Samael frowned and raised his face to the skies, watching the swirl of gases above. “Maybe. The air wasn’t toxic back then. It may have killed them.”

“Or they may have evolved.” Keon said.

“Let’s not tempt fate,” Azazel said.

I was about to bite into my strip of meat when a strange buzzing filled the air. The wind kicked up, and the blue flame winked out before flaring defiantly to life again.

Mal stood slowly, his gaze fixed on the horizon at my back.

My scalp pricked and foreboding clawed at my insides. “Don’t.”

“Oh babe,” Mal said. “I think I spoke too soon.”

I turned my head slowly to follow his gaze and froze at the sight of the silver haze headed toward us. The buzzing grew louder with every passing second.

“What is that?” Azazel asked.

“Hornices,” Samael replied. “One sting is painful, but more than one can prove fatal. I guess they adapted to the toxic air.”

“We need to take cover,” Keon said.

“Um,” Mal said. “If you haven’t noticed we’re in barren lands right now. This is all the cover we’re going to get.”

I looked to Samael who was busy studying the map, turning it this way and that.

“There’s a network of subterranean caverns a quarter of a mile from here.” He held his hand out me. “We’ll have to be fast.”

He wanted to carry me and this time I didn’t argue that I was just as strong as the other guys. The truth was, the terrain was too difficult for me to traverse. I didn’t have the muscle strength the guys did to walk in the spiked boots, let alone run.

I took Samael’s hand and he hauled me toward him before swinging me onto his back. His wings weren’t visible, but I could feel their presence like a pulse in the air around me, powerful and filled with intent, as if they ached to be free.

“Hold on,” he ordered and then we were in motion. The terrain flew by and I held on to Samael for dear life.

Azazel and Mal ran either side of us, kicking up ice so it was a cloud of swirling slivers behind them, and when I craned my head to look back Keon was close behind. Beyond him the swarm had altered its trajectory to follow us.

Fuck.

It was gaining, The bugs… Fuck they were huge. From this distance, they looked like the size of my hand. How large would they be close up?

Nope. Not wanting to find out.

The world was a blur as Samael picked up speed. How could he move so fast? How could the guys? They’d been taking it slow for me. The realisation was a gut punch. My eyes blurred with tears, mainly due to the cold air stabbing at my eyeballs but also partly due to embarrassment. I’d be having words with the guys once this was over.

A jagged rock face rose ahead of us and Samael made a beeline for it. Behind us the swarm grew closer.

“To the left!” Samael bellowed over the elements. “The aperture is hidden, follow me.”

And then we swerved left. The rock face loomed, casting a shadow over us. the temperature dropped even farther, but my eyes were on the frost covered stone, searching for an opening. And there, like a miracle it appeared, a narrow slice in the stone that widened the closer we got.

“Hold on, blossom,” Samael said.

And then we dove into darkness.

The temperature was slightly warmer in the tunnels and the spikes on our boots were redundant, more so for me than the guys as Samael continued to carry me. But Azazel unclasped the attachments from my boots when he’d dispensed with his. We’d need them when we got back outside.

The gray light from the entrance soon dissipated and my night vision kicked into gear. The deeper we went, the less effective it was, until it was no use at all, and it felt as if the darkness was smothering me.

“Are you sure they won’t follow us?” Mal’s disembodied voice drifted up behind us.

“Hornices don’t like confined spaces,” Samael said. “They make open-air hives high up on rocks, or at the pinnacle of stalagmites.”

“Let’s hope they haven’t evolved,” Azazel said.

I leaned in, hugging Samael’s back. “You’ve taken this route before, haven’t you?”

“Hmmm,” he said. “But I was hoping to avoid it this time.”

“Why?”

“It matters not. You’re safe with me.”

Which meant there was definitely something to worry about. Great. “I can walk now.”

“Can you see?”

“Um…no.”

“Then you’re safer where you are.”

There was no arguing with that logic.

“Just no sudden movements,” he said. “And everyone, be as silent as you can.”

My nape prickled as my other senses slipped into hyperawareness now that my vision was compromised. Samael moved with assurance. How could he see? How could the guys see, or were they using an extrasensory ability I didn’t possess?

This trip was highlighting how different I was to the other Dominus. That no matter how much I’d trained and grown, I’d never be as fast or strong as them.

No, do not think like that. This shit can be compensated for. It can be learned.

My Loup stretched and filled me, and my vision sharpened, drawing on light I hadn’t even known was there. The world took shape, slowly and distinctly, and the reason for Samael’s instruction for no sudden movements made sense.

We were on a fucking ledge

And beyond the ledge was inky blackness.

Up head, a stone archway, hopefully lead to solid ground.

Fuck.

My heart pounded harder.

“You’re safe, blossom,” Samael whispered softly. “Just hold on and stay still.”

I wanted to nod, to say okay, but my body was locked, and my voice was stuck in my throat because there was something moving in the darkness. I was fucking sure of it.

No. Not something.

Somethings…

“Fuck.” The word was a soft exhalation behind us, and I wasn’t sure if it was Mal or Az who’d said it.

Blood rushed in my ears and my eyes strained, focused on the arch, which was suddenly salvation, because my gut was screaming at me to run, to get away from whatever was in that abyss.

We were almost there, only a few meters away, when there was a scuffle and then a chink.

Someone cursed and Samael froze, holding his breath. “Don’t. Move,” he whispered.

The world was silent and still, and then a soft clicking sound drifted up from the abyss. It was joined by another and then another, and then a whooshing sound, like an oncoming wave spiraled out of the abyss.

“Run!” Samael ordered.

The arch loomed, closer and closer. The clicking was now a multitude of clicks, and even though every instinct in me said not to look back, I couldn’t help but turn my head to take a peek and—

A silver wave surged out of the abyss, creatures unlike anything I’d ever seen. Bat-winged with feral faces and huge inky eyes. Each was the size of an infant. The clicking penetrated my brain, rattling it and drawing a scream up my throat, and then we were through the arch. Azazel and Mal followed.

Keon? Where was Keon.

Samael made to dive deeper into the caverns, but I dug my heels in. “Where’s Keon?”

A bellow drifted through the arch.

Keon!

I leapt off Samael’s back and attempted to push past Azazel, but he grabbed me to him.

I fought him. “No! Let go.”

“You can’t Fee,” Mal said.

Keon’s scream echoed through the arch and my heart twisted. I wouldn’t be able to break free of Azazel. That was a given. But there was a fire inside me that wouldn’t allow me to abandon Keon.

I relaxed against my soulmate and his grip loosened, as he seemed to think he’d gotten through to me.

I chose that moment to break free. Mal made a swipe for me, but I ducked and barreled through the arch in time to see Keon being dragged over the edge of the ledge.

Our gazes locked, and I saw the sorrow in his eyes.

And then he was gone.

No. Not today.

I ran along the edge and leapt in after him as my name echoed behind me like a bloody battle cry.

Silver beasts with batwings surged toward me, clawing at me as I reached out to Keon.

Pain lanced across my cheek, my neck, my back, and rage was a whiplash, bringing my scythe to life in my hand. I swung it, slicing the creatures in two as we fell.

How far could we fall?

The beat of wings above me alerted me to the fact I wasn’t alone. The guys were coming for me.

“Fee, pull up!” Azazel shouted.

“Stop, child.” Samael ordered.

They’d come for me, but they’d let Keon die. My eyes were hot with the injustice of it. I pushed forward, adding speed to my descent, using my power to spur myself on.

“No,” Keon cried out, batting at the creatures clawing at his flesh. “Go back.”

“Not without you.”

The monsters tugged him to the right, and then he was slammed into a ledge. Blood sprayed as they descended on their prey, eager to feast.

“No!” My body shuddered and the rage burning in my blood exploded outward in a burst of light that blinded me. Every synapse, every nerve ending, lit up in pain and my scream was a raw primal thing, clawing its way out of my throat to hit the air.

The light subsided but my vision remained bright, as if someone had turned on the lamp

Keon was free, no longer covered in silver beasts that wanted to get to his insides, because the creatures were nothing but piles of ash. In fact, the abyss was empty and silent of any clicking.

Had I done this? I waited for the tremor in my stomach, but it didn’t come. Instead, there was a sense of peace and purpose. A new strength.

I felt Azazel, Mal, and Samael at my back as I drifted toward Keon’s bloody, dazed form and held my hand out to him, but his gaze was on my scythe.

I held it aloft, staring at the silver glowing blade, no longer a scythe but a sword of light.

Samael drifted down to hover before me, his attention on the sword.