Page 156 of Phoenix Burn

No.

I screamed along the link. A psychic blast of pain and fear, of a severing of a bond that had only just winked into existence.

Gone. They were all gone. Talakai, Matt, and now Sebastian.

Angel?

The mindvoice was filled with pain, but undeniable. I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face.

Matt?

Yeah. I think so, anyway.

Where are you?

Just hanging around.

Matt!

I’m strung up like a mackerel in a bloody net.

In the fortress?

Must be. I woke up here. And Angel, I’m not alone.

I suddenly couldn’t breathe because I knew what he was about to say.

The bleedin’ Dragon is here, too.

I rose to my feet. Sebastian was out of reach. But two of my men were here, on the other side of this wall.

And I was going to get them out.

The surge of energy from behind had me spinning, drawing my sword to point at—

A horse.

It stepped through the gateway it had formed in the bushes along the river. Not a horse. She glowed silver in the moonlight, but her horn glimmered blue.

I dropped my sword. My entire body shook, and tears streamed down my face.

Cara strode up to me and laid her horn on my shoulder. Her warm breath gusted across my hands, and she enfolded me in her calm, powerful energy.

“Why didn’t you bring others? We have to get them back!” My voice broke.

She pulled away and regarded me with her huge blue eyes. “If we attack without a plan, we will not prevail. Xumi will be too well protected.”

I gaped at her. “But we have Tyrez and Cody—”

“And she has a hundred underworld Dragons,” Cara said. “This is the reason we need the Academy of Shades. Because we do not have sufficient forces to stand against such evil. Not yet.” She tossed her mane. “Come with me, Anna,” she urged. “We will formulate a plan. And we will get them back.”

I swallowed. “All of them?”

She raised her head.

“All of them,” she promised.

TO BE CONTINUED