A pain unlike anything I have ever experienced before rips through me, knocking me to my knees. A strangled cry escapes my throat, my eyes watering as I fight to stand.
“Callum!” Cate is at my side in an instant, her arms looping through mine as she tries to help me stand.
“Leave me,” I choke out. “They will turn their Gifts on you, Cate. Leave me, get out of here.”
She helps me stand, then spins on her heel and rushes at the Gifted abusing me with her power. The move is graceless but effective; Cate and the woman fall to the floor and the pain leaves as quickly as it came.
As soon as I’ve regained my breath, I lose it again, as Lady M’s other minion chokes the air from my lungs without laying a single hand on me.
I know in this moment this is the woman responsible for killing my sister, that it was her Gift that stole Dom’s last breath from her lungs. Rage coats my vision and all logical thought flees my brain.
It’s enough to stir me to fight back. I close the distance between us in two large steps, my hand gripping her throat, tightening enough that her eyes widen and bulge. “How do you like it?” I growl at her.
She claws at my hand, useless without her own powers.
Air fully fills my chest, and I squeeze harder.
The woman’s lips are starting to turn purple when a hand lands on my shoulder.
“Let her go, Cal.” Cate’s voice is the only sound that could penetrate my haze of anger. “This isn’t you. Let her go.”
I come back to myself, and the feeling of the woman’s flesh under my hand suddenly feels wrong.
I drop my hand from her neck, and she collapses on the floor. She doesn’t get up, but her chest still moves up and down.
Cate’s hand finds my cheek. “You’re all right.”
It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.
Meri cries out and Cate’s face blanches as she turns to take in the rest of the room. She runs to her friend’s side, heedless of thecombat still raging. Lady M has retreated to the far corner, as if she can avoid the bloodshed she caused.
I take Meri’s place, fighting off yet another unknown Gifted, trying to pull the fighting away from where Cate crouches over Meri, whose hand is pressed to her thigh and covered in blood.
“Rosa!” Cate calls. I shouldn’t be paying attention to her, should be focusing my full attention on the woman whose strikes keep on coming, connecting with my ribs and my knee and the side of my head. But I keep one eye on Cate at all times, unable to fully break away from her.
Rosa hoists Meri to her feet and pulls her from the room, escaping the fighting, but leaving us even more outnumbered.
Cate looks down at her hands, the blood covering them stark against her pale skin, and it takes everything in me not to rush to her side.
The fight rages on. Cate, Tes, Helen, and I are the only ones left. Several of Lady M’s Gifted have been knocked out, maybe even killed, but there are enough of them to keep me occupied, my eyes constantly flitting between my current opponent and Cate.
Lady M takes advantage of my distraction, moving back to the center of the fighting when she sees that her side has the upper hand. A swift blow to the back of Tes’s head and she collapses. Lady M continues, shoving Helen hard into the arms of one of her soldiers, who quickly knocks her to the ground with a single punch to the face.
She’s upon me before I have the chance to ready myself for her attack, the other Gifted at my back requiring my full attention.
“I think that’s enough for today.”
Her dagger swipes across my stomach and a second later, I’m folded in half and falling to the floor.
“Callum!” Cate cries, her anguish echoing around the room.
She rushes for me, but Lady M steps in her path. Gritting my teeth, I force myself to my feet. The pain is blinding and unbearable, but not nearly as unbearable as watching Cate single-handedly grapple with Lady M.
Lady M, who has handed me my ass despite my training. Cate doesn’t have a chance against her, and I can’t watch her fall, not after everything.
Cate launches herself at Lady M, with strength and determination but not a lot of skill. It doesn’t take long for Lady M to knock the dagger from Cate’s hand, sending it skittering along the cold stone floor.
I will my feet to move, shuffling closer to the fight.
