My eyes search for Aurelia in the dark as more bodies fall one by one all around us. Half of the disciples are dead before they even realize what’s happening. I’m almost relieved that I can’t see her, which means they can’t either, but my relief is short-lived because suddenly there she is. I watch as she sprints into the clearing with her golden curls flying behind her and her bow aimed like a goddess of the hunt.
She looses an arrow and then another before I can blink and two more disciples fall. She’s thinning the herd and giving us a chance, but will it be enough? Isaac brought with him a small army, and we still don’t know if there are more hiding in the trees.
Aurelia moves closer with her bow still aimed at the remaining disciples until she’s standing next to me and thenKhalil backs up until the three of us are standing shoulder to shoulder in a straight line.
“Ah, yes,” Isaac says with the false confidence of someone who thinks he’s won. “There she is. The pièce de résistance.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she inquires coldly. I see her glance toward Thorin, so quick I might have imagined it if not for her flaring nostrils and her lips trembling before she lifts her chin and forces it all to fade away.
“Your uncle,” Isaac supplies. “He’s the one who sent me. Told me where to find my dear brother. The deal was I kill you after I’m done with him, so I guess you can say that this entire night is really foryou.”
“Yeah?” Aurelia pulls back on the arrow. “Well, try it, Freddy. I dare you.” Isaac’s brows slam down at the reminder of his disfigurement, and I smirk. “Khalil?” she calls out softly without taking her eyes off the group in front of us.
Isaac is down to only six disciples out of the dozens he came with, but we’re still outnumbered two to one, and we’re also down one when Thorin is easily worth a dozen of them.
Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him.
“I’m here, Goldilocks.”
“Can we do this?” she whispers.
Isaac raises a brow, enjoying her doubt. I growl in response, and his grin spreads. Khalil inhales sharply, and we have the answer we need.
It’ll be close.
Aurelia is quick with her bow, but not quicker than their guns. She has one holstered to her thigh, but reaching for it is too risky.
“Seth.”
“Sunshine,” I answer.
“I need him. I need Bane.”
I swallow past the knot in my throat. I tamp down the possessive part of me that wants to say no. I don’t want to leave her. I want to be here to protect her.
But she doesn’t need me.
She needs Bane.
“Do it,” I say with tears in my eyes. “Call him.”
“Chrysalis,” she whispers without hesitation.
None of us are prepared for three of Isaac’s disciples lunging for her at the same time. Their hands grab at her and yank her forward while Khalil dives at another before the disciple can shoot. I growl, rushing forward for Aurelia and the dead men who dared touch what’s mine, but a step is as far as I get when the world suddenly tilts and shifts and I black the fuck out.
BANE
The fog that usually comes with an awakening doesn’t linger for long when I hear Mine scream. She’s swearing too—as viciously and colorfully as Zeke’s friends whenever I try and… regrettably fail to kill them.
If they’re hurting her, I won’t fail this time.
There’s gunfire and the crackle of wood giving way to the flames all around us, but the sounds dull to a silent roar when I hear Mine scream, “Bane!”
I shake my head to clear the last of the fog only for my vision to bleed red when I see some dead fucks with their hands on Mine. Khalil is fighting to get to her, but dodging bullets delays him too much to make him useful. He’s clutching a dead body in front of him as a shield while two other robed men fire rounds in a panic.
They don’t notice me, and I don’t hesitate to dismiss them all.
Khalil isn’t my concern.
