Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Ryker
I pinned Ellery against my chest and rolled with her. As we did so, our lightning entwined until it swelled to the point of erupting.
It exploded from us in a torrent of destruction that peppered the hillside and slammed into some of the guards, sending even more scrambling backward. When someone nearby grunted, the sound drew my attention to the guards still near the carriage.
They fired more arrows at us as I released another wave of lightning. I destroyed some of the archers while the others rushed for cover.
I couldn’t keep my attention on them as we had to keep the guards pouring over the hills at bay. Mine and Ellery’s lightning surged higher and faster as it built within us.
The intensity of our powers feeding off each other reminded me of the extreme reaction I experienced while standing so close to the Heart of Stone. We’d been in that underworld town, littered with the ashes of the dead, and all I’d wanted was to fuck her until we were too exhausted to move.
That stone had awakened something inside me, and I felt it again now. Except now, passion didn’t consume me. My desire to protect her compelled me, while I also relished how much stronger we were together.
Within this buildup of lightning, I felt all those times when we couldn’t stop touching and fucking. Our soul-deep connection drew us together and poured out in a rush of lightning that would destroy any who dared threaten her.
The lightning increased as it sliced across the sky, hammered the earth, and erupted from our joined hands in a steady stream of blinding white, lethal energy that decimated our enemies. All while a white glow encompassed us in a warm ball of love and power.
“We have to get out of here!” Tucker shouted.
“We can’t leave Callan and Luna!” Scarlet yelled over the crackle of electricity.
Many of the guards pouring over the top of the hill fell back as the lightning lashed at them, but behind them, more still came. Twisting, I shifted my attention back to the guards who’d emerged from the carriage.
Most were still hiding, a couple had been struck dead, but one fired another arrow at us. The riders had either scrambled from their frightened mounts or were thrown from them.
The coach horses must have broken free as the carriage lay in the middle of the road, its broken shafts buried in the sand. The chests remained strapped to the roof. I didn’t know if the horses had charged over the hills or somehow broken through the barriers ahead of them, but they were gone.
I searched for Callan and Luna amongst the wreckage but didn’t see them. “Did they open a portal out?” I demanded.
“No,” Tucker said. “At least not that I saw.”
“They wouldn’t just leave here,” Fletcher said. “If they fled, they would have made sure we knew it.”
The guards stopped coming over the top of the hill to take up defensive positions as they brought out metal shields. With their bows and arrows in hand, archers ran onto the field to stand behind the shields.
Those metal barriers would draw our lightning away from the guards. My father had planned well for our possible attack on the caravan.
“We need that money,” I said.
“Ryker, we have to let it go!” Ellery cried.
“It’s why we’re here, and we have a brief window where we can get to it, but we have to move now.”
Still lying on my chest, Ellery twisted to look over her shoulder. She surveyed the scene on the hill before speaking. “We can do it.”
Wiggling in my arms, she sought to break free, and I reluctantly released her. I couldn’t always shelter her, and given that she was the strongest amsirah in the realm, trying to keep her caged was like breaking the wings of an eagle.
She needed to soar too… even if it terrified me.