Without hesitation, André shot to the sky, flying toward where the Countess, Antoine, and Dresden fought.
What the hell was going on?
“She’s hurt!”Vanessa gasped, bringing my attention back to Natasha… only for alarm to grip me too.
“Don’t touch her!”I yelled, reaching for her but unable to stop her. Vanessa couldn’t hear me. So, I watched in horror as Natasha stumbled forward, and Vanessa caught her. The blue fire jumped onto her skin instantly.
“Help her!”Star whined, stomping on the ground in desperation.
“I can’t. I can’t do anything. We are not here,” I whispered, heart pounding in my chest while Vanessa’s screams mixed with the battle surrounding us.
Thankfully, Dante jumped in to help her, extinguishing the flames with hisTwilight… And then my fire attacked him too.
Dante fought to protect himself from my power and Natasha’s silent tears cut through me while I witnessed her pain—one I’d directly or indirectly inflicted. Because of me, she was seeing the people she loved be hurt by her own power, by my power, but unable to do anything about it.
Star’s tears joined Natasha’s, and every single inch of my being fiercely hardened with rage and impotence. I hated feeling powerless, and yet, something told me this wasn’t the worst of it all.
“No! Not Hannes!”
Star’s shout turned to howls of pain, yanking me out of my thoughts to find Hannes, the man with the dangerously adorable smile brought to his knees by myEternal Blaze.
Not him too…
Wrapping my arms around Star’s neck, I cradled her head to my shoulder and away from the gruesome sight. I held her while she cried, silently hoping Hannes was stronger than the others, able to fight back even while the flames melted parts of his chest open.
Sadly, Dante’s magic was no longer working. My power had bested it.
“Remember, he is okay now,”I whispered in Star’s ear, gently stroking her fur to help her calm.“He’s holding your hand back in the room. Hannes is safe.”
It didn’t feel as though that was true, though. It felt like we were witnessing me kill one of Natasha’s mates.
A mighty roar tore through the night, and the Beast burst out of Hannes’s skin the next second. He stood, the flames vanishing from his body with the shift until only a rising curl of smoke was left of them.
Relief shot through my being, but the aching remained.
“He’s fine. Look…”
Star hesitantly turned, to find him standing tall as the glorious Beast. Her head hung in relief, even when tears still rolled over her furry cheeks.
“Why would you do that to them?!”she yelled, the hurt in her eyes scorching me.
“I didn’t. We were unconscious inside of Natasha from the blow to her head. The fire got out of control. I couldn’t stop it… I wasn’t really there.”
Star nodded, but it was clear she still blamed me.
“I would have stopped it, Star. Of course, I would have. I swear to you…”
My chest stung with the look she afforded me, but I didn’t say anything more. I wasn’t sure anything would suffice or make up for what we had just seen.
“They didn’t take me, I’m right here!” Natasha shouted, now behind us. “Tell them to come back, I’m here!”
“They didn’t take me…”
A slow chill ran through my veins with her words, and my breath halted. Fuck. They had taken someone.
Without thinking or giving Star a heads-up, I dashed toward the beach, in the same direction as the Vampiri now fleeing. To my dismay, I caught the moment Anastasia’s unconscious, blood-stained body was thrown into a helicopter by Ryker and his goons, the machine lifting off the ground before everyone could get on it.
The shifters left behind were killed by our people.
