Dark power emitted from him, curling around Ely like millions of dagger pricks, but not by a blink did she show her uneasiness. His eyes narrowed as if trying to place what she was.
“Leave him alone!” Aba snapped, undaunted by the powerful demon. He stalked to the intimidatingly dangerous male.
Her feet nailed to the surface, Ely remained dead still, not daring to take another breath to draw closer attention, but ready to banish this lot to wherever the others had disappeared to.
“The wraconis is no more. It’s dead. The symbiont’s dead. The one you want for Derrodus’ death is there—” Aba stabbed a finger to his left, at Pangur’s unconscious form on the ground, several yards away from them.
“Enough!” Azgor snapped, his form growing taller and larger. “There were witnesses to Natek’s threat.”
Goddess, she’d had it with these damn posturing demons! Ely stormed back to Nate. She wasn’t leaving her mate open for this ass to make off with. Sure, they might try to kill her, but they’d find it freaking hard to accomplish.
Azgor shot up a hand, and Aba rose off the ground.
Shit!Ely dropped in a protective crouch next to Nate, fingers clenching as her powers roiled.
“By Hades, Azgor,” Aba growled, sounding like he’d had enough of these clashes with this cold demon. “Pangur set this all up. He wanted the symbiont Natek had, so he killed Derrodus, knowing Natek would take the fall, andhecould get the symbiont. He confessed it all. Go ahead, let me take thehascu’ri—the truth test—if you think it’s all lies.Mymistake was saving Pangur all those centuries ago. You want your revenge?” he spat. “Then killme. But Natek is free of this servitude you trapped him into.”
Aba hung above the cracked, arid ground, heat shimmering around them, waiting for the death blow.
Nothing showed on Azgor’s remote features, but red flowed in his dark eyes, then he flung out a hand, and Aba hit the gravelly ground in a hard skid, raising dust.
“Why would I kill you? I want you to live with the knowledge that Maita is dead,” Azgor said coldly. “Natek is useless to me and would die soon enough. As of now,yourservitude reverts to me. I still own halfyoursoul, Aamon.”
“Servitude?” Aba reiterated, rising to his feet, tone flat, and ignoring the taunt about Maita. “Because I used your symbiont to save my son?” He stalked closer.
Azgor folded his arms over the charcoal leather doublet he wore, no give in his rigid features. The hellhound growled. “I don’t havemysymbiont, do I? And I lost my prize. MySicariwould have been my perfect creation, a hybrid wraconis shifter.”
A shifter?
It was all about fucking possessions with this insufferable cur! Ely wanted to ram her obsidian dagger through him. Heck, just a tiny damn cut, then he could rot to death. But Azgor was an ancient demon, and not easy to kill. For all she knew, her dagger would rebound and hit her instead.
“Here!” Aba pulled out two small vials from his pants pocket. “The heart’s blood of two wraconis.” He tossed the ampoules to Azgor, who caught them faster than she could track.
Azgor’s eyes flared red…in avaricious excitement? She couldn’t be sure since the glint disappeared as fast as it appeared. He lifted his head, his expression still molded in stone, and clicked his fingers. A small metal box appeared in his hand. He tossed it over. Aba grasped it and slipped it into his pocket.
By Gaia, she hoped it was the return of Aba’s soul.
“Be careful who you give those to,” Aba warned. “They are not the kind of symbionts you can command.”
“I don’t need advice from a minion.” Azgor glanced at the spot where Pangur had been, now empty. “Find Pangur,” he ordered.
He and his hellhound vanished into the dense air without even a smidgen of black smoke in his wake. His guards departed in an eddy of dust.
Aba hurriedly opened a portal, picked up an unconscious Nate, and stepped through the swirling gateway. Ely snatched her dagger from the ground, shoved it in the back of her jacket tied around her waist, and leaped through the gateway, and back into the garage workshop. The portal hissed shut.
Her gaze latched onto Nate. He lay so pale and gaunt in his sire’s arms, fading fast from this life, and her lips trembled as she fought to keep her emotions breaking free, keep the tears from falling. “Aba,wecan’t save him.” She met his anguish stare. “But one of my Guardian brethren can.”
“Then let’s go.”
Ely touched Aba’s biceps and dematerialized the three of them back to the castle. No time to call and ask for permission. Later, she’d deal with the repercussions.
CHAPTER31
Ely reformedthem on the castle’s front portico, the freezing night air surrounding them.
“He’s slipping!” Aba dropped to his knees, gently laying Nate’s limp body on the icy tiled floor and applying pressure to Nate’s chest. “Barely a heartbeat. Breathe for him, Ely!”
Her heart in her mouth, Ely cupped Nate’s badly bruised and swollen face—the snout still visible, his fangs and teeth more serrated than usual—and pressed her mouth to his.Feel me here with you, my love. You cannot leave me, not when I finally found you!
