Page 9 of Claim the Light
So strange that it was Lana, the angel who had hunted me, who first encouraged me to believe that there were members of my clan who truly cared for me: Callan in particular, but also Beatrix and Felix, the cruel cousins who’d scared the shit out of me for years.
They have my back now.
“You can’t hurt me,” I say to Tyler, feeling the truth of it to my core.
Well, physically he can, but not emotionally.
I have shields of warmth and kindness around my heart now that I never had before.
“I can,” he responds. “And I will.”
He spins me around so that I’m facing him, his palms as rough as the ash I drove my fist through.
I plant my hands against his chest, finding his torso solid, but I’m not fooled. The moment I try to fight back, he’ll turn to smoke again.
Still, I prepare to shove him away from me, hoping to break through his steel-like grip and dislodge the arms that bite into my back.
“Come back to me, Sophia,” he says, his dark eyes gleaming down at me. “Or I will end everyone you love, one by one. Starting with this Grudge dragon.”
I shake my head, my response quiet but sure. “No.”
His eyes widen a little, a hint of the surprise he must feel that I continue to defy him, before they narrow to dark slits.
“I don’t think you understand,” he says. “I will take everyone away from you until you finally realize I’m the only one who really loves you.”
I sigh softly. “You never loved me, Tyler. You controlled me and acted as if you owned me. Love doesn’t include either of those things.”
His lips twist and his hands tighten on my arms, his claws extending and pricking my skin as he leans in. “Soon,mylove will be the only love you’ll have left.”
And still, he insists that the way he treats me is love.
I will never make him see that our relationship was toxic.
But his assertions tell me one thing: He isn’t here to kill me. He wants to keep me alive. After all, he can’t make me suffer if I’m dead.
While that realization eases my immediate panic, my fear remains for Micah, who continues to lie still behind me.
If I don’t get him out of here, Tyler will kill him.
I push against Tyler’s hands and arms, struggling to free myself. There’s nothing I can say that won’t inflame him.
I could threaten him, cajole him, beg him, appease him, and he will respond only with violence, so once again, I speak the truth. “You have a chance for peace, Tyler. Don’t throw it away.”
“I don’t want peace!” Tyler shoves me away from himself, a downward push. I imagine he wanted me to land on my knees at his feet. To crumple under the force of his physical strength and beg him for mercy.
Instead, I plant my right hand on the rooftop, maintaining my balance, and use the angle of his shove against him. My right leg sweeps out, my foot cutting through his calves.
The sharp ash that makes up his body swills at my attack.
I can’t topple him, but I’m hoping to distract him for long enough that I can launch myself away from him and reach Micah.
My only plan now is to use every heartbeat to scoop Micah into my arms, spread my wings, and fly him to safety. I have to believe that I’m strong enough to carry his weight. At least down to the street below us, where cars and trucks continue to pass by as humans go about their nights in Philadelphia.
Tyler would never dare expose his dragon form to them.
Even if I can only force him to shift back into his human form, at least then I’ll be able to fight him.
But he’s faster than I am. As I fling myself backward, he grabs my descending foot, wrenches it upward, and flips me onto my back. The rush of scales across my skin protects me from the worst of the fall, but the wind is knocked out of me.
