Page 93 of Damien’s Mate

Lila reached out, took the case, and laid her palm on it.

The second she touched it, there was a high whistling sound overhead. A grenade streaked down from one of the second-floor arrow slits and detonated in the courtyard, rocking the ground with the force of its explosion.

A second one followed. The force of it made Lila lose her balance, and the case slipped out of her hand.

Pandemonium broke out.

“Run!” Damien yelled.

The Draken prince lunged for the artifact case, and Lila kicked it out of his reach. Damien grabbed it, dodging out of the way of the second Draken.

The case didn’t shock him. What the hell?

There was shouting and roaring, people running in all directions. Gunfire rained down on the courtyard, and blue lightning arced toward one of the dragons, hitting him in the wing just as he tried to take off.

Too many people were between Lila and Damien, and he had no weapons. Using the sword she’d stolen from the guard, Lila tried to fight her way back to him. The crowd opened up, and she saw him about twenty feet away. The Draken prince was almost on him.

Damien shoved his palm against the case and muttered something. Blue light flickered and it sprang open. He grabbed one of the armbands and slapped it on his right arm, then pulled out the bracelet she’d taken from the vault and snapped it around his left arm.

The prince was almost on top of Damien. He reached out… Damien threw up his right arm, as if to protect himself…

Blue lightning arced out of the cuff band, striking the Draken prince and stunning him. Damien made a sweeping motion and cleared the area around him with more lighting.

Lila turned to fight off one of the Lion Guard. She moved on instinct, her mind still frozen.

Damien was wielding the Calebite Artifacts. How?

Her attacker went down and she whirled around to find her mate. He was heading in her direction, artifact case in hand, flinging lightning at anyone in his path.

Then a shadow darkened the sky above her, and she looked up to see a Draken hovering overhead, drawing in a breath to destroy her with fire.

Damien took the handle of the case in his teeth and leaped forward, Changing to lion in mid-air. In two bounds he was on top of her, bearing her to the ground just before the fire erupted from the Draken’s maw.

A blue bubble of light surrounded the two of them, and the flames passed harmlessly around them. She didn’t even feel the heat.

The bracelet. The bracelet had saved them both.

The Draken gave a bellow of fury, and Damien rolled over, turned human, and shot lightning at it. Then he pulled Lila to her feet, ready to run. But they were surrounded.

Chapter 39

Damien rolled to his feet, hoping like hell Brandon was on top of Plan B, or they were dead.

Right on cue, flares of dull orange light erupted all around the walls, and then winked out. Alarm bells started ringing.

Half a second later came the sound of ripping fabric, and a tear appeared in the air right front of them. Hands reached out of it and grabbed their arms, yanking them through.

They landed on the ground, on the grassy plain Damien had seen in his dreams. Lila was staring around, stunned, and Dragon Boy was standing over them.

Next to them was what looked like a window, except it stood without support in the middle of the plain. Through it they could see the courtyard, roiling with soldiers, all of them trying to figure out where Damien and Lila had disappeared to.

Damien grabbed Lila and hugged her to him, unable to believe they’d escaped. She was safe.

She held him close for a minute, and then pulled away to ask, “Okay, what the hell just happened?”

“Dragon Boy pulled us into the spirit world,” Damien said. From the ground, he held up his hand to the boy, who low-fived it.

Lila twisted to look at Dragon Boy. “I thought you couldn’t do that. Because of the wards.”