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The ticked-off siren must have pumped a heck of a lot of venom into that single bite because the woman crumpled to the ground, dead before her body touched the sand.
We were almost there.
Zosime staggered to her feet, not even glancing at the sand beneath her that had turned a brilliant crimson red. Her eyes were locked onto her final target: the woman on the porch.
A woman I recognized all too well.
Lokene lost his footing and fell to his knees. “Mom?”
The woman cast a quick glance in our direction and threw up her hand, sending a wave of magik crashing into us. I tried to stand, but her magik kept pushing us back. I’d heard Lexi had a gift with barriers, but I’d never tried to fight against one. I watched helplessly as Zosime took another step toward Lexi.
Lexi’s voice carried across the clearing. “I have to say I’m impressed.”
The Ancient’s face split into a nasty smile. “I’m assuming you killed the two Ancients sent to murder you last night, and now you’ve taken out four more of the most powerful Ancients alive.”
Zosime used the porch rail to pull herself up another step. Lokene and I fought against the magik, our need to get to Zosi pushing us forward little by little. We only had a few more meters to go, and I would be at her side.
“Sadly, it’s not enough, little warrior,” Lexi mocked. “You’re dying, and I’m headed to the human world to finish what I started. Plus, I need to check in with Lily. I want to make sure that someone takes good care of your guys in your absence.” Lexi blew a kiss to Lokene and disappeared.
Zosime lost her footing on the step that was slick with her blood, but quickly regained her balance.
I rushed forward, catching Zosime as she collapsed. I laid her gently on the ground, quickly making yards of gauze appear to press against the gaping wound. I wasn’t a stellar healer, but I was desperate and willing to try anything.
Lokene pulled Zosi’s head and shoulders onto his lap, stroking her hair and whispering things I couldn’t hear to her.
Focusing on my magik, I tried to close the wound, but nothing happened. “Why won’t this heal?” I roared with my pulse beating against my skull. She was losing too much blood, and her lips were turning a terrifying blue. Lokene and I took turns trying to heal it, but nothing happened.
“Check the knife!” Lokene snapped, his fear morphing to anger at our helplessness.
Using one hand to apply pressure to Zosime’s wound, I grabbed the bloody blade from the sand. My blood chilled as a sweet scent—like the smell of Earth’s honeysuckle—filled the air. With a curse, I flung the knife.
Lokene’s questioning gaze met my tear-filled eyes. I didn’t want to say the words aloud; somehow, doing it was going to make this more real.
“Nectar from the Caldera,” I choked out, barely keeping myself from crumbling.
The Ancients had created the exquisitely beautiful Caldera plant. Unfortunately, the plant turned out to be deadly to all living creatures outside of this planet. For an Ancient, their pollen was as harmless as dust on a picture frame, but to a human, the Caldera’s pollen was deadlier than anything on Earth. Thankfully, the plant and its toxic pollen couldn’t survive off Iolatara, and no humans lived anywhere near the field of Caldera.
But Zosi was on our planet, and an Ancient had just stabbed her with a blade covered in lethal pollen.
I watched the snowy white gauze darken with her blood, and my throat burned with unshed tears. Zosime was the first person in my life I’d ever allowed myself to fall in love with, and I was going to be forced to watch her die.
My brain seemed to be filled with a thick fog. Unless a miracle happened, I was pretty sure I was about to die.
Anger burned through me like an out-of-control wildfire. I’d been so close to ending this. When my fangs had sunken into Lexi, scenes from the past had flashed in my mind. She was the creator of the Lure. The Elders believed the Lure had only recently started to taint the Ancients, but they were wrong.
Lexi had been infected with it since the moment she created it. The Lure thrived off her magik as an Ancient. She’d become the roots of the Lure as it spread between our two worlds, and when she died, so would the Lure.
If only the flash of the past hadn’t stunned me, I would have pumped her full of venom, and this would have been over. Instead, she’d escaped to Earth. I groaned in frustration. I didn’t have time to die!
What would my death do to my mates? The monster had said she was going to send Lily to check on my men. Furious at the thought, I tried to sit up.
Lokene gently pushed me back down, and I caught my breath at the raw fear shimmering in his eyes. “You need blood. Take it all. Please.” My mate’s voice broke, and he pressed his wrist into my mouth, but I hesitated.
What would happen to him if I injected him with venom and then I died? Would he die as well?
Lokene growled in frustration at my hesitation. This time, he pressed his skin hard enough against my fangs to slice open the skin of his wrist, and warm blood poured into my mouth.
I gagged when the thick liquid clogged my throat. Struggling to breathe and swallow took more concentration than my mind could handle. Especially when it felt like a rabid dog was ripping at my organs, and pain was overloading every nerve ending.
