Page 54 of A Dawn Of Blood

The enemy starts attacking, forcing me to shoot a thunder whip in their direction before I turn back to the two remaining members of my team, giving my best to encourage them. “Either way, we can do this, we just need to get to the Pull Chamber.”

It’s at that same moment that we all feel the shaking of the ground beneath us, followed by that same weird sensation I felt when the Academy disappeared into another dimension.

Hope floods me. It’s here again.That’swhere we’ll go.

And the fact seems to lift the general spirits a little as well. We start slowly advancing towards the central courtyard, from where we’ll get to the Elevator, all the while wiping the floor with the mostly vampire soldiers.

But just as we reach the courtyard’s outer ring, something shifts the soldiers’ attention away from us.

All of a sudden, they’re backing far, far away, moving in a terrifyingly precise manner until they’re forming two perfectly straight rows to our left and right.

My heart plummets to my stomach when it hits me. I think that, by managing to fight the soldiers off like this, we’ve just made it so we’re no longer just three inconsequential intruders.

It’s then that my wolf hears it as well. The sound of wings drawing near from high above.

Chapter 40

My breath held and my body frozen in place, I reluctantly tip my head back to scan the seemingly peaceful night sky. There’s nothing there.

“Run,” I hear Nuala spit out as she throws herself in front of me.

The very next second, a wall of shadows so wide, I can’t see the end of them, crashes down from the skies.

Before I know it, all the remaining members of my team have their bodies wrapped up in them, paralyzed and completely helpless.

Everyone but me, Nuala’s body shielding me.

Before I can do anything, there’s the sound again, followed by a cloaked figure diving down from the skies.

The moment Cain connects with the ground, the movement of his enormous wings sends a gust of air knocking into everything around me — dust, leaves, clothes.

In the dead silence that ensues, he slowly straightens, already moving to deal the final blow. He’s about to kill all of them.

Without thinking, I pull my hood down and step out of the cover of Nuala’s body.

The second I do, Cain’s head snaps in my direction, but to lead him and his shadows as far away from my team as possible — so they can safely make their way back into the Academy, I’ll need to do more thanthis.

I’ll need to make him realize who it is that’s about to escape.

So I take a step back and I get my Aurora tattoos to start glowing.

And I can sense the intensity of his gaze when it lands on me again. I even see his head tilt a little, but he’s not moving.

There’s a moment during which all I can hear is the pounding of my heart in my ears, thinking I’ve failed.

Trying to salvage the situation, I shift.

But as I kick myself off the ground, I spot him freeze.

And I know it in my bones — he’s moving to go after me.

Chapter 41

Irun for my life, my heart slamming against my ribcage as I leap over the rubble, the bushes, the soldiers, headed straight for the Wall. I know I won’t be able to go over — the wards would likely kill me on the spot, but if I make him think that’s what I’m planning… I have a better chance of making him keep following when I take a sharp turn right and into the Lycan Forest, all in the hopes of distracting and tiring him out until my people make their escape.

And I’m already halfway there and I still can’t sense him catching up, so I might just pull this off.

But just as I start nearing Lilith Tower, something nudges me to look up. I don’t manage to listen to my instinct, because the next thing I know, something incorporeal but powerful is slamming into me from above and making me crash to the ground.

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