“Darius!” I screamed, shaking him when I recognized what they were.Hellhounds. They charged at us. I screamed, shaking Darius as they drew closer, trying to wake him. Darius groaned, and they got about twenty feet away. I panicked, crawling on top of him. My lips smashed against his.
Their feral snarls sent shivers up my spine, their black furless huge bodies bounding toward us, all sharp teeth and massive claws leaping our way. Darius’s magic slammed into me like a tidal wave, stealing the air from my lungs. It was so cold, like ice, as I consumed it, taking it from him.
It writhed in my veins, and I choked, ripping myself away, unable to consume anymore. A scream tore out of me as four hellhounds pounced on us, about to rip us to pieces. My ears rang from the commotion as I tossed my hands out, slamming them on the ground on either side of us and shut my eyes, waiting for my death when I jolted. The movement rattled my pounding head as the hellhounds collided with the force field I’d created.
The huge beasts growled, trying to find a way past it, when I pushed the walls higher, creating a crystal-clear dome around us. Their massive bodies collided with it, trying to break through. Each hit weakened me as I tried to hold the barrier in place.
Sweat beaded on my neck and dripped off my face; everything ached and cramped at the exertion it took. Digging my hands into the earth, vines started wrapping around the dome as it splintered from the repeated blows.
The vines grew with thorny branches encasing the dome, and the hellhounds snarled louder. The trickling sensation running down my face told me I wouldn’t hold it much longer when my nose started bleeding, my blood dripping onto Darius’s chest, where I hovered above him while praying for him to wake.
If he didn’t soon, I would pass out from using so much magic at once, yet they kept tearing into the vines, ripping them down as quickly as I replaced them. The magic it took to hold them back started running low and faltering when I felt warm hands grip my waist and move under my shirt to my ribs. My eyes flew open to see Darius staring wide-eyed at me, his obsidian eyes watching my face.
“You’re a harmony,” he whispered before looking at the crystal and vine dome surrounding us. “And an elemental.”
At that moment, I felt his hands heat as he gave his magic to me, replenishing it more and trying to keep me strong.
“I can’t hold it!” I said through gritted teeth. My vision turned red as I blinked through bloody tears. I could taste my blood running into my mouth from my nose.
“Hold it a second longer,” Darius said before moving one hand off my waist and placing it over his mark. I felt a shudder run through me, and the infinity mark on my wrist burned as he used his to call the others.
“Darius!” I cried, digging my fingers into the earth further as black dots danced before my vision, and I felt the dome start crumbling around us. Darius growled when I crashed against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, and he rolled, flipping me onto my back as the walls keeping us safe started to crumble.
“Good girl, but now I need you to remain still,” Darius murmured, and I blinked up at him dizzily when he growled. His eyes glowed so brightly, they almost turned silver. His hands hit the ground next to my head, and the noise was horrendous.
The ground was lifting in a wave all around us, and his car alarm started blaring. My head fell limply to the side, and I saw the hellhounds suddenly become air-born and blast backward. The ground split around us as Darius’s wave of power made the ground shake and move, sending them flying back. I blinked, trying to remain conscious as my vision blurred.
“Stay with me, Aleera,” I heard Darius call out as the sound of portals opening up reached my ears. Heat engulfed me as firewalls suddenly encased us. The sound of pained whimpers pierced through the air and the dots taking over my vision grew larger before taking my sight completely and leaving me blind to my surroundings.
“Darius?”
“Right here with you, you’re safe with me,” he said above me though his voice sounded muffled, and I tried to nod but couldn’t fight the exhaustion as it sucked me under. “I got you.”
Those were the last words I heard before plunging into nothingness.
Chapter 69
Darius
My mind was spinningas I held the hellhounds off. One stupid mistake nearly cost her life; I should never have taken her out of the castle grounds without the others. I was most shocked that she could have drained me of my power and portalled out and run, leaving me, but she stayed to protect me. I knew something was off about her, but never in my wildest dreams did I think she was harmony fae and elemental on top of that. Not for one second did I ever entertain that idea; she shouldn’t exist. Aleera would be a lethal weapon if appropriately trained.
Why would she keep it from us?We would have protected her. However, it made so much sense now why her parents tried to kill her.
“Aleera, stay with me, love,” I called to her as my magic faltered after getting hit with a blast of air. I scanned my surroundings as my flame wall suddenly encased us, and I barely covered her body with mine in time to stop the flames from burning her before reinforcing them again.
Come on, Tobias, where are you?I thought just before I felt hispresence getting close. Lycus’s presence also felt near as my mark stopped burning. Kalen was not here, and I wondered what they did to subdue him to force him to remain home. I knew that man would walk through fire for her. We all would. Whimpers and shouting could be heard all around, yet the shudder against my shield as they bounced off it told me they would get to her if I dropped it.
“Tobias, behind you!” Lycus called out before I heard him grunt. Panic made me drop the shield to find him fighting with the man from town, the same man that walked out in front of my car. There was a vicious snarl as the hellhounds lunged at us, ripping me back to my surroundings and forcing me to drop the shield. My body covered Aleera’s head to shield her, expecting the hellhounds to sink their teeth into her any second, yet my thoughts were interrupted by the fierce sounds of flesh being ripped from bone and a mighty furious roar.
Lycus’s giant wolf gripped its neck in his powerful jaws, ripping the hellhound back at the last second and slamming it on the ground before he shook his head, ripping out the beast’s throat and spraying himself and me in blood. Looking around, I noticed he and Tobias had taken out the others, and the only person left was the man Tobias was fighting. Fool. Sneaking up on him would have been smarter in case he ran. Tobias plunged his hand through the man’s chest, and his entire body became engulfed in flames. His screams drilled into my ears.
“Idiot,” I muttered, thinking his puny air magic was no match for a fire user. Tobias ripped his hand out, leaving the man’s burning corpse to fall at his feet. The hellhounds put up more of a fight.
Tobias ran over to us. Lycus’s big black wolf also came over, sniffing and licking my face. I pushed his head away, lifting my body from Aleera’s unconscious one. He sniffed her, licked her cheek, and nudged her before whimpering when she didn’t wake. Tobias came over and ran his hand down Lycus’s back.
“She will be okay. Let us get her home,” Tobias told him, and Lycus whined while I bundled her up in my arms. Blood trickled from her nose, ears, and eyes from using my magic. The amount she used told me she had never harnessed that much at once. Being an elemental, magic should come easy to her unless she hadn’t used it. Tobias walked over to the car, and Lycus shifted back to give him a hand as they pushed it back on its wheels. The car banged and bounced as it was turned back upright.
“She has seen better days,” Tobias muttered at my ruined car before he pushed it off to the side of the road. Lycus retrieved the stuff from the trunk and our belongings from the vehicle.