Along the tree line, Spinewalkers went up in flames, their burning trunks worth the lives Alexei had sacrificed.
It was our biggest hit yet.
“Nice job, L?—”
Xavier plummeted from the sky, a dagger in his spine.
Then Alexei roared. The rain stopped. The lightning paused.
A large sword protruded from his wing.
Ridigar hovered in the air, smirking.
My shadows raged toward him, seeking to eradicate him from our lives.
But MJ shot up behind the cocky bastard before I reached him, flaming hands closing around his throat.
Flesh burned.
His shriek turned into a choked gasp.
His head sloughed away under MJ’s grip, the surprise on his face sweeter than any blade.
I tucked my wet wings in close and wrapped them in thick shadows, and we hit the ground hard. Luckily, MJ’s wings were dry enough to dematerialize them.
The battlefield stalled into a single stolen minute of reprieve.
Alexei dropped to his knees in the mud, gasping.
“Take it out,” he rasped as he gazed up at me. “Then cut themoff.”
His pain went deeper than his wounds.
He had fought so hard to keep them.
And we should.
But—
“Lex, we don’t have Sam to heal the scars.”
He flicked his gaze to MJ.
“Cauterize them.”
Two clipped words.
The next round of infected would be spilling from those Spinewalkers, and he couldn’t fight like this.
I nodded and sent my shadows into his nose.
“No,” he snapped, emotion thick in his voice. “I want to fucking feel it.”
“Alexei,” MJ and I protested.
“You are taking a part of me away. I will not have it feel painless.”
He rose on shaky legs and leaned against MJ.
