Page 60 of Rejected Darkness

Ignoring him, I pull my wings out the second I reach outside and take off into the sky. Maybe I can see her from up here.

Come on Arabella. Where are you? Please, Princess. Show me where you are.

To no avail, I can’t sense her anywhere which is even more concerning. I should be able to but it’s like she is all over this campus so I can’t pinpoint her.FUCK!Ever since I made the mistake of cornering her in the bedroom before she left with her friends to go dancing I knew I was screwed. Especially when I followed her to the club and even danced with her! I never told her who I was, she never asked, but the second I tasted her blood by accident I knew. She is mine and I can’t let her go despite how much I want to.

Come on! Where are you?!

I can sense Phoenix behind me. He either needs to keep up or back off. I can’t wait for him.

With nowhere else to go, I head to the main academic building hoping that Arabella is exactly where she was supposed to be and he didn’t find her. If he lays a finger on her, I will tearhim to pieces. No one will be able to tell who he is. And I’ll get the Shadowborn Wolf that Arabella became friends with to help as well.

“Rhys, you can’t just go in and interrupt the testing,” Phoenix calls out the second we land as I rush into the building. Still, I ignore him, focused on just the path ahead of me.

Please, Arabella. Please, Princess, be here.I call out to the Divine. The very person I’ve spent my whole life cursing. If there was ever a chance to make me believe, it would be now.

“Rhys! Stop!” Phoenix grasps my shoulder, forcing me to a stop the second we make it to the chamber doors. “Think this through. If you interrupt her test, you could fail. Is that what you want?”

I shake out of his hold and reach for the door handle once more, and he grabs me again. “Think about Arabella. This could cause her to fail. If you don’t care about yourself, then do it for her. Just wait.” His reasoning is flawed. I am doing this for her, but he just doesn’t know it.

“This is for her. She’s in danger,” I ground out, shaking out of his hold and shoving the door open. A small part of me is surprised it even opened, but an even bigger part of me is thankful that it did. “Where is she? Where’s Arabella?” I call out as I step inside, moving to the center of the room. It’s clear she isn’t here, and if she isn’t here then that means he has her. FUCK!

“She isn’t here. We sent Guard Noah to escort her to the final test,” Councilwoman Talia answers calmly. The only sign she’s worried is the rise in her eyebrows as she takes in my distressed appearance. “Is something wrong?”

“Is something wrong?” Councilman Louve Lupe laughs. The woman is in charge of the wolves, and even though people say she’s nice, she is also very firm. “Yes, he interrupted another student's test. It is an automatic failure for both of them.”

“Hush, Louve,” Councilwoman Talia demands all too calmly, not even flinching at the growl the wolf beside her lets out at being dismissed. “What happened, Rhys?”

I can’t help the cackle that escapes me as I answer. “What’s wrong is the guard you sent to escort her is the very same guard that broke in and destroyed her room twice and has been stalking her all over campus, and now he has her in his clutches thanks to you all. What path were they taking?”

“Are you sure?” she asks calmly but seriously.

“One hundred percent. I have proof, but I don’t have the time to get into it.”

“Don’t have the time? Boy, we don’t have to deal with your antics,” Councilwoman Louve shouts. “Guard! Apprehend him!”

“Don’t touch him!” Talia shouts. “He was to escort her from the dorms to here. No in-between. They should have been here by now.”

“Uh, I think I know where she is,” Phoenix mutters in shock as he stands next to the window and points. Rushing to his side, I see exactly what he is talking about. There is a large twister forming right next to the lake, larger than I have ever seen before.

“That’s here,” I shout, rushing from the room.

“Someone bring Angel Harper to us!” Talia shouts from behind me. I can feel others presence behind me but I don’t bother to look to see who is behind me. No. Arabella needs me and I am going to get to her. Even if it’s the last thing I do.

With a tornado up in the sky, I can’t take flight, even if it would be the fastest way to get to her. Instead, I'm stuck running on foot as fast as I can. Even pulling my wings out to give me a burst of speed behind me would only cause me to get caught up in the wind. Trees and brush blur by me as I run like my life depends on it. At this point, all of our lives may depend on it. The closer I get, the harder it is to run. The wind is literally pushingme backward with every step I take to the lake. By the time I get close enough to the edge of the forest, I’m literally using trees to push myself forward.

Don’t stop Rhys. You can’t stop. She needs you.I keep chanting to myself with every push. Ahead of me, I can see a male, more specifically Guard Noah, standing defensively right in front of where the tornado is spinning. Well, standing is a loose term, he’s more hiding behind a very large boulder and is most likely scared for his life. Him, I will deal with it later. Right now, I need to get to Arabella.

“Where the fuck are you, Princess?” I mutter, looking around the area trying to find her. Right when I’m about to drop to my knees, I see her. She is in the dead center of the tornado where streaks of what I think is lightning but could be pure energy are twisted within the clouds. Her hair is whipping around her, her shirt is torn in multiple places, and her school uniform skirt is in tatters around her waist.

Fuck, Princess. No!

“ARABELLA!” I scream, hoping she can hear me over the wind, but knowing that it's useless.

“RHYS! STOP!” Phoenix shouts from behind me. His voice is barely discernible over the wind as well. Turning to look back at him, I see him bracing himself against a tree, trying to hold himself in place and almost failing. Councilwoman Talia isn’t faring much better and is only about two trees closer than he is.

“I have to!” I shout back, shaking my head. I’m the only person who can stop her. It’s one of the reasons I have so much sway with Talia. She knows the true power I keep hidden from everyone. The one power no one but me has ever had. I always questioned why me. Why did I have this power and no one else? I had no one to teach me. Lucifer tried his best, but even he couldn’t guide me at times. It took all my concentration to learnhow to control the power when I was young. This is why. I’m the only person who can stop her.

“WAIT!” Talia shouts, reaching out a hand toward me before holding back onto the tree. “Take Harper with you! She can help!”

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