Page 60 of Bound By Love
Knowing it was useless to protest and unwilling to distract Elena from the horde racing toward her, Logan reluctantly turned away. He carried his friend toward freedom while the biggest part of him remained behind.
CHAPTERFORTY-NINE
The demons continuedto screech in that awful way as they advanced. Saber suspected it was to distract them, drown out their thoughts, and stop them from communicating with each other.
It was too late for that; he already knew what they had to do, even as the demons poured toward them.
“The blades!” he shouted. “We have to touch them all together!”
It was easier said than done as the demons poured over them and they had to defend themselves to stay alive. They couldn’t lose anyone now; they were close to uncovering more secrets of the stones.
Though the demons sought to separate them, they remained relatively close together as claws slashed at them, the screams echoed, and hooked fangs found Kadence’s flesh. Ronan caught the sword she dropped at the same time he plunged his blade into the demon.
Elena nearly fell when a demon dropped from the ceiling to her shoulders. The only thing that kept her up was Killean lunging out with his sword and driving it through the demon’s ribs.
The creatures all emitted an awful, eerie howl again as Killean seized Elena’s wrist and pulled her out from under the dying demon.
“We’re not losing you again,” Killean said.
Elena smiled at him as Nathan and Kadence clustered closer to them. The twins looked at each other before touching the tips of their blades together.
A spark raced through their stones, and their eyes widened. But though amazement registered on their faces, Saber also saw their uneasiness.
Kadence and Nathan understood it now too. Once unleashed, this kind of power wasn’t easily survived.
But their shoulders went back, and their hands briefly touched before the twins turned to face the demons. Ronan, Declan, Killean, Brie, Elena, and Willow worked to hold off the approaching demons as Saber pulled Caro against his side.
He kissed her hard and fast before releasing her. There was so much he wanted to share with her, but there was no time for it as he lifted his sword, and she followed suit.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her against his side, and pressed his blade to hers. Their stones sparked as power raced up his arms, but instead of feeling invigorated by it, he felt deflated.
He’d waited too long to realize what was truly in his heart for Caro and never gotten the chance to tell her. He could shout it now, over the scream of the demons and the clash of swords, but this wasn’t how he wanted to say it to her.
It’s better than her possibly dying without knowing.
That was true, but a sudden, unified shriek of the demons drowned out all other sounds. He tried to whisper the truth of how he felt into her mind, but she still had him shut out. He didn’t blame her; he’d done the same… until now.
And now he would give anything to get into her head and tell her how much he cared.
Instead, he was left with the truth of having failed her and Brie. He was supposed to protect them, but he couldn’t save anyone from fate, which brought them all to this place.
Kadence set these events in motion when she fell in love was Ronan. Brie solidified it when she brought the stones to the Alliance, and Caro unleashed it when she forged the blades that brought them here.
Somewhere, a wheel was spinning. In the beginning, it turned slowly and maybe could have been stopped, but now it spun wildly out of control as it propelled them toward the destiny no one had seen coming… not even Kadence and Brie.
Now, they had no choice but to stand and face it. If there was an afterlife, Saber would spend it burning in Hell, like those spirits he’d seen flitting through the fire, but he would take these demons back there with him.
The others remained focused on fighting off the demons while he and Caro lifted their blades to Kadence’s and Nathan’s. A bigger spark flashed through the air, and the wave of power it created quaked his bones and muscles until he shuddered.
Caro’s fingers itched to reach for Saber; even though she stood against his side, she wanted more of a connection. She contemplated lowering the barrier she’d erected against his mind but couldn’t bear to come up against his wall, so she left it intact.
Her body shook from the power coursing through it, but the tears in her eyes were for all she would lose and all they’d never have. In the end, being denied her future was worth it if the world went on.
She wished she could have had more time with Saber and could have loved him a little longer. He was a difficult man to love and wasn’t one to share the emotion, but they’d found happiness together, and she knew there could have been a lot more.
But thinking about things that could never be wasn’t helpful now. Besides, there was a chance they could still survive. She refused to quit clinging to that hope as rocks started falling from the ceiling and crashed around them from the demons above.
CHAPTERFIFTY
