AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He jerked his head in a nod, then threw his female onto the back of his bonded xuno.
“We destroy the Beast, and then tame my female’s flames,” Ravv said, as we sprinted into the cage. Both of us threw ice out to protect ourselves against his human’s flames.
I tapped into my magic to create both long, icy blades I preferred to fight with. Though Ravv and I had never foughttogether, we had fought each other enough times to know one another’s strengths and weaknesses. He was ferocious; he would take the offense, without a shred of defense.
So he would distract the Beast, and I would free my female.
My sister was behind me, with all of our bonded animals. They were the only ones I would trust with my human.
MyNissa.
Ravv roared as he lunged for the Beast, massive claws of ice over his fingers, knuckles, knees, and forehead. More were blossoming; the man used his entire body as a weapon.
I saw the Beast through the crowd, and my vision went red when I saw the bastard’s teeth buried in my unconscious female’s shoulder. The elves’ assassins had been made with some variation of the curse that could turn humans into vampires, so they all relied on blood for sustenance.
Him feeding on Nissa only heightened my rage.
The Beast saw Ravv coming and dropped my female, moving in the blink of an eye. Fae were much faster than humans, but the assassins were even faster than fae.
Eisley caught my female as the Beast appeared behind Ravv, grabbing the king by his throat. The Beast snarled, and the smell of his tainted blood flooded the air as Ravv’s ice tore into his hands and arms.
The Beast threw himself backward, ice still lodged in his limbs as he moved. Death and Gleam launched at him, and he vanished just in time to dodge them.
I sensed him behind me just before his hands landed on my shoulders. The ice of one sword sliced through his abdomen as I spun, slashing at his throat with the other.
The bastard barely had time to duck away.
He charged toward Eisley, who had a knife out and wore a face that said she’d make the Beast regret his vow to hunt me down.
A screaming, flaming human woman threw herself between Eisley and the Beast before he could reach her.
Ravv roared and tried to grab his female, but wasn’t fast enough. She collided with the Beast, and an unearthly scream escaped him.
A moment later, he was gone.
Ravv caught his human, gripping her to his chest as he dragged her further from the rest of us. Her magic wouldn’t hurt him, because their bond had knitted it with his like mine with Nissa’s.
I covered the distance between me and my female in a heartbeat, dropping to my knees beside her and taking her from Eisley’s arms. With her fragile body pressed to mine, I slowly inhaled her scent. The way it had mixed with the Beast’s was nearly enough to drive me mad, but I couldn’t allow myself to lose control.
Not when the Beast could still be in my city.
I had no idea how quickly he could heal, or how soon he would return.
Nissa was breathing steadily. Her skin was ashen, but her heartbeat was normal.
My body trembled slightly as I slowly lowered my forehead to hers, simply closing my eyes and holding her close for a long, long moment.
I had nearly lost her.
The assassins technically couldn’t kill anyone they hadn’t vowed to end, but they worked around it bynearlykilling anyone they wanted to and then letting nature do the rest of the work.
“Please take Nissa to my room,” I asked Bright in a low voice.
She dipped her head, and I looked at Eisley. “I need you to get Dirue while I secure the perimeter.” Dirue was the healer, and the oldest fae in our city. Though she had no healing magic, she knew more about herbs and wounds than anyone else.
“I can secure it so you can get her and stay with Nissa,” Eisley said, unshaken despite the insanity that had just gone down. She was a damn good warrior, and that was the reason she was my second-hand, not because of our shared blood.
“I need you with my mate. The Beast could very well still be here, and I won’t risk letting him near her for a second time,” I said.
