By the time Samael caught up with me, I was ready to rip the head off anyone who came near. He must have sensed this as he stopped a few feet away and held up his hands.
“Open the door,” I growled.
“Shit, Ryker, calm down.”
“Open the fucking door.”
Wary of coming close to me, Samael glanced anxiously back at Tucker.
“The sooner you open the door, the better,” Tucker said.
Samael kept an eye on me as he edged past. He turned sideways so his chest brushed mine before he bent to push a rock set at knee height in the wall.
With a click, the door swung open, and I shoved through it as three more soldiers sprinted toward us. Behind them, smoking bodies lay strewn across the ground.
From somewhere deeper in the passage, shouts sounded, and lightning crackled. A chunk of rock ripped from the wall when a lightning bolt smashed into it; stones peppered the walls and floor as they flew everywhere.
Because of a bend in the cave ahead of me, I couldn’t see her, but Ellery was here. Despite the increasing draw I’d felt to her, I hadn’t fully believed it possible. Having her so close yet still not being able to see her was worse torture than anything Veni could devise.
The guard sprinting toward me froze when he spotted me in the doorway. He started to lift his blade, but his expression made it clear he knew he was about to die. I was happy to be the one to send him to his grave with a lightning bolt straight to his chest.
As his body fell, the clash of steel and sizzle of lightning from the other end of the passage stopped. Silence descended for a few seconds, and then the patter of footfalls rebounded off the walls as they rushed toward me.
I didn’t have to see her; I recognized the apple scent that somehow managed to penetrate the blood, terror, and excrement clinging to this place. I sprinted toward the bend in the passage.
I was ten feet away from it when Ellery skidded around the corner. She emitted a strangled cry as she raced toward me with tears streaking her face.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ryker
My arms swept around her, and I clutched her against my body. She shook as she buried her face in my neck and sobbed.
Her hands ran over my shoulders, down my back, and across my chest as her tears soaked my skin. When her fingers skimmed sores that weren’t completely healed, her cry tore at my heart.
I turned my lips into her hair as I whispered, “I’m okay. They’ll heal.”
“How?” she cried. “How are you here? How is it possible?”
I pulled back a little to drink in the beauty of her beloved face. Her cyan-colored eyes were bloodshot, and I knew it was from more than her tears. She’d probably gotten little to no sleep since I last saw her… who knew how long ago.
“How is it possible you’re here?” I asked. “How did you get past the guards? Even with that fog out there, they would have seen you crossing the field.”
From her grimace, I deduced I wouldn’t like her answer, though I loved the outcome. Wanting to get closer to her more than her answer, I crushed her against me again as I claimed her mouth.
I needed to feel more of her, to experience this connection, and she needed it too. Her fingers bit into my shoulders as she kissed me back with an intensity that stole my breath and scattered my thoughts like leaves in a storm.
Our tongues entwined as I threaded my fingers through her hair, deepening the kiss and relishing the taste of her. I could never forget how good she made me feel, and holding her again was a balm to my battered body and soul.
I wanted to lose myself in her for the rest of our lives. I ached to hold her tight and take her away from here, but instead we had to break apart. The enemy could be closing in on us.
When I ended the kiss, Ellery gasped and fell toward me a little before righting herself. A smile curved the full lips now swollen from mine as her fingers played with the hair at my nape.
I grinned as I slid her down my body, savoring her heat and softness. I kept one arm around her waist and used my other hand to brush a strand of her mocha-colored hair back from her face.
Most of her hair remained in a braid that dangled over her shoulder, but some of it had fallen free. “You’re beautiful,” I whispered.
“So are you.”
