A face flashes in Kara’s memory. Handsome, smiling, brown eyes twinkling as he’d leaned in for a kiss and–
No. Kara pushes him out of her memory. He was dead.
And so was she, for all intents and purposes.
“Yes,” Avalon says. “The boy would not have escaped if I’d been there, but I believe the tradeoff was worth it.”
“Cease with the theatrics. Just show us,” Seven says.
Avalon’s glacial eyes flash with annoyance, but she nods. She pulls a teleportation rune from her belt and taps it once. It’s surface lights with an argent glow.
Another portal rips open at the far wall, far larger than the last. Its flowing orange edges look like liquid flame as its gaping maw shimmers like oil.
Avalon snaps, and a leash of light ignites in her hand. It stretches across the room, into the portal. She flexes, teeth grit, as she drags something forth. “I apologize again for being absent during the recent excitement, but as I said, I believe the reward was worth my efforts.” She pulls harder and something steps from the portal.
Something terrifying.
A beast of shadow, its edges blurred and indistinct. Lines of white thread its hulking mass, flowing endlessly in and out of a body that tricks the eye over and over with its shapelessness. Two burning eyes like coals stare hatefully at them as it tries to raise a black guillotine blade.
Tries, and fails. Avalon’s leash extends to a glowing ring that leashes the Shepherd around its middle. A flowing band of pure white with golden, shimmering runes that flow along its surface like water, it traps the shadowed creature tight.
“Ladies,” Avalon says, grinning in triumph, “meet the Shepherd.”
Hey you! Yes, you! Thanks for reading my book, and thanks for following Sam and the girls a little longer. Aspirant 3 will release later this year after a few other projects that are sitting on the back burner get released. Stay tuned for more fun!
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Aspirant 2: A Sci-Fi Harem Adventure Page 50