His body collides with mine, pulling me away from the surface. At the same time, sapphire runes burst around us, propelling me backward. He’s still gripping the weapon in one hand, and it’s wedged between us. Somehow, he’s holding on to me, propelling us away from the gates, while his fingers close across the stone’s clasp.
With a roar, he twists it.
Click.
The weapon’s light falters and I’m dragged away from the gates and the red cavern beyond them, crashing within Roman’s arms.
Now that the light has faded, I can see my pack falling with us. My wolves are a dark blur, Koda appears unconscious, and Taniya is desperately trying to release her wings.
We’re caught in some kind of funnel with nowhere to go but down and it’s a hard, sickening fall back to the crystal bridge.
There is no soft landing this time.
“Hold on,” Roman rumbles into my ear, and I wrap my arms and legs around him as he extends his free hand toward the surface we’re about to crash into.
Malia is also facing downward, her hands rapidly passing across the space in front of her. Twin blasts explode across the surface beneath us at the last moment as both she and Roman release their power at the same time.
We all jolt to a stop, hovering a mere two feet above the glistening bridge, each of us caught in our current positions. I’m so close to the surface that my hair falls to the side and brushes it.
The magic that cushioned our fall vanishes a second later, and we drop the final jarring few inches. Roman twists so that his body is partially beneath me, but my wolves and Ruby are not so lucky. They don’t have the chance to get their legs under them and they hit the bridge on their sides.
Koda also lands heavily, although Taniya manages to extend her wings at the exact moment the magic releases us, using them to ease her landing.
My heart is pounding in my chest. “Esta!”
If she’s recovered already, then we’re in trouble.
“She’s still dead,” Roman rumbles, his focus on the patch of bridge where Esta lies.
I accept his word for it, taking this moment to rest my head against his chest. I’m not sure how much more of a beating I can take tonight. “Why didn’t that work?”
Roman’s eyes are narrowed in thought. “The Elimination ends when only one power remains,” he says with a heavy sigh. “What we just attempted has proven that it’s not about killing Esta’s body, but about ending her power.”
“Damn,” I whisper against his chest. “What do we do now?”
“We get back up,” he says, brushing his fingers across my cheeks, one palm curling around the back of my head. “We figure it out.”
“Together,” I whisper.As a pack.
Pushing to my feet while Roman continues to hold the weapon, I quickly seek the rest of my pack. They huddle together a few paces away now. Malia’s shoulders are hunched where she rests with Luca and Temple curled around her. Ace and Ruby are nestled close to the other wolves, but a little apart, since Ruby will still be uncertain around all of us. Taniya’s movements are wooden and stilted as she shifts back to her human form nearby, quickly using her rune to reclothe herself in the armor that Roman created for her.
Koda groans where he’s slumped a few paces away from them, gripping one side of his head in his hand—the side of the wound he acquired in the fight with Arga, which appears to have reopened under the force of magic we just experienced.
But Blitz…
“Wait… Where’s Blitz?” My urgent question rings out as I scan the surrounding mist for my fastest wolf. “Blitz!”
Taniya jumps to her feet. She and Blitz have the closest affinity since Blitz is fast enough to keep up with Taniya when she flies. They often team up together. If anything happened to him…
“Blitz!” she cries, swinging wildly in the direction of the spot where we left Esta.
Within the mist near Esta’s body, a shadow rests.
“There!” I cry.
I hobble toward Blitz, but Taniya’s closer and faster. The mist swallows her as she disappears into it, reappearing a moment later with Blitz in her arms. She sets him down as I approach with Malia at my back.
Blitz’s eyes are slowly opening, a dim, violet light that quickly brightens. He yips, his head darts up, and he licks Taniya’s face. Her arms close briefly around him before he jumps back to his feet, licks her again, and pads back to his brothers and sister.
