Chapter 47
The world erupted in chaos. Alex watched as Ealian launched a windstorm at Gray. Taurin pulled the earth apart beneath Neeren's feet. Ealian threw a cyclone into the gaping hole. As Neeren disappeared into the chasm, Ealian threw a second cyclone at Gray.
Alex ran. Flung herself between the storm and her mother’s body. An instant before she would have reached her, Collum swept her up. Wings exploded from his back as he catapulted them both in to the air.
Gray dove to the left a moment before the cyclone hit her. She hurled a wall of wind that knocked Ealian and Taurin back a few feet.
Above the carnage, Alex begged for Collum to let her go. “We have to reach Neeren. Please, Collum, before that evil creature closes the earth. You can't let him be swallowed whole. I need to protect my mother.”
He refused her. “My job is to protect you and only you. Neeren and Gray can take care of themselves.”
Her hands were pinned by her sides so Alex kicked him in the groin and bit his hands. She used the tools she had. Concentrated on finding the claws beneath her skin. They burst out and she twisted her hands and shoved the claws into the flesh of his legs. It was hardly a scratch but it was enough to make him loosen his hold for a fraction of a second.
Alex kicked out of his grip. As she fell toward the earth, Collum reached with one claw and grabbed at her foot. She smashed the lone claw with her boot and launched herself into the air.
She hit the ground running, stumbling slightly on the sandy soil as she raced to the centre of the fight. She felt the current from Collum’s wings directly behind her. His heavy breathing vibrating like a scorching recrimination over her sensitive flesh. He could be pissed off all he liked, she wasn't running from this fight.
As Alex raced back toward her mother and the twins. Dodging Collum’s grasp, she threw fire bolt, after fire bolt, to keep her way clear. Her mother held her own. The twins fought to reach her through the wall of wind she created. Wind fought against Wind and kept Taurin at bay. Gray was strong. Alex knew she’d hold on.
She saw Domhall valiantly attempting to keep the earth from closing in on the hole where Neeren had been thrown. Her grandfather didn't control earth though and soon even his vast powers wouldn't be able to stop it.
Alex propelled herself forward while looking over her shoulder. Collum’s dragon was taking over. Her lover was more beast than man and was almost on top of her.
“Please, Collum. He’s my brother. You have to save him.”
“Goddamn it, Alex.”
“You have to do this. You must. You’re the only one who can.” She spun around. Stopped dead in her tracks to stare at him. Held her ground. “If you force me out of this we will never make it.”
He growled and dropped in front of her like a freight train. “You will not be hurt.”
“I swear to you. I will not be hurt.”
“Not a scratch Alex. Say it.”
“Not a scratch. I swear. Now hurry.”
Her beast swore a final time. The sound carried across the island. He shifted away from her and flew directly over where Neeren had fallen. He propelled himself higher, gaining more speed and momentum as he went.
As he arched, he shifted fully into his dragon form. Glistening obsidian scales covered his body. He was gorgeous, massive, ancient. His paws the size of a half-ton truck. Razor sharp talons glinted in the sun. Alex almost wept at his beauty.
He growled to Domhall below him. “Keep that goddamn break open.”
He dove straight down, soaring into the chasm with the speed and force of a bullet train.
As soon as Collum disappeared, Alex raced through the battle to her mother’s side. She hurled a wave of fire to reinforce the wall of wind.
On the sidelines, Lachon shouted, “Idris.”
“Yes, Law.”
“Take out the Gondien soldiers.”
His lips curled back. “It's about time you made the right choice,” he said before turning to join the battle.
Lachon rushed to Domhall, placing his hands on the earth. “I have this old man. There’s enough power in me to keep this open a bit longer. Go help your daughter and granddaughter so we can rectify the mistake made all those years ago. They cannot beat the twins alone.”
~ ~ ~
Terror surrounded Alex. She and her mother fought side by side against the two council members while behind them the earth quaked. Alex knew the twins shared their elements, making it almost impossible to defend against them, let alone beat them.
Domhall had explained their strengths the night before after scouring through their files. But she wasn't leaving her mother to stand against them alone. She couldn't spare a moment of thought for Collum or Neeren. She had to focus all her energy on staying alive.
Ealian screeched at them that they couldn't be alive, that she wouldn't let them live, that Alex was an abomination. Taurin remained utterly silent. Every move was calculated and swift. He fought like the devil, forcing the world beneath their feet apart time and again. The siblings fought like one being. She and Gray were utterly outmatched.
Ealian howled. The sound of a storm raged in her voice. She used her wind to throw them in the air over and over. “You’re supposed to be dead. It’s all we wanted. Your death was my gift to the dragon. Why couldn’t you just die like your husband.”
The wind became a hurricane. The force threw Alex in the air as Taurin opened a giant rift in the earth behind them.
Ealian’s laughter echoed in the wind. “He was so easy to kill. I let my dragon play with him for a while. I wish he hadn’t cut his tongue out but one can’t live on wishes and prayers, can they? Your lover wouldn’t tell me who he was even after I told him I’d let you live.” She turned demented eyes on Gray. “Can you imagine? He wasn’t worth your time really.”
At the words hurled their way, Gray faltered. The wind protecting them slowed. The earth rushed up to meet Alex and she landed with a thud. Grief twisted her mother’s beautiful face. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw her grandfather running toward them with a ball of fire in each outstretched palm. She summoned the last of her strength, raised fire to her fingertips, and screamed to keep the twins focused on her.
She and Domhall threw their flames at the same time.
Ealian noticed too late. The flames slammed into her. The winds whipping around her body forced the fire into a frenzy. Ignited a blast so large her entire frame became engulfed in an instant.
Alex's second flame missed Taurin. The fire thrown by Domhall glanced off his arm. Taurin screamed his sister’s name as her body disintegrated to ash. He threw up the earth, erecting a barrier between Domhall and himself. And using the last of his dead sister’s wind element, blasted Gray across the field.
They were alone and Alex was as bereft of energy and power as any human.
The look in his half dead eyes as he spoke told her she wasn’t long for this world. “You half-breed bitch. That was my life you just killed. I'm going to destroy you like I did that interfering cow, Kaylen.”
The dim-witted brother she’d read about in the papers her aunt had brought them, disappeared. “You all thought she wasted away from the grief of losing her daughter. I'm surprised by your family, little girl. They truly thought that woman would waste away? It was poison you realize. She was threatening to tell certain things about my beautiful Ealian. Disgusting lies. She was jealous of Ealian's beauty and her power over men.”
He stalked Alex, taunted her as she backed away.
“I got rid of her before she could cause more trouble. Except she'd already done it hadn't she. You live.”
Alex choked back a cry of sorrow for a woman she’d never known. She heard her grandfather tearing at the earthen wall behind Taurin. He would break through soon, but it would be too late to stop what was going to happen.
Alex refocused her energy and concentrated on pulling her tattoo off her body. It was—had always been— ready to do her bidding. She might die today, but she was taking this bastard with her. As she felt the earth crumble beneath her feet, she unleashed the molten rope, and with precise control, wrapped it around Taurin's neck.
His screamed ricocheted off the cliffs to the ocean below. He clawed at the fire that held him, attempting to rip it from his neck.
As the soil beneath Alex’s feet gave way and she sunk into the cold earth, she saw was a fully formed dragon burst out of the ground with Neeren in his claws. She screamed Collum’s name, praying he heard her before the earth swallowed her whole.