Page 81 of Detonation
"You are not welcome in my realm, Erebus. Make no mistake—Anshar is a criminal but he’s ours to punish. His death belongs to me, not to you.”
"How pathetic. I grow weary of being in this realm with you all. It's quite boring."
As Erebus speaks, a white mist seeps from Anshar as he walks over to me. My heart explodes in my chest as he meets my eyes, his eyes soft, his words even more so. "It's me, baby. I'm here."
Ash.
How is this possible?
My eyes well and I throw myself into his side, his arm curling around me as I try to hold the sobs in that threaten to tear me apart. I throw up a barrier around us, protecting us from Erebus until I gather myself. Gripping his shirt tightly in my fingers, I take deep breaths, soaking in his presence, knowing we’ll have our time later.
I don't have time to question how this is happening when we have a dark god intent on killing us.
Ash’s gaze focuses intently on Erebus as I straighten from his side, dropping my hand down to entwine with his.
Erebus rages as he backs away from the mist that eats away at his shadows. "What is this magic? These are not the powers I gifted to you, Anshar."
Before I can process if this is Ash's power at play, a loud boom rocks the castle, followed by two others in rapid succession.
What the hell?
"You will not deter me with distractions," Erebus warns, crackling red orbs forming within his shadows, letting them rain down against my barrier in an instant. My barrier breaks as his shadows swoop in from above, avoiding the white mist.
"Ash!" I scream and try to construct a shield as the shadows twist into a spear but I'm too late. The blade pierces my mate’s stomach and he stumbles backwards, letting go of my hand as I scramble for him. His knees buckle as he falls to the floor and I follow after him, catching his head before it can snap against the ground and cradling it in my lap. Hot tears spring from my eyes as I plead, "Ash! Ash! Stay with me. Please stay with me.”
Blood leaks from the wound in his gut and I tear the shirt away, revealing the network of veins around his wound blackening. "No! You don't get to leave me! You don't get to leave our family!" I scream, placing my hands on his wound and applying pressure at the same time as I will my magic to heal him.
Please, Gaia. I can't lose him. Give me the strength.
I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking out the mocking laughter that comes from Erebus as he stalks towards me. I force my energy to flow to my palms, unconcerned with my back being exposed, trying desperately to do what Doc did with the mage.
Gritting my teeth, I try everything in me to feel that power but nothing words. I strain and cry out, "Someone help me, please!"
"You'll be a nice addition to my collection of slaves," Erebus declares, his voice eerily close before a blinding light flares. I throw myself over Ash's body to protect him from the new threat.
"You will not lay a hand on my daughter."
She came.
Gaia.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hale
Serenity opens a portal while holding onto Sera’s hand, apparently pinpointing where we’re going through her thoughts. The first of the three groups Raven divided us into heads through the portal, with us being the heavy hitters. We slowly have the groups filter through by power rank so that we can clear the path and take the brunt of the force head on, depending on their defenses.
Raven heads in first, with my brothers and I going in next, and the rest of our group filing in behind us. We’re about thirty fae strong in this unit and tasked with breaching the castle first, trying to establish how large their forces are in defense and the best way to counter them.
As I walk through to the other side of the portal, I breathe a sigh of relief at not being tossed on my ass with nausea. Perhaps it's because we've fully unlocked our powers.
That would have been embarrassing in front of these fae when we're about to storm a castle.
We all plaster ourselves as close as we can to the outer wall as the rest of our unit comes through. Serenity perfectly placed the portal so that we emerged near the dungeon’s blown-out wall. A few guards around the corner complain about having to clean up after Anshar's pet.
"He needs to get that bitch in line. If it was me, I would have had her bowing to me after one round in the sack."
Leo growls and flames lick along the edges of his skin.
