Page 63 of Of Bone and Ash

Adam watches my pathetic attempt at knife-throwing with a quirked brow, and I shrug. “It’s a good thing the girls know what they're doing,” he mutters under his breath as a Hound suddenly flies overhead, smashing through not one but three trees before sliding to a halt and doesn’t move. “Right. Hold on tight,” he instructs before slapping his hand to my chest, and suddenly, the world is spinning.

My stomach lodges itself halfway up my damn throat as my feet somehow end up in the air just as I come crashing down to the ground. I groan as my neck bends awkwardly to the side, my wings falling away as I roll over the frost-covered grass and mud of the forest.

“Ow!” I groan just as Adam curses, and my eyes widen to see that he just teleported us, but it was only about a hundred feet away from our original spot. The Hound that we were trying to get away from is now barreling toward us, and from the look in its glowing eyes, Adam and I are about to die.

“Uh-oh,” Adam rasps, hands flying up in front of him as he tries to make another portal, but we both know he’s not going to make it in time. Shoving to my feet, I reach out, snag Adam's ankle, and yank him to the ground behind me just as the Hound lunges, teeth bared, growl echoing around us. I manage to toss Adam back and get my hands wrapped around the Hound's neck in time to avoid the pointed, silver teeth, grunting at the effort it takes to keep it pinned so I don't end up as hamburger meat.

“Watch out for that tail!” Adam yells, making me look in time to see the spiked appendage hurdling toward me. Cursing, I let the Hound go and jump to the side, but not fast enough. Burning pain bursts to life as one of the spikes rakes down my side, tearing my shirt from the front of my torso to the back near my spine as I try to get away from it.

“Fuck!”

My foot catches on something, pitching me forward onto the ground as warmth slowly fills my body, my magic trying to heal the wound. Groaning, I try to push myself back to my feet, but it’s like my strength has suddenly left, leaving me a dizzy mess on the ground.

Turning to face the Hound, I press myself against the trunk of a tree as the Hound roars, the sound unnatural and making the hairs on my arms stand to attention. The stench coming from the monster alone has me sick, couple that with the injury I just received that is, for some reason, not healing the way normal ones do, and I am about to pass the fuck out.

“Well, this isn't good,” I mutter to myself, my vision darkening at the sides as Adam screams something, jumping up and down almost like he’s trying to gain the Hound's attention.

Fuck. He needs to run.

I’m pretty sure I’ll come back from this. The only thing I can't come back from is beheading followed by cremation and Basilisk poison. But if we’re being honest here, I’ve never heard of Hell Hounds, and since the wound on my side is only growing in pain rather than healing, I’m starting to get concerned.

Shaking my head, I try to clear my vision to no avail as my lungs gasp for breath. Everything feels heavy like I’m underwater.

“Run,” I gasp out, waving at Adam to go back to Neva, who looks like she is squeezing the other Hound to death between the coils of her Basilisk.

“Over here! Over here!” Adam shouts, jumping up and down, the skinny guy having no survival sense at all! Shit! If he dies, Bella is going to kill me, and not in the fun way I would like. Before I can shout at the idiot again, the Hound is on me, his hot breath the first thing I feel as its heavy weight collides with mine. I grunt as I feel bones break, my body slammed hard against the tree. Being mauled by a Hellhound isn’t a death I would choose; way too messy and slow, but at least it will be one hell of a story.

I look up at it, wishing I could move my arms and strangle the bitch, but it's almost like I’m paralyzed. Whatever black sticky liquid was on that spike is currently flooding my body, and the only thing I can move is my eyes and mouth. Pain the likes of which I’ve never felt before encompasses me, and I can only hope I die quickly so my Phoenix takes over and stops the pain.

But before the Hounds sharp teeth can tear my throat out, a pair of large hands grabs it by the muzzle, one hand gripping the top, the other the bottom before a roar of anger sounds next to me along with the horrifying sound of torn flesh as the hands rip the top of the Hounds head clean off. Hot, dark blood erupts over me, covering me in the scent of sulfur, and this time, I can’t stop the bile that crawls up my throat.

“Where is she?” an enraged Ryland roars, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, not caring in the least that I’m covered in blood and vomit. “Where is Serafina?!” I shake my head as I try to breathe.

“I-I can feel her. She’s close,” I manage to say as he drops me back to the ground, golden eyes ablaze as he searches the trees for her. I send out a prayer to whatever God will listen that he finds her and she's okay as I crumble on the ground. Damn. I should have asked him to kill me so I could help find her.

I watch, almost in a dream state, as my body begins to shut down, the pain peaking, then everything going numb. Well, shit, I’m totally dying here, but whatever just stopped working means I’m no longer a writhing ball of agony on the ground. I keep my eyes on Ryland, watching as the enormous man tilts his head to the side, his movements sharp and animalistic as the rest of his Balaur team rushes into the forest, all of them in human form since there is no room for their massive Dragons.

One moment, he's staring at the empty forest to my right; the next he growls, and grabs two golden knives from his holster before he's sprinting forward. With a bellow of rage he jumps and sinks his blades into nothing. Only, it's not nothing.

I watch open-mouthed as his knives sink into the air several feet above the ground and stay there. With a pop, the air shifts, and a shield I couldn't see, which was only yards away, suddenly glows, the red of the shield mingling with the blue magic Ryland suddenly is wielding, his golden blades shattering the illusion in front of us. With a shout, Ryland lets go of the hilt of his blades, dropping back to the ground as the shield erupts, taking everyone off their feet but the Alpha Dragon.

I wince, closing my eyes against the force of the explosion, my ears ringing as I open my eyes in time to see Serafina waging a deadly-looking battle against a man in a red cloak. Her black magic suddenly fills the clearing, spiraling around everyone before slowly drifting over to me.

“Hey, I was worried about you,” I whisper to the black shadows, trying to move my fingers toward her magic but not able to. They quickly cover the distance, and I expect the burning pain I felt before, but all I feel is a cold wisp of air as the death magic wraps around me protectively. I smile at the amount of relief I feel that my girl is safe enough that I can finally relax into the death that is coming. Keeping my attention on my girl as Ryland jumps forward, producing another blade and attacking the man who is… oh, holy mother of fucking hell! Is that a scythe? Bella holds her sword and scythe in each hand, her black cloak billowing around her lean form as she twists and ducks, evading the deadly blows of the man who is also holding a gleaming black and red scythe.

There are five other men watching their fight who jump forward as Ryland literally bursts their bubble and inserts himself into the fight. I blink several times, trying to stay conscious as I watch Ryland move with an efficiency that only comes from years of training. The moment he’s within reaching distance of Serafina, she jumps and spins, hand outstretched for him, trusting him to catch her. The next moment Ryland spins, his hand wrapped firmly around Fina’s arm, and twists her through the air, using her as a damn weapon as she slices not one but three of the men's heads clean off their shoulders when they try to attack Ryland.

Mental note. Ask Ryland to teach me how to fight so I can better protect Bella.

The man with the red cloak snarls something that I can’t quite hear as Fina’s feet hit the ground, both of them not taking even a second to hesitate before they attack like a well-oiled machine. It's beautiful in a morbid, bloody, and terrifying way. The way the two move around each other speaks to a familiarity that I’m instantly jealous of. Red magic collides with an odd color-shifting blue. Sparks of power lighting up the forest like deadly fireworks.

In under a minute, the final two men are dead, and all that remains is the man in the red cloak. He’s standing in front of Serafina, Ryland’s hulking presence towering behind her as he wraps his hands around her tiny waist protectively.

I can hear the other members of his team as they slowly close in, and I pull my gaze away from my girl long enough to see the dead Hounds lined up a few yards away. Neva is back in her human form, standing protectively in front of Adam and not letting anyone near him as they watch Bella with wide eyes.

The guy in the red cloak shakes his head and laughs, pulling my attention back to him. For a moment, my vision blacks out, but then I hear Ryland growl and open my eyes, watching as he tries to step around my Bella. She holds a hand out, pressing it to his chest and stopping him without a single word, which earns her a scowl, but he listens without question.

I want to laugh at that. As strong and deadly as Ryland Evans is, he’s just as fucking gone on this girl as I am. She has both sets of our balls clasped firmly in her small hands, and I’m not even mad about it. I groan and close my eyes as I feel my heart slow. Fuck this hurts.

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