Chapter 66 66

Chapter 66 66
Eve’s POV

I’ve always wondered what those insane college party games were about. 

You know, the ones where they flip someone upside down and dare them to chug some questionable dose of alcohol while the crowd chants like it’s a ritual sacrifice.

Well…

Now I know.

Because I am currently hanging upside down from a tree like a badly wrapped piñata, and I am one bad jump scare away from peeing on myself.

Blood was rushing to my head. My jet-black hair was like a curtain swaying in the breeze. My ankles were bound in a tight rope. My wrists are trapped uselessly against my stomach.

And my mouth?

Sealed.

I try screaming again anyway.

It comes out as an angry, muffled hum.

Below me, Garrick gets absolutely yeeted across the clearing.

One second, he’s doing his calm, sarcastic warrior thing.

Next second…

WHAM!

The monster slaps him like he’s a mildly annoying fly.

He goes flying.

And my heart plummets straight into my throat.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

This is how I die!

Upside down!!

Watching the only competent fighter in a ten-mile radius get swatted like a mosquito.

I thrash harder, trying to free myself. My head feels like it’s about to pop from the pressure.

“Mmfffhh!” I try to scream. But I could barely hear myself from that rush of blood going to my head.

The Endophine turns its hideous single eye toward Garrick, as if it’s mildly impressed he’s still breathing.

And then, Garrick rises.

Of course he does.

Of course, the relaxed, dry-humor barbarian gets up after being hit by a creature that looks like it crawled out of someone’s worst nightmare.

He rolls his shoulder like he’s just been mildly inconvenienced.

Why are men like this?

He grabs his swords again.

And then he charges.

Steel flashes.

The clearing explodes into motion.

He moves differently from Rygar.

That thought hits me out of nowhere.

Garrick fights like he talks, measured, almost lazy at first glance, but precise.  

No wasted energy.

Rygar…

Rygar was fire.

Brutal. Relentless. Like every fight was personal.

The memory slams into me so hard my chest physically aches.

No.

I still hate him.

I do.

I hate him.

…Even though I love him.

Even though I miss him.

Even though seeing Garrick swing his sword makes something twist inside me because it reminds me of the way Rygar used to stand in front of me like a wall between me and the world.

The Endophine lunges again. Garrick ducks, blade slicing across grey flesh. The creature shrieks.

My head spins harder.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second.

What is Rygar doing right now?

Is he in the pack lands?

Has he taken another wife?

The thought makes bile rise in my throat.

Maybe Kaela.

That bitch.

Maybe they’re together now.

Maybe they’re peaceful.

Maybe the Blood Moon Witch gave them exactly what she promised, stability. Safety. A future without me complicating everything.

Maybe Rygar isn’t looking over his shoulder anymore.

Maybe he sleeps better now.

The thought should make me feel relieved.

It doesn’t.

It makes my chest feel like it’s being crushed from the inside.

Below me, Garrick’s blade carves another line across the creature’s torso. Blackish fluid splatters across the ground.

The Endophine roars and swings again. Garrick blocks, boots sliding back in the dirt from the force.

I blink rapidly because the blood pooling in my head is mixing with tears I refuse to acknowledge.

I still love my husband. Or ex now because you know…

But I don’t get to cry right now.

Not while I’m hanging like bait.

The Endophine lunges again, and Garrick barely avoids the claws this time.

My heart slams violently.

I try screaming again. It comes out muffled and desperate.

I don’t know if I’m more scared of the monster.

Or of losing another man who chose to fight for me.

Garrick sprang back in full focus and knocked the Endophine across the chest.

Okay.

So Garrick is not dead.

He’s actually doing… disturbingly well.

That’s the first win of the day.

The Endophine swipes again with that grotesque, elongated arm, and Garrick pivots smoothly, blade flashing upward in a clean arc that slices across its side. The sound it makes is somewhere between a shriek and metal scraping stone.

“Is that all?” Garrick drawls.

Really, he drawls? In the middle of fighting a nightmare?

He circles the monster slowly, boots steady on the forest floor, shoulders loose like this is just another Tuesday inconvenience.

“You’re rather large,” he says conversationally, tilting his head slightly as the Endophine snaps at him. “Compensating for something?”

The Endophine roars, slamming both arms down. Garrick leaps back just in time, the impact cracking the ground where he’d stood.

“Come on,” he mutters, voice dropping. “You can do better than that.”

He shifts his weight suddenly, sidestepping, then drives one blade deep into the creature’s shoulder. It howls, staggering sideways.

“Ah,” Garrick says lightly, yanking the sword free. “There it is.”

“Yes!” I try to shout, which comes out as “Mmmfffh!”

He glances up briefly, just for a split second, and I swear I see the corner of his mouth twitch like he knows I’m attempting moral support from my upside-down prison.

The Endophine swings wildly again, claws grazing Garrick’s shoulder, making him stumble to the floor.

No!

The Endophine lunges one last time, desperate. Garrick twists aside and brings both blades down in a crossing strike that bites deep.

The creature lets out a guttural, choking scream.

I thrash excitedly.

He’s winning.

He’s actually winning.

“Oh my God, yes, finish it!” I try to yell, which probably sounds like a distressed goat.

The Endophine staggers backward, one leg buckling.

Garrick steps forward, ready to end it.

And that’s when I feel it.

A shift in the tree holding me creaks.

Just slightly.

At first, I thought it was just my imagination. Blood rushing to my head. Dizziness. Panic.

Then I hear it.

A soft scrape of claw against bark.

My cheering dies in my throat.

I tilt my head as much as the bindings allow.

The world is upside down, so it takes my brain a second to process what I’m seeing.

But then it clicks.

Something is standing on the tree trunk.

Clinging to it like a biohazard monkey.

Long, skeletal fingers dug into bark. Teeth bared. Claws extended.

It's another Endophine!!!