Chapter 31 #2
He collided with my mental shields like an asteroid, attempting to blow a hole so large I’d be a mumbling mess.
My vision dimmed as I sent all my focus into maintaining my defenses.
Physically, I couldn’t move or fight, and I was thankful that my siren call was an instinct that triggered on its own when I was in danger.
It kept the other djinn from interfering and breaking my concentration.
Solomon wasn’t beholden to such limitations, but he hadn’t made a move to grab me.
He didn’t need to; he was winning anyway.
My shields were definitely failing. Sounds and sights that couldn’t possibly be true squeezed their way into growing cracks and crevices.
Ezra called for me, his voice as distressed and tormented as it was the night we fled the beach house.
More voices, familiar and filled with rage.
Eryn and Kai. Cova. They appeared over the hill, running full speed as if this were a rescue.
A brunette girl and skinny kid Soloman must have assumed I was familiar with, brought up the rear.
His illusions were good. Not even in full control of my mind, and he made me see things I so desperately wished were real.
Rani!
No! My hands tightened into fists. It was too much! He was strong enough to mimic the bond?
Rani, I need you to fight, baby. Push him out. Run to me!
My brows furrowed, but I didn’t break our stare.
Why would Soloman encourage me to push him out?
He was either extremely stupid or exceedingly diabolical.
Heat bloomed in my chest, fueling my magick and caressing me with such tenderness it brought tears to my eyes.
Because that wasn’t an illusion. That was Ezra.
He really was here and fighting to get to me.
Was it too much hope that the others were real, too?
Giving myself no time to plan, and therefore Soloman no time to see said plan, I clenched my eyes tight and dropped to my knees.
The sudden break in connection made me dizzy, and it was an effort to throw my leg out with accuracy.
My foot collided with the enthralled djinn beside me, who still hadn’t moved thanks to my call.
Unfortunately, his hard landing snapped him out of it, and his beefy hand was around my ankle before I could crawl away.
It was a bruising grip. One that tore at my skin as I fought to escape. My struggles knocked us into the other two djinn, and they too awakened from my thrall. This escape was going to complete shit.
“Seize her!” Soloman ordered. “We can finish this later.”
Hands landed all over me. Gripping. Tugging.
Tearing. My arm was wrenched one way while my leg was dragged another.
This wasn’t the crazed infatuation from my siren call; I wasn’t getting these guys back under my control.
No. This was intentional destruction and an attempt to capture.
They were pissed. They wanted to cause pain.
And they did.
I screamed when a particularly rough yank on my arm tore my shoulder from its socket.
Bile rose in the back of my throat, spurned on by the intense agony.
The fucker who had a hold of my wrist kept dragging me.
Together with the one on my ankle, I was hauled toward the trees like a sacrifice being carried to slaughter.
So focused on the physical fight, I didn’t notice Ezra knocking on my mental wall until it was more of a pounding. I instantly answered, grateful to at least have this connection when all I felt was pain and terror.
Ezra! I cried out. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.
Because it was my fault the djinn were here. A soothing wave of peace surrounded the havoc my mind had turned into.
Tuck your chin, baby.
I had a split second to obey before my entire left side fell to the hard ground. Air was knocked from my chest, and I couldn’t get it back over the new pain in my shoulder. Keeping my head down, I brought my knees in and curled as best I could into a ball.
Don’t look, he warned, right as the screaming started.
I’ve seen you torture before, Ezra. You don’t scare me.
But this wasn’t torture, it was destruction .
And I’d never been more in love than I was at that moment.
Ezra moved with a speed honed by deadly precision.
Each strike, each step was intentional and ended with a djinn losing a body part.
Blood painted the once emerald grove a ruby red until it ran as a thick, frozen slush between the blades of grass and down the small hill to the pond.
There was too much of it to avoid, so I didn’t bother trying. I sat up, one hand clutching my dislocated arm, as I watched my bond take his retaliation the only way he knew how, and when the three assholes were nothing but ribbons in the wind, he turned to me.
The entire front of his shirt, his forearms, his neck, and half his face were coated with our enemies’ blood, and the severity on his face told me he could feel every drop as it sank into his skin.
You look really hot.
My simple but truthful admission popped that balloon of apprehension he’d turned into, and he fell to his knees before me with a signature smirk.
The sounds of fighting faded around us as Kai and the others took care of the djinn who were left.
I wasn’t sure if Soloman stuck around through all of it, but right now, I didn’t care.
Not when Ezra looked at me like that.
Like I was the most precious thing in the world.
Like he’d kill a hundred more men if it kept me safe and in his arms. Speaking of arms…
A warm, gentle hand lightly pressed on my back, right over my shoulder blade, and I whimpered at how that small motion sent fire through the abused joint. Ezra’s other hand gripped my bicep.
“You know, I think my arm looks better like this. Don’t you?”
My nervous attempt at stalling wasn’t going to stop him. I was in agony, and he felt it. Shit, I felt it, but I also wasn’t too keen on feeling even more just to fix it.
“We don’t have to do anything about it right now. I think it will slide back all on its own if we give it enough time.”
Ezra’s brows lifted, and his head cocked to the side in a charming but also antagonizing way. “You’re adorable, but absolutely failing at convincing me not to fix your shoulder. The longer we leave it, the harder it will be to get back in,” he said, curving his hand around my arm for a better grip.
Despite his secure hold, my body shook. Call it leftover adrenaline or call it shock, either word was a mask for how much I did not want to do this.
So much had happened to me in a short amount of time; from attempted murder, to being captured and threatened with a motherfucking tattoo collar.
Listening to Soloman explain how he was going to use me to kill everyone I loved was icing on the cake.
And now I stood on yet another precipice of pain.
My breaths came in short gasps.
Hey, look at me. Just at me.
Ezra’s smooth voice reached through my panic and wrapped around me like a hug, urging me to meet his stare. I forced myself not to hide from it. From him.
I’m tired of everything hurting , I whispered, ashamed of my inability to handle this one last thing.
Do you trust me?
I nodded. Of course I did.
Let me past your wall, all the way. I’ll protect you from the pain.
You can do that?
His hand left my arm to hover between us, the little finger lifted, and my tears escaped on the wings of a laugh. Ezra and his damn pinky promises. My good hand rose and curled over his, hooking our fingers together. Without letting go, I exhaled and dropped my wall.
In an instant, I was no longer just myself. Ezra’s every thought and fear, his leftover adrenaline and turbulent worry; all of it became part of me. Where he ended, I began, and it took a couple tries to separate us once more. We were two souls in one body.
I floated in the center of him, enveloped in nothing but love and warmth. I didn’t even notice he’d popped my arm back into place until the enormity of him faded and I was once again left on my own, alone but not. Never again.
The world came back to us slowly, our private bubble dissolving around us. The grove was silent and dark. A corner of shadows blocked out the sun that was already hiding behind the willow, where Kai had Soloman pinned to the trunk. A thin but tall boy stood beside him, arms crossed.
I couldn’t make out the conversation from here, but I knew Soloman was spewing some bullshit.
“That’s Frederick,” Ezra told me, supporting my elbow as we got to our feet.
My injured arm stayed tight to my chest until we could get a sling on it, and I leaned into Ezra’s side as we slowly made our way over to the rest of the group.
The center of all my nightmares was right there.
Solomon’s son was the catalyst for all of this, for the reason I was here in this moment, rather than safe on my family’s farm. But I wasn’t afraid.
Kai had him wrapped up good and tight, and my friends stood between us. His ending was written the second he categorized Ezra as the weaker opponent and then went after his bond.
“I think you know what’s about to happen,” Kai stated, his straight face as hard as granite.
Soloman laughed, but there was a thread of true fear in it. “That runt couldn’t kill me. He couldn’t even create an illusion of him killing me. He’s too weak .”
Which was exactly what Frederick wanted him to think.
All this time, he kept his magick contained and coasted on the outskirts, never drawing attention to himself lest his uncle saw him as a threat and murdered him the way he did his own brother.
And literally everyone else. But in that silence, Frederick honed his abilities, and now was his time to strike.
“Umm, I don’t have a weapon.”
I buried my head in Ezra’s shoulder in lieu of a face-palm.
That was not what I expected to hear. Soloman screaming as his nephew made his brain leak from his ears, maybe.
Or a mess of jumbled sounds like Kol now made.
That was an acceptable alternative. Standing in front of the guy you’re supposed to usurp and admitting to being unprepared was not the look.
“See! What did I say?” Soloman crowed, obviously thinking the same thing.
None of them expected to capture the head of the djinn out in the open, and on siren land of all places, but come on, you didn’t carry a weapon on you when murder was your one goal?
“Oh my gods, here,” Ezra called, hand out in offering.
A perfectly shaped knife rested in his palm, made entirely from ice. It was poetic as fuck, and what was better, Frederick didn’t even hesitate to grab it. Now Soloman was really sweating. Swirls of shadows tightened around him, then cleared in only a small section, right over his heart.
I didn’t look away. I didn’t so much as flinch.
I watched with eyes wide open and heart locked down as Frederick slid that knife into his uncle’s chest and twisted it.
It wasn’t flashy or epic or drawn out like a movie finale.
The end of the worst chapter of my life came neat and quick.
What came next was a mystery to me, but as long as Ezra was by my side, I could face it.