Chapter 51: The Price of Blood
The world had narrowed to a tunnel of white-hot agony. Lyra was aware of nothing but the screaming in her mind, a psychic assault that felt like shards of glass being driven into her synapses. She could dimly hear Kael's enraged roar, the sound muffled and distant as if she were drowning. Through blurred vision, she saw the massive black wolf stagger, dark blood welling from the gashes on his flank.
Thorne, panting and bleeding, did not press his advantage against Kael. Instead, his feral gaze swung toward her, the source of his enemy's distraction. He lunged.
A gunshot rang out, sharp and definitive in the chaotic room.
Thorne yelped, stumbling as a pulse round seared into his hind leg. Elias, his face a mask of strain and sweat, stood braced against a console, his pistol smoking. The psychic assault was clearly tearing him apart too, but his aim had held true. "Get up, Lyra!" he gritted out, his voice strained.
