Page 37 of Mated in Flames

Luciana

Isee Dane running toward me and my muscles tense. I can’t believe how fast he is and I know, in that moment, that I’ll never be able to outrun him. His legs are longer, and his inhuman speed likely won’t let me get more than a few steps.

I see a talon, glinting in the last vestiges of sunlight as it drops beyond the hill. Then Warwick is there, coming out of nowhere as he tackles Dane. Everything has happened so fast that I barely have any time to process it.

But it’s Warwick’s scream that pierces the fog in my mind. He crashes to the ground and Dane gets to his feet, looking impassively down at his brother as he writhes, his muscles knotting. For a moment, I’m confused about what just happened.

It’s then that I see the long cut on Warwick’s bare shoulder. I stare at it and then slowly up to Dane’s still raised talon, which has a drop of blood on it.

Dane scratched Warwick.

Dane poisoned Warwick with the one thing that will truly kill him.

“Dane,” I gasp.

Dane is shuddering. His expression is still blank, but his body has begun to shiver as he stares down at his brother, who is dying before him. Emotions shift through his eyes, too fast to comprehend.

And then he screams, the sound even more hair raising than Warwick’s, stumbling back from his hurt brother, his impassiveness abruptly shattering as he stumbles back. A wave of heat hits me, and I can see a high flush stealing over Dane as he backs way, hands gripping his hair, his expression transforming into one of tortured grief.

I know what’s going to happen moments before it does. I don’t have any time to duck as Dane suddenly bursts into flame, still screaming, and I’m too shocked to move. Dane is on fire and Warwick is dying in front of me. I don’t understand what’s going on.

Movement catches my attention. The four people who had stood by, the ones that likely owned the sleek black car down on the road, are approaching. What do they have to fear now? Both phoenixes are incapacitated. Warwick will be out of their hair for good soon enough, and Dane is inconsolable. There’s nothing stopping them from doing what they came here for.

A wave of fury burns through me. Part of me thinks that I should feel grief for what has just happened. The peaceful life that I had lived up until now had broken beyond repair. But I’m just angry. These people were the ones who did this. They were the ones who kidnapped Dane and set him against his brother. They’re the reason we’re here now.

I’m not going to let them win.

I feel something stirring within me. It’s a feeling that I get sometimes, when my emotions hit their peak, giving me an extra boost of energy that I’ve never quite understood. But this is beyond even that. It feels like that energy is now expanding outwards, pouring out of me, and a thin wind begins to circle around me.

I’m too angry to wonder about it. I’m too determined to do something to care that this isn’t something that should be happening. I stride forward, standing in front of Warwick’s fallen form, very aware of every second that is ticking away.

“Stay back!” I shout.

I don’t expect anything to happen. But the four of them stumble to a halt and then careen backwards, almost as though they were pushed.

They immediately get guns out. Of course, they were armed. I should be frightened, especially on seeing the barrels turned on me, but I throw caution to the wind with reckless abandon, barely aware of the way the wind around me grows stronger. My hands clench tightly at my sides.

“Leave!” I scream.

I release my fists and throw my hands up, following an instinct that I don’t completely understand. The Supernaturals are blown back several feet and they land, hard, in a heap on the ground. They don’t get back up.

The energy leaves me abruptly, making me stagger, suddenly exhausted. I blink around me. My mind is turmoil, almost every part of me shouting to figure out what the hell just happened.

But it’s the smallest voice that gets my attention and silences every other urge.

Warwick.

I spin around and drop to the ground beside Warwick. His body is still jerking spasmodically and his breathing is harsh and fractured. He’s dying right here.

“An antidote would have to be administered within seconds of being poisoned. Even if you did manage to develop one, you would have to be standing right beside a phoenix to save them,”I remember Warwick saying.

“And I’m beside you,” I say tremulously to his silent form.

I quickly turn out my pockets with trembling hands, until a small vial of a blue substance falls from my pocket, the same substance that I had shown Dane earlier today with such pride. When Dane had been kidnapped, I had had a lot of hours to pace and wonder what to do about it, terrified about what was going to come next as I waited for Warwick to arrive home.

And I had found myself staring at my antidote, wondering if maybe taking it would be a good idea. I didn’t even know if it worked properly. I had no idea if I had actually managed to develop an antidote, or if it would just do more harm than good. Although mere seconds ticked by, time seemed to slow as I contemplated the choice in front of me, but in truthI had no real choice.

The vial offered Warwick and Dane a chance they hadn’t had before. And so, deciding that it was worth it, I had stoppered a small vial of it and tucked it away in my pocket, hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have to use it.

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