Page 69 of Reign

“Too late, you backstabbing pissant of a king!”

“Fine. Get her! Dead or alive. It makes no difference now.” And he aimed the gun he held at Ava. Through the darkness, a huge wolf leaped just as Walker pulled the trigger. The wolf growled and fell to the floor but rolled straight back onto its feet. Another shot.

“Lance! No!”

I heard the agony in Ava’s voice, but the wolf rose again and snarled, using its strength to sink its teeth into Walker’s leg.

Walker yelled, hitting the wolf.

Where was Walker’s magic? He wouldn’t use a human gun, either...

Bullets hit the door, and there was no more time to think. I let Fire free, sending shot after shot of flames into the shadowed shapes of the SBI agents. They disintegrated. I couldn’t reach Walker, not with Lance and Ava so close.

“Run, girlie!” Som roared as another wave of agents barrelled through the broken wall.

No way was I running.

Lanced growled and leaped again, knocking Walker away.

“No! You run!” I shouted, my voice crackling with flame.

Som’s eyes widened.

“Ava, Lance!” he yelled as I sent a column of flame into Walker’s chest. The High King flew backwards. I pulled my flames into a wall in front of me and waited for his answering magic to attack me. But it didn’t. He was on his back in the rubble, screaming as his clothes burned.

I ran to my friends. Lance was on his side, bleeding badly. I didn’t go closer. Fire was still ready for battle and wasn’t listening to my requests to back down.

“Som, get them out.”

I ran to where Walker’s body had fallen. And found nothing, no burnt clothes, no blood, no body, no sign of the High King at all.

I turned to the computers. “Damn it!” They weren’t intact anymore.

“Go! Find Connor, tell him we’ve been double crossed,” Ava ordered. Tears and blood stained her face, her hands smeared in Lance’s blood. My heart broke for her, but I nodded and ran out through the destruction, forcing wings from my back. I didn’t fully shift, not willing to risk depleting my power. I launched skywards and headed towards Connor as fast as my wings of fire could take me. I had to get there before Walker. Who knew what he’d do next. If he couldn’t get me, were Sophie and the Halo his next target?

Chapter 26

Connor

I dovetowards the Halo and plucked it from the ground. “Sophie! Here!” Flicking my wrist, I threw the Halo towards her like I was tossing a frisbee.

Drake snarled and shifted into his Were form. As shifters, we didn’t like the in-between, but it gave him the ability to stand upright on his two back legs. With more height, he easily caught the Halo.

Sophie turned towards him, already chanting. I had no choice but to turn away to slay the demons running at me. I swung hard and fast, fighting in my human form. The first one fell, my fist embedded in its chest. The evil cloud of its dark soul slithered back through the Rift. It would be reborn, but not tonight. I scowled at the fiery gateway into Hell. Getting the Rift shut. That’s all that mattered. And once it was, I’d hide Ember away and make sure no one could find us.

I spun back to find Sophie with her eyes fixed on the Halo. She was chanting as a soft glow came from her now pale skin and blond hair that hung in waves down her back. Her glamour was gone, replaced by her true form. Drake, Myles and Reed were fully shifted now, ripping and tearing at an influx of demons. Stone fought with his magic. Incinerating any demons that attacked my sister from her back. My brothers were working together to keep Sophie protected.

“Ember! Open fire at the Rift again.”

Nothing. Dread filled my heart.

“Lance! Ava!”

Silence.

“Fuck!”

My father laughed maniacally from where his legs were stuck in a thick sheet of ice. It didn’t stop the bastard using his hands though, and now Hell had gifted him with even more power. He pulled some of the weaker shifters that had entered the warehouse alongside us towards him, breaking their necks before throwing them into the consuming fire of the Rift.

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