Ronen #3
“Oh, MJ,” the hellion sang, throwing a dagger. It was a distraction while the pet luscelered behind her. Guess I wasn’t the only cheater.
MJ dodged the blade while simultaneously releasing her arrow and then notching another.
She twisted, prepared for the pet to be behind her, but not so close.
He snatched the arrow from her string, and the hellion luscelered beside them, smashing MJ’s empty bow into her face.
MJ grunted, stumbling back with a split lip.
Her fingers came away with blood, and she laughed.
The hellion had just broken the rules and stolen MJ’s heart.
“You’re all cheaters,” Alexei protested, just as distracted by their fight. “I feel like that constitutes an automatic win for us.”
The pet tried to sweep MJ’s feet. She luscelered away from his attempt, ripping free two arrows and fisting them in her hands like daggers. She grinned at the other two with an expression that said, Try me.
“Looks like your team has cheaters too,” I said, slamming my forehead into Alexei’s nose and flipping him off me.
“Bastard!”
“Wasn’t there something you said about distractions earlier?” I shot back, attempting to pin him. “I was just taking your words to heart, Lex.” He struggled beneath me, and I pressed my weight into him. “One. Two.”
A hum of energy raised the hair on my arms. Alexei’s eyes filled with silver-blue flame.
“Lex,” I warned.
“I like to win,” he countered.
My shadows perked up at his admission and the electricity gathering around us. This was about to get fun.
A wrathful cry pierced the air, shattering our growing tension.
“Lucille, stop! I’m fine,” the pet shouted, trying to pull her off MJ.
Rune was there too, nudging her head into the hellion’s chest, trying to push her off.
The hellion screamed again, the sound cruel and vengeful.
She struggled against them as she fought to hurt MJ.
Faster than I’d ever seen, the hellion had an icicle made and was driving toward MJ’s neck. A flash of red and blue fire melted it.
I released my shadows, swathing us in darkness.
Switching from my normal sight to my thermal vision, I luscelered over.
Based on their heat signatures, cutting off their sight didn’t stop the hellion, but it slowed her down.
I grabbed the pet by his collar and ripped him out of my way.
Ignoring his curse, I wrapped my arm around the hellion’s waist and dragged her, kicking and screaming, off MJ.
Her Hellfire sparked white, the hottest color in my heat-signature vision.
She threw a ball toward MJ, but it flickered and fizzled against a solid wall of shadows.
I lightened the mental block I had against the hellion.
Seven Hells.
The manipulative energy had grown.
I grabbed her chin to force her to meet my eyes, but she jerked her head and shook off my hold.
No. Not her. Their bond. It was like it knew what I was about to do and had adapted to stop me.
“Hellion, look at me!”
I switched back to my normal sight, her glowing body vanishing from view. But she was still warm and solid in my arms.
She could find my gold eyes in the darkness. She always could.
“Let me go!” she seethed.
“No. I won’t let you near MJ until you let me help you.” I took her entire jaw in my palm and forced it up. But her damned eyes were closed.
“Lucille,” I barked.
“You will not beat me,” she said, voice low and sweet. Not her.
Before I could force her eyes open, the energy inside her shifted again—no longer vengeful.
Something darker took hold, sinking into her essence.
Her winterberry scent turned bitter. The brushes of her soul against mine scraped over the places she should’ve easily fit into.
I winced, my arm tightening around her as I fought the desire to release her.
Anger slithered through her emotions, dredged up by the sinister energy taking over.
It was pissed. I was a threat to it, and it wanted me gone.
She relaxed in my arms, surprising me. The dark energy within her expanded, hiding all emotion. A flash of purple flickered around her hand, then vanished.
“Lucille?”
She responded with a hiss.
Confused, I flipped to my thermal vision.
An icicle slipped from her palm, the tip coated in something warm. Gradually, the dark energy shrank, releasing her. As it faded from her mind, her emotions flooded back. She was in pain.
My praesidium woke inside me, my shadows whipping around us as if to fend off attackers. Only, there was no one near us. No one hurt my hellion.
She did it to herself. The bond made her.
No. It was too soon. The guardian bond couldn’t be seeking penance already. Could it? Or had I done something to trigger it?
I released her and reeled in my shadows, giving everyone back their sight. The hellion clutched her cheek, keeping her attention on the ground. She wouldn’t look at any of us. Clenching my jaw, I searched for the pet, hoping I was wrong, knowing I wasn’t.
He stood off to the side, frowning at Lucille. And I saw it—the long cut across his cheek.
The hellion grabbed my arm. “It’s nothing. It’s not his fault.”
I slowly turned my attention back to her. Blood smeared her face and continued to drip from her wound onto the snow. The cut was wide and angry, worse than the damned pet’s. I released a wisp of shadows, letting them fill her cut until we saw Sam.
“Aspen, it’s fine. I’m fine!” she insisted, dropping my arm to cover her wound as if we all hadn’t seen it.
“Fine?” He scoffed. “Fine? This”—he gestured violently to his face—“is nothing compared to yours. What happens if I get a small cut on my arm? Will you stab yourself? Will you cut off your limb? How much more do you expect me to take from you and be able to live with?” he shouted.
I stared at the pet—the threat—the darkness within me pulsing. It wanted to destroy him. Take him out of the equation. Keep her from harming herself for him. She shouldn’t have to give him anything else. Ever.
He met my gaze, his emotions laid bare. Anguish.
Guilt. A bone-crushing defeat. I saw it all, corroding what was left of his mental fragility.
I could even see the question he didn’t dare voice in front of her.
The one that would silence the tormenting images.
End the voices that told him he was a disgusting stain on existence. Not worthy. Nothing.
His eyes begged me to do it. I wanted nothing more.
My fingers twitched.
He nodded.
A despairing pain ripped through her, knocking the breath from my lungs and almost sending me stumbling back.
“You promised!” the hellion screamed, storming toward him. “A night and a day.”
The invasive energy, which I wished to seize and wrench from her body, snaked through her crushing emotions, heightening them. It was weaponizing her feelings in service to their bond. It forced her to her knees in front of him.
She lifted her head, tears shining in her eyes.
My praesidium, unending and cold, tempted my restraint.
He wanted to die. So why not kill him? I should end this all now.
My shadows murmured words of encouragement, feeding off my praesidium and the darkness woven through my being. I moved slowly toward Lucille and the pet, careful not to provoke MJ or Alexei. Rune walked with me, sending me mixed emotions that I ignored.
I stepped around Lucille, about to reach for my Soul Swords, when she latched onto my ankle.
“No, please,” she whispered with an ache that destroyed me. Then she said two words I wished burned from her mind, never to be spoken again. “Help him.”
Help him?
Help the male who destroyed countless lives? Help the male who broke her heart and her trust? Help the male who threatened her life with every second he breathed?
No.
I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t.
MJ and Alexei luscelered beside Aspen.
“Ro—”
A resounding crack shook the ground. The sentient wind from Veil Forest shrieked; with it came shattering, crashing, and a horrifying dread.
“Shard Storm,” Alexei breathed, his eyes widening.
No. Me and ice were no longer habitual acquaintances.