“Bless you, Holly,” Eira said as she arrived with another load of food. She gave Holly a light hug and went up on her toes to give her a peck on the cheek. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. I must have been a saint in a past life to deserve you, sweet girl.”
Holly’s entire body went warm, and she felt as light as a feather. Suddenly, she was bursting with energy. So much sothat something inside her felt tight, like it was threatening to burst. Holly now had more energy than she knew what to do with, so she threw more thorns into her shield and made them longer, thicker, and pointier.
The screaming faded away abruptly, and Holly saw their attackers running in terror. At first, Holly thought her shield had gotten so amazing that the elf-pirates had run away, but then she felt the ground rumble.
The smell of hot metal and sulfur hit her nose, and there was an orange glow emanating from the darkness. A creature straight from her nightmares oozed out of the shadows like living lava.
It moved at an astonishing speed and plowed over anything in its way, including the elf-pirates.
“No…” Holly whispered. Old memories flickered through her mind. Fire. So much fire. “Eira… I can’t…” Tears streamed down her face. Holly was just a kid. She couldn’t face this. All of her confidence drained away in the face of a living nightmare.
She’d freaked out and hosed Mal down with a fire extinguisher because she’d been terrified and unable to understand that Mal had been the source of the flames. Her mind went dumb with terror and shut down any time she was forced to face the thing that had ended her parents’ lives.
“Holly,” Eira pulled Holly’s arm hard to get her attention. “Grab the children. The pirates are distracted, so you can escape and find help. I’ll slow the demon down.” Eira’s small eyes burned with a fierce light, that of a mother bear protecting her cubs.
“Eira, I can't leave you.”
“You can and you will. Now go.”
“Sssso… dramatic… sssso… funny…”The monster’s words sounded like slow glops of molten rock landing on fertile soil.“There issss… no escape. You’ll all burnnnnn….”
Holly looked around and gasped as she saw lava flow around the boat, cutting off any chance of escape. They were trapped and alone. They only had Holly’s shield.
Her new family only had Holly. Hands shaking with terror, Holly drew herself up to her full height and clenched her jaw. Like hell this thing was hurting her family. She couldn’t let fire take another family from her.
Fire flickered in her memory and in real life. There was no escape from her fear. The only way out was through.
“It’s okay, Eira,” Holly said. “I’ve got this.”
She really fucking didn’t have anything, but she was going to fight anyway.
“Try me and see what happens. I’m ready!” Holly shouted at the monster, ignoring the burn against her senses as her shield began to cook.
She braced herself for whatever was about to come next.
Then she heard the most beautiful thing she could have ever wished for.
“Oh, hell-the-fuck-no you are not, little missy. Mal, get this asshole away from our family.” It was a voice Holly had only heard a couple of times, but it was owned by someone her heart had claimed. She would know Clayton’s voice anywhere.
The lava monster turned in confusion in time to see a wave of darkness cover it. There was a harsh, screaming burble from the dark, and the lava surrounding the boat cooled, easing the strain on Holly’s shield.
When the darkness faded away, all that was left was a self-satisfied Mal sitting on a pile of smoking rocks, licking his lips with a lethal grin.
Clayton darted past him without a glance.
“Yes, Iamamazing, thank you for noticing, Clayton,” Mal called after him.
“You’re fabulous, love, now keep up.” Clayton motioned for Mal to follow as he scrambled agilely up the boat, passing through Holly’s shield with ease.
Before Clayton reached her, Holly fell to her knees, clutching Eira and dragging her down beside her. With a shaky, tear-filled voice, she said, “Fucking finally, you two. I swear to god, I need to fucking pee.”
Chapter
Thirty-Two
MAL
Mal ran after Clayton once he realized his man wasn’t going to pay attention to how cool he looked after killing Zane.
