“Get it out,” he whispers. “Get it…”
His voice trails off, and then silence falls again.
I approach with caution, not taking his stillness for granted. It could be a ploy, although the damage to his body is visibly catastrophic.
He remains still, his eyes lifeless, but I’m not about to assume he can’t revive.
I may have regained my ability to feel, but I am a Fury, and vengeance will always be mine.
Extending my claws, I ram them against his throat, cutting through flesh and bone to tear off his head.
Then I strike my claws into his chest, ripping through the skin he was unable to pierce, creating an opening so I can reach for the heart that killed him.
A heart that belongs only to a piece of hell risen to the surface of the earth.
A heart full of darkness but capable of so much light.
Tears flood my eyes as I cut through sinew and bone, easily distinguishing Striker’s smaller heart from Typhon’s larger one and pulling Striker’s free.
Even though I know Striker is gone, and nothing can save him, I won’t leave his heart here in this field. I will carry all of him back.
I stumble on my way back to him. My mind and body are going into shock, and I forgive myself for it because even a Fury has her limits.
It won’t stop me.
As carefully as I can, I place Striker’s heart into his chest, and then I attempt to gather him up as best I can, holding his chest to mine, picking him up, and rising into the air with him.
I leave the monster behind but take my grief with me.
34. PEYTON PRICE
The dark night sky rushes past me as I ascend into the clouds that surround me with their chilling moisture, and then I burst up onto the bridge.
Only to discover Hunter pacing furiously back and forth along it, her mahogany hair braided back, her body clad in a black assassin’s suit.
She spins to me as soon as I breach the clouds.
“Peyton!” Her eyes widen as she takes in Striker’s body, but she barely misses a beat. “Bring him! Quickly!”
I need to tell her that he’s gone already, but she scoops her arm across my back, a comforting but forceful pressure, propelling me along the bridge to the entry point before I can take a breath.
I take another step, and it feels as if I’m about to walk off the edge of the bridge. Instead, my foot lands on mossy ground, and I look up to find myself surrounded by ancient trees again, moonlight streaming through their branches.
Tanzanina Grey waits only a few steps away, pacing back and forth as wildly as Hunter was.
A man stands at a distance behind her, and I recognize him as the Master of the Dominion, the one I believe is called AlexeiMason. He has a beat-up nose and stands seven feet tall. He is instantly alert, his worried gaze flying from Tanzanina to me, his steps bringing him to me nearly as quickly as she darts in my direction.
Tanzanina’s gaze passes across me, but it must be obvious that I’m fully functional because she turns her focus entirely onto Striker next. “Put him on the ground. Let me see the damage.”
Her sharply indrawn breath sounds when I place him as carefully as I can onto the moss. “Oh.”
In the background, Hunter and Alexei have both frozen.
My eyes burn. Hot, painful tears spill down my cheeks. Before I went into the maze, I would have found crying unnerving, but now…
“He gave his whole heart,” I say, trying to explain. “Typhon is dead.”
“He killed a primordial being?” Alexei’s low rumble is nearly emotionless. His thoughts are closed off to me, but I sense strains of astonishment. “How?”
