Page 81 of Awakened Gifts

“I’m Aria Banner, the one you underestimated because you thought loving people made me weak. I’d rather suffer pain than to die cold.”

She waits, not bothering to strike again because she’s too weak to fight me. I raise my hand, but nothing happens, because I can’t do it. Despite all the pain she’s caused, I can’t kill a victim. And truly that’s what she is. She never asked for this to be done to her. She never would have become a monster if she had been saved sooner.

“And I’m the one who is going to show mercy when you’ve been nothing but merciless. Prison instead of death. That’s what you’ll get.”

I don’t know how we’ll fortify anything strong enough to hold her, but there has to be a way. I turn away, leaving her bleeding out, and see the fight around me. Simone and Jase are a sight to behold, and Kellan is so much stronger in savage form. He’s as strong as Simone which makes Jase as strong as—

“You stupid bitch. You dare to pity me?” Alice hisses from behind me just as a wave of pain slices through my back.

I grimace while turning around, ignoring the searing pain she’s left. And I glare at her while she clutches her bleeding side, stumbling toward me in a drunken rage.

“I do. Don’t make me do something I don’t want to, Alice. I’m giving you a chance at redemption.”

“Redemption,” she scoffs, shaking her head, and then she tries to punish me for my mercy by launching another attack, a force so strong coming at me that it ripples the air and vibrates the ground.

But when it reaches me, I force it to curve around my body and cease to exist, drawing her eyes to me. She doesn’t stop. In a blur, she sends out attack after attack at me, but I don’t waver, holding strong and reminding her she’s weaker.

When she scowls at me, she’s panting, and her eyes shift to gaze at those behind me. I feel it before she makes her move. If she can’t hurt me, she’ll hurt everyone else. One by one she sends out a new forceful attack, slicing the air with fury, but I keep intercepting them, drowning them out with my growing power, but then I hear the unmistakable cry of Simone when something connects, and my stomach lurches.

Kellan roars with anger, promising me he’s about to charge in and do something stupid, and I’m left with no choice when Alice turns her attention on Jase. She wants me to kill her. She’d rather die than be a captive again, and those are our only two choices.

His back is turned as he handles the last hybrid in his path, and he has no line of defense—besides me.

Tears cloud my eyes as my hand becomes forced, and the power rips out of me, cutting through her own power and sending her to the ground as her agonizing screams fill the air. Blood flows from her eyes and nose as I focus all my strength on her, dropping to my knees when it becomes almost unbearable to keep up. She writhes as her bloodcurdling screams turn to gargled breaths.

I push harder, barely managing to keep my own head from exploding from the exerted force, my chest pounding so hard from the furious beat of my heart. The weight of the release is too heavy, and I drop to balance myself on one hand, keeping my other outstretched as a means of guiding and focusing the power onto her, not letting one speck escape its target. And I watch with blurry, tearstained vision as the writhing slowly stops and the breaths cease.

A sob breaks out of my chest as I drop to the ground completely, giving up the endeavor to stay upright, and I turn my eyes away from the dead body of the woman who never chose this life for herself. The victim became the abuser, and my decision to save her was taken away by her own hands.

I glance around just as several of our people hobble closer, looking on in awe and shock. Savage eyes slowly begin to drop as I release my empathic hold on their emotions. Uncle Grayson steals Aunt Angelica, and I vaguely notice her breaking a bottle of olophine to bring him down.

Kellan tucks Simone into his side when she wearily joins him, and Uncle Brazen helps my much more healed mother toward me. She collapses at my side and cradles me in the same embrace she always gave me as a child, and I hold onto her while keeping my back on the tragic scene left in my wake.

“Aria,” Jase whispers, his body covered in bloodstains that aren’t his own.

He drops to be beside me, and I touch his bare chest, feeling the proof of his survival. His wounds have healed, just like mine. The ones on the surface, anyway.

“We did it,” I say breathlessly, amazed and relieved that we survived, while saddened by the cost.

“We did,” Jase says as he pulls me to him and lifts me from the ground. Everyone suddenly jerks to attention, saluting in unison like the militant army they are, and Jase smiles down at me.

“They love their commander,” I murmur, trying not to wince as my body tries to heal itself from my last attack.

I almost ripped myself apart trying to kill Alice. But we’re alive. We made it. Against all odds, we survived.

“They’re not saluting me, baby,” he says softly, standing me upright. When he salutes me as well, I start feeling a little stupid and on display. Fortunately, my mother just beams at me instead of saluting me. Unfortunately, Uncle Brazen does salute.

Rex comes barreling through the madness, his body freshly healed from the injuries he’s sustained, and he almost tramples over me in an attempt to wrap me in his arms, holding me so tight that it hurts.

“Don’t ever make me go savage again,” he says in my ear, confusing me. “I feel violated.”

When I realize he’s joking, I can’t help but laugh, and I hug him back just before he releases me. Jase twirls me up against him, and his lips press to mine just as the battlefield starts to be serenaded by United war song, announcing a war to be over. And it is. It’s finally over.

EPILOGUE

Two months later…

“It worked!” Simone shouts, jumping up and down like a child on her birthday.

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