Chapter 68: Nokari - Serakai (1)
Further beyond the trees, where nobody’s attention was drawn, chaos erupted, the air filled with grunts, shrieks, claws and wings beating. Atia and Aiyana stood shoulder to shoulder, facing off against more than a dozen angry, harpy eagle shifters—Vulcan’s men. They’d been lying in wait for the Oncari to make their appearance.
Atia ducked under a slicing talon, his twin blades flashing upward in a deadly arc, choosing weapons over bloodying his claws for this fight. Feathers exploded from the body of his attacker as it shrieked and dropped out of the sky. Aiyana let out a war cry, her staff spinning in a wide circle, catching another eagle mid-swoop. The shifter crashed against the trunk of a tree with a sickening crack.
"They just keep coming!" Aiyana growled, now back-to-back with Atia, sweat beading along her temple. Although she was complaining about their opponents constantly attacking them, she was actually enjoying herself, especially with her closest friend beside her.
"That’s the point," Atia replied through gritted teeth. "We’re the distraction. And don’t pretend like this is bothersome. I know you." He swiped out, and another eagle swerved away, whistling to others. "You’re enjoying this."
Aiyana grinned, eyes flashing and locking onto her next target. Another eagle dove, beak bared. Atia hurled a dagger straight into its chest. The momentum flung the creature past them, crashing through branches. More swooped in, acting like a wall, furiously screeching as they tried to overwhelm them more with their numbers.
Their challenge only sparked the Oncari to take them out more eagerly.
The pair moved like a unit. Fluid and ruthless, Atia’s blades danced between flesh and feather, while Aiyana’s staff snapped bones with terrifying precision.
Years of training and hunting together made them a force to be reckoned with. If they had been in their Jaguar form, they probably would have finished this fight much earlier. But they were there to buy time, so their friend, the one whose fury made the trees shrink away, prowled forward in search of Nova.
Elsewhere, thundering across the thick branches, Yoa tore through the canopy in his jaguar form. His muscles rippled under his obsidian fur, golden eyes locked on one distant point. Every breath was ragged. Every leap was fuelled by a desperation that burned deeper than rage.
Nova. His thoughts were plagued with her and what she might have had to endure in their time apart. Right now, he could feel his heart being tugged in this direction, fear and panic rippling through his body, her emotions doubling up on his own, making his legs work harder to get to her. But just as he lunged forward to clear a wide gap between trees, an invisible force struck him.
Yoa choked on air.