Page 50 of Shadow Bonds

I don’t want to depend on her or anyone else. I’ve fought long and hard to get here—we all have—but it looks like that’s all about to change.

“Why areyouso fucking angry with us?” I ask her, ready to shake the answer out of her if I have to.

She came in last night, looking like we had ripped her world apart and betrayed her. And has ignored us ever since. Even Cyrus, who was making headway with her.

The four of us have to head out in a few minutes to the main sector to help push back a group of terrigons and beasts that slipped through the Hollow—something we all usually look forward to—but I can’t figure out why she would be acting like this toward us when we did nothing fucking wrong.

Something happened. It’s usually not the first thought that comes to me when it comes to Sena. But this last month, she has been different.

Not a lot gets to this Sena. She’s feisty and willing to give as much as she gets. But I can tell something is off. She’s not just ignoring us; she’s downright pissed.

And I haven’t a clue why.

She ignores my question, acting like I’m not even standing right beside her. I’m about to reach out and fucking throttle her when Theon comes up beside me.

“We need to leave,” he says while glancing at Sena with a frown.

Sena continues to ignore us both and then heads into the bathroom and locks the door.

I take a step toward it, ready to break it down, when Malakai moves in front of me.

“We’ll deal with her when we get back. Let’s go.”

Glaring at the door, I scrub a hand down my face and follow the others with a heavy sigh.

We head through the portal and come straight out into something close to Hell.

Shadow warriors from all sectors span out across the colossal area with a huge backdrop of darkness behind them, seeping outward.

Beasts and creatures I’ve never seen before and hundreds of terrigons young and old all rush out of the long, dark crack, heading straight for the Shadows.

But the lure is no longer there. We’ve been working hard to get here, training our bodies and abilities to make it through to the war games. All so we could be closer to the small measure of peace being in this place brings.

“Anyone else feel it?” I ask them, wondering what it means.

Theon glares at the Hollow as if it’s the thing that has personally offended him instead of a certain blonde beauty.

“We’re more drawn to Sena than the Hollow now,” he admits out loud.

The four of us stare at it for another minute. As if we’re trying to understand how our entire world just shifted on its axis. With Sena now at the center of it.

More terrigons slip out of the Hollow, snapping us out of our little moment, and we dive right into the thick of the fray, cutting a path through to the center of the mayhem.

I let myself go, let every thought and worry disappear and slice through anything that comes within a few feet of me. I drown out the screams and grunts around me and get lost in the bloodshed and fight. In the chaos and havoc.

My dark shadows consume me, and I disappear, slipping among the violence while driving my blade into everything I mark.

Spotting a large terrigon, I make a move toward it when a strange energy jolts through me making me pause. I release my shadow ability and glance over at the Theon and Cyrus, but they’re both finishing off the beasts around them.

I look to Malakai when he stills and narrows his eyes. His eyes veer to mine, and my heart nearly fucking stops when I see the glint of fear in them.

“Where is she?” I move over to him as I try to reach her, slamming against her damn barriers over and over. There’s no one else that brings us this much worry and heartache at the same time.

“She’s in the red zone,” he grits out, and my heart actually does stop before kicking up speed.

Fuck. I’m going to kill her when I get ahold of her.

IfI find her in time.

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