Page 282 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Montague and Reyna’s horrified screams cleaved the air as we skidded to a halt, frozen.

Lainalei’s body dropped—and disintegrated, drifting away like powder on the wind.

That fast.

Seconds, at most—and a trained flyer was…poof. Gone.

What. The actual. Fuck.

Fear jolted white-hot through my veins as my mind reached for connection—nothing. No mind-to-mind links here. No way to call Ally. Just me, this bitch, and my brazen insanity.

Anger tunneled my vision, and I threw my knife with lethal precision. Or it would’ve been lethal, if she hadn’t turned and caught the damn thing.

She flipped the blade, that serpent’s smile stretching as her gaze dragged slowly up to mine. Then she pocketed it.

Ahh, hell no.

Planting my feet in the dirt, I anchored myself in the iridescent light of Grayshell, preserved in memory, and pulled—hands carving through the air like talons. I locked onto her…power?

Death. She felt like death.

I didn’t want that sickly, boiling oil inside me. But what was the alternative? Nobody could kill her if I couldn’t neutralize her.

Reyna materialized beside me, chest heaving, eyes wild as she scanned the field. “Don’t let her touch you.”

“Thanks for that,” I snapped, jaw clenched.

I refocused, searching for the epicenter of her magic. A ball of energy pushed against my palms as I closed them, arms shaking with the effort of stealing what wasn’t mine and forcing it away from her.

Still, I pulled. G and Makena charged, hurling spears of earth and ice, but she batted them aside like toys.

Her eyes never left me. Twisted bitch was enjoying this.

“Keep her occupied,” Reyna commanded, leaping skyward and shifting in the same breath.

Yeah. Sure. No problem.

My skin screamed. The agony of holding this writhing mass of darkness beneath it was blinding. It had to go somewhere. But what could handle this sickness?

My body answered: nothing.

Which gave me an idea.

“Fuck me,” I growled, sprinting toward her. She tilted her head, serpent-like, curious. Those onyx eyes stayed unblinking as I clenched my teeth and yanked on G’s earth magic, binding the darkness into stone shards and hurling them at her.

She smiled. Flicked her hand. My makeshift weapons shattered mid-air, thudding into the dirt like chunks of sod.

Fuck.

“Move!” I screamed. “Mine!”

Relief cracked through me as G flipped back and Makena shot upward, shifting into shadow. With everything I had, I hurled her corruption back to her. She hissed, shielding against the blow—and the field blackened further around us.

Wall after wall, boulder after boulder, I turned her power into weapons. Just as I drew my short sword and stepped into range, the psycho hissed. Like a fucking snake.

Her body writhed and stretched, expanding in both width and height until she blocked out the sky. I stumbled backward, fell on my ass, scrambled up and bolted.

Oh, fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck.