Page 51 of Bound By Love
She kept close to Saxon as she prepared for hand-to-hand combat. Her mind brushed against his as they worked to destroy the Savages.
It would probably be better if she shut him out. It would be a huge distraction if he went down, but she couldn’t close the bond. She had to know he was okay.
And he must have felt the same way as he kept the thread between them open. What she couldn’t think about was their daughter.
No thoughts of Madison could enter her mind, or she might run screaming from this place. The idea of her child growing up without them was crippling, but if they didn’t fight this war, she would grow up in a world far worse than the one they lived in now.
Madison was safe with her dad and Willow’s family. If she and Saxon didn’t survive this fight, then Kadence, Simone, or some other member of the Alliance would take Maddie in and love her as their own.
Elyse did not doubt that, even if the idea of it destroyed her. No one could ever love her daughter as much as she and Saxon did.
When she realized her mind was wandering a treacherous pathway, she shut it down. She focused on fighting her way back to her daughter and for a life, while not filled with peace, that would offer more security and fewer monsters.
Just when her ears finally started to adjust to the deafening screeches of the demons, their cries abruptly cut off. For a few seconds, they rebounded around the cavern so much it was almost as if the monsters were still yelling, but then their echoes died away.
Though guns continued to fire, the wounded and dying still screamed, and steel clanged off steel, the absence of the demons’ twisted voices made it oddly hushed in the enormous cavern.
Fighters went down all around them, yet no matter how many fell, they continued to come. And the Savages and demons weren’t the only ones dying.
She recognized plenty of Alliance members and hunters from Arizona succumbing to the crush of Savages and demons. Willow’s brother, Ethan, went down beneath a horde of Savages, but his mate, Emma, stabbed the creature through the back and pulled him out from under its body.
Then, a familiar face swam into view through the endless sea of monsters. Elyse’s heart hit her ribs, and the world collapsed around her as that face threw her back into the horrible uncertainty of her teen years.
Misery filled those years. Her mother had treated her like nothing more than a sideshow as they traveled from one place to another. The woman was so bent on showing off her daughter’s unique gift, she hadn’t bothered to think about how it would affect Elyse or the consequences of her actions….
Such as Savages and demons who would do anything to get their hands on her. They’d twisted her strange gift of being able to track others through their blood into a monstrous thing.
They imprisoned and tortured her by sending herpiecesof her father to make her do their bidding. And they would have killed her when they were finished with her if Saxon hadn’t found her first.
Her mother, already one of them, had stood by and watched it happen. She hadn’t understood it then, but as a mother now, shereallydidn’t get it.
There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for Maddie, including die to keep her safe from these monsters. And she would gladly destroy anyone who dared to touch a hair on her daughter’s head.
But her mother used Elyse and rarely considered her feelings in anything, even before she became a Savage. She made her life a living hell years before the Savages captured her.
Elyse hadn’t realized how much she’d grown to hate her mother until she saw her face again. And when her mother’s red eyes met hers, a cruel smile curved the woman’s mouth.
But though she hated her mother, she didn’t want to see the woman die, and she certainly didn’t want to be in the same place as her.
So stunned by the sudden presence of her mother, Elyse didn’t realize she’d stopped moving until Saxon bellowed. “Elyse! Look out!”
She tried to turn to face what was coming at her, but it was already too late. She couldn’t move out of the way in time to avoid the Savage behind her.
The one who plunged a stake through her back and into her chest.
CHAPTERFORTY-ONE
“They’re leaving!”Ronan shouted as the demons, in their hooded cloaks, started funneling toward a side tunnel.
It was another pathway they’d carved out for themselves and one he hadn’t seen until the creatures disappeared into the shadows. They couldn’t let those fuckers get away, but the Savages were doing everything they could to keep them from pursuing their masters.
He glanced over at Kadence; blood and ash covered her as Savages hovered beyond the reach of her powerful blade. Her silvery blonde hair hung in a matted braid over her shoulder, and her white-blue eyes shone with determination.
She was his warrior queen, and though he hated having her in danger, they would have to follow the demons toward whatever hell they were escaping to. And they might have to do it alone as he’d lost sight of the other members of the Alliance.
Then, Killean, Simone, Asher, Brie, Nathan, Vicky, Brian, Abby, Saber, and Caro broke free of the crowd and rushed into the tunnel after the demons. They must have seen the monsters trying to flee too, but they were few against powerful beings who outnumbered them at least three to one.
“We have to help them!” he shouted to Kadence.
