silently. Being paired off with Val was a little odd, as Lyra didn’t like the dragon. She had attacked Lyra more than once, and Lyra was not having it. But if they were going to work together to stop the demons, then she would have to play along.
“You hear anything?” Val asked, sniffing the air.
“Nothing yet, no,” Lyra replied. “They’re supposed to be quiet until they attack, so…”
“Sometimes you can hear them. It takes a true master of their own body to do so, but sometimes, if you listen well enough, you’ll be able to hear them,” Val replied as they walked through the forest.
If the average person saw them, they would just see two women talking and taking a walk in the woods. But between the two of them, they could bring a building down. Val stopped and stared far ahead, pointing with her finger into the distance.
“That’s Adebayo and your friend.”
Lyra looked and was just able to make out the figures over a kilometer away. Lyra and Val had taken the hills off to the side of the forest, and had a chance to see the others. “Aaron. Looks like they’re still searching. We should continue as well.”
“Sure,” Val replied, and quickly caught up with Lyra. “So, what was it like?”
“What was what like?” Lyra asked, turning to her.
“Well, everyone knows you’re the one who fucked Levi. You’ve had him all to yourself this entire time. What was that like?”
Lyra turned to her to see the frown on her face. Val wasn’t even trying to hide how much she despised Lyra. “I’m not going to answer that,” Lyra replied, touching a tree to leave her scent on it.