AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dread seized me. The world around me slowed down, sounds muffled by the echo of my thundering heart.
As if in slow motion, I watched Kyllen’s torso shift. He was turning to face Radax.
In a moment, Radax would join Leslo as another lifeless statue.
“Radax, no!” I screamed, grabbing Leslo’s gun from the floor.
My back to Kyllen, I lunged between Radax and him. But my height wouldn’t be enough to break their eye contact. I had but a fraction of a moment left before it would be too late.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I whispered, raising the gun. “I’ll never forget you.”
I pulled the trigger.
Shock flashed in Radax’s eyes. Blood sprayed from the small round wound from the bullet in the middle of his forehead.
The veil of my tears hid his beloved face from view. Sobs tore from my chest, tearing at my heart with pain. I dropped the gun as Radax crashed to the ground. Dead.
“Amira,” Kyllen’s voice called to me through the shroud of horror that descended upon me.
Strong arms hugged my shoulders. “We need to go,” Kyllen implored.
Other bracks shouted in the building. They’d heard the gunshot. They’d be here soon. They would shut the door to the trailer and trap us in here.
We had to go. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to move away from Radax.
“I killed him,” I sobbed.
“Not for long.” Kyllen nudged me toward the exit. “He’ll be fine. He’s immortal, after all.”
A human-made weapon couldn’t kill a brack. I shot Radax to spare him the fate of Leslo. I saved him by shooting him before a look in the eyes of the gorgonian would kill him for good.
I saved him, but I had to hurt him for that.
Bile rose in my throat as Kyllen dragged me out of the trailer and into the building.
“Where to now?” he asked.
Lero’s crate stood wide open in a small side hallway. Empty. In a matter of minutes, the bracks would get organized and go after us. We had no time to lose.
Kyllen’s power was astonishing. But the bracks had captured him once before, and they could do it again.
I shook off the fear and grief, forcing my brain to focus.
“This way.” I gestured at the glass double doors with the parking lot beyond them.
There were men out there—regular human men—probably the employees of the exhibition hall or truck drivers.
“Please don’t hurt anyone,” I pleaded with Kyllen.
He nodded, yanking his hood lower. From the corner of my eye, I could only see his chin, the hard edge of his jawline, and the very tip of his nose. He kept his arm around my shoulders.
Moving as fast as possible, but without running so as not to raise suspicions, we crossed the tarmac toward low-rise buildings beyond the lot.
“Now where?” he demanded.
“Um…” I had no idea. This was an entirely unfamiliar place to me, as it was to him.
A train rattled on the raised tracks just behind the buildings. I didn’t know where it went or if we could get a ride.
“We need to get to Paris,” I muttered under my breath.
“Where?” Kyllen turned back to the exhibition hall, checking the entrance over his shoulder.
“Paris. It’s the capital city of France. That’s where the portal is.” I followed his gaze to the hall, sensing his worry. “But first we need to get much farther away from here.”
I grabbed his hand and swerved onto a narrow path between the buildings.
* * *
