Chapter 30
Seph
Fighters in black emerged from the flaming ruins, armed with machine guns and wearing masks.
Someone launched themselves at me, shielding me from the gunfire.
I was thrown violently to the ground.
I looked up and met Kieran’s furious hazel eyes.
“Libertarians!” Someone yelled.
Around us, both the Wardens and the Soldiers of Light opened fire on the black-clad newcomers.
Kieran yanked me to my feet and dragged me toward the truck. Dev was already shoving Ash into the back seat.
“Take them! Get her out of here!” Dev yelled.
Elliot and his men were already taking cover and firing back.
Where the hell is Sy?
Georgina’s men shoved her into the back of a car, shielding her from the gunfire.
Sy soared overhead in his full dragon form, his shadow sweeping across the airstrip. He roared down at the chaos below.
Kieran tried to start the truck, but a shot rang out and the engine died.
“Get down!”
The windows exploded in a shower of glass.
I threw myself over Ash. Glass shards sliced across my skin, a thousand tiny cuts all at once.
Kieran tumbled out of the truck and took cover on the far side.
“Get out! We’re going to have to run for it!”
He reached inside and kicked Ash hard in the side.
“Ash! Wake the fuck up!”
Ash stirred, blinking awake, his face awash with cuts and bruises. He looked weak, like he’d been beaten for days. But when he saw me, he smiled.
“Seph,” he sighed, wincing in pain.
“Ash, you’ve got to get up. You have to move. Please.”
“Sy! Cover us!” Kieran shouted.
Sy cast him a look, like he didn’t appreciate the order, but he roared and released a wave of black dragon fire.
More Libertarians kept coming.
I lifted Ash’s arm around my shoulder, trying hard not to touch his skin. Though he had proven he could touch me safely, I could feel my power churning beneath my skin, desperate to protect me.
Kieran ran to Ash’s other side, slinging Ash’s arm over his shoulder, and together we dragged him toward the cover of a building that wasn’t on fire.
When I turned back, it was like looking straight into hell.
Fire from the buildings spread through the ruins. Equinox soldiers fought Libertarians. Libertarians fought Soldiers of Light.
And in the middle of it all — Sy.
He stood like a god in the ruins of the earth. His dragon form was black as night.
The soldiers fired, but nothing touched him. He was pure power. I could hear the screams of the soldiers as they burned to ash.
It took me a few seconds to realise my hands were wet with blood.
I looked down.
A gaping wound in Ash’s side was oozing through his shirt, soaking him in sickly red.
“No! Ash!”
Kieran cursed and ripped off his shirt, pressing the fabric hard against the wound. He was covered in his own bloody scars, but nowhere near as badly as Ash.
“Why would you come here?” Kieran snapped. “You are so stupid! So irresponsible!”
“You know why!” I glared at him.
“And what was your plan? For gods’ sake, Seph!”
“Don’t put this on me! I would suffer through anything if it meant you were safe. You and Ash!”
Kieran stared at me. There was a fire in his eyes I didn’t understand — something fractured there.
He looked away and tightened the makeshift bandage on Ash’s side.
Ash groaned in agony.
“I’m okay,” he mumbled, barely conscious.
“Shut up,” Kieran growled. “And stay awake.”
He slapped Ash lightly across the face.
Ash forced his eyes open, trying to focus.
He looked around.
“We need a way out of here.”
“What about Dev and Elliot?” I asked.
I leaned past Kieran and peered outside. Sy was burning anything that threatened his path. I could see Elliot and Dev pinned down behind another car.
Dev met my eyes and gestured sharply. Then he did it again.
I followed the direction of his hand.
Near the building, a car sat with two bodies slumped halfway out of the open doors.
The engine was still running.
“There’s a car out there,” I said to Kieran. “One we can use.”
Kieran followed my gaze. I could see the cogs turning.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “And keep pressure on that wound.”
I placed my hands over the bandage.
Ash looked at me blearily.
“I can help.”
“Rest,” I ordered, watching Kieran carefully.
“Seph—”
“Ash! I said rest—”
The barrel of a gun pressed against my head.
“Get up slowly and raise your hands.”
I froze, then slowly began to rise.
A tall, masked figure stood beside me. A belt at his waist held strange vials full of dark liquid and a sharp blade. On his hip hung an APA.
Two more men appeared behind him.
I met Ash’s eyes and saw the rage building in his mismatched gaze.
“Check her,” the man barked to his companion.
One of them grabbed the APA and pressed it against my skin.
The device beeped.
ANOMALY
“It’s her,” the soldier said.
The man laughed. “Finally. Bag her—”
A blast of wind with the force of a hurricane suddenly tore the man away from me.
He slammed into his companions and they crashed to the ground.
I spun around.
Ash was on his feet.
He looked like pure rage and power, his nose flaring as the wind whipped around him like a living storm.
Kieran came racing around the corner and caught him as his legs gave out. He pulled his gun.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
All three men were dead in seconds.
“Get to the car. Now.”
As he hurried me away, I couldn’t help but look back at the three bodies.
It’s her.
They were here for me.