Chapter 40
Ezra
Thewallofmenwas endless. Shadows were my strength, not this chaos. My longsword was useless; my short blade stabbed left and right, bodies falling, and soon their corpses would bridge to Quinn.
I cursed myself. I’d fortified my home, blind to the trap waiting here. Neutral Westwaters—traitors. Never again.
‘Stop.’Alex’s command cracked like thunder. Then:‘Dance.’
My lover’s voice cut through, sharp and absolute, freeing me.
The wall of men lurched, grinding into each other to Alex’s beat. I shoved toward the stage as the women stopped dancing and held hands. A dragon burst out of the center of the ring:Quinn. I hooked the edge of the platform with one hand and pulled myself up, just as the women vanished and the fighting resumed in earnest.
Rowan stood over Matt’s headless corpse, his sword still dripping red.
‘He killed him…’Xan’s voice cracked in disbelief.
‘Matt deserved it,’ I shot back.
‘No—Alex.’Xan quickly brought me into his side of the fight.‘Teivel killed Alex, and now the body snatcher’s running for it’.Xan’s shock morphed into resolve.‘Can you find his shadow? Quinn’s inside our walls. She’s safe. Teivel’s tether still haunts her. Fix it now, love.’
Two nights ago, failing to find the body snatchers’ leader had burned me raw. Tonight was different. My lover’s command, my own need, spurred me forward. My gaze locked on the McDonald’s box. He stood there, Alex limp in his arms.
Rowan stepped to my back. Magic and arrows flew past me; two stuck into my elemental’s wall of air. Teivel dropped Alex’s body and fled.
I couldn’t help myself.
“Your prey is gone. Your leader is running. Why do you still fight?” I bellowed, arms spread wide. “Rowan, take out the trash.”
I didn’t wait for my officer to acknowledge my orders. Xan’s box was closer to Teivel. I stepped into its shadow and sprinted—straight into a body.
Deirdre shrieked as I slammed her into the wall. I didn’t slow.
Two bodies lay on the ground, moaning on the other side, clearly having gotten in the way of someone running for their life. Two more shadow steps brought me to a large, closed door. A massive EXIT sign from BT hung crookedly above it. Not a second later, Teivel barreled around the corner.
His tether, still lodged in Quinn, seared into my consciousness. I dropped my weapons and came at him with fists flying. I didn’t want to run him through. I wanted him to suffer, for Quinn and every other human being he’d labeled and treated like garbage.
He was bigger, stronger. Long term, I’d lose. But I only needed to stall. We grappled like animals. I jammed my thumb into his eye, cracked his teeth with an elbow. His knee slammed into my gut—vomit surged, and I spat it back into his ruined eye. He howled. I followed it up with a punch to his stomach that sent him flying into the wall. Metal groaned under the force of the impact.
I felt my lover step into the room moments before Teivel froze, eyes wide with terror. I knew that look. I savored it. I rose too smoothly for my battered body, hand outstretched.
Xan’s clean palm slid into my bloody one. His baby blues burned as he ripped into Teivel’s mind.
“Do you want to see what he did to her?” Xan asked me softly.
“Yes.” The word left me flat and certain.
Visions of Quinn—a starving, huddled mess on a dirt cellar floor—seared through me. I heard the man’s thoughts, his plans to reward his men and sell her fertility until it was long gone, as he’d done to so many others. He existed to use people.
I shivered with anticipation. I wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer, but destroying those who deserved it made my world right. A cold knife in my palm, smoothly drawn from my boot, matched my cold rage, making the world sharp. “Make him laugh while I carve him apart.”
Xan kissed my cheek. His mouth was warm, his smile wasn’t. “With pleasure.”
Chapter 41
Quinn
Myteleportsweresomehowthe most anticlimactic part of my magic; no whooshing sounds, theatrical smoke, or colorful travel. In a single blink, The Pit became a dark room, only familiar because of the gold and black squares brushing the tops of some of the taller women’s heads.
