Unease crawled down Ro’s spine as she remembered the look in the tyrant’s eyes. “Don’t celebrate too soon. That’s the recipe for everything to go wrong.”
Kani edged closer to Slay, drawing an amused smile from Rowena. Ever since he’d startled Kani by trying to save her, she’d shown signs of developing a serious case of hero worship, a phenomenon Rowena understood intimately. She had no idea what she’d say when she saw Prince Alastor again.
Will he expect me to return to his service as if nothing has changed?
Probably not, as he’d promised the freedom to choose to anyone who followed him. That must include the Exiles. Still, she wondered, for sometimes in the back of her mind, she envisioned a future with Slay. That might be assuming entirely too much.
But there were more important matters to resolve first.
As word spread among the prisoners, a few volunteers showed up, eager for payback. Hopefully, those who didn’t want to fight would find a secure place to hide, though soon, safety would be relative.
Just then, Chantisse tolled the bell in sequence, signaling the start of the attack. The beginning of the end? One way or another.
And Slay snarled, “Fucking yes. Finally.”
The larger force moved out in groups with Kani and Nolen sticking with Rowena and Slay. She felt a little better about that, as the two were truly too young to be mixed up in this. Their ages hadn’t kept them from being forced to work, however, and she had no right to forbid them from doing as they wished.
Two guards came at them, pale-faced and sickly. They must’ve eaten only small portions, not enough to incapacitate or kill them. Slay stepped smoothly into their path, and he shocked one with the electric prods they used on prisoners. Rowena stunned the other, then Kani and Nolen cut their throats with homemade shivs. Their enemies fell, still jerking in response to the current. The smell of blood pooled behind them but Slay didn’t look back. Neither did Rowena. Already in motion, Slay led their patrol with a deadly ferocity she found ridiculously alluring.
There was no doubt in Ro’s mind that he’d kill to protect her. Her own people had a well-deserved reputation for brutality, but cat shifters brought an elegant sort of violence to the mix.
“Good work,” he said to the young warriors. He didn’t look at Kani or Nolen as he praised them, still scanning for hostiles. “Ro, watch our six.”
“On it,” she answered.
Without rehearsal, they fell in as a unit with Slay on point, Nolen and Kani in the middle, and Rowena guarding their backs. She wished she had the juice to go airborne. Recon would be easier that way, but she’d also be painting a target on her back while burning precious energy she might need later.
One day I’ll be able to fly whenever I want. Nobody starving me, nobody clipping my wings, or telling me what to do.
At least the guards used non-lethal weapons on the prison populace. That meant they weren’t facing enemies with guns. They killed a few more weakened opponents, and then Slay paused, holding up a hand as he listened to something that wasn’t perceptible to the rest.
“Major fighting ahead. Get ready,” he cautioned.
Rowena nodded, squaring her shoulders. She was a veteran if not an Elite, and she’d survived the bombing at Ash Valley, the assault on the hold afterward, and Battle of Hallowell. Becoming a POW interrupted her life as a soldier in the prince’s personal retinue, but she wouldn’t stop fighting until Golgerra was free.
When they got closer, she too heard the clash of bodies, grunts and cries, and the din grew louder when they entered the fray. There was no elegant choreography, just a frenzied energy. The air stank of copper and desperation, low curses echoing. Rowena wheeled away from a knife, ducked around a prisoner wrestling a guard, and she assisted from behind, smashing her elbow into the watchman’s kidney. With sufficient force, it would lead to internal damage, bleeding that would kill him slowly.
They deserve to suffer.
Some of the guards had shifted, not a good scenario since they were better fed with fuel to burn. A few more burst into Gol forms, complete with scales and claws, demon horns and elongated spikes jutting from their spines. The nearest lashed with a barbed tail, and she leapt.
Wonder if the prods work through armored skin.
She tested the theory, jabbing the stunner into the shifted guard’s side. No effect.
Fuck.
Dodging a swipe, she tucked and rolled. Unlike most of the prisoners, she had some unarmed combat training to rely on, but without heavy weapons, it wouldn’t be easy to finish these bastards. She glanced at Slay, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion. The guards wouldn’t even need reinforcements if—
No.
This revolution couldn’t fail. Rowena would do whatever it took, even if it killed her. Before she’d hardly made the decision, she shifted, and it was a tough, shocking burn. She got liftoff above the fray, leaping into the air off a quadrupedal Gol’s back. He growled a curse at her in base Gol, but she only let out a triumphant call. Without ranged weapons, they couldn’t hurt her. But she would destroy them.
Ro snatched the smallest and carried him upward, all the way to the dizzying heights of the cavernous ceiling. Then she let go. Armored skin protected from penetration—claws, bites, and piercing weapons; it couldn’t do much to protect the bones from impact, from gravity. She was too far away to hear the thud, but the guard she dropped didn’t move again. Alight with eager energy, she dove again and grabbed the next in her powerful feet. This one struggled as she rose, trying to twist free and she absorbed the blows he rained on her lower body.
I’ll feel that later. Get splattered, you bastard.
Holy shit. Rowena is glorious.
Admiration rocketed to the front of Slay’s head, rising as she did. Her changed form was the perfect marriage of lethal and beautiful. The moment of distraction cost him, though. Slay took a claw in his shoulder, and he bled freely when he wrenched away, backpedaling furiously. If she’d shifted, the situation must be urgent.
Finally.
Snarling, he let go of the great cat and launched into motion, all ferocity as he tore through his ragged prison garb. His claws couldn’t breach the armored skin, but when Rowena raised one, he went for the soft spot underneath, ripping at the openings she gave him. Blood spurted into his mouth, earthier than Eldritch, but some of the same notes.
As a jaguar, he had way more agility and bounded through the battle wreaking havoc the way he’d pictured so many times. Slay fought the great cat for control, as the jag wanted to kill all these bastards, slaughter them all and get the hell out of here.
A changed Elite with enormous horns charged him and Slay leapt across his dorsal spines and sank his fangs into the back of his skull. Unlike many Animari cats, he could bite through bone, and the thicker hide of a changed Gol wasn’t that fucking dense. He clamped down with his jaws and crunched. It wasn’t a clean kill, but he held on through the thrashing while the Gol’s body got the message that he was dead, and then Slay bounded away.
Quickly, he checked on Ro but she was good, dealing death from above with delightful adroitness. Kani and Nolen fought as a team, but they were still using stunners and that shit wouldn’t work. He got between them and the brutal Elites trying to murder children and Slay battled hard on defense, until the kids were safe.