He grabs me around my neck then fists his hand in the front of my hoodie. He tugs hard and the neckline of the sweatshirt rips open, exposing both Ian’s and Cassian’s bites.
Rad lets out a huff of disgust as he traces the ice-cold tip of his scribe over the double crescent scars and I jerk away from him, whimpering.
“Oh, beloved. This is going tohurt.”
I catch the flick of his scribe from out of the corner of my eye and watch as he traces the sigils to a spell I now know all too well. When he’s drawn the last sigil of the Ever Ember hex, he touches the tip of his scribe to my neck.
Pain like I’ve never felt before burns through my body, and I nearly succumb, nearly lose myself to it.
I nearly forget to fight.
I grit my teeth to hold back my scream, and with all my might, I yank at the broken restraint, fighting and tugging until it finally snaps free. I punch as hard as I can, cuffing Rad in the side of the head.
It’s enough.
His scribe leaves my skin, and the ember falls away.
I drive my affinity into his mind, pouring every ounce of my power into the mental daggers I plunge into his head.
He lets out a roar, but I push harder, fighting now just as hard as I resisted when he tested my affinity. I force him to his knees with my magic and buy myself enough time to tug the rest of my restraints free and jump down from the table.
“Help me!” I shout to Blair. “Saints, please help me! We rescued your alpha. We have Nathan. I can take you to him!”
She stares down at me, her expression blank, and then something in her gaze flickers.
I can’t use my affinity unless he commands it. Not with the collar on. But I can fight the collar’s control. I can resist the shocks long enough. Do what you can.
Saints, I’ve never heard anything as beautiful as the other omega’s voice in my mind.
Rad snarls and lunges for me. He grabs my wrist, and instinct kicks in because I know this hold and I know how to escape it. I’ve trained with Marcus for hours on this exact move.
I twist in Rad’s grip, ducking under his arm and then curling, forcing him over my shoulder and onto the ground beneath me. He goes down hard, the breath knocked from his lungs. I scramble forward and grab his dropped scribe, but he’s back on his feet before I can cast the stunning spell on my lips. He charges me, drives his shoulder into my gut and takes me down. I crash to the floor, Rad on top of me, but I’ve got his scribe now. I have a fighting chance.
I twist beneath him, trying to escape his crushing weight, but he drives his knee into my chest and seals his hands around my throat until my vision grows dark. I stab upward with his scribe, hoping I can at least injure him if I can’t bespell him.
He snatches it out of my hand and chants the words of power that accompany the Ever Ember hex, and he’s just about to set his scribe to my skin once more when Blair comes up behind him.
Electricity crackles against her skin as she fights the collar’s control, but she’s strong. Saints, she’s so fucking strong and brave in the face of the alpha who has tormented us both.
She swings a metal instrument tray, and it connects with the back of his skull with a deep, metallic clang.
Rad’s eyes roll back in his skull, and he sways before losing consciousness and crashing down on top of me.
I try to scramble out from beneath him, but I can’t do it until Blair sets her booted foot to his midsection and kicks him off of me.
I grab his abandoned scribe and whip through the sigils for the spell to unlock the collar, casting it as quickly as I can.
The buzz of the collar quiets, and it unlatches with a sharp click. Blair startles and carefully sets her hands against the metal, fear and trepidation whipping through her. But the sigils on the collar are dark and when she gives it a tug, it slips free from her neck.
She throws it to the floor and then turns the full force of her affinity on it. It explodes into little more than dust. She sways on her feet, and I race to her side, catching her before she falls.
With the last of her remaining strength, she kicks Rad in the gut as hard as she can, but he doesn’t even flinch. I don’t stop to see if his pulse still beats in his neck because I don’t need to know.
I wrap my arm around Blair’s waist and slowly, our steps weak and trudging, we make our way out of the affinity testing room and through the facility’s quiet, dimly lit halls. The moment we step out into the sunshine, I feel the brush of my mates’ thoughts against mine as the SUV comes roaring into the parking lot, Graeme hot on their tail, his lights flashing and siren blaring.
Blair stops when we’ve gotten a dozen steps from the facility and looks back at it, her eyes misting, and without sensing her feelings or reading her thoughts, I know exactly what she needs. Killing Rad won’t erase the trauma he caused me. Only time and the love of my men will be able to do that. But for Blair, reducing the facility to rubble with Rad inside it will grant her the closure she so desperately needs.
“Do it,” I tell her. “Bring the whole place to the fucking ground.”
