Chapter 14
MALICIOUS
A cry tears from my throat, “No! Summer! Please, no!”
I’ve fucked up. I promised Summer she’d be safe. Fuuuuck. Tears stream down my face, tinkling against the hard metal of my skin as I do the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my very long life … I turn my back on the ancient.
Kneeling, I cup the back of Summer’s neck, pulling her to my chest. Sobs rip painfully from my throat as I rock back and forth. “No, no, no, noooo.”
I can’t help but flinch from the pain scraping against my skin as the ancient speaks, much closer than before. “You are lucky, Malicious. Your mate isn’t dead. She should be. She would be if she were merely human. But it seems the magic in her blood saved her … this time.”
Sliding my fingers around Summer’s throat, the edges of my vision start to tunnel when I feel the faint fluttering of her pulse. I take a few deep breaths, relief giving me strength. Keeping my eyes averted, I tuck Summer tighter into my embrace as I turn on my knees. Bowing low over her slack body, I press my head to the splintered wood planks. “I didn’t know, Ancient One. I swear it. I don’t even know what it is. Take it.”
The silence stretches, but I don’t dare lift my head. I’ve angered an ancient. There are only four living ancients, and none of them have left their lairs in ages. And now, not only has this one emerged, but he has come to the human realm because I was curious. I was bored and just had to poke my nose where it didn’t belong.
Fuck.
The ground rumbles with slow, approaching thuds. I don’t move. I barely breathe. An agonizing sting prickles my skin as the ancient speaks from right before me. “I will not go fetch what is mine, what you stole. You will retrieve it for me. You will leave your mate, here … with me, and you will bring me the stone.”
My body doesn’t want to cooperate, but against everything screaming inside me, I manage to lay Summer on the ground, materializing a blanket to drape over her naked, unconscious body. My knees tremble as I stand.
The ancient has changed his form. I’m not sure what his true form looks like. I don’t think anyone knows. This ancient is so old, I wonder if he even remembers his original form.
His dark, smoky body is now small enough to fit in my destroyed living room, though the many sharp points of his horns—as thick as young tree trunks at the base—still spear above where my roof used to be. Dozens of white eyes that go from his bony forehead and down his foremost horns stare unblinking at me. Two of his arms sit across his chest, the other two are bent at his sides, hands on his hips. His scaled tail curls and whips around him, smoke trailing the movement, concealing his form from the knees down. His black lips pull back, exposing his obsidian fangs.
The ancient’s chest glows red, and more smoke billows from his mouth as he commands, “I’m waiting, Malicious.”
I take a step, and it feels like my heart cracks. I can’t leave Summer with him, but I have to. Another step nearly takes me to my knees. Somehow, I shuffle over the wreckage of my home. By the time I reach the concealed door in my bedroom, I’m scrambling. I don’t bother taking the stairs, jumping, spreading my wings as much as I can to fly all the way down. My feet don’t touch the floor as I swoop through the safe room, snatching the gem. The stone burns, even with my hardened, metal skin. I don’t care. I shoot back up to the main floor, gritting against the shout building in my throat as the skin of my hand melts, bronze molten metal splashing to the ground in my wake.
The pain fades, and a growl erupts from me when I see the ancient leaning over Summer. The way his enormous shoulders shift, it looks like he’s … touching her. With a flex of my wings, I fly over him, spinning, then spreading my sharp wings wide as I drop between the ancient and my mate. “Do not touch her!” My feathers slice through his skin. I grunt in pain as his molten blood scorches me, Smoke swirls around where I struck him, repairing in an instant any damage I did.
The ancient chuckles, the deep sound making my head feel like it’s splitting apart. He holds out a hand. His long, boney fingers tipped with lethal claws, drip smoky magma that sizzles on the floor. I stand tall, shielding Summer, but keep my gaze averted as I drop the gem in the ancient’s waiting palm.
Slowly, he curls his fingers around the stone.
Please leave. Please leave.
But he doesn’t. The ancient looms over me, and I nearly choke on the brimstone and smoke curling around me, but I don’t dare make a noise as he says, “Enjoy your mate, Malicious. I’m glad she survived your mistake.”
I swallow, willing my body to stay upright. I’m trying not to show the trembling I feel deep inside, but I don’t know if I’m succeeding. The smoke fades, and fresh air enters my lungs. Still, I don’t move. The ground rumbles with a thud, then another, and another, each getting farther away. Even after silence falls, I count to ten, then twenty.
On a sob, I spin around and collapse before Summer. I rip the blanket off her, running my hands over every inch of her skin. She’s okay. She’s unharmed. A healthy pink has even come back to her cheeks, chasing away the deathly pallor from before. I pull her into my lap, rocking as I stroke her hair.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Summer. Please wake up. Please, show me those beautiful eyes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”