Page 52 of Stone Temptation

A huge yellow chimera broke through the blanket of clouds. They were always comprised of a lion’s body covered in feathers, wings like an albatross, and a distorted goat’s head. A tail of twisted rope, the end of it a spiky mace, flicked back and forth.

“What is it?” Luke asked.

“Bad news.”

He tiptoed to the window, stretching to peer out. “What is that?”

I peeled my eyes off that perfect ass. “Chimera. Nasty monster.”

“What does it want?”

“A cup of sugar?”

He faced me over his shoulder. “Sugar?”

Clearly didn’t catch the limp joke. “How the fuck should I know? They’re dangerous. One of the few monsters able to break weaver protection with their fire. See this scar?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Chimera talon.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Knights will be on it.” Like me. “So, why did you break into my boss’s office.”

Luke returned his attention to the window, the back of his neck bright red. “I think you should start worrying about this monster.”

“There’re knights out there. They’ll deal with it.”

Sworn to protect a thief? How the fuck did I begin dealing with that? And what would my comrades say?

Yeah, yeah. Cereal officially pissed in.

That ass, though. That ripe, perky ass, built for my lips to explore.

Stop!

“That’s a lot of fire,” Luke said.

Will be when I get you naked…

What the fuck?

Being taller than Luke by a few feet or whatever, I had a view of the monster over his head. The chimera spewed scarlet flames into the sky at circling knights.

Alarm bells went off in my head. “Get away from the window.”

“It’s coming this way,” Luke said.

“Get away from the window.”

“There’s a human on its back.”

“What?” I joined him back at the window.

A humanoid figure wearing mountaineering gear and gas mask held on tightly to the feathered fucker. Impossible. A human’s built-in protection wouldn’t allow them to ride a monster.

With a quick use of my second vision, I confirmed no protection for the rider.