I saw its eyes a split second before it hit me.
Black.
Reflective.
Like polished obsidian set in bone.
Then the weight of it slammed into my chest—hundreds of pounds of muscle and rage—and we went down hard. Stone tore at my side. My ribs screamed.
Claws grazed my face.
Teeth snapped at my throat.
Nyx shrieked in my head, wild and furious. MOVE! MOVE!
But then—
The pressure changed.
The body on top of me jerked.
Once. Twice.
Then went limp.
I blinked.
Its claws scraped against my shoulder uselessly. The snarl died in its throat. Its limbs twitched, then stilled.
Dead weight.
Or—
Paralyzed.
A hiss of compressed air echoed through the cave like a held breath releasing.
"Got it!" Kol's voice, sharp with adrenaline, rang out.
He stood ten feet away, one knee braced on the rock, still holding the injection launcher—its barrel smoldering faintly.
"What the hell did you do?" Kade coughed, still half-slumped against the wall, blood drying at his side.
Kol didn't answer right away.
He walked forward slowly, keeping his aim trained on the creature.
"Modified tranq," he muttered. "Not meant to knock it out. Just freeze its spine."
I pushed the thing off me with effort, its limbs folding like a doll's. It wasn't unconscious. Its chest still moved—slow, shallow breaths—but its eyes were unfocused now.
Still alive.
But no longer a threat.
"For now," Kol added grimly.
Nyx was still pacing inside me, on high alert. He stopped it, she muttered. That doesn't mean it's done.
I didn't relax either.
Kade groaned as Martinez helped him to his feet. "How long does that dose last?"
"Not long," Kol replied. "A few hours if we're lucky. Less if its system burns hot."
"We need to move it," I said. "Restrain it. Or incinerate it."
Everyone looked at me.
I didn't flinch.
Because I knew what this thing was now.
Not just a science experiment.
Not just a weapon.
It was alive.
And it remembered every face it saw.