From the corner of his eye, Jared saw the griffin statues towering above them as they rushed past them.
There was something strange about them. They seemed familiar somehow—the artist who had hewn them from the marble must have seen a real griffin before, because he’d gotten all the details right, down to the smallest feather.
Then they were past the statues. A few steps led up onto the dais. Holding tightly onto each other, they raced up the steps—and then they were in the light.
When they turned, Zane was so close that they could see the darkness swirling among his teeth when he opened his jaws.
But the light had gotten brighter. It was so strong now that everything around them seemed to vanish, swallowed by an incredible silver-white. The light felt as if it pierced right through Jared’s skin, illuminating him down to the deepest, darkest corners of his heart.
Something was moving at the edges of his vision, but he paid it no mind.
The light was everywhere now.
It pulsed through him, rushing through his veins, filling him from the roots of his hair to his toes, until all he could taste and see and feel was its blinding brilliance. It gained in intensity, shining brighter and brighter, until he feared that it would tear him apart, that it was too much to contain in the body of a single person.
And still the light grew brighter.
r /> Through the mate bond, Jared could feel Chiara’s confusion—but he couldn’t move. He wanted to reach out for her, but the power inside him was so strong now that he didn’t know what would happen if they touched.
A griffin wasn’t meant to contain such power. Surely it was impossible to use this power and survive. And if it wouldn’t tear his body apart, then it would tear his mind into pieces, like what had happened to the chimera.
Still. Still. If he could use this power to save Chiara from the shadow dragon, wouldn’t it be worth it...?
As if the strange light had heard his thoughts, it suddenly grew even brighter. It was so brilliant it felt as if it was burning away everything that made him human, everything that made him a shifter. At last, Jared seemed to be made of nothing but the pulsing, throbbing, silver-white light that shone with the power of a million stars combined.
Unable to keep fighting its pull, Jared opened his mouth in agony to scream in defiance and challenge. He wasn’t going to die—not before taking Zane out first.
And then he felt it.
His body grew inexplicably lighter. An electric tingle ran up his spine. Every muscle in his body tensed.
He was shifting, even without having made the conscious decision to. But the light left him no choice. It forced the griffin out—and after a moment of hesitation, Jared gave in.
Now was his time. His final attack on Zane—his last chance to save Chiara, even if it meant that the light would consume him.
Dimly, Jared heard her cry his name. But it was too late. He’d already shifted, his wings spreading, his proud eagle’s beak parting.
His wings lifted him high up in the air.
And there to his utter shock, he saw that the statues near the dais had begun to move.
The two marble griffins were no longer the color of pale stone. Instead, they were shaking their wings, their feathers black and brown in a pattern that looked stunningly familiar.
But there was no time to wonder about what that might mean.
Zane was close now—very close. He’d come straight at the dais, roaring furiously—and just as Jared had lifted himself up into the air, Zane had entered the cone of light.
The rage in Zane’s eyes was replaced by sudden shock. The wisps of shadow playing around his sharp teeth burned away in the glaring light.
The shadows covering his body were moving as well, but no longer swirling in menace. Instead, they seemed to cringe back, as if the light was hurting him. And where they retreated, Zane’s body was revealed to be covered by pale scales. Once, they might have been the red of a fire dragon, but now they were a bleached white with just the faintest tinge of red.
Still, Zane remained a dangerous enemy. Even though an angry screech of pain escaped him, he kept coming straight at Jared.
Zane’s jaws parted. Even in the brilliant light that filled the darkness, he managed to spew forth a torrent of twisting darkness. Tendrils of shadow rushed forward, reaching out for Jared with the strength of a horrible kraken determined to drag him under.
Time seemed to slow for a moment as Jared stared at the jet of darkness coming straight at him. Zane was close—but a simple beat of his wings would take Jared safely over the projectile.
Which would then hit Chiara, he realized in the heartbeat before the impact. Chiara, who was human and didn’t have a shifter’s healing powers.