BEFORE THE FALL - A Dark Breed Novella Page 0,25

could.

From the corner of his eye, a blur of black moved into view. Kyana was pulling Shanna away from danger, and Shanna, of course, was fighting her. As one of the other Lychen noticed the same situation, it took advantage and preyed its way toward the women. Kyana whipped out a dagger, leaped into the air, and came down upon the creature’s back, stabbing its spine. She waited a moment for the silver to kick in, then broke the wolf’s neck.

Zach’s arms were beginning to tremble from the struggle of keeping the last Lychen away from his most vulnerable spots, but he was already starting to feel woozy. His ribs and thighs burned like a bitch, and no matter how they tried, the sentinels weren’t able to separate the beast from him.

“Kill the fucker!” he yelled, knowing that if he so much as wiggled a finger to try to kill it himself, he’d be a goner.

The miserable weight of defeat was slowly overtaking his mind when he saw his sword still protruding from the other wolf’s belly. If only he had it . . .

The slick feel of drool splattered his face. The beast was winning. Zach was going to die.

As Kyana approached them, her dagger raised, he held her gaze. “You make sure Shanna gets to safety. Understand?” he panted.

She reached for the Lychen’s neck and lifted, but even a Half-Breed as strong as Kyana wasn’t able to free Zach from the crushing weight of the monster. She drove her dagger into its throat. It yelped and whipped its head around, seizing her arm with its massive teeth, sending Kyana to her knees.

A bright silver glow blinded Zach for a moment. His vision was blurry, but he could have sworn he’d seen the magic of his sword hovering overhead. Could have sworn that the howl emitting from the Lychen was caused by his own sword slicing through the creature’s belly. Could have sworn the Lychen finally fell limp against him at the mercy of a weapon that only he could wield.

But he hadn’t done it.

Shanna had.

Chapter Thirteen

January 11, 1:06 a.m.

1 hour and 6 minutes after the fall . . .

“Is he going to wake up?”

The sound of Shanna’s voice pulled Zach from the thick fog of sleep.

“They had to double the potion to keep him from fighting.”

“I just want him to wake up.”

He could hear the tears in Shanna’s voice, could feel the slight tremble of her cool fingers on his brow. For her, he wanted to open his eyes, but no matter how he struggled, his eyelids were heavy bricks, mortared into place by magic.

“Kyana, if we can get a little more of your blood . . .” An unfamiliar voice said from somewhere above Zach.

“What good is her blood going to do him?” Shanna’s voice rose an octave. “She was bit by that thing, too.”

“A Lychen’s bite doesn’t affect one of its own,” Kyana said. “In fact, it cancels it out. My blood will help clean Zach’s.”

Shanna rubbed her eyes, trying to take it all in. None of this made sense. The Lychen had barely punctured the skin around Zach’s ribs. She didn’t understand why such a minor wound would knock him out. Not that she understood much of anything at the moment. Like why Kyana had brought them through the strange swirling light—which had threatened to turn her insides out—to the place they were now, which looked like something straight out of a Greek history text: everything marble and bright and cobbled.

And Kyana, whoever the hell she was—whatever the hell she was—wasn’t exactly eager to answer any of Shanna’s questions, either.

Zach would. If he ever woke up again.

No. She couldn’t think like that. He had to wake up again. She had to tell him what Kyana had told her—the reason she’d been able to wield the sword created from Zach’s blood . . .

She forced herself to look at Kyana. “Is Zach— Is he going to become one of—”

“That’s a bullshit myth,” Kyana said, sneering. “We have bacteria in our wolf-form’s saliva and claws, but it will only kill you—not Turn you.”

Shanna swallowed, realizing Kyana had said “we.” That was what she’d meant when she’d said the Lychen bite wouldn’t affect one of their own. She was Lychen.

She took a hesitant step back.

“Relax,” Kyana said, half-smiling. “I don’t bite. Much.” She knelt and pressed her hand to Zach’s forehead. “He’s still burning up. But I think we got him to the Healer in time. He should