Page 129 of Land of Monsters

Chapter 25

Ash

?

Mine.

The claim drove into every fiber of my being, the fierce need to protect her wrapped around my DNA as if it could pause the poison bleeding into my system, clearing my mind in a mist of disconnected thoughts.

The knife in her stomach cut through me, hemorrhaging my vision in red. Rage. Fury.

No one touched what was mine.Hurtwhat was mine.

If Raven died, with my last breath, I would turn the soil into rotting black tar, destroying any life from this spot, a mark that polluted this world in darkness for what it took from me.

“What did you do?” Sonya barked. “I need her.”

To be a vessel. To be assaulted and abused, forced to carry a monster’s baby.

The only baby she will carry is mine.

Something out of the corner of my eye scuttled along the wall, moving toward Raven, but my focus did not waver from Iain. He had already taken so much from me.

A growl came up my throat, Raven’s green eyes still on me, her breathing labored, blood pumping out of her wound. Iainsnarled, yanking another blade from his belt, moving to her, ready to finish the job.

She called herself a monster, but in truth, I was.

Rage snarled up my throat. Like roots being torn from the soil, my feet pushed me up. Wrath shoved past the toxins, slamming through the ground, ripping the earth’s heart out, letting it pump in my hand.

A bellow shredded my throat as I tried to rise. I had no thought or plan, my anger driving me forward.

“Get him!” Sonya screamed at her guards.

“Stay back! He’s mine!” Iain pulled out a pistol from his thigh strap, lifting the weapon to my head before I got to my feet. “Guess it’s fitting you should die this way. You can tell my brother hello from me.”

The gun cocked.

“NO!” I heard the fall of metal to the ground. Raven grunted, yanking the blade from her gut as she shakily stood, the shackles discarded. I could just make out a small silhouette near her, the one who freed her.

Opie.

“Why are you standing there? Get her!” Sonya screeched at the few soldiers around her.

My eyes met Raven’s. It was only a second in time, but I could feel her in my head, my soul, my heart. We didn’t have to speak to understand each other. She was so much part of me now that I knew when I died, a part of her would be joining me.

She moved first. Fast and quick, her bloody blade sliced the back of Iain’s knee, dropping his one leg as he fired the gun. The bullet skimmed over my head, the force of it burning my scalp.

“Ahhh!” Iain screamed when she sliced at him again, his fist smashing down on Raven’s temple, her knife tumbling from her hands, skidding it into my boot. Her pained cry harvested the last scraps of my energy.

Crimson.

It scorched through me like flames and marked him for death.

My shoulders bunched, and I swiped up the dagger. With a cry, I barreled for Iain, ramming into him and throwing us to the ground. When I leaped on him, he had to let go of his gun to stop my knife from going through his neck. Iain and I punched and clawed at each other, my energy struggling, making me sloppy and weak, allowing him to grip the handle, twisting it around to me.

“Say hi to your demon slut for me too,” he sneered. The tip of the blade nicked my eyebrow, my blood dripping on him.

The knife pushed for the middle of my forehead.

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