He flashed or tried to, her torment tugging at him, but nothing worked. His mind, his entire being slipping beyond unadulterated agony as if all his cells were dissolving, scattering into infinite fragments in this godsforsaken place.
Forgive me, my heart.
He was so tired, even breathing hurt…then he let it all go.
It’s better this way.The creature would consume him soon enough. It was the nature of this beast, and it would kill his love. A truth it had shown. And that, he couldn’t bear.
Better his own death than hers.
The heat intensified, searing his skin—stealing his breath. He shut his eyes.
I’m so sorry, my love…
I wish I’d found you sooner…loved you longer.
But the Fates were never on our side.
CHAPTER30
“Nate!”Ely screamed as he tripped and fell over the ridge. Ignoring the pain searing her chest from Nate’s—no, the damn beast’s blow—she pushed through the heavy air to the ledge. Without thought, she jumped in after him, wave after wave of intense heat scorching her skin as she fell.
No, no!He was closing in too fast to the flaming lava river, his single wing dangling uselessly.
Teeth clenched, she propelled herself faster, letting her molecules take on her shadowy form so the flames spitting upwards didn’t incinerate her. She hoped her new abilities would work the way she needed. If they didn’t… Then she would die with him.
Her body the consistency of air, she dove under Nate, cocooning him with her smokey-gray alto-ego, and prayed it held.
He opened his eyes, his tender smile a macabre twist of lips under fangs. “I see you, my shadowy angel. Let me go,laika.”
Never!Adrenaline hiking, she thrust up again. Shit, even in her shadowy form, it was an effort to push up through the oppressive heat, and Nate wasn’t a lightweight. But she didn’t let go of him. Tightening the solid bands in her shadowy form, she strained upward, heat licking through her…
And in what felt like hours later, she reached the ledge.
Panting hard, Ely reformed and stumbled, the weight of her mate with his remaining wing dragging her to her knees. A bloodied Aba waited there, clothes torn, a gash bleeding profusely on his abs.
He hurried forward. “Okay?”
She nodded, her throat too dry to respond. He lifted Nate from her and sprinted through a hole in the rockface where he’d broken through, dodging the piles of newly fallen rocks and boulders scattered on the ground.
Chest heaving, Ely jerked up and lurched after them, scrambled over the debris, through the hole, and out of the mountain. In the desolate place lit by the flaring volcanoes, two massive wraconis lay dead, heads missing. More screeches echoed, and several of the creatures dove toward them. Shit!
Aba opened a portal and stepped through with Nate in his arms. Ely leaped through the gateway, landing back in Ys. Armed guards swarmed the area as the portal hissed shut behind her, and her mystical Gaian weapon inked on her biceps pulsed like crazy, warning of the danger surrounding her. Several pivoted. Swords pointed at them.
Dammit! Could they not catch a freaking break?
Teeth gnashing, Gaian weapon summoned and split them into twin glaives, Ely faced the guards. She didn’t come this far to lose the man she loved to these assholes. Aba set an agitated Nate down behind them, against a rock, and he moved to her side, his own sword taking form in his hand. “We have no quarrel with you.”
“Just with Lord Azgor,” the leader grunted.
Some of the guards eyed her like she was easy pickings. “She’s mine,” Aba snarled. “Touch her, and I will kill you.”
Damn this society that treated females as possessions and unclaimed females as fair game.
The guards attacked.
Aba’s eyes glittered red in anger, his features morphing into his demonic form. Horns jutted from his brow and curled back over his head, his skin gone leathery and dark. He dove into them, weapon swinging. Power flashed out from him, and he sent the demon guards scattering.
Ely swung her deadly glaives, slicing her foe across the chest and ramming another in his belly. A guttural snarl erupted. He flung out a hellish red bolt at her.
