Abyss - Book Five of the Alpha Series - MxM

Chapter 23

Glorious sleep finds me so rarely in today's times. More often than not, I lay there awake or drift in and out of what could hardly be considered a slumber. Sleeping beside someone, or better yet, cradled so carefully against a warm, strong frame, had its benefits. 

I feel like I've barely closed my eyes when a distant metallic clang awakens me. It's not the noise that woke me, truthfully, it was the cold chill of my companion leaving the bed.  When I sit up, my suspicions are confirmed as I rub my eye with the back of my hand sleepily, "Come back to bed. It was probably one of the guards; security is at an all-time high under your command."

 My words fall on deaf ears. 

Verando inhales slowly as he nears the door, and his hand rises to silence me as he listens. I flop back onto the bed and run my fingers through my hair, groaning at the intrusion on my meager hours of sleep. Sometimes, having a lycan as a bodyguard was more unbearable than wondering what was out there. 

He tenses, and I hear the distant echoes of screams down the hall. 

His panicked voice interrupts my inner monologue, "Get down!" Verando hisses across the room, and quicker than I can comprehend, I obediently leap off the bed to duck down behind it. The doors fly open, one of them exploding off its hinges and clattering to the floor with a loud bang. The gurgling grumble of the reptilian growl curls from the creature's throat as the spiny lizard head enters the room.

 At first, I fear it's a dragon, but I note the lack of legs from the small crack of visibility. Blood droplets spatter on the floor, I hear the sickening thump of the body in its jaws dropping to the ground, and its tongue flickers as it tastes the room. A low raspy hiss emits as it scans, and the snake-like body coils as it slowly slides across the tiles. 

Looking in the small gap between the heavy comforter and the floor, I can see the spines as they grab across the tile. A wyrm, possibly? 

I try to steady my breathing, though from my studies I know their sense of smell and hearing aren't the best, they rely mostly on their sight as they have vision much like a snake. My eyes search, but it's too dark to see my male companion. I can only hope he will hide until it leaves, but those dreams are dashed as I focus and spy a yellow eye glaring back at me. 

The hiss intensifies as the nose roots under the bed, and I leap backward only for the creature to screech as it jerks its head upward. I catch the glint of the blade as he strikes the scaly beast for the second time. The wyrm's body arches, nearly the height of the ceiling, as it hisses in a threat, gaping jaws threatening to devour my warlord as he blocks with his blade.

 I make the mental note to never give him crap about carrying that sword ever again. 

"A little help here?" Verando grunts at me, smacking the beast's head away as it breathes fire down on the floor. 

I blink myself back into reality and extend my hand, calling for water from the bathroom. I toss it like a sharpened javelin and get a thunderous roar in return as the dragon-like snake snaps at the ice shards. It throws its body across the room at me, and I thrust my hands up to form an ice barrier, blocking out the flames. 

Verando swung his blade, finishing the job of severing the beast's body into two parts. It shrieks, recoiling on itself and hardly missing him with its teeth. His body disappears into its open mouth. I shove out of my ice barrier and douse the room in water to put out the flames. I ready my ball of ice, rushing to his aid, but the snake's body goes limp as I near its head.

He's put his sword through the top of its jaw and out of its skull.  Kicking the creature off of him, he grimaces at the blood and saliva that coat his naked form.