average human’s Reviews > Clash of Claws > Status Update

That was something the legend of the First Guardians got right, anyway.
We hadn’t had an eclipse like that in this area of the country since I began patrolling, but there was one coming up this fall. The totality was predicted to last an hour and fifty-three minutes.
“I’m sorry, Elijah,” I said softly. “Did any of your parents survive?”
He gave me a sad smile. “My mom managed to escape with me as her bondmates were overwhelmed by several Giants and an Apex wraith. She saved my life, and then she was murdered six months later.”
Horror punched me. “What?” I croaked.
“An allegedly random stabbing by a mugger when she was walking down the street. Isn’t that terrible?”
“Elijah, I….” I hardly had words. “And a healer couldn’t save her?”
A latent female wouldn’t have been able to shift to accelerate the healing process, but that was why we had magical doctors.
“Her body didn’t take the magic,” Elijah said. “And it was too late for non-magical means.”
Her body didn’t take the magic. A wave of nausea rolled over me.
“Dove?”
My heart pounded in my throat, and my beast curled in on herself. I shut my eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
A warm, rough hand wrapped around mine. “What’s wrong?” Elijah rasped.
“I just need a second.”
“I can taste your fear,” he whispered. His voice trembled. “We can taste it.”
“Avery?” That was Heath. “What the—oh shit. Elijah, step away from her.”
“No,” Elijah hissed. Actually hissed, then he dropped my hand like I’d burned him.
I opened my eyes. Heath had wedged himself between Elijah and me, his big hands pressed against Elijah’s bare chest. Elijah’s pupils had slitted, the basilisk rising to the surface, his golden eyes laser-focused on me.
My heart now pounded for a different reason. I scooped my second blade from the floor where Elijah had dropped it, and I took a few wary steps backward, swords raised. My beast growled, her fur standing on end and her claws out.
“Avery, go,” Heath demanded between clenched teeth. “If he loses it, we’ll have to clear the entire arena as a precaution.”
I looked at the pair of them, feeling utterly helpless. “I don’t know what happened. Elijah, everything is fine. I’m fine. Come back and we’ll spar some more?”
Elijah closed his eyes, nostrils flaring as he shook his head. Dark green-gray scales ghosted across his chest and down his arms before winking out.
“Get the fuck away from us right now, Avery,” Heath barked.
An enormous rust-red bear butted into me. A furry head the size of a tire shoved me toward the arena’s exit.
I swatted Wyatt’s nose, and he growled at me. “Stop that,” I told him. “I’m going.”
Trent stomped toward us. “What the fuck, Baxter? We still have ten minutes of weapons drills. Get your ass back over to your partner or you’re out.”
Wyatt bared his teeth in a savage growl.
“Trent,” Heath snapped from behind me. “This is what happens when you play games with a mythic. Tell Cash to clear the arena and conjure up an L4. Elijah needs to let his beast out to run off some steam, and it is your fucking fault.”
“What?” Trent barked.
Elijah hissed.
“Oh, fuck.”
With a flash and the crunch of muscle and bone rearranging itself, Wyatt returned to human form. He stood gloriously naked next to me, his green gaze livid and pinned on our asshole trainer. He wrapped a large, firm hand around the back of my neck, keeping me pointed in the correct direction while he had it out with Trent. “You happy now, you absolute fucking jackass? You and Cash not only endangered Avery but also the entire moondamned program. Clear. It. Out.”
“Fuck, fine. Cash!” he bellowed as he strode away.
“Let’s go,” Wyatt said, his voice completely devoid of its usual mirth. He steered me toward the other side of the arena, headed for Ian and Brody.
My brother and his maybe-boyfriend stood there, sweating and panting from exertion while they watched Wyatt frog-march me across the floor. Ian frowned, and Brody’s dark eyebrows bounced straight to his hairline.
“Wyatt, I don’t know what happened,” I said softly. “Everything was fine, and he said something that upset me for just, like, a minute, and⁠—”
“Elijah’s beast is volatile, Wildcat. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“All right, we’re wrapping up early today!” Cash announced on the microphone. “Everyone get the fuck out of here unless you want to be basilisk food.”
Our fellow trainees dropped their weapons where they stood, grabbed their bags, and began a semi-organized retreat toward the door.
Wyatt deposited me with Ian. “Take her out of here right the fuck now.”
“Ok-aay,” Ian said slowly, sheathing his katana. He glanced over my shoulder, and his blue eyes narrowed. “What’s all the fuss? Elijah seems fine.”
I whirled and caught a glimpse of Elijah standing quietly in the center of the arena, still shirtless. In profile, he seemed pensive, pointedly not looking my way. Heath hovered at the edge of the arena, arms crossed over his broad chest, radiating impatience.
Wyatt slid in front of me, his chiseled nude body blocking my view. “Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder again, baby. I will carry you out of here if I have to.”
“Only if you want to get stabbed,” I replied tersely. “I said I was going. Come on, Ian.”
Wyatt didn’t move a muscle, watching as I left with Ian and Brody. As we approached the door, the overhead lights cut out and the arena floor lit up with the magical fog of the SWIM.
The last thing I heard as the doors slammed behind us was the guttural bellow of a monster.

51%

Over the past few weeks, I’d learned that Allen was adorably nerdy and extremely obsessed with Mal. I loved it.
Maybe I should go down to the D&D room to see if I can catch myself a nice nerdy boyfriend. Plenty of males around here weren’t Primes or part of a quad on the hunt for a central bond, after all.
If I had other male distractions, maybe I’d stop thinking about how much Heath seemed to care when I was injured, or the feel of his rough, possessive hand against my bare skin, like he was trying to erase Dr. Lee’s touch.
Or about how Wyatt’s green eyes had blazed with desire and his powerful body trembled when I’d grabbed him by the throat.
Or about how Aiden pointedly avoided looking at me when I had his class but rarely took his probing hazel gaze from my face during our tutoring time together.
Or about how Elijah’s jovial-but-dangerous edge thrilled me and sparring with him had felt like we’d been doing it for years.
Who was I kidding? D&D wasn’t going to do it.
I slid off my bed and toed on my fuzzy boots. “Mal, I’ll walk you down to see Allen if you want. I think I’m going to go outside and just… get some air.”
She slammed her textbook closed. “Sure. If you’re leaving, I should go anyway, so Brody and Ian can get it on or whatever it is they do in their private time.”
Brody coughed, and Ian aimed a beatific smile at Mal. “So thoughtful.” His smile faded as he turned narrowed eyes on me. “Aves, I see you drifting toward your swords like you think I don’t know what you’re up to.”
“Can I please just… go walk the perimeter so I’m able to pretend I’m doing something?” I asked. “I’ll take George. He needs some exercise anyway. He’s been loafing around in here all day.”
Ian stared at me. I stared back.
Are you going to be difficult? his eyes asked.
You bet, mine replied with a twitch of my brow.
He let out a defeated sigh. “If you so much as put a toe outside the wards without me, sister dearest, I will steal three pairs of your most revealing underwear and deliver them to Wyatt.”
I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
“He would,” Brody added, nodding sagely. “I wouldn’t help him, though, Avery! I like my balls where they are.”
Ian tilted his head to give Brody his most suggestive grin. “Care to show me where, exactly?”
“Well, that’s our cue, Mal,” I announced, slinging my swords over my sweatshirt before glancing at my bed. “Come on, George. Let’s go see if these wards are really worth the silver they’re etched on.” As George began to unwind and slither off the bed, I pointed a stern finger at Ian and Brody. “Do not fuck on my rug.”