Do not take her away from me.
Before I flew through the twisting fire tunnel, a massive, familiar water dragon eclipsed the opening.
Water hissed as it dove toward us, its massive body colliding with MJ’s flames as steam billowed around us.
“Ichi!” I bellowed, unable to comprehend why she’d try to stop us. Why she was here and not with my hellion—her squad leader. “MJ, drop your flames. We’ll rip open another gap and hope they won’t fill it long enough for me to gain altitude.”
If a few daggers hit my damp wings, so be it.
She dropped them, and we found ourselves enclosed in an orb of rushing water.
My shadows were two seconds away from knocking Ichi out and letting the infected have her when I heard her.
Ronen?
Her voice was a surprising harmony in my ear.
Lucille?Hope surged through me.
If our bond was strong enough for a mind-to-mind connection, then my hellion was strong enough to pull through before I got there.
Hang on. I’m coming for you, gorgeous.
I tucked in my wings, and I luscelered through Ichi’s water, determined to reach my hellion by any means necessary.
But Ichi stopped me mid-run, her large blade nicking my neck and sinking in deeper while she held me there, her sword tugging on my soul.
“We will all die if you don’t protect us,” she said gravely, her eyes telling me a story I wouldn’t hear.
“No,” I seethed, shoving my shadows into her soul.
But nothing happened.
Ichi’s mind wasn’t a fortress. It wasn’t blocked at all.
Instead, her thoughts flowed with an invisible wind, my shadows blowing away, unable to take root and knock her out.
She drenched my wings in her power, rendering them useless.
“She’s gone.”
I ripped out my Soul Sword, and the pain in my chest lessened.
Lucille’s heart finally pumped with a stronger beat.
My gorgeous hellion would survive.
Lucille
I will give you anything you desire, but I beg of you to save her. Please. PLEASE.
His voice sent a shockwave of agony through my soul.
I had accepted the bond.
He needed my power, and I wanted to feel him one last time.
“Rip it out, and don’t kill each other,” I whispered.
