His strength didn’t wane.

“Caith, he’s not going down.”

No shit, really?

“Get some more darts and rope. Keep trying to knock him out and we’ll tie his jaws and legs.” Hopefully soon. My muscles were tiring, the burn telling my I was about done. Swinging a sword was a hell of a lot easier than keeping a gator captive.

“Hold on.” The sweetness that signaled Sam’s departure held a bit more sulfur than before. Was On High punishing him for saving me?

Assholes.

Georges stilled for a moment and I wondered if he’d finally realized he was fighting a losing battle. He wouldn’t get free of me. He wouldn’t have a chance to—

The next move tore me from his body. A great heave of muscle and bone had him breaking my hold and stumbling over one of the ladies.

Shit.

I did the same, flinging my body the opposite way and rushing to put space between me and a furious Georges. Green eyes met mine, the rage and hate burning brightly and I swallowed hard. This wasn’t the small gator I’d raised. He’d been perverted and destroyed by whatever spell held him captive.

Bastards.

“Georges,” I whispered his name and his eyes narrowed. The hatred burning anew.

Then he raced forward. It wasn’t a natural rush. No, it was one suffused with magic that allowed him to move three times as fast.

“Fuck.” I spun and raced back toward the pond and away from the house. I’d hide in the forest, the maze of trees slowing him as Sam grabbed more darts. I couldn’t allow Georges near my home with him like this. The brownies were there, tweens under my care and I couldn’t let anything happen—

Agonizing pain pierced my calf and I was suddenly jerked to a halt. Air whooshed from my lungs and I fought for breath as the agony attacked me. I risked a glance over my shoulder and the hurt seemed to double. Fuck, he’d gotten his jaws around my leg, biting deeply and straining bone.

I fell to the ground, free leg buckling beneath me as the pain of Georges’ wound raced over my nerves. It overwhelmed me with its strength, sending every drop of my blood screaming with the agony. I caught myself with my hands and met the gator’s gaze and those green eyes… they were gleeful. Overjoyed that he’d caught me and now tasted my blood.

The animal dragged me toward the lake and I knew his intent. He’d drag me deep and drown me, feast on my body. Unless Sam came back with the darts. He could subdue the animal and we’d keep all four caged until we could figure out a way to…

“Caith!” Sam’s bellow filled my ears.

He’d come. He’d come and he’d save me and I hated the fact that I needed help just as much as I sobbed in relief.

The edge of the water neared, Georges’ tail covered by the dark liquid. He dragged me backward, yanking me toward my death. Any second now I’d sink beneath the surface and I wasn’t sure if Sam would find me. I kicked at Georges, wanting to be free, but not wanting to harm him either.

He wasn’t my friend, he wasn’t my beloved Georges. He was in someone else’s control and didn’t deserve to die for—

Sam appeared beside the gator, pure sulfur accompanying the move, and when he looked at me, his eyes were nearly pure red. Only a hint of blue remained, the last bit of his angelic status clinging to him with invisible fingers.

“Shoot him, Sam,” I wheezed, the anguish stealing my breath.

But then I realized he didn’t hold my dart gun. No, a blade had replaced the weapon. “I’m sorry, Caith.”

No. He couldn’t mean to… But Georges… Panic filled me, true fear and misery spearing me. It overrode the physical pain and dug into my very soul. Not Georges. No, no, no…

“Don’t, Sam. Please. Don’t—”

Sam raised the sword high, tip pointed at Georges’ head, blade gleaming in the sun’s light.

“Wait. Don’t. Get—” A scream ended my pleas, the gator yanking hard once again, dragging me closer to the edge. Water lapped at his front legs, covering most of his body, and satisfaction filled those evil eyes.

The silver of Sam’s sword blinked at me, and I watched it lower, watched it slice through the air. It drew closer and closer to Georges’ head and each inch added a crack to my heart, chipping away at pieces. The closer the gator’s death raced, the more hunks fell and shattered.

“Nonononono—”

The tip was less than an inch from Georges’ thick hide, so very close to destroying one of the few things I loved in the tween. And he would be gone, gone, gone…

“Forgive me,” Sam whispered. To me or to On High?

It didn’t matter because he was taking away—

Another blade blocked Sam’s, shoving it aside just as a long knife struck deeply, sliding into Georges’ flesh, severing his spine. In that split second, that moment before life fled my friend, the green light left his gaze and pure regret and love filled those eyes. My Georges. He was there. In that last second, that last breath of life, he was there to show me he still loved me and he hated that I’d been injured.

I followed the length of the knife that’d killed Georges. My gaze slid over the large, scarred hand, the tanned forearm and the thick bicep. Then I met my savior’s gaze.

Silver eyes that were so like my own, the hue limited to his kind and no other, sparkled with regret but not apology. “Hate me if you must, but I could not let one of my own beasts take my only child.”

Father Earth. Papa Eron.