“No!” Effie cried out in exasperation and shock, even as a part of her knew it had been too easy.
Lucian lowered her to the ground, and they raced away, Joquil on their heels. Helena and the others were running toward them, expressions grim.
“I think you’re going the wrong way,” Effie panted when their group was reassembled.
Helena gave her a humorless smirk. “Someone has to deal with that thing.”
“You say that like we weren’t trying.”
Her smile turned genuine. “You were just wearing it down for me.”
Effie barked out a laugh and used her arm to push her sweat-dampened curls off her face. “Exactly.”
Another loud crack shook the earth, and with a savage screech the wyrm flung off the last of the ice.
Bracing herself, Effie turned back to the wyrm. “Any great ideas, Vessel?”
Thunder and lightning chased each other across the sky as Helena lifted her arms. “One or two.”
A bolt of lightning struck the wyrm, then a second and a third, lifting it up into the air and illuminating its interior like some kind of scientific drawing. The creature spasmed and the air was filled with the scent of burning meat.
It crashed to the ground, and the sense of expectation was palpable. Tiny currents of light still danced around the creature born of corruption and darkness. Just when it felt safe to breathe, the wyrm’s slitted eyes flew open and it screamed.
“I think you made it angry,” Kael announced.
“What do you think it was before?” Effie asked, heart pounding.
“Hungry.”
Not wanting to give the creature a chance to strike first, Von and Kragen sprinted forward, weapons in hand. Effie’s heart sank. Their weapons were useless against those scales.
Kragen swung first, his mighty axes glinting in the pale light. He could have been using wooden toys for all the good they did. Both weapons bounced off, utterly harmless.
Von struck almost simultaneously, his flaming sword aiming for the sliver of space between two of the scales that covered the wyrm’s belly. The strike was true. The wyrm’s scream of pain infused their small group with renewed purpose.
“Fire!” Lucian shouted. “It’s not immune to fire.”
Helena’s lips lifted in a cruel smile, her eyes sparkling with iridescence. “Fire I can do,” she murmured in the harmonic voice of her power.
Effie’s eyes lifted to the sky, expecting fiery bolts to rain down and crash into the wyrm. Instead, Helena pulled her arm back, a spear of flame forming in her hand. With perfect aim, she hurled the spear forward, using Air to guide it to its target.
The wyrm’s jaw opened once more, each glistening row of teeth on display as the spear flew upwards into its mouth and buried itself in the creature’s brain. Helena wasted no time, lobbing ball after ball of Fire until the monster was no more than a pillar of flame.
There was one final, horrific screech and the wyrm toppled to the ground, completely consumed by the inferno.
They edged closer, watching as the fire burned and the sky started to clear. The light of the flames danced on their faces and in their eyes as the fiendish beast turned to smoldering ash. Heat lapped at her skin and sweat trickled down her body, making her battle leathers stick to her skin, but she relished the burn and the almost perfect silence.
Today they had won, and this time, Effie hadn’t lost a single person she loved.
Or so she thought.
Looking around, Effie’s victorious smile faded. Not all her friends were among their ranks. “Guys . . . where are Ronan and Reyna?”
Chapter 28
Ronan raced to the edge of the trees, his axes lifted defiantly as he chased the escaping Shadows. The last of them disappeared into the jungle, and Ronan finally stopped giving chase.
“Run you fucking cowards,” he spat. “But know that I will find you. So long as I draw breath, you’ll never be safe.” The crack of a branch had him spinning around, weapons held high. “Mother’s tits, Reyna. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
She blinked at him with her forest-colored eyes, the multi-hued orbs glittered with suppressed mirth. “I thought you could use the assistance. Apologies for treading on your fragile ego, Shield.”
Ronan grunted.
Reyna tilted her head, her eyes flitting from him to the place where the last of the Shadows had disappeared. “Why did you think it was a good idea to go after them on your own?”
He shrugged. “Helena will make easy work of the wyrm, and it didn’t sit well, the thought of these abominations running free once more. We allowed it last time and look what came of it.”
“There are far fewer among their ranks after today,” Reyna pointed out.
“Yes, well. One is too many, especially now that they can multiply.”
Reyna let out a soft murmur of assent and fell into step beside him. “We have the means to track them now. They will not hide from us for long.”
Ronan supposed she was right, but it still rankled.
Another snap sounded to his left, and Ronan gave Reyna an amused grin. “For a Night Stalker, you sure make a lot of noise. I thought your kind were exceptionally gifted at sneaking up on your prey.”
Reyna gave him a haughty look that had his pants tenting uncomfortably. Ronan mentally calculated the last time he’d lain with a woman. When the number of days surpassed the better part of a year, he decided it had been entirely too long.
“If I hadn’t wanted you to hear me coming, Shield, trust that you wouldn’t have known I was there until my blade was sinking into your heart.”
Ronan would be lying if he said the thought of it didn’t make him want her more.
“Feel free to try, sweetheart. But don’t be too disappointed when you are the one that ends up pinned by my blade.” He gave her a fierce grin, letting the double meaning of his words pulse between them for one long heartbeat.
Color stained her cheeks and her eyes flashed with desire. The color looked good on her. Healthy. Ever since the lajhár attack, she’d been less herself. Less vibrant in some indiscernible way. Multiple healers had inspected her, and in every way that mattered she was healthy. But she was a shadow of her former self. Just as fierce, but more fragile now.
Ronan knew better than to mention it. She’d practically stabbed him in the thigh with her dinner knife the last time he’d tried to bring it up. She did not appreciate being called out on her weakness. Fair enough. Neither did he.
He started walking once more, letting the moment between them pass unacted upon. They would have their time together. Soon. But this was hardly the place for seduction. And Reyna deserved seduction. A woman such as her deserved every skilled move he could lavish upon her.
Snap.
Ronan laughed and looked over his shoulder. “Now you’re just doing it on—” He broke off when the only thing he found was trembling branches. “Reyna? Reyna, stop fucking around.”
Even as he tried to tell himself she was just playing games, trying to prove a point, he didn’t believe it. His heart spiked as he combed through the nearby foliage. His movements became more frantic as he tore through the jungle.
There was no sign of her. Not so much as a scrap of cloth hanging from a nearby branch to indicate which way she’d gone.