Page 48 of Betrayed By Dragons

Nothing.

I curse and try again. Jianyu knocks me aside a millisecond before a dart sails past my face.

Even more soldiers are spilling into the alleyway now. They might not have expected us to fight back like this, but they clearly came prepared.

"Where is that car?" Jianyu asks.

"Can it get through?"

He flicks his gaze toward the entrance to the alleyway and scowls. "We'll have to make a run for it."

My stomach sinks as I glance back at Shu and his parade of armed vehicles and soldiers. If only I could shift--or hell, if only I could just tap into the magic that's come to me in fits and starts of late.

My frustration threatens to boil over. The Shadow Bracer chose me, but since that time, I feel as if I've had no choice at all. The only times I can harness its power are when I'm about to die.

It's all I can do not to laugh.

Well, at least it seems like I've got a great opportunity to put the whole "the bracer only works when I'm about to die" theory to the test.

"Grab Li," Jianyu instructs me. Then he holds out his palm. "And grab onto me."

I look into his eyes, and in a flash, I understand.

Looks like we get to test even more of my unproven, unpredictable magical abilities.

Terrified and skeptical as I am, I don't hesitate. I place my palm in my mate's.

Behind us, the door to the club swings open, loud music pouring out into the alleyway, and I feel Rafe's presence. The rest of our friends are with him, and wow, talk about good timing.

"Holy fuck," Amy's voice cries out.

All the soldiers redirect their aim at once.

"Now," I whisper.

Jianyu's hand grows hot in mine, and my bracer crackles, and then it's just like it was back by the river the other day. The ground beneath our feet shakes, and a towering wall of stone erupts from the pavement.

"Holy fuck," Rafe echoes.

At precisely that moment, a pair of headlights appears at the entrance to the alley.

"Stop gawking," Jianyu reprimands him.

"Who's gawking?" Rafe steps right into the fray, bodily tossing the handful of Stone Kingdom soldiers left on our side of the wall aside.

"I am," Amy says, following in his wake.

I reach for Li, who's staggered to his feet. He's banged up, with a bloody nose and scrapes on his face and the start of what looks like it's going to be a pretty big goose egg on his head, but he's all right. "Come on," I urge him.

"Your Highness..." Sister Grace says, looking at the incapacitated guardsmen on the ground.

Jianyu shakes his head. "I'll explain in the car."

On the other side of the wall, Shu barks orders in Mandarin, drowned out by the sounds of utter chaos as soldiers bang against the wall. The ground echoes with heavy footfalls as others realize the futility and start to go around. For good measure, I close my eyes and squeeze Jianyu's palm, envisioning the wall closing off their access to the street. There's more swearing, and a gruff voice cries out.

"Magnificent." Jianyu gazes at me with heat and awe in his eyes.

"I'll say." The heat in Rafe's expression is no less intense, but there's something sharp in him, too.

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