Page 274 of Interion

The voice continued, but there was nowhere to run. Even if I escaped, I’d only put Adele back in the crosshairs. I took a deep breath, letting the understanding settle in my mind and reach Zion. I would have to fight—it was the only option. It had always been the only option; I’d just been running all those years inside the wall. I lowered my barrier and focused on the man who gave my life meaning.

“Zion, I want you to know that I’m grateful for the time you gave me,” I murmured, swallowing the bitter lump in my throat. The light was fading.

“NO! NO, KYLLER,” he screamed, shaking the bond from the other side.

His scream was like a red ocean, overflowing with piercing, immeasurable pain. The flare sputtered and released more smoke as the beast thrashed, kicking up leaves and dirt in its obsession to remove the device.

“And I’m sorry it’s so little, but it was enough to make this life worthwhile.”

“DON’T DO THIS,” Zion roared from the other side.

“I love you, forever and beyond this life.”

I focused on the challenge ahead, keeping my shield down as tears streamed down my cheeks. I flexed my legs, swallowing the bitter fear in my throat, while staring into the demonic eyes of the five beasts. I tried to be strong, despite the fear and the pain of leaving my partner alone in the world. My determination came from knowing I wouldn’t be seen as a coward—that Zion would remember me as someone worthy of being called his partner. I would buy time for my friends, and they would live. It was a dignified death. I was a pillar, not a weakness.

The light sparked, flickered, and went out completely, signaling the end.

“No,” I heard Zion whisper, breathless.

Two beasts launched themselves at me, and I gripped the daggers in my hands, ready to accept my fate.

Before our bodies collided, something in the sky caught my attention.

A thunderclap of power.

I looked up in time to see the top of the barrier explode in light. Something plummeted into the area like a meteor of blue light, shattering the despair, the light, and the darkness. The thing spun as it fell, its white wings tucked tight against its body like a cocoon, and debris from the barrier rained down around it like falling stars.

The beasts leaped at me.

Then I saw two wings unfurl, a face contorted in pure fury and violence, enormous teeth bared, promising blood and death.

The chimera’s war roar shook the forest as it collided with the two beasts, and they rolled through dirt, snow, and black blood across the forest floor.

“No,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “No, Kiara.”

Chapter 68

Hours earlier.

The clinic corridors were quiet that night, and the only light came from the skylight in the center of the room. A pale, greenish glow spread from there, signaling that the aurora borealis was still active in the sky. For some, this meant spending the night celebrating under the stars to admire the celestial spectacle. For others, aurora nights were meant for praying and awaiting the visit of the Gods, for during those three days of testing, the veil between the divine and the earthly grew more fragile. But for Kiara, who was now trapped inside three power barriers shaped like an enormous cube, the aurora only meant solitude. She wished it would pass quickly, because it kept her from returning home.

The chimera was tired of spending her nights staring at the stars and now lay sleeping with her head resting on her two lion paws. She dreamed of blue sky, soft white clouds parting before the force of her wings. She loved this more than food or Zion’s bed. Eating was the third best thing in her life, but flying was the second. Kiara hungered to feel the icy wind on her wings.

She grumbled in her dream as it shifted to focus on the thing she loved most. Her gentle female, sitting in the kitchen, smiling and stroking her ears. That was certainly her favorite thing in life, and she felt... If Kiara were a person, she would have known it was longing, but she was a chimera, and chimeras didn’t understand feelings—they only understood hunger. So she described it as hunger for their presence; she hungered to smell the female’s scent and hear Zion’s voice.

While she dreamed and grumbled, she noticed a presence—something familiar. She opened her eyes with wary interest and looked directly at the corridor, wondering if it was the wrinkled male in white clothes who kept poking her with sharp things.

The bell on the entrance door swayed, and she raised her ears. But the presence... this was different. The smell was wrong and right at the same time. It was lightning in the sky and rain falling on the earth. It was forests and lakes, dances and wars.

Definitely not human. Not fae either.

Kiara knew that smell and stood up, trying to decide whether to wag her tail or growl a warning. The presence approached, and she paced around the power cage, trying to see but able only to sense.

She sensed the woman’s bare feet stepping on the cold floor, felt her hands running along the walls as if learning the texture of everything. The woman breathed deeply, trying to absorb every smell, touched everything, hoping to feel every sensation. Her skirt, made of light and divine matter, danced around her ankles while her red hair floated about her. Bracelets adorned her wrists and necklaces hung at her throat, swaying with the movement of her hips, making sounds that were as real as they were imaginary. They could seduce in the same breath they killed. She walked slowly, her full, bare breasts hidden only by her wild hair. She was beautiful and equally lethal.

Kiara couldn’t see any of this, but she knew it all.

The presence passed through the doorway of her room and stopped, observing the chimera. She had only one eye; the other was permanently covered by a green eyepatch. Her iris was red and glowed without any trace of emotion—repellent at first glance, but hypnotizing after the initial shock. Kiara, finally understanding, couldn’t stop herself from performing that damned reverence. Her front paws bent and her head lowered, showing devotion to the presence.