Page 107 of Wolf of Ashes
I turn my eyes up to his. “We need to go. Help me with them.”
He seems to shake off his misgivings, giving me a single nod before his big arms close around both Elijah and Anarchy, pulling them safely to his chest.
I lean in behind them, stroking Anarchy’s head and pressing my cheek to hers for a moment. I’m splattered with her blood, but I ignore it.
I want to believe that her chest is moving and that her claws are twitching. I want to believe that, somehow, Diavolo will use his magic to save her. Heal the deadly wound that struck through her upper body and bring her back to me.
The haze of transportation energy builds around us, a swirling mist that squeezes my chest and will take me far away from here within seconds. To a cemetery, no less.
I keep my focus on the keeper, noting the way his white eyes are suddenly turning sharp blue and in that moment, I wonder:Does he sense what I’m about to do?
As the mist builds around us, I fight the pressure around my torso, pushing myself closer to him, managing to reach his lips. I press a kiss to them. A brief touch. Nothing more.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
The magic takes hold, but I’m already pushing off him, propelling myself backward with all my strength, out of the mist and away from his power.
He shouts my name, but his arms are full. His magic streaks toward me, trying to pull me back in, but I’m beyond his reach.
The swirling mist draws in on itself and then the keeper, Elijah, and Anarchy are gone, leaving me with my rage.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
Idon’t have a heart anymore.
If I did, I would feel now what I experienced when my dying mother gasped her final breaths. What I felt when she closed her eyes for the last time.
My mother was my pack.
Anarchy was my pack.
They’re both gone.
I may not be able to feel the grief in my heart, but I know it within my mind. It takes the form of a festering fury that will never leave me.
I don’t wait for Halle to realize that her target is gone, or for Lucian to see that he’s lost Elijah. I don’t make a sound, don’t let loose the scream rising to my throat.
Quietly, I crouch and extend my claws, studying the fight in front of me, the way that Halle tries to strike Jonah even though his fiery skin burns her vines to dust, the way that Lucian tries to get close to her, only to be driven back again. She uses her vines like whips, striking and withdrawing them in a dance that would be deadly if she could get past Lucian’s wings or Jonah’s fiery flames.
It seems that she’ll only separate the vines from her body once she’s caught her prey, as she did with Gad and Valki, both of whom are now so encased in black ropes that their mouths and eyes are covered. I doubt they’re able to hear or see a thing.
They may not even be alive.
Then, Halle manages to land a blow on both Lucian and Jonah at the same time, her vines twining around Jonah’s neck for long enough to fling him backward and striking at Lucian’s ankles hard enough to pull him off-balance.
Both men hit the floor and are now out of her immediate path.
Halle charges forward, her eyes wildly searching the cabin.
Searching for Elijah.
It’s the opening I wanted.
My muscles coil beneath me. I ready my claws. As quietly as a shadow panther, I leap through the gap the two men created, the muscles in my legs giving me air.
Halle’s eyes widen as I bear down on her. Her hands shoot out, new vines streaking from them, but I expected her defense.
My claws cut across the vines, slicing right through them. Just as I cut Vanguard’s snakes apart.
