Page 59 of The Purrfect Rival (Enchanted Falls #1)
FIFTY-NINE
K alyna moved with uncharacteristic directness, her usual fox caution blending with something new—a lion-like decisiveness that had her taking point as they descended the stairs. Her mind remained split, one part focused on their immediate safety while another strained through the bond, trying to sense Rust across the distance.
The awareness remained, but muted—like a compass with a weak magnetic pull, providing general direction but little else. The separation left an ache in her chest, a hollow space her fox recognized as wrong on a fundamental level.
They encountered two guards outside the communications room. Before Echo could suggest an illusory distraction, Kalyna signaled for a direct approach. The fox attacked in coordinated pairs—one creating a momentary sensory illusion while the other struck physical blows. The guards went down before they could radio for help.
“That was...” Echo stared at his sister with newfound respect. “Not very fox-like.”
She didn’t respond, already moving to the communications console. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, accessing security systems and external lines. Years managing the library’s technological infrastructure made the system familiar enough to navigate.
“Warning sent to both estates,” she confirmed moments later. “But we need to move. Boz’s men will trace the signal.”
Her eyes scanned the security monitors, searching through camera feeds for any sign of Rust. The compound schematics showed three main buildings connected by underground passages—they’d need to navigate the entire eastern wing to reach the section where the lions had been herded.
“This way,” she directed, leading her brother through maintenance passages toward the section where she sensed Rust.
Unlike her typical approach to danger—creating elaborate illusions to confuse and misdirect—Kalyna now moved with focused purpose. Her fox provided the perfect skills for infiltration—finding paths too narrow for pursuing guards, sensing patrols before they appeared, identifying weak points in security barriers.
Yet something had changed in her strategy. Where once she might have created illusory duplicates to scatter attention, she now directed precise strikes. Where she might have sought the longest but safest route, she now calculated acceptable risks for faster progress.
“You’re different,” Echo observed as they paused at an intersection, waiting for a patrol to pass. “There’s lion in your decisions now.”
Kalyna didn’t deny it. She’d felt the change—subtle shifts in her instincts and reactions that carried Rust’s influence. Just as she sensed through their weakened bond that he moved with more fox-like awareness than any lion had right to possess.
As they navigated deeper into the compound, her fox senses picked up the distinctive sound of combat ahead—roars and shouting, the impact of bodies against barriers. The bond flared stronger with proximity, pulling her forward with increasing urgency.
They emerged in a mezzanine overlooking a large open area where Rust and several lion shifters fought Boz’s elite guards. The lions had shifted to varying degrees—some full beasts, others in partial form with clawed hands and glowing eyes.
Rust fought at the center, his movements a blend of lion power and surprising agility. He dodged a guard’s strike with a pivot that no lion should have managed, countering with a blow that carried all his natural strength.
Kalyna’s breath caught at the sight of him. Her fox surged forward with joy and relief, straining to reach him across the distance.
Behind you!
He reacted instantly to her warning, spinning to block an attack from a guard he couldn’t have seen. His golden eyes snapped up, locking onto hers across the chaotic room with such intensity that everything else seemed to fade into background noise.
Kalyna vaulted over the mezzanine railing, her fox agility allowing her to land safely on the level below. She sprinted across the room, dodging fights and leaping over fallen debris while Rust cut a path toward her with equal determination.
They reached each other in the center of the chamber. Kalyna’s hands found his shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric of his torn shirt as if to anchor him in place. His arms locked around her waist, lifting her briefly against his chest as he breathed in her scent.
“Are you hurt?” His voice emerged rough with concern, golden eyes scanning her for injuries. His hands moved restlessly over her arms and back, reassuring himself of her wholeness.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, her own gaze cataloging the cuts and bruises marking his skin. A gash across his forearm still seeped blood, making her fox whine with distress. “You’re injured.”
“Nothing that matters.” The dismissal was pure lion, concerned only with his mate’s safety above his own.
No magical light show accompanied their reunion, no dramatic surge of power—just the visceral relief of physical contact after separation, the completion of something essential that had been torn apart.
“Foxworthy homestead and the Leonid estate,” she said urgently, remembering their predicament. “Both under attack according to Boz. I sent warnings, but?—”
“Hezron dispatched teams to both locations,” Rust cut in, his expression grim. “But we need to end this at the source. Boz won’t stop coming after us.”
A bullet pinged off the concrete pillar beside them, reminding them of their immediate danger. Rust pulled Kalyna behind the column, shielding her with his body while assessing their situation.
The fight had reached a stalemate—lion shifters holding one section of the room while Boz’s guards maintained control of the exits. With the fox reinforcements arriving from the mezzanine, they might tip the balance.
“We need a coordinated push toward the north exit,” Rust decided, his tactical mind working through possibilities. “Hezron secured an escape route there.”