42. Milo
Milo
We’d made it, were inside the dormitory building with some of the guards when we were told to get out. That it could blow at any second. Not that we were planning on staying put long because Tacita wasn’t amongst the group taking shelter in the lower floor of the building.
The pounding in my head had reached such a level, I’d feared my skull was going to crack.
I’d been forced to shift back by the last wave, the power being used to access my mind draining my cat too much for me to hold the form.
I was barely able to hear Wyatt arguing with the guards to leave us behind as I felt the Angels trying to break through again, determined to locate me. They were closer now, I’d sensed it.
We weren’t a huge group, but the Angels had noticed as soon as we broke free of the shelter of the building, and to their credit, the guards with us did a good job of fighting off any attacks as they escorted us back to the Guards’ offices.
Only, we didn’t make it.
I’d spotted them as soon as we had left the safety of the building.
My legs had grown roots and my hand had yanked on Wyatt’s, our fingers being entwined.
The smell of acrid flesh had stung my eyes and the scent of the blackest smoke I’d ever encountered had slammed into me.
The memory had been as fresh as if I were back there, actually living it.
I couldn’t scream, didn’t know how. I’d tried desperately to escape before they’d found me.
The three men now standing metres away. Angels.
They’d not had their wings out at the time. Not initially. They’d rescued me and then recruited me. Getting me to agree to help them as a payment for saving me.
One of them, the shorter of the group, and the most aggressive, turns as if he can feel my memory too. Our eyes lock, his pupils dilating with immediate recognition. He’s one of the ones that’s been living in my head for the last year.
The others quickly lock onto me as well.
It’s over. They’ve found me and I won’t be escaping.
“Milo, what’s wrong?” Wyatt asked at my side, his eyes following my gaze. “Is that them?”
I couldn’t even nod. I tried to pull my hand out of his, had tried to save him. I knew they’d seen glimpses of him but he’s human. He’s not the one they’re interested in.
We’d fallen behind the main group but two of the guards noticed and retraced their steps to come back for us.
It was a fatal mistake on their behalf as the group of six Angels descended on us.
The Angels split, two taking on our demonic protectors, four focusing on claiming me.
One of the guards was killed instantly as his opponent drew a blade of ice and drove it into the soft flesh under his jaw and up into his brain.
The other tried but ultimately it was three on one and he didn’t stand a chance.
The three not engaged in fighting didn’t pause, they’d kept coming for us.
“You can’t have him,” Wyatt had shouted with such conviction in his voice my chest had felt a little warmth. He’d pulled me behind him.
The pain inside my skull increased further and I’d been forced to use his body to stay upright. My vision had blurred as the white-hot lightening forced my control to recede.
“He’s already ours,” the shorter one replied.
I remembered the moment Wyatt and I were forced to break apart, the feeling of knowing that I’d touched him for the last time.
There was more commotion but I only saw glimpses as I fought to stay conscious. My knees made contact with the tarmac, my hands followed, landing in something warm and sticky. Blood.
Breathing through the pain, pulling oxygen into my lungs felt impossible, like I was sucking in tiny shards of glass.
No. Don’t give in.
Flashes of Tacita at my bedside in a medical room rolled through my head. Then of watching her at the first challenge. I’d shown them Garrick too, him teaching us how to shift.
Don’t show her.
I’d forced them to see images of Wyatt instead. Of Rio and Seffy, of the rest of the contestants. Hoping I was giving them nothing of value, I kept pulling different sections out from my mind, jumbling them up and jumping around in the timeline.
The moment their hands landed on me it was over. The white heat of their intrusion on my mind erupted through my whole body and my walls broke. The force of it vibrated my bones, tested them to their absolute limit and I was powerless to stop it.
As the darkness descended I’d let myself feel the love we had built. Let myself have a final moment of happiness before I’d lost consciousness.