Nope. I couldn’t do that.
Asher.
This time it was at least just my own inner voice urging me forward.
My power had regenerated enough that I could zip with ease through the simmering water. My skin was strong, not burning, even though it was clearly beyond boiling point under here. There were so many dead animals around us and I wanted to cry and vomit at the sight and smell. But there was no time to fall apart.
If I didn’t get to Asher, we’d all be dead.
When I was only a few feet away, I blanched at a blast of fiery air in my face. How the fuck there was fiery air under the water, I didn’t know, but shit was weird these days and I didn’t have time to question it.
That golden light was once again building around Asher, blinding me, but I didn’t need to see. I could feel him through our bond.
Lurching forward, I slammed my hand onto his back. White exploded behind my eyes and I felt like half of me was being ripped apart as our bond kicked in. Before I could figure out what to do, my body jerked forward, power funneling into me. My empty well filled, overflowed, and then the surge of power shot to Rone. The vampire threw his head back, veins standing out starkly in his neck, hands clenched. He took a lot, but nowhere near enough.
There were still three to go though.
Calen was next, the magic user bracing himself, his stance strong and wide, water not moving around him. His jaw clenched as the power made itself at home in his center. But there was only so much Calen, and way too much power. It didn’t linger once he was filled up, moving onto Jesse. The shifter showed the least reaction, except for a slight twitch of his jaw. He took the most power, and I gasped when it finally burst free, and into Axl.
The last one.
I saw his face settle into one of resignation, and in a blinding moment of clarity I knew that this much power was going to kill him. There was no one else for it to go to. We had completed the circle.
Axl was going to be destroyed.
“No!” I screamed, trying to jerk my hand from Asher, but it was fused. The circle was not finished, and I wasn’t free until it was.
“Axl, let it go!” I was shouting, but just like the rest of us, he couldn’t break the bond.
Our eyes met across the water, and I saw the apology there. Like he’d already calculated this and knew all along that one of us would die. That he would die.
My scream was so long and drawn out that my ears and throat ached when I was finished, water churning around me, gold filling my vision as Asher fought the hold too.
Axl’s body arched, and then he jerked a few times, like he was having a seizure. He crumpled to the ground, face first. In the same moment, my hand was released from Asher, and … I felt my mate in my mind and through our bond. He was back, stronger than ever, but whole.
“What happened to Axl?” he asked, voice rumbling, eyes gold. He was back in control, energy filling every pore. All of us were rocking an overload of energy.
“The power,” I sobbed, grabbing his hand and blasting us over to Axl. “He took too much power.”
In my newly formed bond with the five, I searched for Axl’s familiar energy, but it was barely a wisp, and considering how strong the others felt now, that could only mean one thing.
He was fading away.
When we reached Axl, Jesse had him cradled in his arms, the others around them, faces creased with devastation.
“What’s happening?” I cried. “Shouldn’t the power have exploded him? Why has he just gone … limp like this?”
In truth, six of us shouldn’t have been enough to take a god’s energy. It was probably only that Asher and I were gods ourselves, and the other’s were four strong Atlanteans. But still…
Had Axl done something else? Had he known this was coming?
Asher didn’t answer, but there was a moment where our eyes met and I recognized that look. He was going to risk himself to try to save our brother.
Before I could voice my worries, Asher moved at god speed, yanking the lifeless Axl into his arms. Then he was swimming like a bullet through the water, up and out, heading toward the island. I followed right behind, the guys with me. I tried not to panic, praying for a miracle. Who I was praying to, I didn’t know, but I was sending the vibes out into the universe.
When we caught up to them, they were on the beach. Asher had his hands pressed to the chest of his lifeless brother. The golden energy around him increased, pushing us back.
“My mother is the daughter of the goddess of creation,” Asher snarled. “I will not let Axe die. I don’t care what I have to sacrifice.”
