Page 21 of Beast of Blood and Ash
The words should have slid off my scales. They did not. They found every old bruise and dug in deep.
Other trainees circled, their breath coming fast. Nyx barked a command, but I only had eyes for Jerras.
“Skorai wants his property back,” Jerras sneered, his voice pitched for my ears only. “It is time to stop playing.”
Property.
He meant her.
He meant Reika.
Ice flooded my gut, an arctic chill knifing through the heat. The mate-bond shrieked, a snarl of fire and panic clawing inside my chest. My world collapsed to the feel of his throat under my hand, the stink of his breath, the absolute threat in his words.
No. Not again.
Jerras twisted, shoving, but desperation made my strength absolute. I heard shouts as other Ignarath fought, the chaos of blades and snapping wings a distant storm. None of it touched me.
This is what I am, the words shook through me.This is what I am for.
The world shrank to blood and claws and teeth. My grip tightened. Jerras’s eyes flared with panic, but it was too late. I slammed him back into the stone. Claws tore through scales. I felt bone crunch, the hot wash of his blood spilling over my hands. It was a savage, ugly kill meant to send a message.
I didn’t care. I needed him dead. I needed them all dead.
I let the rage ride me, snarling through my fangs as the trainees stumbled back, shock and horror on their faces. Let them see the monster. Let them remember there are worse things than exile.
Jerras’s last breath rattled out, full of hate. But Skorai would not stop with one patrol.
I let his corpse drop to the sand and looked up, chest heaving. The remaining Ignarath were being herded by Nyx’s warriors, stripped of weapons, their wings pinned.
The silence that followed was thick, a bloody echo hanging over the desert. Tarion stared at me, his eyes wide with terror, the myth of the champion shattered.
Good. Maybe it would keep him alive.
My claws dripped red. The bond inside me screamed.
Protect. Find her. Kill everything else.
Nyx stepped up, assessing the carnage with a level gaze. “You finished your business?” His voice was cold, unflinching.
“Not yet.” The words came out raw, torn from my throat. “I need to go.” I could not stay, could not explain. There was nothing left but the need to find Reika. To warn her. To stand between her and the storm rolling in from my past.
Nyx nodded once, reading the desperation on my face. “Go. We will take care of the rest.”
I took off without another word, wings beating hard, blood trailing in my wake. The city shimmered on the horizon, a promise and a warning. Every muscle in my body screamed with purpose, the only clarity I had felt in months.
Run. Find her. Protect her.
The hunt had begun again. And this time, I would not fail.
Not again.
8
REIKA
I missed home.
That was a freaking joke.
