Fucking get out.
“Let me go,” I begged, the heat building beneath my skin once more. It’d temporarily subsided due to the shock of his arrival, but it had returned with a vengeance, flooding my veins with liquid fire.
“No.” His tone brooked no argument, yet I needed him to release me, this power inside me threatening my every breath.
“Zeph...” I tried to warn him, my breath coming in pants as sweat beaded across my skin. “It burns,” I whispered, my limbs beginning to shake beneath the onslaught of energy cascading through my spirit.
“What are you doing?” Zeph asked, spinning me in his arms and catching me as my knees buckled.
“She looks ready to explode, and not in an appealing way,” a new voice said as Shade materialized beside us. His palm caught my cheek, his dark gaze searching. “What has you so troubled, little rose? Why do I sense Kols in you?”
“How the hell did you know we were here?” Zeph cut in.
“Her fear called to me,” Shade murmured, his eyes still holding mine. “What did Kols do to you, Aflora? Why is his power pouring through our bond?”
I couldn’t say it even if I wanted to, my throat tight with emotion and fear as the flames threatened to surface. If Zeph didn’t release me, I’d burn him alive. And even if he deserved that after what he did to Clove, I couldn’t hurt him. Not like that.
Swallowing thickly, I pushed the heat down, only to have it skyrocket inside me and spark at my fingertips.
“Her eyes are glowing,” Zeph said. “Cerulean fire.”
“Where’s Kols?” Shade demanded.
“Fuck if I know.”
“Isn’t it his job to keep her powers under control?” He finally released me to focus on the male behind me. “He’s done something to her powers.”
Is that concern in Shade’s voice? I wondered, starting to feel delirious. Can’t be. No.
“I can sense it, too,” Zeph replied, that same note in his tone.
This is bad, I thought, trembling beneath a hum of electricity that ran across my skin. “Burning,” I managed to whisper, my knees wobbling violently. “Going to—”
A scream ripped from my throat, cutting off my words, as pain unlike anything I’d ever felt slashed a hole right through my chest. Zeph released me with a hiss, allowing me to fall to the ground in a ripple of cerulean flames that scorched the forest floor.
“Fuck!”
“What the fuck is that?”
Their voices mingled, making it impossible to tell them apart. I couldn’t hear beyond the roar of power lapping at my essence and overtaking my soul.
Tears slid from my eyes.
Everything ached.
My heart sped up.
Too much.
It’s too much.
I didn’t know how to balance it all, to find my equilibrium. It reminded me of my first time accessing the source of my earth power, that necessary need to placate both sides between my soul and the core of my element.
Only, I couldn’t find that center.
It kept moving out of my reach and showering me in electricity, humming dangerously through the air, warning me of the wrongness of my presence.
“Help me,” I begged, not sure if I spoke the words out loud or muttered them in my mind. “Too hot. Dying.”