Page 33 of Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King

My voice came out hoarse but strong. “Stop!”

Not one of those damned mean girls so much as flinched.

With a nod at her friends, Siray hurled Quen from the platform.

Quen hit the stone hard and rolled straight into the swarm. She caught herself and snarled as she swiped the insects and centipedes off her. "Fecking bastards! I'll kill you all!"

Bugs surged toward her, drawn by the urge to attack.

Malron and Deallan flung Yuki out seconds later, sending her stumbling straight into the path of the swarm. Yuki screamed as she was thrown out of the shield.

Quen's attention snapped to Yuki, flames curling around her hands. Then she crouched and swept her arms wide, and red-gold fire exploded outward. A wall of it flared up, shielding them both from the incoming swarm.

Yuki shrieked and swatted at the bugs as she tried to find a bare spot. Rock cracked beneath her feet and launched into the air. She swung her arms, guiding the slabs like a second skin. The stones shot toward the manticores and bugs—not toward Quen.

My hand tightened around the four broken crystal pieces still in my palm. My knees burned as I forced myself to my feet, limbs shaking under the weight of everything I had already endured.

I stumbled to the edge of the platform, the purple flickering across my blood-slicked skin.

“Get to my platform,” I shouted, lifting the pieces high. “Now! We’ve got space—get over here.” I shoved my hand against the shield to see if I could open it. The cold material squelched around my fingers, more flexible than I’d expected. Then I plunged out into the horrid space between the circles as the manticores attacked the shields.

The second I stepped beyond the shield, the pain sharpened. Every sting, every bite, pulsed back to life like a second heartbeat thudding beneath my skin. My legs nearly gave out beneath me, and I stumbled forward, catching myself with a bloodied hand as fresh agony lanced through my shoulder. My breath hitched, shallow and ragged, and my vision darkened at the edges.

Aelir raised her arms again, the wind curling around her wrists before pushing out in short, desperate bursts. Each gust bought me inches of space as the insects scattered, only to swarm back the moment the air weakened. Myantha used her magic to shove jagged stone pieces through the swarm, creating narrow lanes that buckled and cracked beneath the weight of creeping bodies.

A low snarl echoed across the arena as a manticore dove from above, the rush of its wings nearly lost in the chaos of shrieks and snapping limbs. My steps faltered, and I barely registered the danger in time to flinch.

Thalira surged forward and swung a thick ribbon of water into the air. It whipped outward and cracked against the manticore’s side with a wet, violentthud. The creature spun in midair, screeching as it reeled away and crashed into a wall.

Shadows unfurled behind me, curling like smoke and slithering low to the ground. Snakes and centipedes jerked and thrashed as the tendrils seized them and dragged them backward into the dark.

Quen had cleared a firebreak and now stood surrounded by flames, her hair wild and her hands glowing with heat. Yuki summoned a crumbling stone slab, her arms shaking as she kept her footing and moved toward me.

I reached them just beyond the edge of the shield, my legs wanting to give out with each step. I crouched, taking raspy breaths and fumbled with the crystal pieces. My fingers barely worked, but I managed to press one into Quen’s hand and another into Yuki’s.

“Here,” I rasped. “Go—get into the circle and put these in the center. I didn’t have time earlier.”

Before they could move, Kaylen’s voice rang out across the arena, shrill and cruel in the firelight.

“Are you missing a friend, Briar? You must feel so sad. You wanted all the weaklings for yourself, didn’t you? Well, I’m not greedy. You can have this one.”

I turned just in time to hear the scream.

Naevys flailed midair as Kaylen hurled her out, the girl’s body twisting as she flew across the arena toward the farthest edge of the swarm. Her scream split the air—high and terrified—before it cut off in a sickening instant.

A manticore burst from the dark, its scorpion tail lashing forward with brutal precision. The quills struck hard, driving through Naevys’s back as the beast lifted her into the air. She spasmed once and then went still, her body impaled and hanging limply from the curved black spike. The manticore’s face twisted into something like a grin—too human, too old—and it let out a low, rasping chuckle before beating its wings and vanishing into the darkness with her body still dangling beneath it.

The sound that tore from my throat barely resembled a scream. My vision blurred, red and wet and blinding, as something inside me snapped.

How could these people so carelessly kill one of their own? The places where my old pack’s links used to be before the slaughter seemed to pulse inside me. What the fuck waswrongwith this world?

My skin burned, searing me from the inside out. Shifting was dangerous when I was this injured, but I didn’t give a fuck. I dropped to my hands and knees, my skin tingling as fur began to sprout.

“Briar, no!” Yuki said, grabbing one of my arms while Quen grabbed the other.

They had to move, or they’d get hurt. There was no stopping my wolf. “Move,” I half growled. “Or you’re going to get hurt.” I yanked my arms from them, and Quen gasped, letting go and taking a couple steps back.

“She’s got… fur.” Quen stumbled over her words. “Let her go.”

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