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  I was still reluctant to touch the black finger of stone, but I found myself backed up against it with Lucian and Drace standing in front of me protectively on either side. The growling was continuous now and behind me the humming of the stone finger had risen in pitch until it sounded almost like a woman singing a single, low, ominous note.

  Suddenly a furry black form came slinking out of the jungle. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but it looked kind of like a panther to me. Not just any old panther though—a huge one as big as a horse. I looked for the glitter of its eyes but I couldn’t see any—the sleek, black, bullet-shaped head moved blindly in our direction, the wide nostrils flaring as it scented us.

  “Is that a kr’awn?” Lucian sounded like he couldn’t believe it.

  “Shit!” Drace growled. “That’s fucking impossible. But yes, that’s what it looks like.”

  “A…a kr’awn?” My mouth was suddenly so dry I could barely speak. “Isn’t that the predator you said nearly wiped out your race by…by eating all your women?”

  “That’s the one,” Lucian said grimly.

  “I…I thought you said they were extinct!” I whispered, my stomach clenching into a knot of fear. I was squeezing the Tanterine Key in my fist so hard I could feel it digging painfully into my palm but somehow I couldn’t loosen my grip.

  “They are extinct. Or, they’re supposed to be,” Drace growled. He pulled out the brush cutter and lit it up. I wondered how much good the miniature light-saber was going to be against a huge horse-sized panther. If Drace could get close enough he might be able to cut off its head. But would he be able to get that close without it ripping him in two?

  “What are we going to do?” I asked softly, my voice wavering in fear.

  “Protect you,” Lucian answered grimly and Drace growled assent.

  “Do you have your blaster, bond-mate? Between the two of us we ought to be able to take it down,” he muttered.

  Lucian patted himself down and cursed. “It must be back at the ship!”

  “Take this then—I brought a spare.” Drace drew another brush cutter from his pocket and handed it to Lucian who flipped it on. There was a buzzing hum and then both of them were holding the sleek light-weapons like swords.

  “I’m ready.” When Lucian turned his face to me I saw his eyes were glowing and his fangs were fully extended—I guessed he was going into fight mode. Drace was changing too—he didn’t have fangs but his hair seemed to get shaggier and thicker, and it was sprouting along his shoulders and arms, almost as though he was growing a protective fur coat.

  Was this the “second nature” they had spoken about earlier? I’d been imagining some kind of werewolf-like transformation but this was more like natural defenses coming into play. Like a cobra raising its hood or a lion shaking its mane.

  “We can take it,” Drace repeated, his voice even deeper and growlier than usual. “There’s only one.”

  Then the undergrowth around us rustled and another huge black shape emerged. Then another…and another…and another. Soon there were five of the sleek predatory kr’awn ranged in a semi-circle with the three of us in the middle. I bit my lip to keep back the sounds of sheer terror that wanted to come out.

  We were surrounded and there was no way out.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Rylee

  I could feel my heart pounding in every part of my body at once and my breath was coming in sharp, terrified pants. The growling got louder and louder as the pack of kr’awn advanced on us. They had huge, long fangs that glittered white in the moonlight. I could see them every time the huge animals snarled—which they did a freaking lot.

  Oh please, I prayed, though I didn’t know exactly who I was praying to. Please, this is really bad! If we can just get out of here I swear I’ll do the right thing. I’ll turn my life around! I’ll stop wasting time on things that don’t matter and make my life count.

  “Get ready,” I heard Lucian say in a low voice. “They’re about to spring.”

  “They’ll be aiming for Rylee,” Drace said in a low voice. “We have to keep between her and the kr’awn.”

  “Agreed.” Lucian sounded tense and I felt a feeling of determination coming from him—from both my guys. I understood suddenly that they thought they were going to die here—that this was the end. But they wouldn’t leave me, even though I was the one the huge predators wanted. They would stay and protect me, even if they died doing it.

  The thought brought tears to my eyes and I swiped at them quickly with one arm. The other hand—the one still clutching the Tanterine Gray Key—I put behind my back, trying to steady myself against the Goddess’s Finger.

  The fist-sized, triangular rock in my hand scraped over the side of the black stone monolith and, to my surprise, a shower of sparks fell to the ground. They were long and bright and reminded me of the sparks that come from sparklers you light on the Fourth of July.

  Then something shifted behind me and the note the Goddess’s Finger was singing got suddenly higher until it was almost a scream. Before I knew it, I was falling backwards as the solid stone behind me gave way.

  “Ahhh!” I screamed—I couldn’t help it! I was falling into the monolith. A door had opened in its broad, sparkly black side right behind me. Only by grabbing the lip of stone around the door with my free hand did I stop myself from tumbling over backwards.

  “What? What is it?” Drace demanded, his eyes never leaving the pack of kr’awn that had us surrounded. “Why are you screaming, Rylee? They haven’t even pounced yet!”

  “A door—guys, look!” I babbled. “There’s a doorway and…and steps, I think.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lucian risked a glance over his shoulder and I saw his glowing eyes widen. “Goddess above—what is that?”

  “A door in the Goddess’s Finger. Come on—it’s the only way!” I tugged on their shoulders, the Key still clutched in my hand. “Hurry—who knows how long it will stay open?”

  “Could be a trap,” Drace growled, also glancing behind him briefly.

  “And it could be our salvation,” Lucian said urgently. “Come on, bond-mate—the kr’awn are about to—”

  Just then the biggest kr’awn—the one that had come out of the jungle first— hurled itself at us. Or should I say at me because I was clearly his target. His blunt black bullet of a head was pointed directly at me as he sprang and I watched as he came towards me—everything slowed down to a horrible slow motion by the terror that was rising inside me like a wave.

  “Now!” Drace shouted and I saw the two blue beams of light swing wildly, carving into the huge, black body as the beast came for me.

  There was a humming hiss and the kr’awn snarled angrily as the laser blades bit into its sides. It leaped away—somehow changing direction in midair—and landed lightly on the other side of the semi-circle of hungry kr’awn where it growled its defiance at us.

  Clearly it hadn’t been very badly hurt and just as clearly I would have been dead without my guys to protect me. But as brave as they were, they were no match for five hungry horse-sized predators.

  “Guys,” I said to them urgently. “Come on—hurry! In here before they try again!”

  This time they followed me without protest and the three of us found ourselves on a narrow set of steps that led down into blackness.

  I felt better when we were all inside but Drace and Lucian were still on high alert.

  “The door,” I heard Lucian mutter. “Do you think it’s wide enough for the kr’awn to enter?”

  “I don’t kn—shit!”

  I turned my head, afraid that Drace’s curse meant the kr’awn had gotten inside. Instead, I saw that the door in the monolith was closing. As we watched, the two moons and the snarling animals outside slowly disappeared. And then there was nothing but silence and darkness.

  “Well…” I took a deep, shaky breath. “I guess that answers that question.”

  “I have a lot of other questions, th