Chapter 38 Reyes
Reyes
Never has a heart broken so completely as mine does in this moment.
Nyx falls to his knees, and my fear holds time captive.
The world slows to a crawl as I fight the insistent grip of the monster who holds me.
Nyx’s screams are deafening, and the sound is as terrifying as it is haunting.
He’s so small there on the ground… too small to be the vessel for such fury.
“What the fuck is he doing?” someone asks, and they laugh as Nyx’s gaze whips up to mine.
His hands are on the soil, fingers piercing the earth as the grass blades climb to weave shackles around his wrists.
A blinding golden light explodes from inside him, as bright as staring straight into the sun.
Rays of magic scald my eyes, so intense it feels as though they might rip him into pieces, but I won’t look away. Never from him.
“I love you,” I sob as he screams louder, impossibly louder, before everything happens at once.
Branches reach from their perch above us, and ivy whips from the grass, slithering leafy serpents that chase the soldiers as they shout in alarm. The one holding me cries out and shoves me away from him. They scatter as they try to run, but they don’t get far.
They aren’t allowed.
Roots lift from the earth, tripping them as they flee, and paths that were once clear are suddenly covered in thorny barricades. Those limbs and vines bind their wrists and ankles, securing them in place as they yell for help that will never come.
Time still moves in slow motion, and my heart roars in my ears, but I don’t waste a single second.
Dirt kicks under my feet as I scramble to the soldiers closest to Ronan, and I dig in their pockets until I find the key to his chains.
The moment his bindings are undone, he releases a roar that shakes the leaves and dashes to the nearest monster.
I turn my head as he rips into their neck, but their blood sprays across the grass at my feet.
Nyx pours himself into the ground, his eyes closed and face to the sky as he screams in a never-ending breath.
I need to go to him, need to help him, but I force myself to handle the immediate danger.
Throats are slashed unceremoniously, and like the earth knows they’re no longer a threat to her servant, they’re released to collapse into piles as they die.
Mercy doesn’t live in these woods. It has no home here.
This once-peaceful forest becomes their tomb.
By the time Ronan and I have finished our work, eight of them lie on the crimson-stained ground, and the metallic punch of their blood is thick and cloying in the air.
Necks are torn open or sliced wide, and they’re either dead or dying.
Death throes and gargling, begging moans are the only signs of life left among them, but even those are overpowered by the scream that echoes through the trees.
And then, the world falls silent and that light is extinguished.
“Nyx!” The word rips from my throat as he crumples, and I rush to where he lies unmoving on the forest floor.
Flowers and tall grass surround him, too much like a gravesite as it shrouds his ashen skin.
“Nyx, sweetheart, please,” I beg as I collapse beside him and scoop him into my arms. His body is limp, and he feels so small as I hold him against me.
“Get up. Wake up… you have to wake up. You said you’d never leave.
We promised, remember? We promised we’d stay together, always.
” I press my ear to his chest, and another punch of breath leaves me when I find the heartbeat that drums behind it.
It’s faint, but it’s there.
He’s there.
I bury my face in his hair and sob—great, gasping, mournful things that quake my whole body. Relief creeps around the edges of my fear, but doesn’t dare infiltrate it. Not while we aren’t safe, and not until he’s back with me.
My throat feels like it’s full of sand and gravel, but I swallow and take a breath. “Where did they come from?” The words are so rough I’m surprised Ronan can even understand them.
“I don’t know,” he responds, and his voice is deep in a way that’s unnatural.
The stories of his bloodlust didn’t prepare me for the terror of seeing him like this.
Every instinct tells me to run, despite the fact that he crouches beside Xeni and carefully checks his wounds.
Ronan’s black eyes land on mine, with inky veins mapping his skin.
His gaze dips to Nyx in my arms, and even in this form, fear shines through his expression.
“He’s alive,” I say, but my voice trembles with the words, and I close my mouth before I break down.
Ronan tends to Xeni as he slowly regains consciousness, searching him for wounds.
Xeni takes a few shuddering breaths, and Ronan helps him to sit, careful of his claws.
I shiver, thankful it’s still my friend inside that body.
“What… happened?” Xeni groans, then hisses when he reaches behind his head to the gash that’s turned him bloody.
“They were military,” Ronan says, and when Xeni focuses on him, his eye goes wide.
He scrambles backward, thudding against a trunk as Ronan scoffs.
“And they say I’m the drama queen.” It’s strange, seeing him roll his eyes when he looks so much like a monster, but oddly enough, the gesture calms me by a fraction.
“They came out of the woods and ambushed us. One of them knocked you on the head, and you dropped like a log. I killed three of them, but there were too many. They were prepared for beasties like me with those restraints.” His eyes shift back towards the camp, and his ears twitch as he listens.
“I don’t hear anything right now, but we need to be careful. We can’t be sure that was all of them.”
“I have to get him somewhere safe.” I stand with Nyx’s body draped in my arms. He’s so small, so fucking tiny as he hangs there, and I struggle to tuck his hair under my arm so it doesn’t drag.
The knots hurt him and I don’t want to hurt him.
I never want him to feel another ounce of pain.
“We have to go.” It comes out pleading, and Ronan nods.
“Let’s get to the…” He trails off, his ears perking up before he growls and takes off towards the camp.
“Ronan!” I bellow, and Xeni climbs to stand on unstable feet.
He needs help too, but my arms are full.
Once he’s standing and semi-steady, we cautiously follow Ronan’s trail.
When we find him, he’s positioned over a body just outside of Nyx’s old tent, and fresh blood stains his chin.
Noise from inside makes his head tilt with a predatory interest that gives me chills, and Xeni and I rush to catch up as he shoves the flap aside.
Matuk sits in the cage, his enormous frame shoved into a place not meant for someone of his size. Large gouges slice through his cheek while he cradles an arm that appears freshly broken. “You came,” he gasps, and his head hangs as he releases a quiet sob.
“What happened?” Xeni’s tone is soft as he approaches. I kneel on the ground so I don’t exhaust myself with Nyx’s weight, careful not to jostle him too much.
“I came alone,” Matuk says as Ronan stands at the flap, his barbed tails twitching as he keeps watch.
“I didn’t want to risk the others in case you didn’t show.
The platoon must’ve been following me. There were just too many of them, and they…
they dragged me with them and threw me in here when they saw your group. I… wanted to help. I tried.”
“How badly are you hurt?” Xeni asks, and Matuk steadies himself with a few shaky inhales.
“My arm is broken. Maybe my ankle, too.”
“How many were there?” The giant fangs pushing against Ronan’s upper lip make his words hiss more than usual, and I shudder again, picturing the way he ripped through the throats of those soldiers.
“Thirteen.”
“There’s one left, then,” Ronan says, squaring his shoulders, but I shake my head.
“No, there isn’t. I killed one in the forest before we ran into you all.
” He gives me an approving nod and allows his guard to drop by a fraction.
The tension in his shoulders lessens, but he doesn’t move from his lookout position.
A lock clicks as Xeni finds the correct key, and the old, rusted hinges shriek in protest as the cage door is opened.
Ronan comes over to help him stand, and Nyx whimpers in my arms with a small twitch.
“We need to get him to safety,” I plead, and everyone focuses on me as my eyes move to Matuk. “Can we go to your camp?”
“Reyes—” Ronan interjects, but he pauses as I snarl.
“No! We don’t know if they were alone. There could be more coming, and we are in no condition to handle that right now.
I will not sit here with a fucking target on our backs just because you’re scared.
I’m fucking scared too, Ronan! I’m fucking terrified, and I need to get him somewhere safe because I cannot lose him. ”
“What happened?” Xeni asks as he examines the cuts on Matuk’s face. “How did you guys possibly fight your way out of that?”
Ronan scans outside the tent once more before he walks over and crouches beside me.
He runs his palm over Nyx’s hair as he sighs.
It’s an affectionate touch, one you might expect to see between brothers, and the softness brings forward the tears I’ve been fighting ever since I heard those footsteps in the woods.
“Nyx saved us.”