Levi turned around and hurried back to see Orson back on his feet, checking on Adam and Isaac.
“Isaac is hurt pretty bad, and he needs me right now. Adam’s fine, but we still haven’t found Lyra,” said Orson, wiping blood off his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked right at Levi with ferocity in his eyes, begging him with silent words. “Go find my daughter, and bring her back safely to me.”
Levi nodded. “I will.”
He turned to Adam who was still unconscious, breathing steadily in Orson’s lap. A quick scan of the boy told Levi that he was fine, and hadn’t suffered any injuries. He reached forward and rubbed Adam’s hair before getting back to his feet. Levi turned and began running, a lot slower than his normal speed. He stumbled as he ran, but Levi knew he had to go. He had to push himself. Everyone else was hurting, injured from the fight.
He was injured as well, but he had no idea how Lyra was doing, and no matter how many times he reached out to her phone, it just wouldn’t connect. Val didn’t pick up either, and that scared Levi. He tried to think of all the possible scenarios in his head, wondering what would have happened to result in that.
Maybe there were two groups of demons, and they had to face off their group alone for some reason. Levi got to the slope of the hill and dropped backward, sliding down until he reached the bottom. He quickly pulled out his phone and called Adebayo, and the man picked up instantly.
“Are you close to Orson?”
“Yeah,” Adebayo replied.
“Good, put it on speaker,” Levi replied as he ran, his breathing huffed.
“Levi! Have you found her?” Orson asked.
“Not yet, no, but I caught her scent and I’m heading toward her now.”
“So why are you calling?” Orson asked, confused.
“I wanted to ask a question, something I should have done a long time ago, and I guess this is as good a time as any.” Levi leaped over a fallen tree and continued making his way toward Lyra, picking up her scent from all of the places she had touched. He was getting closer. “I want to ask for peace between both of our species.”
“Levi…”
“No, Orson, listen. We dragons aren’t the easiest people to deal with, we know. I’m not one to judge. But neither are werewolves. We’re all people at the end of the day, and maybe we can’t fix this age-old feud between both of our species, but maybe we can fix this feud between our packs. If you agree, no dragon from my pack will ever harass or attack or do anything wrong to a werewolf from your pack, or any other pack, unless they try to attack first.”
Orson grunted. “That sounds reasonable, now can you focus on finding my daughter?”
“Sure,” Levi replied, about to put the phone away. Then he paused. “Hold on, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I’m going to finish what I started. I fell in love with Lyra a long time ago, and she has my kid. I can’t keep living knowing that Adam is going to grow up without a father, because of a choice that I made when I was young. I want to be in my son’s life. I want to be Lyra’s husband, and Adam’s father. So, I’m asking your permission.”
“You bring my daughter back to me alive, and I’ll consider your request.”
Levi put the phone away and continued running. As he got closer and closer, he noticed a small demon that was lurking behind a tree, staring at something in the distance. He realized that it was preparing to attack, and Levi decided to stop it.
It screamed at him as Levi grabbed it by the throat. He put it against the tree, digging his claws into it as it slashed at his arm. Using his other free hand, he punched the side of its face as hard as he could, and it stopped moving, apparently dead.
Levi let go and it fell to the ground. He turned to look in the direction the demon was looking, and Levi saw Val striking Lyra. Before he could speak, he felt a deep cut across his back and fell to his knees. Levi turned to see the demon had gotten back up, hitting him hard. He turned around, swinging his hand as hard as he could, channeling a ball of fire into it.
The blow obliterated the demon instantly, leaving nothing behind. Levi dropped to his knees, crawling forward, completely drained. There was nothing left in him. He had run so far, fought so hard, and had been burned badly. His body was working tirelessly to restore him, and that drew on whatever energy he had left.
Levi yelled as loudly as he could, but he was too far away from Lyra and Val, and his voice came out as just a low groan.
Val stomped into Lyra’s chest as hard as she could before turning at the sound of Levi’s groan. She turned to Levi with a smile on her face. “So, you came to watch? Fine. If you’re not going to be with me, that’s fine Levi! But if you think I’m going to let you have this…bitch? Say your goodbyes.”
“Val, no!” Levi yelled, forcing himself up to his feet. He began walking across the space toward her, but Val quickly dashed up to him, grabbing Levi by his throat and slamming him into the ground, knocking him as hard as she could. Levi coughed up blood, feeling his body mangled and torn to bits. “Stop…” he whispered.
“You’ll thank me when I’m done, Levi. I know you will,” Val replied, staring at him with her hand squeezed on his throat. She sobbed, a tear dropping from her face to Levi’s cheek. Val leaned in and kissed him on the lips, not caring about the blood. She pulled away, wiping her eyes. “All I always wanted was for you to love me, Levi. That’s everything I’ve wanted.”
“We can…we can make it work,” Levi huffed, trying to speak. “We can work something out, Val. We can.”
“No,” Val replied. “You just want me to leave her, and as long as she’s alive there’s nothing to be worked out.”