Not just any dragon. Payne.
Flames spewed down from his snout, a torrent of heat, followed by his massive jaws clamping around Payne’s back leg. Payne roared—not in fury, but in pain.
The Devil had pierced his flesh.
I didn’t thinkanythinghad ever broken Payne’s skin before.
“Stop!” Joy screamed.
“Don’t, please!” I cried out, voice cracking.
The Devil dropped to the ground mid-air, shifting again. This time…into Nova.
An ungodly sound tore from August’s throat. “You better leave her alone!” he bellowed.
“I will,” the Devil said smoothly, “as long asshedoesn’t try anything.”
His arm lifted—Nova’s arm—hovering above Payne. The threat was obvious.
“I know she’s close. I know they all are,” he went on, voice disturbingly calm. “I can end him—and the rest of you—before I die as her.”
His gaze swept the clearing.
“Jackal,” he murmured, “you are my creation. I can do to you as I did to Harvest. Isabella—you’re depleted. No shields can save them if they act. And don’t think you can take me, Soul Reaper,” he finished, eyes tracking like area, waiting for the marked mates to reveal themselves.
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
I didn’t dare look at any of my siblings.
My mate had all of us in the palm of his hand.
He knew.
He told me, repeatedly, that we couldn’t win.
I hadn’t realized how impossible our odds were until now—at the very edge of fate.
“Step out where I can see you,” the Devil ordered, voice calm and cruel. “And don’t try me.”
With the last word, he shifted back into his true form.
The mates stepped from behind the trees one by one, moving to stand beside Payne. Nova’s expression was a war zone of restraint. Her hands fisted at her sides, shoulders taut as she locked eyes with August. The fury in her dark eyes crystallized—ice-cold and deadly.
Don’t do anything foolish,I begged silently.
But then again…
What else is left? Just wait for our end?
We were desperate.
And the Devil knew it.
The moment he spotted Nova, he vanished—then reappeared behind her.
She barely had time to turn before he blew something into her face.
She collapsed instantly.
