Page 9 of Heart of Dawn
Could they follow? I didn’t hang around to find out, navigating the network of tunnels, ignoring the hands of fatigue dragging me closer to passing out. The heat wasn’t helping, sweat running down my face like rain.
I pushed through, finally reaching another cover. The pause was bliss, a chance to catch my breath and put the brakes on my depleting energy.
Checking through the slatted cover, I saw a bathroom below me. Three stalls, two sinks, grime everywhere. A group of vines strangled those sinks, winding up toward the heavily damaged ceiling. Moss smothered the floor, and even a few weeds sprouted through the cracks.
This might be a good place to rest. The door was closed and there were no sounds coming from behind the door or inside the room. The stall doors were all ajar, with no sign or scent of life.
All I had to do was climb down and curl up in a corner and recharge. Get back on track. Get over to Faery.
The thought of climbing down there right now hurt my soul. I rested my head on the metal beneath me. If I took a power nap for five minutes, maybe that’d help give me the strength to get down there.
Just five minutes.
All I need is five minutes.
A click sounded, along with the slow opening of a door. What the hell? I tried lifting my head as whispers drifted into the shaft.
But my head wouldn’t budge, too heavy, too done with everything. A heavy wave of exhaustion crashed into me. Powerless against it, I went with the riptide, my body finally giving in to unconsciousness.
CHAPTER FIVE
ORION
My side was warm and wet, too much blood leaking out of me. That root had done some serious damage.
“Kill the cherry fae!”
The thirteen assbugs were almost upon me. I attempted to stand, but the pain dismissed my efforts.
I was going nowhere.
“Kill the cherry fae!”
Did they have to keep saying it? It distracted me from my battle with negative thoughts. Suggestions like bleeding out on the snow before they chopped me up, and the possibility of me not dying a quick death under the blows of their axes were running rife in my stupid mind.
“Kill the fae! Kill him good!”
Oh, good. A slight change in speech.
They were so close now, my end was in sight. I hated thinking the worst, especially after surviving so many dark days and nights. What would be waiting for me on the other side?Peace? Sorrow for never getting to fully embrace my status as a werewolf alpha’s mate?
Tears brimmed in my eyes. A kernel of grief flared in my chest, growing by the second. I couldn’t believe this was it for me, dying in this wretched place. Stars, I would have loved to pick myself up to fight until the end, not lay here in a helpless heap, the snow landing on my cheeks as soft, icy kisses.
“I love you, Miko,” I said. “I’m sorry I?—”
A roar dragged me out of my hopelessness.
What in the stars’ name was that?
A huge mass leaped over me. White fur, big hands, smelling slightly of oats. It bounded up the slope, heading straight for the army of undying fae.
I watched the furry beast launch into an attack, taking down two men in a bone-crushing rugby tackle. The undying fae tumbled down the slope, pink smoke streaking behind them like those chemtrails in Earth’s skies. They landed dangerously close to me, thrashing their limbs in fury, spraying snow into the air.
Helpless, I watched the show play out on the slope. The creature’s speed hurt my already pounding head. With its big, bear-like hands, it tore through flesh, pulled off arms, crushed one head like a watermelon.
Pink blood drenched its fur.
How many undying fae were down now? Seven, including the two close to me? A woman still standing on the slope took a swipe at the creature with an axe, releasing a blood-curdling scream to shake the snow.
