Page 134 of Echoes of War

Magic seethed from me. Wild, raging blue spouts of fire flew toward anyone in my vicinity. Some screamed, others didn’t get the chance to before they turned to fucking powder.

“Alexiares!” I scanned the area. There was so much going on it was hardto focus.

Covert came at me from all sides. Two charged me at the same time, one faster than the other. He reached out, stabbing toward my shoulder with a machete. I ducked down, throwing my body weight into his inner arm with my elbow. His strength gave out with my effort, and I looped a hand around his neck. In one fluent move, I snatched his machete from him, my grip causing his knees to buckle.

Leaning forward, I kicked out to the side, my blazed-up foot jamming into his dick. He flew back, grabbing his crown jewels. His buddy matched the tone of his scream as I slammed him down on the ground.

“Alexi!” My voice broke. “Alexiares,answer me.”

The soldier beneath me squirmed, and I saw red. He was a fucking distraction. I needed to find him.Something is wrong.There were no orders being given, no commander on the field. My soldiers were relying on the strength of their training and the trust they’d built with one another to guide them through.

Right now, every ounce of my being told me I needed to find Alexiares, but I would be a failure to Jax and Prescott if I walked away. Everything they believed in was on the line.

“It’s bigger than you now. You have the responsibility to live for not just you, but them, too.”Prescott’s words echoed through my head.Compound first.

I could do both, though.Yeah. You can do both.

Real strength didn’t come from being flawless. I understood that now. True strength came from embracing your flaws, owning them, molding them to your advantage. One doesn’t get called the best without reason. You get called the best because you’re able to turn every imperfection into a weapon of power.

My family, the people whom I loved, were my Achilles’ heel. I would do anything for them. It was time I showed Ronan Moore who he was fucking with. The darkness he’d thrust me into ninemonths ago had only allowed me to find my beast. If he wanted a blood bath, he could have one.

But first I needed to find mybloodhound.

The soldier wiggled his arm free, grabbing onto my curls. He yanked my head to the side, attempting to snap my neck.

“Fucking enough,” I growled, lifting his head and slamming it into the ground with a sharp crack. His body went still.

I dug into my well of power, stealing the air of every dipshit in my vicinity. They fell to their knees, hands flying to their necks, clawing for air. Their faces turned shades of blue. A path to the gate cleared for me. I followed it, trampling atop their fallen, pretending they were no more than a piece of the earth. Which they would be, when I was done with them.

My magic was draining at a quick pace, so many bodies to control at once. I needed someone to take over. As they realized what had halted their fighting, my army recovered, ending the possibility of Covert having a chance to fight back.

Someone needed to call the shots when I released them from my hold. While my stunt had helped, we were still out-manned.

“Miller,” I called, one of the female officers I’d come to trust while out on patrol. If I could trust her with my life out there, then it would have to do when holding the line now.

She slammed her knife into a soldier’s throat, that familiar smirk of something bordering excitement and joy, lighting up her face. I found her to be level-headed in her decision-making, with a streak of ruthlessness. Fair enough, that was needed to make rational decisions despite the emotional tax that came from ending a life.

Her long hair was tousled out of her bun, she pulled a strand away from her face, swiping her knife through the gut of another before turning to me. “General Bennett, what can I do for ya?”

“Where’s Alexiares?” I asked, my voice astrained mess.

She gave me a pitying stare, whirling ahead of me, hands gripping a soldier’s head and snapping his neck. “Last I saw, he was going after two little girls. They were running for the gate before it went off.”

No.

There was no surviving the kickback of that thing.You have to have hope. The voice in my head was quiet, a barely audible whisper. Yet I felt compelled to listen to it.

I had to have hope, otherwise what was all of this even for?

“You’re in command outside this wall. Do you hear me, soldier? This is your field, now own it.”

Miller huffed a laugh, a mischievous grin on her face. “Yes, ma’am,”

Air whooshed from their lungs as I released my power, and Miller rambled off a myriad of orders. Howls of agony ricocheted off the wall. I didn’t care what was happening behind me, the only way I’d be able to help them all was if my Alexiares was unharmed inside. Getting to the gate was my only concern, even if my worst nightmare may be on the other side.

I didn’t know where to look first. At the blonde hair smothered in blood, shrieks of suffering leaving her small, broken body. One of our medics carried her deeper into The Compound. Then there was Elie, who was being held down by a medic and a soldier, a brace secured around her neck. They were pleading with her to be calm, to let them take her somewhere safe to finish healing her. The medic urged her to stop moving, stating he hadn’t yet examined her for spinal injuries, that she could still hurt herself.

“No!” she refused, “I won’t leave him. He saved my life! I can’t leave someone else, please don’t make me.”

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