Page 23 of Resisting the Wicked Orc

Rava tensed beside me, but there was no fear in her stance, only rage. Her hand slipped into her pocket, withdrawing the pendant. The hellfire opal pulsed with inner light as she dangled it between us.

“This? Is that what you’re after, Javed?” She cocked her head, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. “It doesn’t belong to you.”

“Doesn’t it?” Javed stepped forward, his hunters spreading out to flank us. “Everything that belongs to the Kadhan clan belongs to me. Including you.”

“I belong to no one,” she snarled.

“We’ll see about that.” He raised a hand and snapped his fingers. The sound, small as it was, cracked the air like a gong.

Red smoke billowed around us as more figures materialized. Guards, judging by their matching black uniforms and the emblem on their chests. I counted six, not including Javed. Bad odds.

“Kaz?” Rava’s voice cracked behind me. “Malak? Zane? What is this?”

I felt her step forward, but my arm shot out, keeping her back. Something was wrong. The guards stood like statues, their movements unnaturally synchronized as they shifted into fighting stances. Even their breathing matched, chests risingand falling in perfect unison. Like puppets on perfectly aligned strings.

“Sister.” The word came from the tallest hunter, his voice hollow and mechanical.

“What have you done to them?” Rava’s tail lashed violently, the barb cutting through the morning air.

Javed’s laugh was cruel and sharp. He lifted his hand, displaying an ornate ring that pulsed with the same reddish light as Rava’s pendant. “Simply reminded them of their proper place.”

“No.” Rava’s denial was a snarl of fury and fear. She clutched the pendant, and I felt heat building around us as she called her fire. “Release them.”

“Your pathetic attempts at defiance end here.” Javed’s smirk grew wider. He turned to the hollow-eyed guards. “Take them. Let’s show my bride what happens to those who defy me.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

ZRAL

Guards and brothers moved as one, surrounding us with synchronized grace. I shoved Rava behind me and met the first attacker with a roar, my fist connecting with his jaw. The satisfying crunch of bone was drowned out by the chaos erupting around us.

Rava’s fire magic ignited, her hands wreathed in flames as she sent two guards staggering backward. Her tail lashed like a whip, catching another across the face.

“Kaz, stop this!” The pendant pulsed in her grip as she faced her brother. “You don’t have to obey him. You’re stronger than this!”

For a moment, I thought we actually stood a chance.

Then a guard slammed into me from the side, driving me to my knees. Another caught my arms, wrenching them behind my back with brutal force. I struggled against their grip, muscles straining as they forced me to the ground. A boot pressed between my shoulder blades, pinning me to the earth.

“Kaz, please,” Rava begged. “You have to fight this.”

Through the tangle of bodies, I saw the tallest guard—the one who’d called her sister—grab Rava’s wrist, twisting untilshe cried out. The pendant fell from her fingers, landing in the dirt. Her brother’s face remained blank as he snatched up the pendant.

“Rava!” I shouted, fighting harder against my captors.

She broke free with a burst of flame, sending her brother stumbling back. For an instant, our eyes met across the clearing. Her path was clear. She could escape while the guards were focused on subduing me.

I saw the calculation in her eyes, the moment of decision.

Then crimson smoke swirled around her, and she was gone.

The fight drained from my muscles, leaving behind a familiar hollow ache. Bitter thoughts soured my tongue as I stared at the empty space where she’d stood. I’d let myself believe, just for a moment, that she might choose differently.

Javed’s cold laugh cut through the clearing. “Like a coward,” he said, examining the pendant now in his possession. “So much for that precious Kadhan honor, right, Kaz?”

Kaz simply stood at the ready, eyes focused somewhere in the middle distance.

Rough hands hauled me to my feet. The mate bond thrummed between my ribs like a second heartbeat, each pulse a reminder of her warmth against my skin, of the way she’d melted into my touch before dawn. Of trust given and betrayed. Of a woman who’d rather face her demons alone than stand beside me.

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