Page 137 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
Not far behind, a man tripped and fell, his body staggering to the snow-covered ground. With dribble and snow spilling from his mouth, he pushed himself off the white ground. He was dead before he could do so.
A blast burst behind us from Teddy’s home. A wave of heat flung Brenton and me into the air. I barely felt my hard landing against a tree before I jumped to my feet and raced toward Teddy.
Panicked and forgetting the humans who’d shot at us.
Gray smoke filled the air around me. I hurried through it blindly, screaming Teddy’s name. Victoria’s. Anyone who’d answer me.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Until I heard Nalari’s roar and the flap of her wings.
“Your mate is fine,”Nalari told me.“Everyone’s fine. Everly and your foolish human friends surrounded me to defend me.”It came out as a vicious snarl.“Everly was shot but I already tended to her wound and healed her. I will hunt the humans who did this to us.”
“Wait!”I shouted through our connection, still running blindly.“Were you shot? Do you need?—”
“Their weapons did nothing but anger me.”
“The explosion?”
“Teddy’s house,”she answered, her anger rising until it engulfed me.
With that, she slammed our connection closed before I could ask about the children. I’d rushed out and left them and everyone in the house. Had the children made it out?
As the smoke cleared, the first thing I saw was the fire that raptured Teddy’s home. But Teddy was okay. She stood shaking in the clearing where Nalari had left them. Victoria clung to George while Javier hugged his sisters to him.
When I reached them, Teddy fell into my arms, her body trembling so hard I worried she’d break. She clung to my shirt, sobbing against me, her limbs still quaking.
I kissed the top of her head and ran my hand through her hair, down to her back.
“You’re okay,” I whispered. “Everyone’s okay.”
“The kids,” she stammered out.
George continued to soothe Victoria as Everly rested her chin on George’s shoulder.
“The kids are okay,” I reassured her.
I heard the way her heart beat rapidly and the way her blood rushed through her veins like a flood. It made my own heart race.
“George. . . he got them.” She cried harder into my chest.
I scooped her into my arms and when I sat on the ground, I swayed us back and forth.
“George got them,” she pushed out. “He—I didn’t—my house. . .” Her terror flooded me, threatening to drown me.
“It’s okay,” I soothed, forcing my own body not to shake with hers. “Everyone’s okay.”
“Nalari?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“She’s okay,” I repeated, trying to sound calm when everything inside me wanted to hunt with Nalari.
Destroy those who’d come to hurt my family.
She nodded. Wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her nose to my throat, where she breathed deeply. Slowly. Steadying herself while I hugged her to me.
I looked up at George, who stood in front of me, still holding Victoria in his arms with a haunted expression on his face.
“I shouldn’t have left you,” he said, his tone remorseful. “I put you and Brent in danger. I’m sorry, Elias.”
