Page 38 of Great Falls Rogue
Clearing the top of the wall, I straighten to my full height. The cool air billows my silk pants, the fabric crackling in the night. Below me, miles of wilderness and sheep farm and Academy grounds stretch in all directions, faintly silver in the moonlight. Nothing breaks the night’s silence but wind and an owl’s lonesome hooting.Where are you, Coal? Where in stars’ name are you?
I turn to the Academy first. It is busier than usual for this time of night, the Ostera break relaxing the rules. A pair of cadets holding hands are sneaking into the reflection garden. A few more scurry across the courtyard. At the front gate, the guards argue about something among themselves. Nothing to suggest the death dance going on in the flashes of darkness in my mind.
Twisting around, I face the woods instead—quite aware that the last time I went out there, I nearly got myself dead. Could that be what’s happening to Coal now? Did he run himself afoul of the Night Guard, not knowing what it is?
Even as I think it, I know that isn’t true. Coal isn’t battling for his life—he…he doesn’t care. The bastarddoesn’t careone damn bit whether he lives or dies.Thatis why my heart pounds my ribs so hard, it’s a miracle I’ve not cracked the bone.
I race along the top of the wide stone wall, letting the dread inside me act as a guiding light while my eyes seek any sign of disturbance.
Nothing.
Nothing.
There.My immortal sight catches on a small clearing along a side trail, two shapes moving too swiftly to be mortals circling each other in the darkness. My stomach clenches. Scrambling to the ground, I’m momentarily blinded by the trees around me, the bird’s-eye view from the wall giving way to dense, rustling forest. But I know these woods by now, know how to get to the center of the darkness that pulls me like a leash. Wiping my sweaty palms on my pants, I break into a run.
I hear the fight before I see it, the soft grunts of males mixing with the snaps of dried branches cracking underfoot. Coal’s metallic scent wraps around me, together with the sharp cayenne I’d smelled back in the room. And in the dungeon.
Han.
For some unfathomable reason, Coal is fighting with Han—and from what I saw on that wall, whatever the hell Han is, he isn’t human. Can’t be. I reach the edge of the clearing just as Han throws Coal in a great arc, my male landing hard on his back before rolling over his shoulder to escape the next blow. Coal’s movements are as crisp as always, a blur of black leather against the tree branches, but I know him well enough to mark the slight hesitations. As if Coal battles his own mind as much as Han’s limbs.
Which he very likely is. My hands tighten against the tree trunk I’ve stopped behind. Coal spent last night in adungeon cell, the hours filled with terrors and ripped-open wounds. How many nights has it been since the male slept soundly, if the nightmares inside him roar fiercely enough to jump to me in the middle of a choke-hold demonstration with the whole class watching? With Coal keeping his distance from me, I’ve not realized how desperately the male’s darkness was suffocating him. How deeply he’s been spiraling down.
No wonder Coal welcomed a brawl—he needed the humans’ greater numbers to create enough of an opponent to siphon off the violence inside him. Well, Coal is certainly getting a worthy enough foe with Han. Too much of one for Coal’s present state, with his body, his mind, and his will to win all worn down to bare threads.
Crouching low, Coal sweeps Han’s legs.
Han jumps over the sweep, closing the distance to Coal. The male’s blue-gray eyes dim to obsidian, his smell spiking as he grabs Coal’s wrist. A grapefruit-size stone that I missed seeing Han pick up off the ground now flashes in his free hand. Then he brings it down onto Coal’s forearm.
The crack of bone as Coal’s arm fractures seems louder than a crack of thunder. Coal screams, the arm dropping to his side like a piece of heavy rope. In all the time since I’ve met my males, it’s the first time I’ve seen the warrior overpowered by a single foe. The first time I’ve seen him injured with no magic to mend the break. Coal takes a step forward, and stumbles. Falls to one knee.
Han grins, his muscles already coiling for the final blow, his eyes glazed with the feral gleam of a predator savoring the kill to come.
My thoughts stop. The world slows around me, each sight and smell reporting in full force. Tangs of pain and excitement scent the air, all wrapped in musky sweat. The too slowly moving leaves tremble in the breeze. Han’s boot takes aim at Coal’s head. One more heartbeat and Han will destroy my quint, shattering not just Coal but all five of our bonded souls.
Terror races through me. My magic bucks, throwing itself fiercely against its shackles with every ounce of my will. Once. Twice. On the third heave, one cord’s tip breaks through the hold, slicing through the cracking defenses of the mortal world’s wards. Like an invisible whip, the roaring orange fire cord—still pulsing with the recent strength of Tye’s mating magic—flails uncontrollably before slamming into the ground.
The ground bucks, the power reverberating wildly through every stone and tree root. I grunt as I land hard on my knees, the world’s speed returning to normal as the others lose balance as well. As Han sets his foot down to the ground, his gaze skids around the woods. Findingme.
“What—” Han starts to say.
But Coal is already up on his feet. Despite his limp arm, the male moves with more power than I’d yet seen tonight, placing his body between Han and me. “Osprey.” Fear fills his voice. “Run.Now.”
As if.Even as Coal moves toward me, my hand is already on my boot knife, my fingers gripping the blade. The males may just have realized my presence, but I’ve known theirs all along. And I feel no hesitation as my eyes mark the broad target of Han’s chest. See it expand with drawn breath, the deadly muscles shaping the cloth. Imagine a painted target and take aim.
Thelub-dub lub-dubof my heart is like music, setting the stage for the cry of a startled hawk circling the sky.
Han’s dark brows narrow at what seems a snail’s speed, his handsome face confused. Then a smile tugs the corner of the bastard’s mouth.
My arm whips forward, the knife soaring through the air.
Han’s amusement shifts to wide-eyed surprise, my knife flying with the speed of an immortal’s powerful muscles. The amulet heating around my neck might convince the bastard that he’d overestimated the knife’s speed, but if I end him, it would save my veil the trouble.
With no time to move out of the blade’s path, Han lifts his hand and…and snatches the dagger from the air. Blood pools around his palm, its coppery scent filling the clearing.
Stars.My eyes widen, my chest heaves, my muscles burning with energy. I grab desperately for the magic inside me, only to find the mortal shackles have recaptured the rogue cord of Tye’s power. I tug at the binds anyway, beads of perspiration slipping down my temples.
“I seem to have underestimated the allure of your cock, Master Coal.” Han takes my throwing knife into his good hand. “How fortunate you are to have comely young cadets throwing away their lives for you.”
