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Chapter Twenty-One
Ryder
Not a half-mile later, I catch sight of the lab. Fortress is a better word for it, a concrete monstrosity cut right into the side of the mountain. We’re still a ways off, but I can see it through a gap in the trees. I point to it, and Ven nods and frowns.
Looking at her makes me feel like I’ve swallowed a cannonball, a heavy, burning weight in my stomach. I can’t believe that stunt she pulled. It worked—I’ll give her that. But did it really mean nothing to her?
The realization that I care feels like a shock wave going off inside my chest.
I’ve never, ever contemplated before whether or not sex meant anything to a woman. Because it never does to me. But this time… it was hot and fast and incredibly sexy, but also different. The way our magic had come together was… I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. Like I’d found a part of me I never knew was missing. I thought that if we hooked up, I’d get over this weird obsession with her. Instead of being done with Ven, I want more. So much more.
The way she’d acted, though, so cold and detached…
This is my fault. I’ve repeated over and over how I don’t do commitments. She’s been listening to everything I’ve been putting out. Have I made a massive fucking mistake?
A howl shatters the air around us, and ahead of me, Ven freezes. Her eyes go wide as she reaches up to the pendant at her chest… except it’s not there.
“I must have lost it,” she breathes, panic lacing her voice. “In the river…or the net… or…” She shakes her head back and forth, eyes wide.
“It’s not your fault,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder and making her meet my eyes. “Now, we need to focus.”
Ven nods. I grab her wrist and pull her behind me, so we’re back-to-back. The forest shakes as the hell hounds pound across the ground toward us. I still can’t see them, but I catch the first whiff of their sulfur stench, and the acrid smoke of their magic.
“With the orb gone, we can tackle this a bit differently,” Ven says. “No more hiding.”
I nod. “Right. Hand me the dagger.”
She unsheathes it and hands it to me hilt first. I crouch down, my eyes scanning the forest. We’re in a small clearing between trees, the vegetation beyond so thick that it doesn’t provide much visibility. But the snapping of branches and the sound of their snarls announce them.
The hounds burst into the clearing, three of them, and immediately move to surround us. Big as dire wolves, their eyes glowing with hellfire, their bodies ash and glimmering orange. Ven begins to fire at them with balls of magic, and a couple yelps indicate she has good aim. The one closest to me charges in. I know no ordinary blade can kill a hell hound, so I sincerely hope Fitz was serious when he said this one could cut through anything.
The creature comes at me with teeth and claws. I swipe with the blade, grazing the side of its face. Sparks fly up where I cut it, and the beast shakes its head from side to side. Then it growls and leaps for me again. This time I come up under the jaw and plunge the dagger in all the way to the hilt. Flames rush out, enveloping my arm, and the hound sags to the forest floor. The fire fades from its eyes, and its body goes a cold gray.
My arm, however, is scorched.
Spinning, I see that Ven’s killed one with her magic. The other circles and lunges for her throat. She shoots off another ball of magic, but it’s not a deadly blow, and the thing keeps coming. It collides with Ven and she falls back hard in the dirt, arms outstretched to hold the thing off. The hound snaps its teeth and goes in for the kill.
I don’t think. I dive for the creature, knocking into it from the side. We roll across the forest floor. It slashes at me with its claws and its jaws lock around my shoulder and chest. With my free arm, I drive the dagger into its ribcage from the side, then jerk upward toward its spine. It lets out a howl of agony, and a flurry of sparks and flame shoot out from its abdomen. Then, finally, it rolls off me and goes dark.
“Ryder!” Ven cries, rushing over to me. She lands on her knees next to me, her hands fluttering over my chest.
“You’re okay,” I breathe. I try to lift my arm to touch her face, but pain lances through… well, everywhere.
“Me? I don’t think you need to be worrying about me right now.” Her face is very pink, and she looks like she’s about to cry.
I lift my head slightly to survey the damage. She’s not wrong. My right arm is burned and blackened, and my left is a bloody messy which extends up to my shoulder and across part of my chest.
“Oh, good. Chicks dig guys with scars,” I say, then wince as another wave of pain hits.
“How did you even survive that?” Ven murmurs.
“I told you before. I am shadow and flame.” My eyes meet hers. “I am made of the same stuff as the hell hounds.”
She says nothing but raises both hands over me. Lavender light pours into my wounds. She bites her lower lip in worry as she works.
“It tickles,” I say.
“Yes, well, that’s probably a good thing.”
