“Mom?” Rayan called, turning his head to look behind him.
“Mom!” he screamed, getting to his feet, and she started running toward him. I got to my feet, running after him, when my mother opened her arms, and we both crashed against her. Her arms enveloped us both, and she kissed both our faces. I pulled back, relieved to see she was okay, only to notice it wasn’t my mother but her wolf Amanda. I wanted to take a step back from her when her hand reached out, cupping my face gently.
“That’s my girl,” she whispered, brushing my cheek gently before ripping me toward her and hugging me. I hugged her back, and tears slipped down my cheeks. She looked down when Ryden squirmed, crushed between our bodies.
“Hey, precious boy. Come to Momma,” she purred at him, taking him from Rayan when the sky lit up and streaked loudly with lightning and thunder.
“We need to get out of here!” my mother called over the wind that picked up rapidly.
“Melana, we need to go!” I screamed out to her, and my mother growled viciously and tried to pass me Ryden, but I stopped her with a hand on her chest.
“I never would have found them if it wasn’t for her,” I told her.
“She just killed her sister to save Ryden and Lucy, mom. She saved me, too,” Rayan told her, and Amanda looked at us before looking down at Ryden. She nodded before her eyes darted to Melana. Melana got to her feet, wiping her eyes but remained where she was, waiting to see what my mother would do.
“Come on, we need to leave,” my mother told her when the ground suddenly started shaking violently like an earthquake.
Chapter ninety-six
Ace
Emily thrashed in my arms but went still the moment she saw her dad drop to the ground. A strangled whimper left her little lips, which were blue from the cold bite of the wind.
“Daddy?” she whispered, and my heart twisted painfully for her when I saw Reika dart off into the forest after her kids. That must have been hard to witness. No matter how much I hated that vile man, he was still the girl’s father.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” I told her, hoisting her higher and propping her on my hip when I saw Tyson smashed and knocked out by a flying tree branch. I tried to run over to him when the wind suddenly picked up, and it sounded like we were smack-dab in the middle of a tornado.
The wind pushed me down to the ground, and I tried to shield the girl’s body with mine. Glancing around, I saw everything destroyed. Nothing was left standing as the wind ripped the area apart, resembling a war zone. I noticed Aamon on the ground, and I hoped he wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t be sure. Beryl screamed, frustrated, throwing her magic around blindly, trying to take out Avery. Avery suddenly collapsed on her hands and knees, and plumes of smoke and colored light flew and zapped around everywhere. Beryl walked toward her, laughing maniacally when the ground started vibrating, and she stopped. I screamed out to Tyson, but he remained unconscious.
“All these years, all these years, I have waited for this,” Beryl laughed, and she was only around twenty meters from Avery, who was clutching her stomach. Blood covered her face when the ground started vibrating, rumbling and splitting open, lava spewing out of the crack when I heard a furious bellow.
The sound echoed through the sky, and the lightning cracked loudly. Beryl staggered back when I saw a black blur fly up out of the cracked earth into the sky, making me crane my neck to look up.
“Asmodeus,” I heard Beryl hiss before turning on her heel and running in my direction. He fell back to the earth, hitting the ground hard and creating a crater where he landed before raising his arms. Lava hounds started spewing out of the molten lava that filled the crack he’d made in the ground. They chased after Beryl, and she screamed, throwing magic blindly, trying to fight them off.
I watched in horror as one pounced on her, landing on her back and tearing into her, her clothes catching fire, and she screamed as it started dragging her toward the crack in the ground. The ground beneath me was hot, too hot, and I rolled, pulling Emily off the hot ground and placing her on my back.
“Hold on!” I screamed over the deafening wind, and she gripped my neck tightly, and I started running toward Tyson. The lava hounds attacked Beryl, who was fighting a losing battle as they continued to drag her toward the crack. Beryl clawed at the ground, screaming. The noises leaving her made my blood run cold when I skidded to a stop coming across another gap where the earth had been divided. I teetered on the edge when a hand grabbed my arm, yanking me back.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw it was, Aamon. He looked over at Tyson, and I sensed the strong scent of burned almonds flooding my nostrils and the ripple of his power. I was suddenly beside Tyson’s limp body, and Aamon disappeared.
“You dare touch my daughter, and my granddaughter?! I have waited decades for you to return to where you belong. A lifetime of pain awaits you there,” Asmodeus’s voice boomed as the hounds dragged Beryl to his feet. She looked up at him, and the lava hounds escaped back into the lava.
“Asmodeus!” Beryl gasped.
“Your new captor,” he said before kicking her, and she tumbled into the lava-filled crevice. The ground swallowed her, and I could hear her screams. Asmodeus suddenly clapped his hands, and the earth started moving again and closing. Then everything fell still, the winds stopped, and the storm cleared like it never existed.
Tyson groaned beside me, and I gripped his shoulder, rolling him on his back. He blinked up at me, and I heard Aamon wail loudly, making my head snap back in his direction to find him clutching a limp Avery in his arms. Asmodeus stopped beside him and gripped his shoulder.
Aamon looked up at him, and the dark-haired figure that seemed like the devil incarnate reached down, picking up his daughter in his arms and taking her from Aamon.
“I’ll bring her back to you, son,” he said, and Aamon hung his head.
“Whatever it takes, she will return. This life has taken enough from me, from her. I won’t allow it to take any more,” Asmodeus says before he suddenly vanishes into thin air.
“Ace, Tyson!” someone screamed. I looked around frantically for her voice and felt her getting closer. Tyson sat up just in time for her to tackle him, knocking him backward again, his hands clutching her. He hugged Lucy close, and I moved toward her to see Reika holding Ryden, Rayan, and Melana stepping out of the trees. Tyson clutched Lucy’s face looking at her red eyes.
“How are you alive?” I heard him whisper.