Ronen
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Bright, yellow heat speared into the sand from the countless windows. It was wrong. The unnatural jarring color. The warmth sweeping across my temple. The hourglass attached to it counting down the days until Hell’s imminent demise—and mine. I preferred blizzards over this.
I also preferred not to have my chest feel like a Hellhound had mauled it, and for my military not to be stretched so thin.
Xavier and the other squads had returned with a count that had me questioning our survival.
Melanie made her play. She seduced the Redemption Circle with the promise of freedom and power.
I wasn’t surprised it worked. But it left me with shattered pieces I had to pick up and somehow forge into a move that’d take her out.
Fuck.
Alexei, with his large, healed wings—or as healed as they could be—jutting from his back, raised his hand and sent a lightning bolt into the beams. The loud crack and thunder that followed silenced the crowd.
“By now, all of you have figured out why half our military is gone. Lucifer deserted. But what you don’t know is that the creator of the infection has possessed him.”
There were no whispers or gasps. Little love was lost for their king. Hell made most his bitter foe.
“In three days, they’ll be here. We’ve yet to know the count of their army, but by the amount that has left us, we will be facing hundreds, maybe thousands, of infected souls and blood-banded. I do not tell you this to scare you, but prepare you.”
A few of the newer recruits paled. The rest held steady—determination set like armor. Those were the warriors who had made a home here and weren’t embittered by their suffering.
“As of right now, the infection can be spread through bite and blood. Ranged combat will be the safest mode of engagement. And since we’ll mainly be fighting souls, fire and ice are the only ways to stop them.
Which is why your new squads have been reorganized around a single fire asset.
If you are assigned to the first line of defense, your primary directive is protection of the fire asset.
The second line will contain and seal breaches in the city and castle.
The third line will provide ranged suppression. Understood?”
“Yes, General,” they responded as one.
“Good. Over the next few days, we will focus on rapid integration drills, weapons preparation, and breach-and-containment plans. My Dreads will distribute assignments. Understood?”
“Yes, General,” they chorused.
“Then get to work.”
“Think we stand a chance?” Alexei asked beside me.
“We have to. There are no other options.”
Alexei unsheathed a dagger, needing his obsessive habit to calm his nerves. “Then let’s hope MJ and Lucille find something that’ll help.”
“Accepting Hadrian’s claim will help,” Aspen said.
We turned to him and the skeletal hound whose head met Aspen’s chest.
“How so?” Alexei inquired
“Hadrian would become another fire asset.”
A Seraphim one at that. It would be beneficial to have.
“You know how it’s done?”
“No powers. Only weapons. We fight until one of us is unable to continue.”
Alexei fumbled his dagger, catching it before it hit the ground.
Aspen lifted a brow.
“Sorry, it’s just…” Alexei gestured at Hadrian. “He’s a skeleton. Can he even feel pain without flesh, blood, and organs? How do you expect to win that fight?”
How indeed.
“We haven’t seen him fight,” I replied. “Not in the way it counts to a Soulhound.”
That answer clearly added to Alexei’s disbelief, but it wasn’t for him. Aspen had a hint now, one I was never given with Rune. She stood between us, sending me a warning through our connection.
Aspen considered Hadrian. The skeletal hound didn’t acknowledge him, instead drilling those flaming eyes into my soul in a loud and clear shut the fuck up.
“We’ll do it right outside, away from the windows. I don’t want our military distracted,” I said. “Alexei and Rune, keep an eye on the drills.”
Alexei grumbled something about wishing he could watch the suicidal showdown as we walked off the dais. Even Rune’s disappointment followed me.
Outside, mud suctioned to our boots while the sun heated the dead grass, filling the air with the scent of damp earth. Aspen held out his hand. I slowly unsheathed one Soul Sword and handed it over.
Aspen positioned himself across from Hadrian, sword raised. The Soulhound placed one paw forward and bowed deeply. It signified respect for Aspen and his choice to accept Hadrian’s claim. Aspen bowed back, starting off better than I had.
He straightened, and Hadrian lunged, maw wide and seeking. Aspen spun out of the way and slashed at Hadrian’s neck. The sword clanged against bone, doing nothing more than pissing off his Soulhound.
He sliced. Clang.
He hacked. Clang.
He drove his blade through Hadrian’s ribs and jerked upward. Clang.
Hadrian snarled with every connection. His bones didn’t chip or dent; each swipe of the blade equated to a poke in the side.
Hadrian sped around him and jumped on his back, sinking his claws in. Aspen hissed, and I hoped Hadrian didn’t nick anything important. Hadrian pressed his weight into his back. Aspen whipped around and slammed the hilt into Hadrian’s bony cheek.
I huffed a sigh and shook my head.
Aspen noticed my reaction. “How do I beat him?” he snapped, stopping Hadrian’s bite with the blade.
“Who says you can?”
Think, Aspen. What do you do with an opponent you’ll never defeat?
Hadrian snapped his jaws toward me.
It wasn’t exactly a subtle hint. But, I would rather not have to drag Aspen’s bloody back to Sam like Alexei had done with me.
Aspen narrowed his gaze, his attention on me instead of the fight. Hadrian surged up and barreled into his chest, knocking him into the mud.
In a second, Hadrian could’ve clamped his jaws around Aspen’s neck and ended him. Sometimes, a Soulhound would kill their intended soul-bind. But Hadrian waited, giving him a chance.
Aspen raised his sword. Hadrian growled, claws digging into his shoulders. Then Aspen paused, and Hadrian quieted.
He stared at Hadrian, understanding easing the tension from his face. My sword fell from his hands.
Hadrian moved off him and bowed once more. Aspen pushed to his knees and dipped his head. Deference.
Appeased, Hadrian prowled around him, sizing him up—searching. Then he sprang forward, clamping his teeth around his shoulder.
Fire flashed in Aspen’s eyes as he held in his cry, and hopefully held the block on his emotions as he seethed through his teeth. Fortunately, he didn’t pull on his power or reach for my blade.
Trust.
Blue light gathered at the wound site and pulsed into Hadrian’s teeth.
When it hit his jaw, the light flashed to flame, then flickered across every bone.
The flames grew bigger, brighter, to the point I had to avert my gaze.
Heat licked unpleasantly across my face, lasting a couple minutes before it died, taking the unbearable brightness with it.
Aspen cursed, and I looked at Hadrian.
Seven Hells.
Muscle defined every inch of his enormous body. His thick fur coat glistened almost blindingly beneath the sun. I had expected it to be blue. But it was the purest white. The only blue remained in Hadrian’s eyes and the small licks of blue flame that rippled randomly through his fur.
Something dark flashed across the arena windows. I glanced over, finding Rune gazing outside at us, her shadow tail coiling quickly behind her. Her desire shot through our connection.
Wonderful. My Soulhound was about to fall in love with his. I’d never be rid of him.
Aspen handed me back my sword as he clutched his shoulder. But it must not hurt terribly with that smirk on his face.
“Want to compare Soulhounds?”
“Compare or bet on?” I challenged. “Hadrian was unkillable before. With flesh and organs, he’s susceptible to pain and death now. And if you die, he dies. They honor us by not only choosing us, but giving up their invincibility to be bonded.”
Aspen’s smirk sobered. A silent conversation passed between him and Hadrian, then Aspen bowed again.
Voices pulled my attention away from the pair. The Nightmare patrol was finally back. They trudged up the hill, looking muddy but unscathed.
“Run into trouble, Damion?” I asked their leader when they reached us.
He tilted his head like he needed to think about it. “Uh, no.”
“Then what was the holdup?” I demanded.
His squad blinked like they were having difficulty keeping their eyes open.
“We were tired,” Terra said, stumbling closer to Aspen and the doors behind him. Three others followed her. Igor passed Aspen as if he planned to escape debrief and go straight to sleep.
“We’re not done, Igor,” I barked.
He stopped, head falling forward and shoulders slumping. Mud smeared the back of his neck and caked his face like the rest of the Nightmares.
I turned back to Damion.
“We—” Damion blinked and frowned at the ground. “Ran…” He shook his head and reached up to massage his temples.
The hairs on my arms stood on end.
I’d seen this before with Vanessa. I thought she had been drunk. But they weren’t drunk. Their heads had been tampered with.
“Into—”
I reached for Aspen.
My shadows speared out right after Igor luscelered.
He closed the short distance between him and Aspen. His teeth found Aspen’s neck.
Hadrian snarled.
I unsheathed my sword, but Igor was already engulfed in flames. There one second and gone the next.
Aspen’s blue Seraphim Glory continued to flicker over his skin as he touched the two bloody rows of serrated teeth marks at his neck.