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“Hey, don’t worry, they’re fine,” he tells me, reaching out to push a stray strand of my hair behind my ear before gently caressing my cheek and pulling away. It doesn’t look like he wants to, and I’d be lying if I said I did, but I know right now isn’t the time, and he seems to get that, too.
A roar fills the air, the sound deep and full of enough pain that my knees buckle.
I know that sound.
Sol’s hurt.
I stay upright only because of Ryker. He pulls me to him, supporting my weight as I frantically search for Sol through the smoke and carnage, uncaring about myself or anything else at the moment.
I find him and almost wish I hadn’t. He lies on the ground, a deep gash on his shoulder that’s bleeding much more than it should be.
“Why isn’t he healing?” I ask, not expecting an answer but unable to stop the question as my panic continues to grow by the second.
“The chimeras are different, harder to kill, and not weak to the elements. Their attacks somehow stop shifter healing. They’re meant to kill. It’s their whole purpose.” His voice is devoid of emotion, almost clinical, but I can’t make myself turn to face him, not when Sol might be bleeding out.
Please get up, Sol, please!
I beg, knowing damn well he can’t hear me. Since I’ve lost my beast, I haven’t been able to communicate through the bond like I used to, but even then, Sol and I aren’t mated.
Garrett drops from the sky, shifting back the moment his feet hit the ground and taking off toward Sol.
“That won’t help,” Ryker says, sounding bleak, and I whip toward him this time.
“What do you mean it won’t help?” I demand, my voice shrill, ringing out around us, but I don’t care.
He turns to face me, not seeming at all put off by my temper. “I told you magic doesn’t work the same on them. That includes healing wounds from them.”
I groan in frustration, turning back to the village and seeing he’s right. Garrett kneels beside Sol, his hands alight as he pours his magic into him, yet it doesn’t seem to change. I’ve seen the queen heal, and while she’s better at it, Garrett isn’t without the ability. He’d healed a few of my scrapes when we were children playing in the woods. I'd always watched in awe as the skin knit itself back together before my eyes.
“Take me down there,” I say, turning toward him again, ready to plead with him if I have to.
Thankfully, I don’t have to.
With a nod, he pulls me closer, and I hear the sound of his wings once again unfolding from his back.
“Well, would you look at that?” A voice booms around the village, sounding like it comes from everywhere at once.
Our feet barely leave the ground before we drop down again, and Ryker stumbles back toward the trees’ edge, pulling me with him. I fight against him, but it’s no use. His grip is too strong.
“I’d heard the queen had found herself a new group of alphas while I was away, but this…” he laughs, but there’s no happiness in the sound. Instead, it’s dark and twisted, making goosebumps break out along my skin. “This is divine.”
His words echo back around the village, and I see the guys looking around, trying to find the source, even with their shifter hearing.
“Oh, no.” I breathe as something clicks, realizing what he said and who’s down there.
“Ru—,” my scream is cut off by Ryker’s hand as he slaps it to my face, silencing me with a hiss.
“Be quiet,” he whispers, his lips pressed against my ear, his words taut.
“Years I’ve spent chasing you, little prince, hoping you would lead me to her, your little shadow princess.”
My stomach sinks at his words. It was one thing to assume he was gone because he was after me and another to have him confirm it.
“I really should be thanking you, though. Had your father not whisked her away, I probably would have killed her.” This voice is closer to the guys now, who have, for the most part, taken up rank around Sol and Garrett, with the exception of Lyle, who I see leading what appears to be the last of the villagers out to what I can only hope is safety. I frantically scan the area, but I don’t see him. I don’t see anyone.
The chimeras have stopped in their tracks, as if someone had pressed pause. It should be a good thing that they’re no longer attacking, but something about it gives the town an eerie ghost town feeling, like this is the calm before the storm.
I twist around in Ryker’s hold, pushing up to get my lips as close to his ear as possible. He seems to understand, leaning down to meet me. “I need to get to them. I need you to take me down there.” I whisper carefully to keep my voice as low as possible.
