Page 93 of Gift from the Stone

Vince’s teaching plays through my mind as I map out the center in my head, focusing on eliminating the entire group we brought with us, even though most of them aren’t even shifters. Then I focus on Rhett and his Nexus, marking them as safe from my command. Lastly, Lyker and his Nexus. He’s the only shifter amongst them, but still, I group them together as one.

Come on, give it all you got.

Finally, when I feel like my chest may burst open at the seams, I release the most powerful growl I’ve ever commanded. Ordering every shifter in the arena to their knees, bowing before us until I decide they can rise again.

Yelps and whimpers fill the air, mingling with the sound of the stone cracking around the seating sections of the arena. Bodies of both human and animal shifters hit the sand with thuds that make the ground beneath my feet shake. Pulling on my air element, it fights me. Sensing my intentions, it doesn’t want to be cast out against a member of my Nexus.

Listen to me. I’m not harming him in any sort of way.

I’m saving his life.

Now move him!

I bellow my orders over and over in my mind until finally, my element relents and listens to my command. Sending out a vortex of air, I lift Tillman up and fling him as gently as I can out of the center of the ring where he was standing right in front of Lyker. He lands just a few feet away from Draken, who within seconds grabs him under his arms and lifts him to his feet.

Lyker’s head whips around, looking for who was responsible for the growl that just brought down every shifter in the vicinity but a select few. Just like in my vision, time seems to slow as I watch a man, non-shifter, reach for the sheathed dagger that’s attached to his belt. Pulling his hand over his shoulder, he sends the dagger soaring through the air with deadly accuracy, aimed directly at Lyker.

Shoving my air beneath my feet, my body becomes weightless as I sail through the open space, aligning myself perfectly in front of him. Calling on my dragon’s fire, I send an inferno of purple flames toward the man who just threw the dagger. I’ll give no mercy to anyone who dares take a life with one of the deadly poisons.

As my flames engulf him, the dagger embeds itself deep into my stomach. The force of it sends me flying backward, but strong arms catch me out of the air and cushion my fall. I can instantly feel the poison taking root, spreading through me rapidly, but I still have enough sense to feel and know the arms I’m currently in do not belong to one of my men.

“Your eyes—Who are you? Why would you do that?” Lyker yells. His familiar steely gray-blue eyes are wild as he holds my gaze before looking at the dagger protruding from my gut. As his hand reaches for the handle of the dagger, I’m barely able to choke my words out.

“Don’t…remove it…spread faster.”

“WILLOW.” My Draken, my dragon. His voice echoing through the center has my own dragon whimpering in my chest, needing him closer.

Fuck, I need them all.

Draken slams down on his knees at my side, shoving Lyker away from me with a growl as he takes my hand in his. I can still feel our bond keenly in my chest, and he’s panicking. I know he can feel me slipping away. As his eyes travel down my body, he stops on the black sludge dripping out of the wound around the dagger.

He tries to reach for it, and unlike how I was able to warn Lyker, I can’t warn him. My voice no longer works as the tar thickens in my vocal cords. Before he can wrap his fingers around the hilt of the dagger, a hand squeezes his shoulder, causing him to whip around and snarl.

“She said not to remove it. It would spread faster,” Lyker says, strained as Draken continues to growl at him.

“What would spread faster? What the fuck does that mean?” he yells.

“Primary.” “Little warrior.” “Princess.” My men all whisper as they fall to their knees, surrounding me. Their emotions trample through my chest, adding to the pain of the poison spreading throughout my body.

Shit, how the hell do I explain what to do?

Sixteen

Draken

What the fuck is happening right now?

I was just relishing in the feeling of destroying Mastery bitches and the delicious shivers that her powerful growl sent down my spine, and now, I’m leaning over her, holding her hand as she fades away. And she’s fading fast. The bond in my chest feels like a boa constrictor has coiled around it, squeezing its life right out.

When Tillman hit the ground like a sack of potatoes on his big ass, I was shocked that he said Willow did it until I looked up, the blood in my veins turning to ice as I watched in horror. A look of sorrow and determination crossed her face as she flew through the air in front of Lyker, taking this fucking dagger through her stomach, sending her flying back into his outstretched arms.

“Move, move. Get out of my way,” Oakly screams, pushing her way through the gathering crowd. “Willow, no, no. What happened?”

“The fucking dagger, obviously. Heal her now.” Caspian snarls, turning his menacing stare from Oakly to Jamie.

His normally amber eyes are swirling black shadows as his gift comes through full force. Tendrils of shadows are racing across Willow’s limp body, searching for any other injuries, searching for a way to get her out of this.

“You shoved me out of the way. Why did you shove me, little warrior?” Tillman asks as he cups her cheeks and moves the hair from her eyes.

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