Page 210 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

She jabbed her elbow back, hearing the grunt from the male. His hold didn’t release, but his mask was knocked loose, clattering to the ground. A fist connected with her ribs, and she let out a cry of pain.

Then he was bellowing a roar of agony as Roan’s teeth sank into his arm. He immediately released her, her feet hitting the ground, and she spun, shoving that arrow she’d managed to hold on to straight into the male’s eye. Blood sprayed, and Roan still hadn’t released the male’s arm, shaking it back and forth. The wolf was going to tear it right off.

Good.

She yanked the arrow out, sinking it into the other eye. Then she was blindly stabbing as rage and fury poured out of her in the only way it could. She was screaming and her face was wet. From the rain or tears or spraying blood, she didn’t know. But when another arm clamped around her waist, hauling her backwards, she twisted, lashing out again.

The male tilted his head to the side, but not fast enough to avoid a graze to his cheek, a line of red appearing.

“Easy, little one. It’s me,” Luka said. “Take a breath.”

But there was notaking a breath.

She was vibrating from her fury and her power being trapped and everyone thinking they could use her.

Abandon her.

Sacrifice her.

“Get her out of here, dragon,” Auryon ordered, appearing at their side while simultaneously releasing another set of arrows. “And I don’t mean by your wings.”

“I can’t?—”

Grey eyes snapped to them, the ever-present swirling having slowed. “The wolves and I will make sure there are no witnesses left to tell a soul, but if you do not get her out of here, Chaos will rain.”

Tessa didn’t know what she was talking about, but then there was a tug at her belly. She thought she might be sick.

And then suddenly they weren’t standing on a rain-drenched street, but on the bank of the Wynfell River.

The same place he’d brought her when she’d returned from Faven.

He released her, and she stumbled back, the arrow she still held falling to the ground.

“Breathe, Tessa,” he said, his tone somehow gentle yet commanding all at once.

She sucked in a ragged breath, but it got stuck. Her magic was still thrashing, and she was still feeling, and?—

“I’m going to take those off,” Luka said, but he didn’t move. He just watched her with vertical pupils. “But when I do, I have to Travel out because you are too… Your magic is angry, Tessa.Youare angry. I won’t go far, but you won’t be able to see me for a bit.”

“I like it when I can see you,” she rasped.

“I know. I’ll come back as soon as I can. I’ll be in the air watching, waiting,” he answered. When she didn’t say anything, only stared back at him, he said, “Ready?”

She nodded once, and he stepped in front of her. Clasping both the bands at once, he slid them down her hands in perfect unison. Right before they slipped off completely, he said, “I’ll come back for you.”

Then he was gone, and so were the bands, and her power erupted. Light and energy crackled. Water hissed as lightning made contact. Gold mist drifted across the ground, and lightcoiled around her arms, legs, torso. It wove through her hair as the winds roared and dark clouds rolled in.

Untamed and free.

Wild and reckless.

Their destruction and her salvation.

The intensity lessened, but her power stayed, a faint golden glow that flowed around her, constantly moving.

Watching.

Listening.

---