Chapter 146

A thick arm covered in thick white fur wrapped around the spotted lion’s neck, and suddenly he was no longer on me, because my father had thrown him back. The beast fell on its side and lost the knife, rolling several meters between muffled roars and moans, until it stopped by its own momentum, a few centimeters away from colliding with one of the large high-voltage transformers. He jumped up. I stood up too and joined my father, to protect my brother. Mikhail couldn’t move; the open wound on his leg seemed to be bleeding heavily, and the blood oozing from my hip was leaving an interesting red, slimy veil on my right thigh. My father fell to one knee, the skunk smell repelling him.

The spotted lion was going to come back for us, knife or no knife. The green flash of his eyes in the darkness only spoke of fury and desire to kill; it was a look that he had learned to recognize.

A gunshot rang out, causing the beast to retreat and cower in place:

“DOMINIK! I SHOULD KN