Page 71 of Upon Shattered Bonds

No further words needed to be said; she could see the forgiveness in his eyes. Zeke brought her hand to his lips, brushing her knuckles with the lightest of kisses. Together, they’d face their opponents, and they wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Chapter Thirty-One

What Zeke wouldn’t give for a chance to savor the woman beside him and experience the depth of her love for him. The potent emotion beamed through their unfulfilled mating bond, and it was a fresh breath of air when the air around them had turned stagnant.

But the leisurely kiss he pressed against her knuckles was a far cry from the telepathic conversation rapidly firing between them, however. As they manifested their weaponry, they were delineating tactical plans against the five men who’d come to claim their lives.

To the casual observer, nothing would give away their battle-hardened intent, nor the blood-thirsty urge to destroy their opponents.

To their lieutenants, nothing could be more obvious.

With seconds to go before they made their last stand, the pair of them pivoted to bow to their closest friends. “It’s been our honor to serve you.”

“Live well.”

Tzuriel, barely maintaining his composure, dipped his chin solemnly before the oil-slick shimmer of a shield was drawn between them. As Zeke turned away from his cousin’s agonized expression, he offered the stoic group a genuine smile, tight with tension but sincere in all regards.

A wave of power permeated the currents around them: the battle had now begun.

Before it even had a chance to develop, the rippling effect of Zeke’s Blunting ability swathed the immediate area in an ability-dulling blanket. As predicted, Demetrios and one other went after Nina while the three remaining sovereigns set off against Zeke.

Their purposefully drawn blades lashed out at him, but Zeke skillfully parried the blows while half-stepping into a teleport. Though his swordsmanship would prove far superior, three against one was hardly fair.

Taking a play from their book, Zeke shirked the rules. He psychically grabbed ahold of their life force with his amplification ability. However, instead of amplifying their own energy, he siphoned it away, gulping it down himself. Doing so while continuing to dodge their attacks and hold the Blunt was difficult, and would only partially drain them, but it’d help until he could kill one of them.

Overhead, the ominous rumble of thunder roared in the gathering thunderclouds. A madman, Demetrios was full of sinister glee as he parried with Nina only feet away. His mate was a goddess of war.

A swell of pride burgeoning in his chest, but the sensation was tampered down by his split attention. His attackers took advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration.

Pain sliced over his sword arm, amplified by the still healing merjha wound he still bore. The blade had struck deeply into his bicep, the laceration bleeding freely down his arm and would soon compromise his grip.

The torment of the blade could only mean it was a merjha itself—and now he realized this fight was far from fair. Gritting his teeth, he battled on, but the redirection of his energy toward healing the gaping wound cost his Blunt ability to fall.

Furious, he redoubled his efforts against the three sovereigns in front of him, scoring a deep wound against Perith. He fell back to heal himself, opening up the view of the other attack going on against his mate.

Fangs bared, Nina’s masterful swordsmanship was apparent in her powerful. Every swing of her blade was precision personified. Awe heated his veins at the regal sight.

In the brief second he caught sight of her, she impaled Demetrios through the gut. Feelings of victory soared through their linked mating bond.

When he gripped her sword to prevent her from withdrawing it, the other sovereign battling Nina took advantage of the momentary trap. Raising his merjha dagger above his head, he moved to bring it down on her head.

It never made contact.

Before Zeke even knew what he was doing, his hand had loosened the double-bladed merjha he’d taken from Nina’s armory and flung it directly into the heart of her treacherous adversary. The nameless sovereign dropped dead behind her just as she unceremoniously removed her katana from Demetrios’ gut. The blade ripped from his body in a wash of red and viscera.

Zeke’s distraction would prove his downfall.

Twisting back to the battle before him, he caught the gleam of an obsidian violet blade out of the corner of his eye. Sharp, the metal penetrating his gut sliced up through his chest and across his throat, blood spraying in its wake.

The last thing he saw was Nina’s horrified expression before he succumbed.

Chapter Thirty-Two

A scream sounded in her ears. Her own.

As Zeke’s face went blank and his core was eviscerated by a merjha blade, Nina couldn’t hear anything but the echo of her own terror. Electricity spiked over her skin, an ugly rage warping her mind, and her innate abilities took full reign.

In that instant, three things occurred simultaneously.

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