Chapter 31: Merethyl

After Avani left to go after the hunters, I had an easy time getting everyone out. There was no one here to fight me and I realized he did that on purpose. Always so protective. I want to believe that it’s because I mean something to him, but he’s called the Dark Protector for a reason. And that reason has nothing to do with me.

When I hear him roar, I go rushing out of the laboratory. I was healing some of the shifters and was nearly done. I know Avani enough to know that when he roars, he’s pissed.

I’m shocked when I walk outside and see him confronting a shifter, rather than fighting a hunter. The shifter, a leopard Avani called him, realizes that Avani outranks him, or whatever it is in the animal kingdom, and he defers to him.

When Avani says the leopard can’t kill one of the scientists, I know he has a plan. I also know that he’s on the verge of shifting and tearing this entire place apart. I put my hand on his arm, pushing calm into him until I feel him respond.

I turn and l