Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

63: but love runs deep

— Rob —

His tattoos lit up in intense green.

Unlike the other times he shifted, Rob's conscious mind didn't retreat. As his muscles bulged and his skin darkened and thickened to embrace the forest, Rob's eyes remained his while Anhangá's thoughts merged with him. He didn't feel any pain this time; when Anhangá's antlers broke the skin of his forehead, he almost felt as if they belonged there. In less than a heartbeat, Rob was ready to fight... and he had never felt like this before.

Focus, Roberto. We must make this right!

Can we even jump that high? Rob asked.

We can try.

Rob nodded. He balled his hands as well as he could with those long claws. He was about to jump when something broke the surface of the earth. Rob was propelled skyward by a massive orange crystal, and from it, he jumped the remaining distance he needed to meet the trajectory of the shot.

He didn't arrive in time. The energized bullet hit the rippling curve of the pocket dimension, generating a second wave of energy, sharp like a blade, that cut through the trees in the clearing below. Sprays of earth and wood splinters pierced through the canopies as the trees fell with loud blasts.

From above, in that short moment of suspension, he could see everything. On the ground, Phillip held a desperate Gregorio, who shouted and thrashed about, trying to break free. Pipo ran away towards Kali. Rafa fell face-first on the ground, spent. Jackal tried to run, but a mysterious woman tackled her to the floor. And Léon...

Goddess. Léon looked directly at him, his expression a mix of surprise and hope. That view sent a jolt of energy through Rob's body.

Mere centimeters from him, Léon's purple energy pushed against the immaterial barrier of the pocket dimension, creating a shower of sparks and the loud hissing of metal against metal. A crack appeared in the sky. It webbed out and became clearer as the dark presence inside pressed against it.

Your arm, bitter one! Hold on; we'll need to protect it!

Rob felt it when Anhangá shifted his energy to thicken the skin of his arms and hands. Furrowing his eyebrows, he reached out and held onto the orb of energy before he could fall once more.

He wailed. Léon's energy rotated like a deadly shredder, cutting through Anhangá's protection and Rob's hand, but he couldn't let go.

"Léon!" he shouted. "Get ready!" Rob swung backward, then flung his body upward and supported his boots on the cracked surface of the pocket dimension.

Blood ran down his palms as golden dust escaped the interdimensional breaches at his feet. Rob pushed with his legs and arms, his hands shaking from a pain the adrenaline managed to numb.

"Leo!" he shouted again.

His answer came low and distant from meters below. "I'm ready, Bhalu!"

Sweat streaming down their face, Rob and Anhangá flexed their muscles and roared as they changed the bullet trajectory. With widened eyes, Léon twisted his upper body. He tossed Toni's gun up at the same time Rob let go of the blast.

Without it to hold him in place, gravity pulled him down. As Rob fell in a mess of golden dust, blood, and pain, he watched as the shot continued its path towards Toni's gun.

"I'm sorry for killing her, Toni." His mumble was left unheard, lost in space and time while the blast hit and consumed Toni's pistol.

The sad image of a lamb flicked in that split second as the pistol was destroyed. Small and forbidden to grow, it looked down at Toni with childish confusion, but as the metal in the gun dissolved, so did the image... and the impact created yet another wave of energy.