Her gaze turned on Hawk, widening. “Do not let him near me,” she said, voice shaking. “Please.”
Hawk looked over his shoulder at me, expressionless. “Let me take her power.”
My skin prickled as a shiver rolled down my spine. Even Cato backed away from Hawk, like he was equally afraid. “What do you mean?” I asked Hawk.
He blinked hard, eyes turning black. “I consume her power. It weakens her without killing her, and it means I can help you. I would be able to heal, like I can hear your thoughts.”
This time my entire body shuddered. That made a lot of sense now. He could hear my thoughts.
I should be way more creeped out than I was, but it might be helpful.
And if he could take Marion’s healing magic…
Someone like her didn’t deserve those powers.
“Do it,” I said, stepping back. Marion’s face blanched as Hawk strode towards her, but I kept my eyes on hers. “Take it all.”
“No!” she shouted, but it was too late. The darkness took her quickly, her veins shifting to black almost immediately as he drained her. I made myself watch it all; the black discolouring her eyes, the way her lips parted as she gasped for breath, her body dropping to the ground as Hawk took without remorse.
It was only then I tore my eyes from her still body. I looked to Xerxes, who watched me with confusion.
“She’s the reason I’m carrying two babies I shouldn’t be able to have,” I explained, voice low. “And I think…I think she killed my mother.”
Xerxes dropped his head as he moved towards me. I couldn’t hold back the familiar sting of tears anymore. They ran down my cheeks, and I didn’t bother wiping them away.
But Xerxes did. He wiped his thumb beneath my eye, stealing a tear before it could fall. “I understand, my fated.”
My throat tightened with emotion, making it hard to speak, but I released a shuddering sigh of relief.
“We need to go,” Cato said, holding up a comms device. “Dante has soldiers coming our way.”
I swallowed thickly and wiped the rest of the tears away. Hawk appeared in the corner of my eye, more bloody tears streaming down his face, but there was a hardness in his stare that had me sucking in a breath.
“Stay between me and him,” Hawk said, sounding more like his old self again. “Don’t put yourself in danger.”
I nodded once. “Wouldn’t think of it.”
He pressed his lips together before looking up at Xerxes, then over at Cato. “We’ll need to keep that. It’ll give us an advantage.”
“Any chance you remember the layout of the compound?” Cato asked, striding towards us, handing me the device—which meant handing him back the gun.
Hawk nodded, shifting to stand behind me. “Yes. They didn’t take all my memories.”
“I’ll lead, Xerxes behind me, Thor taking the rear,” Cato said, starting for the door. “There isn’t a clear route to escape, and the only exits are going to be heavily fortified now. We’ve been here way too long.”
Now that we had Hawk, I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to get out of here. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.
But Xerxes knelt, hand splaying across the ground. “The tunnels beneath the Pit have opened. If we can get down there, we can use them to leave.”
“There are no tunnels beneath the Pit,” Cato replied, shaking his head.
Xerxes rose, rolling his shoulders back. “There are many things hidden beneath the compound I am certain you do not know about.”
That had me shivering again.
From the doorway, Thor let out a growl. I glanced down at the device and noticed the screen showed the corridor where we’d gotten off the elevator. About a dozen or so soldiers were starting for our position, all of them equipped with weapons.
“We need to get outnow. They’re at the elevator. Is there another one we can use? Or stairs?” I asked, looking up from the screen.
