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A familiar roar split the night then, and the air around them seemed to vibrate.
Ezul!
Vermile hissed under his breath, whipping Cordelia around until her back was pressed to his front. She struggled in his grip, desperate to reach her mate as another roar sounded through the forest, even closer than before.
A hand wrapped around her neck, strangling her as a blade pressed threateningly into the side of her stomach.
Ezul was running on fumes and adrenaline when he finally reached the dense canopy of the forest. The sun set just as he saw Cordelia standing in the midst of a sea of enemies, a hand wrapped around her throat and a blade aimed at her womb.
Time seemed to stop for Ezul as he watched her suck in a choked breath, tears falling down her beautiful face. Vermile kissed her forehead then, whispering something too low for Ezul to pick up on. She jerked her head away from his lips, chin wobbling.
Kylok had collapsed somewhere in the forest behind him a few minutes back. Another clone’s death had finally been too much for him, leaving him unable to do anything but curl into a ball on the ground.
He’d urged Ezul forward, not wanting his younger brother to delay another moment, and Ezul had obliged.
Only to come face to face with Cordelia’s life literally at stake.
“I would step slowly into the circle if I were you,” Vermile shouted in Ezul’s direction. “If you attempt to take out my men, I’ll stab her and rip out whatever little life is nestled inside Cordelia’s womb.”
Cordelia let out a small, terrified sob, the sound nearly buckling his knees. He was so close to saving his family, but he had never felt more helpless than in that moment.
Ezul hesitated only briefly, his mind flitting through the options available to him.
Any use of his power, even at full strength, whether mist or lightning, would be too slow to stop the blade from sinking into her flesh. And Ezul was anything but at full power.
He’d lost too much blood, overexerting himself to get to her in time, and he had still been too late. If Ezul tried to save her life now, he would get her killed. He had failed her time and time again today, and seeing her like this was destroying his soul.His only chance was to listen to Vermile and hopefully keep him occupied long enough for Kylok to recover, or at least to gain the upper hand.
Either way, his odds of success were abysmal.
The group of dissenters blocking him from his mate stepped aside, their weapons pointed at him. He stepped forward, barely able to keep the grimace of pain from his face as his side spasmed.
“Ez,” Cordelia called to him softly, her lower lip trembling as she took in his appearance, horror filling her eyes. “Ez, you’re bleeding everywhere. Why is there so much blood?”
“I am alright, little menace.”
Vermile laughed from behind Cordelia’s precious body, his fingers tightening around her throat. “He isn’t alright, Cordelia. Every second he loses more blood, the odds of him dying rises. We are in the middle of the woods with no help in sight. Do as I ask, and I’ll ensure he gets the help he needs when you’re gone.”
“Gone?” Ezul barked, taking a step closer until Vermile tsked in his direction, the blade moving just a tad bit closer to his mate’s womb. He hissed at the senator, rage taking root as the blade gleamed under the rising moon. “What do you intend?”
Vermile shook his head, murmuring something to Cordelia that was carried away with the wind.
“He wants me to go back to Earth. He has one of the keys,” she stammered, more tears spilling from her eyes. “He’s going to kill me if I don’t use it.”
Ezul snarled, ignoring the pain that pierced his heart as strongly as the arrow had his flesh. “Don’t give in to his demands,” Ezul ordered foolishly, determined to find another way.
He cast a quick glance around. Could he kill the males around them and Vermile all at once? How many seconds would it take for him to call upon his mist to execute his will?
Seconds. It would take only seconds, and then she would be safe, and he would rip that piece of ratliq feces to shreds–
Cordelia screamed, the sound full of despair.
Pain exploded in his stomach and Ezul grunted, falling to his knees. He could hear her wails, nearly drowning out the ringing in his ears, as he looked down, hands clasping the spear that had impaled him.
“No!” Cordelia screamed again, struggling in Vermile’s grasp. Ezul gasped for breath, unable to focus on anything but his mate’s cries, his clawed fingers grasping the cold steel protruding from his stomach.
“Take the key and I will do my best to save him,” Vermile snapped, shaking her as she sobbed. “Do nothing and I’ll make you watch him die before I kill you too. No baby, no piece of Ezul to hold onto. Just death for your whole family.”
A flash of silver caught his eye as a small object was placed in Cordelia’s shaking hands. The portal key.
