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From this angle, I could see the road I'd come down all the way to the turn that would have taken me to my house. I didn't see Romulus, but I did see something that sent a different fear clawing through me.

"Typhon, no…" I breathed, but of course he didn't hear me. Gone was his human form, and in its place was the monster I'd found in my woods weeks ago. His injured front leg barely touched the ground as he ran toward us, his back leg made him limp, and he kept his wings tucked close to his back, but he still ran faster than anything I'd ever seen. Even from here, I could see the fury blazing in his golden eyes.

"Finally."

The truck rocked as the older man got out, his boots hitting the ground and immediately coming my way. I'd forgotten about him in my shock, and I only had a few seconds before he found me and had a hostage.

Out here, though, the only cover was the massive truck. I didn't give myself time to question the decision or change my mind; I just hit the ground and dug my heels in, pushing myself beneath the undercarriage of the huge truck.

Not a second too soon, either. I'd barely pulled my legs under when the man reached the back of the truck. If he'd been paying me a bit of attention, I knew he would have seen me, but he was focused on something else.

It took me a moment to make sense of the quiet click I heard, nearly lost in the growls and cries of the fight happening on the other side of the truck. The sound of locks opening. Why had the back of the truck been locked, though? That didn't make any sense. Some kind of shell covered the truck bed, I remembered that much. If they were locals, I'd assume it was just for camping or hauling gear, but what kind of gear would these men have? Why would they have waited to use it?

The man said something in a language I didn't recognize, and the truck shook as if he'd climbed in, except his boots never left the ground near my feet. My fear-soaked brain didn't make the obvious connection until the truck rocked again and something hit the ground.

Hidden beneath the undercarriage on my back, I had to twist and bend to get a look at what had made the sound. I still couldn't see much, but what I saw was enough to have me swallowing the urge to vomit.

Four legs, covered in golden fur that faded into brown, scaly skin and massive talons, like a bird of prey. A heavy tail dragged behind it, nearly identical to Typhon's, and I caught a flash of golden-feathered wings when it moved.

Oh god.

There was another one.

Chapter 24

Typhon

I don't remember leaving Quinn's house.

I remember dumping the man on the ground when he told me where to find Quinn.

I don't remember changing forms.

I remember the pain shooting through every limb as I ran.

I don't remember when the beast took over, but I remember I didn't fight him. In that moment, we became one clear mind, one body, with one purpose: save our Quinn.

We ran, every limping step sending fresh agony through our barely healed injuries, but it didn't matter. We would endure every pain, suffer every hurt, if it meant we could spare Quinn from the same fate.

We heard the fight before we saw it. Shouted orders and savage growls echoed in the air to the northeast of us. They'd passed Quinn's house already, then. He'd been in danger, and I'd had no clue.

We are never leaving him again.

I couldn't tell the beast's thoughts from my own anymore, but in this case, we were in total agreement. If we survived this, we would never let danger get this close to Quinn ever again.

We smelled the skin-changers on the air as we charged across the cold, empty fields. Coyotes, like the one we'd hunted before. They weren't our prey this time, though. Several of them surrounded an idling truck, attacking a man dressed in black and using the vehicle as cover when one of them tried to shoot. Quinn's car was in a ditch, the doors hanging open. His scent, his fear, permeated the area, but we couldn't see him.

Before we could search for him, another man in black emerged from the truck, unflinching as he stared me down.

I froze, causing the beast to stumble before he regained control of our body and kept running. His sole focus was Quinn and mine should be, too, but that man…

I knew him.

Flashes of distorted, fragmented memories shifted in the yawning emptiness of my mind. Him standing in front of me, shaking my hand. I'd been human then. Him clapping me on the shoulder, a proud smile on his face as we stood talking to… someone. Him pulling me aside, whispering about something new.

"It's the opportunity of a lifetime, Ibarra. You're the only person I thought of when I heard about it. You could change the world."

A fracture, a flash in my mind, and the memory twisted. Now he stood above me, backlit by a light that burned my eyes.