Chapter Thirty-Six #3
Gunshots crack through the air. Elijah storms in with more soldiers flanking him, cutting through the swarm of Aether Hunters and dropping them.
“Pathetic.” Joaquin’s serpent-like voice slashes through my thoughts. Pain lances behind my eyes, dropping me to my knees. My palms press to my ears as if that could block him out.
“You can’t beat me. Surrender, child, and this will all be over.”
“She’s off-limits.” The words come clipped, dragged through gritted teeth as the room begins to disintegrate around Kylo.
Kylo rushes Joaquin. Debris flies from the room and rockets toward him from every direction. Several hunters approach me, but Kylo tears into them, fists and blade moving in ferocious tandem.
A warrior unleashed.
“I’ve had enough of this,” Joaquin snarls. “Kill them all!”
Leo bursts from the fray, blade flashing as he lunges for Joaquin.
Joaquin’s hand twitches, and Leo’s body lifts, feet kicking helplessly as invisible force cinches around his throat.
Leo claws at his neck, face contorted in pain as Joaquin raises him higher, choking the life out of him.
“Stop!” I scream.
I lock onto Joaquin. His feet lift from the floor, his body straining—then he stumbles off balance.
Kylo is suddenly beside me, pulling Leo from the air and setting him down before forcing Joaquin to his knees.
Joaquin resists, his pupils clouding over as blood floods the whites of his eyes.
Crimson tears streak down his face while he fights against the hold.
Veins pulse in his forehead as Kylo’s power cracks the foundation beneath his feet.
Joaquin roars as he surges upright, shoving Kylo back.
“Let’s make this fun,” Joaquin purrs.
With the snap of his fingers, I’m dragged across the floor. My heels skid until only the tips of my toes touch the tiles.
He wraps a hand around my neck and stares directly at Kylo. “Surrender yourself. Drop your defenses, and I will release her.”
“Don’t do it!” I yell.
Kylo’s fingers twitch. He hesitates for a fraction of a second, his gaze darting between Joaquin’s hand and my face.
Something shifts.
Not around him, but inside him.
There are no walls. No shields. Only a vast, aching openness.
“I won’t let him kill you.”
He’s yanked forward like a dog on a leash and forced to his knees at Joaquin’s feet.
Joaquin crouches low, pressing his fingers into Kylo’s temples. A manic laugh tears from his throat as Kylo convulses, limbs jerking uncontrollably before he curls into a fetal position, teeth bared in a growl of agony.
Kylo rises, his movements stiff and mechanical. The fire in his gaze has been extinguished, reflecting nothing but the dark will of the man standing over him.
Joaquin smirks at me, his finger trembling with excitement as he points it at me. “Kill her.”
“Piss off!” Elijah roars, leaping between me and Joaquin. He barrels into Joaquin with a shoulder check, knocking him back several steps.
Kylo stands before me, his eyes glazed and vacant, his pupils bleached white beneath Joaquin’s control.
He stalks closer, and I retreat.
“Kylo…”
There is no trace of him in that stare.
He advances, blade aimed at me. My back hits the wall as he presses the tip of the blade to my neck. I aim for a groin kick, forcing him back enough to gain distance. He snags my arm, dragging me toward him and nearly pulling me off my feet.
Twisting sideways, I slip free. Spinning behind him, I wrench his arm back and kick his shin. Kylo stumbles but recovers instantly.
He grabs my wrist, pinning my arm behind my back. Pain sears through my shoulder. I jab him in the ribs with my free arm, but it does zero damage.
Kylo’s strength is overwhelming.
Every strike I throw, he counters with minimal effort. He feints left, then drives his shoulder into my back. I lash out again, fists and elbows striking wherever they land—his jaw, his ribs, the side of his neck. But he catches my final punch.
Kylo’s hand closes around my throat, hauling me upward until my feet dangle above the floor. He holds me there as the blade presses to my neck.
I clutch his wrist. “Kylo, stop.”
Before the blade can sink deeper, I press my free palm to his chest.
If I can’t break through his mind, maybe I can reach his heart.
Grief, rage, love, and fear spill out of me and into him.
His body jerks as if struck, his jaw tightening like he’s fighting something inside himself. His eyes twitch, conflict flashing through the emptiness.
Pieces of midnight blue break through the clouded gray.
“Come back to me,” I whisper, my palm pressing against his chest, sending every emotion I have into him.
“Fight this,” I say, sending a direct thought into his mind.
For a breathless second, nothing happens.
Then his fingers loosen.
“Fuck,” he mutters, stumbling back as he rakes a hand through his hair, chest heaving.
I’m at his side in an instant, my hand brushing his forearm. “You with me?”
“Lia, look out!” Leo shouts.
Leo shoulder-checks me, sending me sprawling.
A few feet away, Leo is sprawled on the floor.
A blade juts from his chest, blood spilling in a dark flow.