Page 74 of Monsters of Desire and Nightmares of Passion

Mrez places Ivy securely on my back. With Mrez leading the way, we leave the small cave that offered us refuge and continue climbing. My strong scorpion legs push into the stone, creating holes in the hard rock.

“The others are gone. Do you think there’s a chance, maybe?” The plea in Mrez’s voice is evident. He’s asking if I believe Khal could have escaped. There’s a chance, but not enough for us to hope. If both of us joined him, then maybe, just maybe, Khal might be able to escape the lost Shadows. All three of us might have been strong enough to cut an escape route. But all alone, without anyone to help, he is damned to become a lost soul himself.

I grows hotter in my arms, the fever burning her. She moans softly in pain. Her body burns in a desperate attempt to eliminate the poison killing her with each new breath she takes. The oxygen is the only thing keeping Ivy alive. Yet that keeps her blood flowing, and the poison needs her heart and her veins to travel and saturate her system. It’s a vicious circle I have no idea how to break.

There is someone else who can help, but only if he is willing to.

The top of the stone wall comes into sight. Only a few minutes to go until we reach the plateaus area. Mrez is already up there, offering me his tentacles which I grab gratefully. His slight physique has a strong advantage when it comes to climbing.

The plateau looks as barren as everything else around us. There’s nothing except the empty surroundings and jagged, broken rocks trying to touch the gun-metal sky.

“Where’s the portal?” I ask Mrez, even though my senses offer the answer. The track through The Valley is never an easy place to navigate. The fact that we paid with the life of a bond brother doesn’t help make this trip better at all. Until now, I did not hate The Valley. After losing Khal, I make a silent promise to get revenge.

“Down there.” Mrez stands on the other side of the narrow wall, looking down. I step closer and see what he’s staring at.

The area on the other side of the mountain is dark, filled with electro eels that shine in the darkness the way lightning sparkles in the night. In the middle sits a small vortex. My senses tell me this is the entrance to our realm.

All the doubt I felt since we first decided to take on this quest wash over me again and again until it’s almost impossible to breathe.

This is all my fault. I’m the damn alpha. I should have known. I should….

Ugh!

I should have known the risks we took by walking into this place.

The vortex grows smaller and smaller with each second.

“Draw, we need to fucking jump if we want to get over there in time to heal Ivy.”

For a moment, I gaze into Mrez’s eyes. Even though he’s a beta, I value his advice and care about his views.

I turn to Mrez. “What I did was wrong, wasn’t it?”

“No, someone has to shake our people awake, and that someone is you. I always knew you were born to become a leader.”

“I don’t want to be a leader. I want to be with Ivy and you guys, somewhere dark and warm, and do nothin but fuck. I don’t want to be responsible for the well-being of our people.”

“The best leaders don’t want power.” Mrez quickly changed the subject. “I got your back. We need to jump.”

Ivy’s body burns against my back. Even though my skin is cool, I can’t reduce her fever. All my hope hangs onto a thin, silky thread.

I hold Ivy in my arms, cradling her small body close to my chest, and press a deep, full kiss on her lips. “I won’t fail you, my love. I promise.”

The promise is for her, but it’s also a promise I’m making to myself. I won’t let anything bad happen to Ivy. I’ll set everything right, somehow.

Mrez takes my hand and warmth fills my chest.

We jump, calling out the name of the Lord of Darkness.

* * *

My gut is doing funny things. Returning to my dimension fills me with a particular type of dread. Not only am I returning to my home dimension with my injured mate but asking for help from The Healer is not easy either. The Healer was connected to a human once, but he stepped away from the crown when his human mate died in the fighting. My brother, The Healer, was one of Emily’s mates and he missed the fight on that day when The Church of Light attacked. It was only meant to be a drill.

I held on to Ivy. Her life force diminishes with every second. Passage through the portal should be fast but, for me, it seems like a God-damn eternity. The air of my home fills my lungs. I bite down on the mix of fear and anger that fills me.

We finally exit into our realm. The portal is close to the village.

“Let’s go.” Mrez touches my upper arm. “Is she breathing?”

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