“Where’d he go?”
“Can’t see shit in this?—”
“Are you all right, sweetheart?”
My heart tore, not wanting to abandon Perri to the drakens. She was the only thing I’d ever had in this world I was proud of.
“Veskor,” Ronan called, voice carrying despite the wind. “It’s over. Give in.”
I growled from my hiding place under the tree, the very thought filling me with rage. Unfortunately, they heard me. The largest draken didn’t waste time with words. He lunged.
I moved before he reached me, rolling out from under the tree, pine needles sticking in my scales. He snorted, frustrated.
Smaller meant faster.
I twisted and ducked under his reach, using the shifting snow to my advantage. He sank where I stepped lightly. I pivoted hard and he tripped. I drove my shoulder into his side, forcing him off balance as he was unable to quickly turn under the thick tree boughs.
Another draken with gold scales came next, quicker than Canavar, and a little more precise. I saw the angle of his approach and adjusted, dropping low, letting him overshoot me. Snow sprayed as he turned sharply.
Ronan didn’t join in immediately. He watched.
“Stop this,” he said, voice harder now. “You can’t win.”
“I don’t need to win.” My breath came in harsh bursts, my arms burning as adrenaline poured through my system. “I just need to keep Perri?—”
The largest draken came for me again, this time slower, and more deliberate.
I shifted my footing, letting him commit before I moved. He swung wide, expecting me to dodge the same way.
Instead, I stepped into him.
My shoulder slammed into his stomach, using his ownmomentum against him. He staggered back a step, just one, but it was enough.
“Oomph!”
The gold one circled behind me, cutting off retreat. Ronan stepped forward, snarling and flashing his fangs.
“Give up,” he said. “Now.”
How fucking dare he?
“No.”
His jaw tightened. “Why?”
The word cracked through the storm.
“Because she’s the only thing I’ve ever had!”
They stopped.
I scrambled back, nearly slipping into another snow bank. In the silence that followed, one sound cut through the snow.
Soft, muffled sniffing from the side. I followed their gaze to see Perri sitting in the snow, small and hunched. She was completely covered in a layer of white, snow clinging to her lashes, her lips and her shoulders, her heat completely burned out. Her eyes were round and red, tears streaming down her face.
She wasn’t shivering anymore as her shoulders silently shook.
Something in my chest twisted—sharp and unfamiliar.
