He nodded, although he wasn’t sure he could claim Selene as his now. His heart argued differently. And as he watched her blast another Rogue to dust, he couldn’t deny his sense of pride--and possessiveness.
He also knew what all of that expended light meant to her wellbeing. No matter what it was costing her physically, Selene would keep up her fight until she had nothing left. Even if it killed her in the end.
Darion refused to consider the possibility. He itched to be on the ground where he could help keep her safe from the danger pushing ever closer to where she stood.
Nikolai’s teeth and fangs flashed white from where he stood. He put his hands on the pair of semiautomatics holstered on his weapons belt, both of them loaded with Rogue-killing titanium rounds. “Let’s light this shit up.”
Darion nodded. “Come around and take us lower,” he shouted to Trygg, the Rome warrior seated behind the helicopter’s controls.
The aircraft swooped, giving him a better look at the battlefield and at the large boat moored offshore where the Ancient stood on the deck wielding the dark power of his three crystals.
He tilted his head skyward to look at the incoming threat, then sent a black squall high into the air. The helicopter tipped and swayed, but Trygg steadied the craft.
As soon as they were in a decent position over the beach, Darion gave the signal to evacuate. He, along with Tegan, Niko, Dante, Rio, Kade, and Brock all jumped from the opening with guns blazing.
Darion cut down several Rogues as soon as his boots hit the sand. With a gun in one hand and a long titanium blade in the other, he hacked his way through the clusters of combatants to join up with the Atlanteans.
The rest of his Order team did likewise, while the low thumping of still more arriving helicopters of warriors sounded in the distance.
As Darion fought, he spotted the Ancient readjusting his position on the bow of the boat. Another rolling squall began to form in front of him, a turning black ball of lethal energy. He turned it loose not on the skirmish on the beach and hills, but on the palace tower.
“Holy hell.” Darion watched the pulse of dark energy smash into the stone column high above Selene’s position in the garden.
The top of the tower exploded. Huge blocks of rubble began to fall.
Darion stowed his weapons, his feet already in motion.
Flashing with every ounce of speed at his command, he ran and leapt from the base of the hill to the ledge of the promontory--sweeping Selene out of the way of the tumbling stones as the top of the tower crashed to the ground.
His arms were wrapped around her, and damn if he could find the will to let go.
She stared up at him in surprise. “I told you not to come back.”
He smiled. “Yeah, you did.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because there’s nowhere else I want to be.” He stroked the line of her beautiful face and the small furrow between her platinum brows. “You’re never going to fight another battle alone, Selene. And you can’t win this one without me.”
A small sob caught in the back of her throat, but her gaze was tender on him. “You are easily the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
He grinned. “Are you complaining?”
She shook her head. “Not in the least.”
There was so much he wanted to tell her in that moment. Starting with how amazing she was to him. How much he loved her, and never wanted to leave her side again. How stupid he was to fuck things up with her.
More than anything, he wanted to kiss her and never let her go.
But there was a war raging below the palace, and overhead the dark sky had begun to crowd with helicopters arriving full of Order warriors ready to join the fight.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Darion said as the rumble grew nearly deafening. “I brought some friends along with me.”
CHAPTER 45
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Not just Darion holding fast to her, staring into her eyes as if there were only the two of them in the world, but also the dark sky swarming with a battalion of helicopters coming to the aid of her and her people.
