Page 112 of A Trial of Two Worlds
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I snarled.
“Skylar,” Adohan began, but stopped when the rasped voice from a nalusa falaya silenced us all.
“You—” One of the hooded figures stepped forward, its long, bony hand extending from its cloak, pointed directly at Zola. “You’re the one who escaped. You’re the one our shadows seek. The powers you wield are not for you to keep.” It glided forward with three others behind it.
“They can’t cross the ward line, right?” I asked.
Their lack of response gave me no comfort. Zola was in grave danger.
“The ward begins at the city gates,” Adohan said, stepping closer to my side.
“I’ve heard your whispers for nearly five hundred years,” Zola said in a deathly calm voice. “The time has come to put your words to the test.”
In a flash, shadows encircled Zola as a handful of fallen creatures surrounded her, beginning their assault.
“No!” Daxton roared, but Adohan jumped to restrain my mate from following.
Zola’s cries of pain tore through my center. They were killing her, using her gifts against her. The magic that flowed through her veins was now used as a tool for her destruction and torment. Summoning my courage, I darted around the two High Fae males and ran straight for Zola.
“Skylar!” my mate roared from behind me.
Zola’s screams muffled his cries.
Was it my brightest idea in the world? No, most definitely not. But I couldn’t just stand there as I watched my friend being torn to pieces.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, Shaw leaped ahead of me. His teeth were bared, claws outstretched, the look of death reflected in his eyes. I had never seen my friend hold this much hatred, this much rage. I slowed as I watched him lunge into the circle of nalusa falaya.
Shaw began shredding the creature with its hands on Zola’s throat. The circle of fallen creatures erupted in panic as Shaw stood protectively over Zola, shielding her body with his own, blood dripping from teeth and claws from his victory—a nalusa falaya slain.
“Z!” Idris’s voice bellowed from above as she and Astro swooped down from the sky astride their pegasi.
“Idris!” Adohan screamed in a panic as he and Daxton reached me. “Get back here now!”
Idris, a female after my own heart, ignored the command and flew with her blazing spear into the fight. I grinned, regaining my footing as I joined, with the males following.
“With me,” Daxton growled. “Stay right beside me. Guard my back, and I’ll guard yours. We fight together, Spitfire, or Gods help me, I’ll drain my reserves and teleport you to the wall myself.”
“Understood,” I rasped as I drew my alpha’s dagger, a twinge of guilt eating at me for trying to run off without him by my side. I knew I would be angry at himif the roles were reversed. “This will do the trick if Valencia doesn’t.”
Daxton nodded as Adohan sprinted with unparalleled speed, the urge to protect his mate driving him past his physical limitations.
In the circle of fallen creatures, Idris and Astro managed to corner one of them and break to the right. Shaw stood protectively over Zola’s limp body as three remaining fallen creatures circled him like sharks in the water.
“What the hell are you doing?”I yelled at my beta as Daxton and I charged into the doom ring.“Shaw!”
Silence.
“Answer me!”I roared with the power of my alpha command.
“I had no choice.”
If the threat to our lives wasn’t knocking at my door, I could have pried more out of him, but for now, that would have to do.
Charging ahead, Valencia sliced through the air, colliding with a blackened blade drawn by the fallen who spoke to Zola from the mists. A shield of ice sprang from the ground to block the escape for Shaw to attack while I fronted the other with my short sword drawn and dagger at the ready.
“Champion,” a fallen creature rasped as a dark blade appeared from its hand. “Not all of us want to be saved.”
“I didn’t know I was offering,” I grunted as I swung my sword, blocking a strike to my right and left, trying to inch close enough to decapitate the creature.
