CHAPTER SIXTEEN

 

BEFORE I EVEN had a chance to say his name, Clay released the arrow. I twisted out of the way of his shot as quickly as I could, and the arrow whizzed through the air, glancing against the skin of my left shoulder.

The sharpened arrowhead tore through my flesh, tearing off a chunk of skin as it went by before sinking into the wall behind me with a thud. Clutching at the wound, I was relieved that I knew his technique well enough to dodge the worst of the injury.

It had been aimed for my heart.

Without stopping my motion, I searched for Clay with my peripheral vision. He’d already nocked another arrow. The thrum of the bowstring warned of the second projectile heading for me. I ducked under the shot and moved toward him before kicking at the bow in an attempt to knock it from his hand. My foot forced the third shot into the ceiling, sending plaster raining down over us.

Using the distraction caused by the destruction, I reached for the bow with my hand, tugging it out of his hands. Clay reached for it again, yanking it back toward him. I released my hold, sending him staggering backward as the bow fell from his hands.

In the split second after he dropped the bow, I twisted to stare past him to look for the guards. What I saw was the horrifying vision of a body that looked like it could be Ethan slumped in a section of blood soaked grass a few yards from the door.

“What did you do to him?” I screamed as I stood to push past Clay to check on Ethan.

The moment I was upright, Clay’s hands snapped forward and closed around my throat, his fingers gripping me tightly. He pushed me into the house and against a wall, using his strength to hold me and lift me from the ground.

I grabbed at his hands, trying to pull them from my neck, but he just lifted me higher until I could barely breathe. My feet scrambled against the wall, desperate for some sort of purchase to allow some air into my lungs. Tears of rage and disbelief spilled from me.

“Your little pets are dead,” he spat. His face was inches from mine. True terror raced through me as I stared into eyes that belonged to my once-lover that now brimmed over with hatred. It was the face that must have been the final vision of so many others, and now it was likely to be my final sight. “They won’t be coming to your rescue this time.”

My vision started to blur as his fingers dug deeply into my throat. Even though my survival instincts were screaming at me, it was difficult to ignore the fact that it was Clay I was fighting against.

“Now you’ll pay for what you did to me and my family.”

Just as I was about to slip completely into unconsciousness, the baby kicked and reminded me that it was more than just my life on the line. If it came down to Clay or Ava, she had to be my priority. With all the strength I could muster, I lifted my knee and aimed it at his middle. My legs flailed wildly, as I hoped to luck out and hit something that would hurt him enough to force his hands away from my throat. I raked at his arms with my nails, my fingers clawing at his skin to get him to release his hold as I kicked out again.

Eventually, my incessant attack was too much for him, and one of his hands dropped away as I took a chunk of his skin with one of my fingernails. Using his weakened hold, I kicked out with my leg and struck his knee, causing it to buckle beneath him. His hold loosened further, and I slumped to the ground.

Before I was able to gather myself enough to race to the front door, Clay stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I spun on the spot and raced away from him as quickly as I could, not caring which direction my feet carried me just so long as it was away from him.

When I reached the kitchen, I searched around for anything that might give me an advantage. Spying the knife block on the kitchen bench, I reached for it. I didn’t intend to hurt Clay, but I hoped that holding a weapon would at least be a slight deterrent to his attack.

The fae guards were armed. I pushed the unwelcome thought from my mind the instant it arose.

My fingers closed around the knife just as a shooting pain in my back made me reach for something to hold myself upright. At first I thought Clay might have returned with his bow and arrow, but the pain was coming from within my own body. My nails scraped against the bench as the little niggles I’d been feeling all day grew in intensity to tear at my stomach and spine, twisting them in a merciless tourniquet.

The sound of Clay moving through the house reached me, so I grabbed the knife and slunk down to the floor to wait out the pain ripping through my abdomen. My teeth pierced my lower lip, breaking the skin and allowing the bitter taste of blood to spill across my tongue. I forced myself to breathe through my nose, worried that if I opened my mouth the agony would come pouring out in strangled cries.

When I was able to move again, I crawled across the floor to get to the phone. After risking a quick glance over the top of the counter to ensure that Clay couldn’t see me, I stood to get the handset. The moment my fingers closed around it, I dropped back to the floor and carefully dialed the number I had for Aiden. The beep that each button emitted when I pressed it was far too loud in my own ears, echoing through the suffocating silence around me. I could only hope it was just my imagination enhancing the sound and that Clay wouldn’t be able to hear it.

Just as I was about to press the last number, Clay’s hand snaked over the top of the counter, and he ripped the phone from my hand, hurling it across the room in the same smooth movement. I screamed as the handset smashed against the wall and fell to the floor in pieces.

Clambering back to my feet, I forced myself away from the breakfast bar.

Clay rounded the bench and grabbed a handful of my hair before tossing me roughly against the floor. A new sting, unlike the earlier contraction, shot through my stomach. My heart lurched as I thought about the damage his actions could have caused to our baby.

“Clay, please!” I sobbed as I scuttled away from him with my legs and one arm. The other caressed my stomach in a possibly useless attempt to protect Ava from Clay’s continued assault. “Please don’t do this!”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” His voice was cold and the tone unwavering as he stalked behind me with slow, deliberate steps. “I’m doing what I was born to do! Remove threats to humanity from the world.” He meant every word, and he wasn’t going to back down.

Aiden was right. This wasn’t the man I loved.

I couldn’t just give up though; my actions determined whether our baby would live or die. I had made him stop long enough to see the truth once before. Could I do it again?

My hope sank as I considered that it had been the sunbird who’d ensnared him last time, I wasn’t sure I could do it alone. “I’m not a threat to anyone. You know that.”

“I know what you did to me.” He grabbed my foot, pulling me off balance and dragging me close to him.

I reached forward, trying to find anything I could hold onto to pull myself back out of his clutches. My fingers slid along the wooden floors. The rough boards, which were overdue for a few layers of polish, were like sandpaper and tore at my skin as I struggled for purchase. “I didn’t do anything to you. I love you!”

“Are you serious?” He issued a hard, dark laugh that chilled my blood. Using his hold on my leg, he dragged me out into an open patch of floor where there was nothing within reach that I could use as a makeshift weapon. “I know all about the danger you pose and the lies that you’ve told. The damage you’ve caused me and my family is unspeakable.”

As he said the words, he released my leg but gripped the knife he’d taken from me—the one I’d pulled from the block for my own protection—tighter.

I was incapacitated by another surge of agony that radiated from my very core forcing a burning, tearing sensation through my stomach. “Please,” I sobbed through the pain. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, don’t do this!”

“Lies!” he hissed. “You were going to try to attack me with this, weren’t you?” He held up the knife, drawing the blade back and forward through the air.

I shook my head and, as soon as I had control of my legs again, dragged my body away from him. “I wasn’t. I just wanted you to stop.”

He knelt down beside me and clutched at my leg again, holding me in place. I took the opportunity to kick him in the stomach with my other foot, winding him and forcing him to drop the knife. He fell to the floor before recovering far too quickly for my liking. I forced myself back onto my feet and raced into the dining area, clutching at my swollen and aching stomach as I ran.

I screamed as another contraction ripped through my body, forcing me to my knees. I’d expected labor to be painful, but the heat that burned through the lower half of my body wasn’t mentioned on any website, and I was beginning to think it wasn’t normal.

“Clay,” I panted through the pain. “I know you don’t remember me, and I know you want to kill me, but please, spare our baby. She’s in danger.”

“That baby is not mine,” he growled as he rounded the table with the knife. “I would never be stupid enough to be with a freak like you, at least not of my own free will.”

Grabbing the corner of a chair, I tried to pull myself back to my feet to escape his renewed pursuit. I clutched at my stomach, wrapping one arm as securely around it as I could as I climbed to my feet. Once I was upright, I twisted the chair around with all the speed and strength I could muster and forced it between my body and Clay’s.

Just hang in there a little longer, I pleaded with Ava as I ran from the room. Clay’s teasing words from just a few months earlier came back to haunt me. “You’re not as quick as you used to be.”

I couldn’t give myself over to the pain yet or both Ava and I would die. Despite the fact that he looked like the man I’d given my heart and soul to, I had to remember that he wasn’t. This Clay wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the evil he perceived in both me and our baby. Regardless of what happened to me, I had to save her life.

Aiden’s words were the next to rush through my head. “If he saw you as an imminent threat and attacked you, could you halt his attack even if it meant ending his life? Could you slay him to ensure your continued survival? Or could you sacrifice his existence for that of your daughter?”

Could I kill him if I had to?

I wasn’t sure that I could, and I hoped desperately that I wouldn’t have to find out. There had to be another way out.

Think, damn you, just think! There has to be another way out of this.

Racing toward the back door, with Clay on my heels every step of the way, I couldn’t get enough speed. My pace couldn’t match his. It was impossible and dangerous to try, but far more dangerous not to.

Another contraction stole my legs from beneath me. I fell to the floor, landing roughly on my knees. The weight behind the fall made my kneecaps ache in protest, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull myself up again in any hurry.

Instinctively, I folded my head between my hands and tucked myself up into as tight of a ball as I could manage around my stomach as Clay’s momentum carried him over the top of me. The moment his feet landed on the floor in front of me, before he was able to correct his motion, I twisted sharply and swept one foot along the floor to knock him off balance. When I saw him go down, I scrambled in the opposite direction as quickly as I was able to drag myself.

“Just give up already!” he grunted in frustration after untangling his limbs and climbing back to his feet.

Another contraction hit. They were coming closer and closer together and each one smashed through my body with more ferocity than the one before. I rolled over onto my back to locate Clay and work out what form his next attack would take. My body burned. Fire raced through my veins instead of blood. The flames weakened me rather than give me strength. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hang on for—especially when there was no help coming. Clay had incapacitated all of the guards, as well as Ethan, so there was no one to raise the alarm. I was truly alone.

Seeing that I was on the floor in a weakened position, Clay began to pace toward me with slow, macabre steps, a victorious smile twisting his lips into a wicked shape. More than ever before, I understood what it was to be hunted as I scuttled backwards along the floor, calling on every reserve in my body to move. As Clay advanced on me, he tossed the knife casually from one hand to another, a certainty that he had won evident on his features.

He dropped to his knees at my side as another contraction raced through me. I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream as the tightness gripped my stomach again, making it feel like my stomach was in a vice. My fingernails dug deep into my palms as I squeezed my hands into fists, sending droplets of blood trickling over my wrists from the crescent moon wounds I’d inflicted. Everything faded to black as the heat raced through my veins again.

When the pain finally abated, I focused on my surroundings again. Clay had twisted the knife in his hand until his hand swallowed the hilt and the blade stuck dangerously out from the bottom of his fist. He drove it downward with all of his weight behind the blow, forcing it toward my chest.

“No!” I cried, lifting both of my hands to try to stop his motion—and the blade.

Catching and holding his arm with a strength I hadn’t known I possessed, I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and held on tightly. For the first time since I’d lost my old ability, I wished for it back. With it, I could have forced just enough heat into my hands to make him drop the knife. Instead, I was stuck wrestling desperately for my life knowing the slightest weakness on my part would send the blade plummeting toward my chest, ending my life and that of our child. My shoulder ached in protest and fresh blood began to seep from the arrow wound.

The power Clay had as he renewed his fight to force the knife into my body made it almost impossible for me to resist him. He had the upper hand, and I grunted in effort as I struggled against him. Trying to retain the strength in my arms was becoming more of a struggle with each passing second. The blade scratched at my skin, cutting small but painful wounds over my wrists. One tiny miscalculation on my part and it was likely that the sharpened blade would slice into a major vein or artery.

My strength faltered, and my arms gave out for a fraction of a second. It was enough for Clay to take advantage and the blade dropped.

Just in time I renewed my fight, knowing that I had seconds left at most. The blade dragged across the front of my shirt, slicing the material and nicking my skin. Clearly realizing, as I did, that his strike would now lack the force it needed, Clay lifted his arm again.

Another contraction was building, and I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to fight him through the renewed pain. I searched for any other possible weakness I could exploit—more than willing to use any and all of the non-lethal techniques he’d taught me in order to fight him off.

Shifting my body around slightly so that my hips lined up with his legs, I held his arms tightly in my hands, and when he plunged the knife a second time, I gave in to his strength, twisting at the last second to use his forward momentum to trip him over my legs.

The weight behind the knife sent the blade into the ground, embedding it almost an inch into the soft wood. Clay went sprawling over the top of it. Just as the pain of the latest round of contractions hit, I forced myself off the ground and across Clay’s body, pinning his arms to his side with my thighs, before giving the knife a forceful tug to pull it from the floorboards.

Even though it felt wrong on every level, I held the knife steady at Clay’s throat as I rode out another contraction.

He struggled against my hold.

At least until I screamed out in agony. Then, he must have understood how easily the hilt could slip in my hands and the blade could strike his neck, and held still.

“I could easily kill you,” I lied when the worst of the pain had subsided. There was no part of me that could drive the knife into Clay’s body, regardless of the threat he posed to Ava or me. “Couldn’t I?”

“Go ahead and do it then,” he hissed. “You know you want to.”

“No,” I said.

His brows knitted together in confusion.

“I could kill you,” I repeated. “Right now!” I lifted the blade high above my head and dropped it suddenly, forcing all of my weight behind it, burying it almost to the hilt in the floorboards just a few inches beside Clay’s head. “But I never would.”

I rested my hand between the knife and his head and dropped my head onto his chest as another contraction shredded the lower half of my body and the warmth in my veins grew stronger again. It wasn’t like the heat I’d experienced over the years, when the sunbird was awake and sharing my skin. Instead, stolen fire forced its way into my body and raced through my veins without any real connection to me. Almost as if my daughter was giving me the strength I needed to fight off her father, but weakening me in the process.

Does she think that he’s a threat?

When the pain of the latest contraction left, I began to cry. If it was true, then even the sunbird recognized my husband as a risk. My own flesh and blood thought he could kill me.

Would he really kill his own daughter?

There was a time when I’d trusted that she’d be safe with him without me, when I’d been certain a child would be born from my ashes. When I hadn’t even doubted him despite his prejudices.

As the thought rolled through me, another more terrifying one followed. Maybe I hadn’t escaped my fate. Maybe Clay had merely delayed the inevitable and my body was heating as the sunbird was prepared to sacrifice me again.

Fear raced through my veins and stole my ability to move. There were so many things I was afraid of in that moment: the heat, Clay, Ethan’s fate, the fate of the other fae guards, but the one thing I was most fearful of was the unknown person who was behind Clay’s attack. Clay hadn’t come here of his own freewill; I understood that now more than ever. Especially after the words he had spoken. What if I’d subdued Clay only to have to face another attacker?

Tears of fear and pain ran dirty streaks down my cheeks as everything I’d lost, everything I still stood to lose, and the agony of the last two hours all attacked my mind simultaneously. I lifted my head and gazed into eyes that were almost black but rimmed with the brightest of blue. The dark-chocolate depths were hardened with an anger so intense it stole my breath. They were the eyes of the man who would kill me—the same man who’d once sworn to love me above all others and protect me at all costs. My tears fell harder and sobs stole away my breath.

“How could you do this to me, Clay?” I practically screamed at him as every emotion I’d experienced since he disappeared came pouring out. I beat at his chest with what little strength I had left as my sadness and anger merged into a hysterical fit of rage. My tears fell as readily as my fists and both rained steadily down on him. He twisted his head to the side to protect himself from the ferocity of my attack. “Why did you have to leave us? Why? I loved you! I was happy! We were happy! Weren’t we? Why did you have to go and ruin it all?”

When the next contraction hit, I wasn’t ready for it. I bucked backwards to a sitting position and cried out in pain. Clay used my agony against me and fought to free his hands. While he twisted and shook to pull himself loose, I fell to the side—tumbling off his body and onto the floor. I curled around myself to try to hold in the pieces of my shattered body until the pain finally released me from its clutches again.

Once the contraction left me, I was completely done. I lay sobbing on the ground, waiting for my inevitable death. There was no way I could protect myself against any further attack. I was beyond tired. Beyond the ability to fight.

Beyond anything and everything outside of the desperate need I had to push.