Page 112 of The Evernight Court

I couldn’t stop the fucking tears from spilling down my cheeks when he pulled me up to my shaking legs and tried to steady me.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

Valentine’s voice filled my head, and I had no choice but to look at him, at his bloodshot eyes and the fear in them, the accusation.

“No,”he spit. “No, no, no—what are you doing here, you fool?!”

“Valentine, move!” Grey shouted a second before a large beast with red eyes and black fur jumped on Valentine’s back and took him to the ground.

Hell broke loose all around us faster than I could blink. Storm landed on the ground with a deafening roar, ruining the trees near the rocks, as monsterspouredover us from all sides.

“Get in the cave, now!” Grey said, his eyes bloodshot and his fangs extended, and he turned away from me just as one of those monsters jumped to bite him in the back.

Cave.

I was going to demand he tell me where that cave was, but I realized they’d been standing right in front of the mouth of it, a dark round hole in the rocky mountain barely ten feet away from where Valentine and Shadow fought the coming monsters. Storm stomped on and ate as many as he could, too, and Grey kept them off me with his fists and fangs.

“Go!” he shouted, and I moved.

There was no time to stop and wonder about where I was and what the hell was going on here. I grabbed the edges of the closest rocks and I pushed myself up with all my strength, then jumped on the other side.

But just as my feet touched the ground, something slammed against my side and sent me tumbling forward for a few steps, until I reached the rocks near the cave’s entrance and held onto them to keep my balance.

“Fall, watch out!” Grey called, and I turned to see two of those monsters, a bit smaller in size but with teeth just as sharp, jumping for me at the same time.

Nowhere to go.

At this point I couldn’t even acknowledge fear or surprise or any other emotion, just the heat in my stomach. Just the magic that was taking over once more, thankfully, and it was going to burst out of me any second, but…

Two things happened in the blink of an eye.

Valentine appeared behind the monsters with his hands raised, and he unleashed his own magic on them.

At the same time, Storm slammed his tail to the rocks on our side hard as he tried to get to them.

The monsters collapsed to the ground like their strings had been cut. Valentine’s face, his eyes wide and his mouth open, would remain forever imprinted on my mind as the rocks that Storm had broken with his tail fell on him, taking him under—and they were coming for me, too.

A hand on my shoulder and I was pulled back as I screamed. I was pulled back fast as the rocks fell and fell and covered Valentine’s body—then closed the opening of the cave completely.

Darkness.

I must have passed out then because when I came to, there was light.

Bright blue light around me, so I saw it when Grey let go of me and fell to his knees, his wings gone, his skin torn in too many places to count, his eyes empty.

“Grey,” I choked, and it was a miracle I managed to get to my knees and grab him before he collapsed.

“You’re here,” he whispered, over and over again, the words slurred together.

“Look at me, Grey. Look at me!” I begged, pushing him back harder as his body let go, trying to keep him upright. I grabbed his face in my hands to look into his eyes, but they were already closed.

You’re here, you’re here, you’re here…

He fell on top of me. A cry left my lips, and I wrapped my arms around him, held him up with all my strength.

“Bite me, Grey,” I said as tears streamed from my eyes. “Bite me. Take my blood.Bite me, please!”

I grabbed his hair and pushed his head down on my neck until his mouth was right against my skin. I begged him to biteme as I shook, my own body about to let go of me because the exhaustion, the fear, the panic—and the weight of him—were too much.

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