Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

partially managed to get over his shock and was in the act of turning away to jump from the considerable height of the platform when she landed on his back, her jaws closing instantly on the nape of his neck and her long fangs embedding themselves swiftly. He was dead before his body hit the wooden surface of the structure, blood colouring the grain.

Siray ran swiftly to the edge of the platform. While she wanted to untie her friend and see to her injuries, she knew that more soldiers were climbing the platform.

Kill them first, she thought viciously.

So, without pausing, Siray simply let her feline body fall over the edge from the height.

She fell quickly, turning lithely in the air so her feet were underneath her.

Thus, her claws were extended and easily embedded themselves as she landed on top of the next soldier’s head and shoulders. The weight of her body wrenched his hands from the platform’s ladder, and together they dropped, him screaming and her snarling on top.

They had tumbled halfway to the ground when the male’s body hit the fifth member of the small group of attackers—a female—who’d managed only a gasp just before the male’s body slammed into her.

Together, the three of them plunged towards their death, but just before they hit the ground, Siray launched herself into the air, her curved talons leaving bloody gouges in the male’s flesh that caused him to scream even before he slammed into the ground on top of the female.

Their landing was accompanied by sharp cracking sounds, something only her predator hearing could discern as she touched down softly and safely upon the sand just steps away.

Moving swiftly back to the pair, Siray saw that they both had numerous broken bones—and the female a pierced lung, if her laboured and wet breathing was any indication.

Two lethal slashes of Siray’s claws laid both their throats open, putting a brutal end to their service to the Faction, before she was off and running again.

Earlier in her yeibon form, Siray’s body had clearly displayed the effort she had put into driving herself forwards as she strained to catch up to the advancing soldiers, her muscles stretching and reaching to propel her onwards.

Now, she was a black-and-silver streak, her speed effortless as she glided over the sand, the layers upon layers of muscle in her sevonix body powering her onwards. Head down, tail slightly curved in the air behind her for balance, she streaked towards the next platform.

There were still sixteen soldiers left, yet a number of them had frozen in the process of climbing up Zale’s and Baindan’s platforms after witnessing Siray’s attack on the other unit.

Two of them were between her and Kovi’s platform and, seeing her approach, they dropped their spears and turned to flee.

One of them whirled to run towards the main group, obviously realising that only the advantage of numbers might save him. Yet he hadn’t managed more than a couple of steps when Siray leapt from several body lengths away, her powerful jaws wrapping around the soft spot on the back of the neck and slicing through flesh, cartilage, and bone in one strong bite. She dropped away from the now lifeless male and continued her run to the next platform, her large paws making no sound against the sand.

The other soldier, a female, was clearly fit, evident by the simple fact that she had managed to reach the side of Kovi’s platform and had already scaled a substantial height by the time Siray focused on her.

The terrified female shrieked as she saw Siray reaching the bottom of the platform, and the soldier began climbing faster still.

The inferno in Siray’s mind was still blocking out everything else but this hunt, yet she didn’t need to think about what to do next—her body already knew. Once she was at the bottom of the ladder, looking upwards at the scrambling Faction female, Siray’s rear legs came in close to her front paws, her entire body coiling itself up. Then she sprang—a great explosion of power from her hind legs that propelled her a quarter of the way up the platform. Her extended claws sunk into the wood of the structure’s wall as she landed, giving her enough of a hold that her rear legs were able to land underneath them. The claws of her hind legs now securely in place, she leapt upwards again and slightly to the left … onto the back of the climbing female.

The female screamed in agony as the claws of all four of Siray’s feet sunk deep into her flesh. Unlike her other kills, Siray didn’t go straight for the female’s neck but opted instead to climb up the female, her large hooked claws leaving horrific gashes as she used the Faction soldier as a living ladder.

Amazingly, the female somehow managed to maintain her hold on the wooden rungs of the ladder while Siray climbed, but her tenacity was of no help when Siray made another leap from the female’s body towards the top of the platform, purposefully kicking out and backwards with her rear legs.

As living softness gave way under her ripping claws, the female let out a final cry of anguish before she tumbled from the side of the structure.

Siray didn’t look back as she hooked her front paws over the edge of the top of the platform, a final leap landing her standing safely on its upper surface, while a muted thump from behind told her the Faction female had hit the sands below.

Moving swiftly to the large wooden pole to which Kovi was tied, his madly staring eyes didn’t seem to see Siray at all as she began applying her fangs to the ropes binding his torso, arms, and legs.

Thick and strong as the cords were, they were no match for the pressure of her bite.

Although he still didn’t turn or look at her, Kovi seemed to sense the instant he was free and made quickly for the side of the