Chapter Eight
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE, Whisper disobeyed.
He bolted toward the wall, gauging the distance to jump—
A single shot fired.
Nooooo!
Something snapped inside Lucien, ricocheting down the bond and making me stumble.
A rush of power. A gush of life and heat and energy. A concussive blast punched through the air, smacking into Whisper and making him trip.
The panther snarled as he was flung forward just as the bullet whizzed past, slamming into the pavers—exactly where Whisper had been a second ago.
Lucien staggered, his breath turning shallow. They’ll all fucking die for this.
I dashed forward and wrapped my arm around his waist. The strain of whatever he’d just done tore at his body, costing far too much for him to pay.
“Huh, that’s strange.” The leader scowled at his gun as if it’d misfired. “I never miss.”
Lucien gathered what strength he had left and stood to his full height. Anger flared in his gaze as he unwound my arm from his waist and tried to tame his breathing. Don’t touch me. Just in case.
Our eyes locked, and the soft drums of so many thud-thuds, thud-thuds, thud-thuds echoed in my mind. What...what is that?
He gave me a weary smile. Their heartbeats.
You can hear their hearts beating? Gushing with rhythmic blood. Dozens of them. Everywhere.
How long had he been able to do this?
What did it mean?
If I can still hear them...maybe I can use them. Closing his eyes, Lucien sank into whatever power he’d tapped into and yanked. Hard.
My own heart skipped a beat as if he’d suddenly squeezed it in his fist.
Two men on the wall wobbled, wrenching my stare upward. One dropped to his knees, clutching his chest as his rifle clattered against the stone.
“What the fuck are you playing at?” the leader barked at his subordinates. “Get up.”
With his face drained of colour, the man pushed upright and fisted his gun.
No one seemed to connect their sudden cardiac issues or Whisper’s miraculous avoidance of a bullet to Lucien.
Hope flared sharp and bright even as Lucien trembled. The depth of his hollowness made me panic, but he straightened and gave me a stronger smile. Do you trust me?
I blinked. With every part of me.
Good. Turning away, he focused on the leader. His hand found mine, squeezing once. Can you access your ice at all?
No. Grief threaded through the word. It’s still missing. Ever since I woke up, it’s just...gone.
Can you feel anything...else?
I stilled. Anything else?
I caught flashes of him being able to feed off another’s energy, but then he shook his head. Doesn’t matter.
Before I could confess that, ever since I’d chased him up the mountain, I could taste death, his mental presence brushed against mine again—exhausted and apologetic but with fierce determination. You’re sure you trust me?
I studied him even as the strangest sensation tickled my heart. I just told you I do.
I’m going to try something. He never looked at me, keeping his eyes on the leader. If it works...you’ll probably feel a lot worse than what you already do.
I flinched at the thought. Despite living my entire life with migraines and nausea, I wasn’t much better now. What are you going to do?
Borrow your energy.
What did he mean borrow? How?
His fingers twitched around mine. I swear I’ll keep you safe. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep all of us safe.
I know you will.
You’re giving me permission?
I had no idea what he needed my permission for, but...I nodded and—
Jackknifed in two as something fierce yanked around my heart.
I struggled to breathe as a sudden, insidious drain chewed at my meagre strength. An involuntary whimper escaped as I felt my energy trickle out of me and into him. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was deeply violating—as if he fed off my very soul.
Lucien’s shoulders straightened as mine rounded.
Colour returned to his cheeks as he flexed his fingers and balled his hands.
Dizziness came for me as the world tilted. I clung to him for balance, vision greying at the edges. Through the bond, my stolen energy coiled inside him, granting him strength he didn’t have before.
Wrapping his arm around me, he took a step toward the leader on the wall.
The connection between us sharpened as he mentally reached toward the men. I felt him sink invisible talons into the nearest heartbeats again, feeding like a vampire off their lifeforce.
One man scrunched up his face as if he had indigestion. Another clutched his chest and groaned. A third pressed a gloved hand to his forehead, blinking hard as if his world spun, same as mine.
The leader tapped his temple, then shook his head, his gaze locking onto Lucien. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, but it stops. Right now.”
Lucien bared his teeth. A bolt of heat prepared to strike—
But a gunshot rang out.
For a second, I panicked on who he’d targeted this time. Whisper? Dillon? Lucien—
A searing line of fire tore across my left hip.
I cried out as slicing pain cut through flesh and carved over bone.
“Rook!” Dillon bellowed. “Fuck!”
Auntie Mei screamed, and Uncle Wen cursed.
My leg buckled. Hot blood poured down my thigh in a shocking gush, soaking my white nightgown with a river of black.
“Shit!” Lucien’s arm banded tight around me, keeping me upright. Ripping me close, his free hand clamped over my bleeding hip. His fingers shook against my nightgown as blood welled, wet and tarry between them. “Are you okay? Fuck!”
“Jesus Christ, Rook!” Dillon tried to run to us, but the leader snapped his fingers, and two men aimed their rifles at him, stopping him mid-stride. “Fuck you!” Dillon snarled. “Fuck all of you!”
The leader’s voice rang out, calm and ice-cold. “That was your final warning. I was told not to hurt either of you, but you’re just not listening. Whatever you were doing—whatever little parlour trick you thought you could play is over because if it isn’t...I’ll stop playing nice.”
Lucien kept pressure on my hip, his anger a tangible thing. Lifting his blood-covered fingers, he inspected the wound beneath. A gush of relief came through the bond. “It’s not deep. It’s just a graze—”
“Did you hear me?” The leader took a deep breath as he’d run out of patience. “Look at me and acknowledge just how close I am to slaughtering everyone.”
Lucien growled under his breath making Whisper join in. The energy he’d borrowed from me percolated like a churning cyclone in his belly.
“Look at me!” the leader roared.
Lucien glowered at the man, his hate blaring in my mind and almost drowning out the pain in my hip. “You’re all dead men.”
“I don’t listen to empty promises.” Pulling out a black device from his utility belt, he waggled it. “I was warned you were different. I was also told what to do if you misbehaved. This is your last chance.”
I choked as I recognised the weapon from the mountain. A frequency emitter that tore through body and mind.
When Lucien continued to glower—his own thoughts filling with memories of how savage the frequency pain had been—the leader shrugged.
“Here’s what is going to happen.” He held up the emitter.
“I’m going to give you one more chance to walk out of here on your own.
To come with us...obediently. In return, these people will live.
However, if you refuse or if you play any more tricks, I’ll press this little button and knock you unconscious, and when you wake up, everyone on this clifftop will be dead.
” His thumb stabbed the button, sending a current of excruciating agony through us.
We stumbled together, breaking under a volt of skull-splitting noise.
The frequency stopped, leaving my ears ringing.
“Well?” the leader snapped.
The bond snarled with Lucien’s rage. I wanted him to burn all of them, but...the math wasn’t in our favour.
Even if he could kill a few...could he kill them all?
What if the rest opened fire?
Dillon would die.
Uncle Wen. Auntie Mei.
Whisper.
And...we’d be taken away anyway because—
We need to leave. Lucien’s voice slid into my mind, low and deadly. I agree with you. If it looks like we’re doing what we’re told, at least we can get them away from this courtyard.
I nodded weakly, cursing the throbbing pain in my hip.
Are you alright? His thoughts nudged mine in a soft caress. Can you walk?
I’m fine.
I’m going to fucking slaughter every single one of them for hurting you. Clutching me closer, he supported most of my weight and glowered at the man still pointing his gun at me. Just stay with me and I’ll figure this out, I promise.
I tried to offer encouragement, but another needle of agony made me gasp.
Sucking in a furious breath, Lucien raised his voice. “Hold your fire. We’ll come with you.”
The leader gave a satisfied grunt. “Finally.” Swinging the handle of the emitter around his finger, he grinned. “Took you long enough. Let’s go then. The sooner we leave, the sooner the others can get treatment.”
Lucien didn’t answer. He simply started walking, half-carrying me as we headed for the gate. A storm raged beneath his skin as he arrowed in on the thud-thud of echoing heartbeats, counting each one, memorising them, trying to figure out how to stop them.
Whisper chirped and chased after us, his large paws silent and heavy.
The panther pressed against Lucien, wrenching his master to a stop. A flash of despair as he dropped his eyes and studied his best friend. “You can’t come.”
Whisper snarled and strode toward the exit.
“Whisper,” Lucien snapped. “You’re staying.”
The panther roared with feisty defiance.
“Fuck’s sake.” Whirling around, Lucien glowered at the leader above us. “We’ll behave...but you need to let me deal with my cat first.”
Almost as if he was bored now that he’d won, the leader nodded with a roll of his eyes. “Fine. Just be quick about it.” As an afterthought, he added, “If you try anything though, the next shot will kill someone you care about, you have my word.”
Lucien didn’t reply as the massive panther padded back toward us, growling all the way. His golden eyes gleamed with protest and denial as if he already knew what was about to happen.
Dillon cursed under his breath, blood dripping from his wounded arm as Lucien snapped his fingers at Whisper to follow, then half-carried me toward the gnarly tree where Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen huddled beside Lanlan’s body.
“Don’t go with them,” Dillon hissed, his eyes tracking us. “You can’t.”
Lucien flat out ignored him as he gave a quick smile to his head steward and housekeeper—two people he’d known since birth. “Send someone to get a doctor the moment we’ve gone, alright?”
Auntie Mei sniffed back her constantly pouring tears. “You can’t leave, Xiao Lu. You can’t. We’ll never see you again.”
“Never is a long time.” Lucien shrugged. “We’ll see you before then.”
Uncle Wen’s face was grey with pain, but his eyes met Lucien’s with fatherly pride. “You’ll come back. I know you will. We’ll be here waiting for you, just like before.”
Lucien just nodded, let me go, and headed straight for the tree.
The bullet graze on my hip stung with wildfire.
“I’m getting bored, Ashfall,” the leader taunted from the wall. “You’re walking but not in the direction I want.”
Lucien threw him the finger and reached for the large red ribbon wrapped around the trunk of the tree—a splash of red for prosperity and protection.
With a savage jerk, he ripped the ribbon off.
The weathered satin fluttered in his hands—a quiet ward against misfortune that had clearly failed today.
Fisting it tight, he turned and made eye contact with Whisper where the panther sulked beside me. “Come here, you stupid beast.”
I choked on a sob at the pet name. At how much feeling and love echoed behind such derogatory words.
Whisper limped a little as if he’d been injured when Lucien shoved him out of the bullet’s path with unseen power.
Lucien’s emotions poured down the bond as the barrier between his heart and mine blew wide open.
Guilt crushed him for hurting his beloved cat.
Violent hate for having to do it. Blistering rage for these men threatening everything.
Silent tears poured down my cheeks as the panther stopped before his master and raised his massive head.
Lucien’s jaw clenched so hard, my teeth ached along with his. Dropping to one knee, he scratched the sleek predator behind his velveteen ears and whispered something I couldn’t hear.
Whisper leaned forward and licked Lucien’s cheek.
The ache in my heart matched the ache in his, all wrapped up with terrible, tangible fury.
With shaking hands, Lucien carefully tied the red ribbon around the cat’s neck. Pressing his forehead to Whisper’s, he murmured, “You have to stay.”
Whisper hissed and tried to pull back but Lucien held him tight. “You will not follow me or go against my command.”
The bond flooded with emotions so sharp and painful, it stole what little breath I had left.
“I’m sorry,” Lucien whispered. “Stay safe and protect them. Wait for me.”
Whisper rumbled low, half a growl, half a whimper, bumping his head against Lucien’s chest.
Lucien’s throat worked. He pressed one last kiss between Whisper’s ears, then rose.
Turning, he offered up the other end of the ribbon to Auntie Mei’s blood-stained hands. “Please take good care of him.”
Auntie Mei burst into fresh tears, refusing to accept. “Xiao Lu...you can’t.”
Lucien grabbed her bloody hand, smacked the leash binding Whisper into it, and curled her fingers tight around it. “Take him.”
She shook her head. “You can’t go with them, Luxin. You can’t.”
Whisper struggled to get free. Dillon stepped toward us, and Uncle Wen shifted in a puddle of his blood.
Lucien balled his hands and glowered at everyone. “You will all stay and behave. We’re leaving, and you’re not going to do a damn thing to jeopardise that, got it?”
Whisper spat.
Lucien pointed at the beast. “If you make me watch them kill you, I will never forgive you.”
As if Whisper understood, he dropped to his haunches with a whine.
“We’ll see you soon, alright?” Lucien gave a fake smile to everyone, wrapped his arm around me, then led me limping out of the courtyard.
The last thing I saw was Dillon, his eyes full of worry...