Page 75 of Unleashed

Nina’s raised arms trembled. She was aware of the valos behind her, aware of their frantic thoughts and emotions, but she had to keep her focus elsewhere. Had to keep her focus on the danger. Piercing, throbbing pain pulsed at her temples, more intense than she’d ever known.

Hurry.

Warmth blossomed at her back. She opened her eyes to see the creatures at the front of the writhing ring cast in the orange light of a fire. Many of them screeched, squealed, and chittered in panic, but it wasn’t enough.

Squeezing her eyes shut one more time, she imagined the fire growing, spreading, roaring in a wave toward the critters. At the same time, she grasped her connections with her valos, reached into their heartstones and took hold of all their fury, pumping it into the mind-fire.

She screamed all that rage, all that defiance, at the sand creatures, at this unnatural place, at the evil being who’d created all this. The fire swept out in a flash, blasting over the creatures’ mind pulses, engulfing them and climbing toward the heavens.

Nina dropped to her knees, catching herself on her hands to keep from falling face down in the sand. She panted, head throbbing as something wet trickled from her nose.

“Nina!”

She wasn’t sure which of the valos had called her name; it might have been all of them.

The warm, comforting, secure presences of her mates closed in around her. Their hands moved gently over her back and her arms, soothing her. They spoke in hurried, worried voices, but their words were muffled by the lingering roar of flames within her mind.

She’d failed. She couldn’t hold the creatures back any longer, couldn’t strain her mind any further. At any moment, they’d be back, clawing and biting and pecking. And even her valos would be overwhelmed.

“Nina,” someone repeated. Was it Balir?

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice broken with despair. “I tried.”

“She is bleeding. Move her closer to the fire.”

Strong arms slipped under her, lifting her off the ground. She was unable to do anything but cling to them.

No more fire. Too much fire…

She was lowered onto a warm lap and drawn against a hard chest — Vortok was holding her. She sank into his embrace and waited for the inevitable, for the pain that would soon come, though the throbbing in her skull made it difficult to focus on anything apart from the feel of Vortok’s body against hers.

Nina concentrated on his heartbeat as his big hands moved gently up and down her back. She eased gradually as the throbbing in her head faded. No other pain followed. The crackling fire nearby cast soothing warmth on her, combining with Vortok’s body heat to chase away the chill of the night air.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and lifted her head. Vortok was staring down at her with concern gleaming in his gaze. When she looked at Balir and Aduun, who were crouched not two feet away, she saw the same concern mirrored in their expressions.

“Where are the creatures?” she asked. They’d been sitting here for so long, undisturbed. Too long.

Aduun lifted his gaze to Vortok for a moment and then tapped Balir’s shoulder. He and Balir scooted aside, expanding her field of view.

There was a patch of sand immediately behind them, a semicircle that extended for perhaps twenty feet from where Nina sat, that was scattered with a few crushed bodies. The ground on the other side of that semicircle was blanketed by dark, unmoving creatures. Legs, pincers, and tails jutted into the air, and many of the critters were piled atop each other. If she and the valos spent all day counting, they would not get through all the carcasses.

“I…” Her brows furrowed in confusion. Had she done that?

“Just as we were being overwhelmed, the creatures began to back away,” Aduun said. “Like some unseen force was pushing them. When you stepped forward, they only moved farther back. They remained in a ring, just like that, none of them coming closer. And then…”

“They panicked.” Vortok’s voice rumbled into her through his chest. “They panicked, and died, screeching in pain. Just like that.”

Nina stared at the creatures in wonder. The fire. She’d…she’d killed them by making them believe they’d burned to death.

For a moment, terror filled her. Not once in her life had she thought she’d ever be capable of something likethis. She read minds, she heard thoughts, she felt emotions, and sometimes she projected into other people’s heads. Once, she’d hurt other children, Zoya’s daughters...but what was that compared to this? When she thought of what might have happened due to her inability to control her power, to restrain herself, it made her blood run cold.

I could have killed my mates.

But…I saved them.

That was her only comfort. She’d saved them, kept them from harm, and they were here now because of her.

Could she have prevented some of the other hardships they’d endured during their journey if she’d been willing to push herself sooner? If, instead of fearing what she could do, she’d embraced it, strengthened it,masteredit? Could she have turned away the treeclaws, or killed the worm before it harmed anyone?

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