Page 86 of Desolation
Ash's mouth falls open before he can conceal his shock.This needs to end before someone gets hurt.
His eyes dart left and right and he grins, chuckling low in his chest, raising a hand to my twins standing to my right, warning me with the twist of his hand that he isn’t above stooping low to come out on top.
Serenity's chanting reaches my ears as protective domes form over all of them individually, allowing me to focus on the task at hand once more.
I search his eyes, looking for the boy I grew up with, trying to find him in the black holes of those obsidian eyes. Even as the plea falls from my lips, my voice wavering, begging him to come to his senses, I know I'm talking to a version of Ash I can't reach. "Why are you doing this, Ash? We're your family! What would Beth think if she saw us now?"
His face twists, his brows furrow and I think,maybe I can get through to him.
"Well,” he says in a monotone voice, his face devoid of any glimpse of sorrow I thought I saw, “She can't see us now because she's dead."
Fuck this.
I raise my hand, poised to attack, before giving him one last chance. "I don't want to do this, Ash."
He shakes his head at me. "Don’t you know this by now, Oslana? You can't hurt me."
There's that weird fucking nickname again."I thought I told you to leave the nicknames to Luke?"
A darkness falls over his face as he sneers at me. "Stop mentioning their names. You are mine!"
My heart hurts at the idea of hurting my best friend but this is going too far. There's no way he's going to stop with the state he’s in now.
With the image of Zedd's bleeding face in my mind to remind myself of what he’s done, I pull power from the overflowing well inside me. It comes easily and readily, forming an orb of pure teal energy in my hand. I strain against the energy it takes to hold on and pull from my reserves while my dome protects me from his ongoing attacks—but I don't stop until the sphere is the size of a basketball in my hand.
I watch for an opening as he launches orb after orb of purple energy at me,holding my own sphere of energy in my hand, waiting for my moment. The protective barrier around me consumes every attack and I let his readiness to hurt Zedd feed my rage. When his protective barrier flickers and the lines in his face show his exhaustion. I drop my shield for a brief moment and throw my orb at him like a cannonball, propelling it forward with a large gust of air. It shatters through his shield and smashes into him, throwing him backwards.
His head hits the wall behind him, knocking him out cold and my heart crumbles at the sight of his unconscious body.
What has our family been reduced to?The weight of the emotional exhaustion and strain from the use of my powers hits me all at once as the adrenalin in my body plummets.My knees collapse and I fall to the ground, unable to support my weight anymore.
Hale rushes over to me, cradling my face against his chest. "Come on Lana, you're okay."
As my eyelids flutter shut, Serenity places a hand on my shoulder. "She's fine, caveman. She just needs some beauty sleep. She looks like shit."
I fall into the oblivion of sleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ash
What the hell is happening to me?
Agony rips through my heart as the darkness ties itself around my soul and yanks until I feel like I'm suffocating. I'm spiraling out of control and I'm helpless to keep my family from falling apart.
I thought I could beat this.
Lana. My mate.
I'll lose her.
It's been getting worse with every moment. I still have no memory of the blackout rage at the inn with Zedd but as every second passes, I lose more and more control over myself. Lose more moments of time from my memory. The all-consuming rage that flares up, threatening to devour me—it doesn't feel like it's coming from me. I feel like a passenger in my body as someone else pushes the pedal to the floor.
Every time I open my mouth while hanging onto consciousness, poison drips from my tongue and I agonize over the words that spew from my mouth. I feel like Dr. Jekyll stuck in the body of Mr. Hyde— completely at war with myself.
Groaning at my current situation, I slump into the hospital bed I woke up in. I'm damn proud of Lana for coming into her powers and whooping my fucking ass when I couldn’t control my actions. I deserved it and so much more.
The brunette nurse, with kind eyes like Zedd, comes back in with Serenity at her side, eliciting a groan from me.I do not want to deal with her right now.
