Chapter 54
Max shifts.
Fuck.
Then dives into the fray.
“No…” Theo gasps. She struggles against the grip I have on her arms.
“Tee, you can’t help them. You’ll just get hurt.” I look at Ludo for support. His beast is rippling against his skin, white coarse hair already appearing on his knuckles.
—Hound needs me—
“Go to him, Lu,” Theo shrieks. “They need you.”
That’s all the urging it takes. He’s off in a flash of horn and fury. Fuck. My mind flashes around like a disco ball but then settles on one thing.
The mission.
“Come on, we’re taking down my mother.”
With one final glance at the melee, Theo allows me to take her around the sides of the ballroom until we’re in proximity to dear Janine. She’s watching the beasts battle with absolute fascination.
Until I stand in front of her, blocking her view.
“Donovan, what are you…oh, you have Theo. Good. Take her to safety, she mustn’t get hurt.” Her eyes widen as I start crowding her, shepherding her into an alcove. She pushes at my chest. “Stop. What are you doing? Stop it, move away.”
The command bounces off me like a pigeon hitting a patio door.
I keep boxing her into the velvet-curtained recess, as behind me I hear roars, snarling and lots of smashing.
“Donovan!” she hisses, her eyes so similar to mine wide and slightly panicked. “I command you.”
Yeah. No, bitch.
“What are you?” she whispers, her back hitting the cold marble panelling.
“Not your son anymore. Touch her, Tee.”
Theo’s hand darts out and grabs Mother’s wrist. She tried to pull away, but I keep her trapped, barely giving her space to breathe, let alone wriggle away.
“Baby-girl, you good?”
—I’m making the connection—
I think she sends that message out to everyone, as a few seconds later Naomi and Willow are behind us. “What can we do? How can we help?”
—Just stay close…this is…hard—
And so that’s what we do. I see Willow put a hand on Theo’s back, then Naomi follows suit. Mother has stopped fighting me and appears in a daze. Cautiously I remove one of my restraining hands.
Nothing.
Good!
I add my free hand to Theo’s body. Instantly the Lumina inside me gets furiously excited.
—So cold in here…dark…I can’t see the way…—
“You’ve got this, Theo,” Willow says in her usual brisk tone, despite the circumstances. “You absolutely know what to do, believe in yourself.”
A sensation starts where my palm rests on Theo’s waist. I don’t like it. Oily and grasping. If that’s what it’s like outside her body, what the fuck kind of time is she inside her flesh-shell?
“Drain the bitch. Empty her out,” Naomi urges, her voice almost washed out by the sound of shattering glass and screams.
Theo’s eyes roll back, beads of sweat appear on her forehead and her hair stands up with static. She looks like she’s trying to hold onto an electric fence.
—It’s too much... the rot... it’s everywhere—
"Don't let go, Rose," I shout, “Don’t ever let go.”
I don’t know if she hears me. My voice sounds thick and strange in my ears.
My centaur stamps a hoof, deep down in my gut.
Not now buddy.
Go. Now.
Go? Go where? This is exactly where I need to be.
Outside. Now.
Oh fuck.
I begin to shift. I can’t stop it, I have no control at all. I stumble backwards so I don’t crush the girls and then.
Done.
Completely centaur.
The urge to run is overwhelming. I fight and fight but my legs won’t obey.
My horse-body whips round in a circle then takes off at a flying pace.
I’m shooting arrows through security guards' eyeballs without even thinking. It’s as automatic as breathing.
My destination is the heavy shutters that cover the ballroom doors.
I screech to a stop, turning one-eighty at the same time, then kick my backlegs at the steel screens.
One more buck and they groan and collapse outwards.
Leaping over bodies, I gallop down the long corridor towards the main entrance.
The guards who’d been stuck outside the ballroom are taking potshots at me, but I duck and weave and shoot. Nothing touches me.
All well and good, but what the fuck am I doing?
I need to get back to Theo. I’ve left her alone with just Willow and Naomi for backup. My fucking beast has some explaining to do.
No time.
Once more I kick and buck until the front doors of the Singleton-Smith Manor are smashed to splinters.
Finally my centaur calms. Pleased with himself.
As the dust settles, I look out into the cold, dark night.
Stumbling along the dark driveway.
Is Wes.