AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Where is Rai!" I shouted over the sounds of screaming as the demons sacrificed their lives at the tip of my dagger.
"He's fine," Tyler said.
Just then an ear piercing roar exploded from the sky, and I crouched low to the ground as a fucking ebony dragon landed in the clearing, snapping the heads off of demons and frying some of them alive. Fire traveled over the dead foliage, catching anything in its path on fire. Tyler grabbed me and pulled me to the edge of the trees, Lex and Alastor followed. The dragon took out every living thing still standing.
"Raiden!" I cried. He was gone. If he was in the clearing, he was dead, because nothing even twitched after the blaze dieddown. The dragon swung its head in our direction, and I pushed my guys and brother behind me. No one else but me would die today. It would be me or the dragon.
"Sam, wait." Tyler wrapped his fingers around my wrist and held me back.
I caught sight of the dragon's eyes, and I knew. I’ve known those green eyes since I was six years old. The blood fled my head, making me lightheaded as the realization hit me. Hurt and betrayal exploded inside my chest, spreading quickly throughout my body. Weighing me down.
How had I never known?
I had slept with him, made love to him even, yet he didn't think to mention the tiny fucking fact that he wasn't human? I blinked the traitorous tears from my eyes. Crying wasn't an option, at least not while Raiden reared back in his dragon form, ebony black wings spanning at least twenty feet, and smoke huffing from his nose, he looked like he was on the verge of breathing fire again. Ty held my shoulders, stopping me from rushing forward.
Alastor and Lex stood stoically next to me. They hadn't even blinked as Tyler yanked me away from fighting when Raiden dropped to the ground. He was spectacular and terrifying all at once. His enormous clawed feet swiped and cut through the remaining demons that dared to exit the treeline. As the last one fell, silence echoed loudly around us as I batted at the moisture that had gathered at the corners of my eyes.
Ty's fingers slipped from my arm as I wrenched away from him.
"Sam, wait—" he called after me, not daring to follow, none of them did. Hands on my hips, I glared up at Raiden's current form. A huff of smoke ghosted over me, smelling similar to a burning campfire. The demons lay charred at my feet.
He watched me warily as if I was the most terrifying thing he had faced.
"You lied to me, you let me fall in love with you and forgot to mention this small fact," I said, my voice cracking. Tears blurred my sight as I lost the battle of holding them back. It made him look like one giant blob. I wasn't even sure he understood me while he was a dragon. I swung back to face the others, and they stilled under my anger. "All of you knew." It dawned on me more slowly, but as soon as I acknowledged that fact, it slammed into me like a freight train, knocking the air from my lungs.
A sort of mist coated us, enveloping the small clearing in a dense and heavy fog. Magic tingled along my skin, catching on the small hairs as a cloud wrapped around each of us, dispersing as quickly as it had come. Raiden stood in front of us wearing nothing but a frown when it was gone.
"I tried to tell you," he said, voice full of gravel and rough like burnt coals.
"You know what? I'm done. The only one that hasn't lied to me and kept things from me has been a demon." I threw up my hands as I cast my gaze around all of their guilty faces. The worst part about all of it was I had dropped my walls, for these three I had started to let them worm their way into my heart. And it hurt all the way down to my very soul.
"Sammy—" Raiden's broken voice pleaded with me.
"Don't Sammy me, you lied, Rai," I practically hissed the words.
Lex stepped forward, and I pinned him with a glare. His strawberry hair flopped in a wet mess over his brow, lacking the style he normally wore. His expression was more serious than I'd ever seen it.
"I expected—" My gaze lifted to the trees as I attempted to stop my tears. "I don't know what I expected, but not this." Lexflinched under my stare, shoving his hands into his pockets, his shoulders slumped with regret.
"It wasn't our secret to tell," Alastor said, ever pragmatic. None of the emotions I knew lurked inside of him shone through. The ones he had expressed since he revealed his feelings. He might be a God, but he treated me like a Goddess. Flowers bloomed at his feet the longer I watched him. He was right, but I was still hurt.
Cool autumn rain fell from the sky, soaking me to the bone as I tried to process everything. I wasn't sure how long it had been raining, but I noticed the sound of the water hitting the burnt corpses, sizzling still as the rain cooled them.
"Sam, let me take you home," Tyler said. As he reached for me, I wrenched my arm out of his grip, the liquid making it easier.
"I'm not going anywhere without Mom," I replied, stepping away from all of them. "You can go and take Raiden with you. I'll be fine with Lex and Alastor."
I wasn't stupid. I knew I would need help against the ever-growing horde, but I wouldn't be accepting Raiden's or my brother's for the time being, because those two knew what they did. Alastor was right, the other two may not have known.
"Sammy, I'm not leaving you," Raiden said. His words tore my heart out and stomped it into the soggy forest floor. I tensed before I turned back to face him.
"You don't have a choice, Rai," I replied.
Cerberus trotted next to me as I stalked away from them. I knew the other two followed. There was a part of me that could feel them. The same part that could feel the loss of Raiden so intensely, it wanted to bring me to my knees. I shoved the feelings inside a box in my heart and shoved it down deep. After I had my mom safely back home, I would deal with them.
CHAPTER 43
Bellamy
