Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
WARWICK
The squeal of tires came around the tower, heading for where Istvan ran into the forest with Simon. The moment they got into the car I had no chance of getting my nephew.
“No!” I bellowed, terror firing my rage, tearing my boots across the land.
A door slammed, tires squealed, and through the trees, I spotted an SUV speeding away. Tracker was behind the wheel, Istvan in the passenger seat, and shadowy outlines of Olena and Ivanenko in the backseat.
Panic heaved my muscles as my energy waned. The hum I always felt to Kovacs was gone. I could feel everything inside me scorched into cinders, the pain almost crippling, but I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t lose Simon.
“Simon!” I bellowed, pushing my legs harder, sweat beading down my face.
A sniffling sound stopped me in my tracks.
“Uncle Warwick?” Simon came out of the forest, blood still leaking into his shirt. His face crumpled as he ran to me.
Falling to my knees, I wrapped him up in my arms, relief heaving from my lungs, pulling his tiny frame into me.
He was safe. And I would never let anything hurt him again.
I gripped him so tight, not wanting to let him go.
“I want Mom.” He sniffled into my chest.
“Okay, big man.” I squeezed him tighter, sighing deeply. “Let’s go find her.”
I rose, lifting him up into my arms, his head falling on my shoulder.
Suddenly, pain wrenched across my chest, a grunt heaving through me, and I dropped us both back to the ground, my body curling over.
“Uncle Warwick?” Simon’s voice sounded scared as I clenched my teeth through the shredding pain.
I had felt our link burn out before; I knew how it felt when she used my energy.
This was different.
Hollow. Empty. As if all the color in my world was ripped from me.
I bellowed out a roar.
“Uncle Warwick!” Simon cried out. “What’s wrong?”
Sucking in, I pushed back the agony, standing up and taking his hand. The moment we hit the edge of the forest my gaze went to the spot I had left her.
Gone.
Panic rose in my throat, my hand clasping Simon’s tighter, pulling him with me as I jogged back to the spot.
“Kovacs?” I gritted out. More and more, I felt off, my gaze taking in the sea of dead bodies on the ground.
“Mom!” Simon yanked free of my grip, running across the terrain where my sister stood. Her shock morphed into tears as she scooped him up, hugging her son to her body in utter relief and love. Zander and Mykel stood nearby.
“Warwick!” Ash’s voice hit my ear, and he ran to me, Scorpion moving to me as well, but my attention didn’t make it past Tad’s body on the ground. The horrified shock. Tadhgan was dead.
She was able to kill the oldest and most powerful Druid alive.
Most of the carnage on the ground was from her too. I could taste her signature, smell her magic like I was tuned only to it.
“Fuck, princess, what did you do?” I muttered, reaching out for her, but feeling nothing.
“Kovacs!” I screamed, echoing off the sky, bouncing through the trees as if it was chasing after her.
The link was burnt out, an abyss that echoed forever.
I couldn’t even feel a buzz between us, spearing alarm in my lungs, the darkness already yanking me down to my most basic instincts.
Kill. Avenge. Destroy.
“Where is she?” Scorpion’s voice peaked with dread, sensing it too, but not as I did. I knew it with every fiber of my being.
“Gone.” I stared out at the forest, the sun dipping below the horizon, knowing she was somewhere out there, every second getting farther and farther away.
“Better watch out, princess,” I muttered to myself. “I’m coming for you.”
If she thought she could run, could hide from me, she was mistaken.
I hunted and tracked down my prey.
I was the threat, the danger.
I was The Wolf . . .