Page 62 of Synnr's Ride

Hanna lashed out with her spark and caught Kark in the side. But it wasn't enough to take him down. He shot at Jori and then surprised her by striking out in two strands of spark, something only the most skilled of Zulir ever managed.

Hanna took a hit to the hip and sank to one knee, but shot right back at Kark's legs. That sent him tumbling. And unlike when she did it, it wasn't an act.

She and Jori were relentless, keeping him covered by a rain of electric power that he couldn't hope to fight. And when they advanced on him, Kark was defiant, blood flecking against his nose but otherwise not very injured.

"For the true king of the Zulir!" Kark screamed, before his eyes went white with a burst of lightning.

He'd turned his spark inward and killed himself rather than be captured.

Jori cursed and slapped the ground next to Kark's head.

"At least he didn't get away." Hanna tried to keep up the good attitude. With three bodies on the ground, it was hard to sound convincing.

Jori yanked his comm out of his pocket and spat again. "No signal. How is that even possible? I need to call this in. At least now they can call off the search for Kark."

"Someone might be jamming it," she suggested. "And we don't know if anyone else, if Zilly, is here."

"Start looking for her and keep your guard up. I'm going to see if he has anything on him and I'll catch up."

Tobrazwith decorum. Hanna leaned in and kissed Jori, the joy of the win and the frustration at Kark's death needing to be tempered by the feel of Jori's lips.

She reluctantly pulled away and stood. "Let's finish this."

* * *

The main cabin was set back behind a parking area, and there were two smaller dwellings even deeper into the scrub. Hanna counted two bikes and one large vehicle with a covered trailer attached to it.

Three men accounted for. Unknown how many were left.

She moved carefully, wings held in a defensive position and ready to respond to an attack.

But the attack didn't seem to be coming.

Hanna ducked beside the trailer to get a better look. She didn't spot movement. Maybe Wrake and Malo were the only backup Kark had.

She hoped Zilly wasn't dead.

The fear tried to crush her. Hanna had messed up enough in her short career, and she didn't want to pile one more failure on top of it. As stupid as it sounded, Zilly felt like some sort of cosmic redo of how she'd treated Luci. Hanna had hurt that human, she'd nearly killed her.

Zilly was another innocent caught up in something bigger than herself. Maybe this time Hanna could save her.

It didn't matter that ultimately Luci had turned out fine. Hanna's actions had nearly gotten the girl killed more than once.

No more stalling.

Hanna headed for the main cabin and kicked the door open.

Zilly threw her hands up and screamed. A flash of spark hit the door beside Hanna and she dodged to the side.

"It's me, Zil! It's Hanna. I'm here to help." She had to keep her own wings up to prevent damage from the young woman's erratic fire. After a moment, it slowed and then stopped. Hanna risked lowering her wings and took in the sight of Zilly.

It was better than she feared, but still not great. Zilly didn't appear to be bruised and she wasn't tied up, but she was cowering on the floor, the neckline of her shirt stretched and beginning to tear as if she'd been pulled around.

Hanna wanted to rush in, but she forced herself to take in the room.

There was a bed off to one corner, the sheets rumpled in a telltale fashion. A small suitcase had items bursting out of it at the foot of the bed, mostly full of masculine clothes that Hanna would bet belonged to Kark.

A half full bottle of whiskey sat on the table with two glasses.

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