Page 89 of Darkness and Deceit
She’s right.
But before I can speak, she stiffens.
“Shit!” she hisses, and I see the movement up ahead now too. A cluster of Rogues are blocking the tunnel forward, crouched and twitching, their movements jerky and unnatural. Their eyes are wild, their claws scrape the stone.
They look... wrong. Gone. Too far gone to speak or reason with. All instinct. All hunger. All wrong.
They lurch forward and I summon what magic I can muster, throwing up a shield. A dome of pale gold stretches over us, flickering at the edges.
It’s barely holding.
They shriek at the light and slam against it, over and over. Each impact sends a rumble through the barrier, and I feel it cracking, fracturing like glass. My magic is too weak here to hold for long, but I hope it will give us a little bit of time that we so desperately need.
“Fuck, I can’t—” Lilith’s voice trembles. Her hands are raised, coated in a flickering purple shimmer, but nothing emerges. Her wide eyes dart between me and the Rogues as the shield vibrates under their claws.
“Focus,” I say, trying to sound calm even as panic claws up my spine. “They are there. Your Shadows are with you.”
She shakes her head hard. “They’re not coming. I—I can’t?—”
“Yes, youcan.”I reach out and grasp her arm. “My life is in your hands,” I say, steady and sure. “I trust you with it.”
She lets out a raw, bitter laugh. “Then you really don’t value your life.”
The shield cracks again—a jagged spiderweb of light spreading from the center outward.
“Maybe,” I say softly, “or maybe I just see you clearer than you see yourself.”
She stares at me, breath catching.
The panic in her eyes mirrors mine.
“Augustus. They’re going to break through.”
“Show them who and what you are.”
The barrier shatters.
She steps in front of me right as a Rogue lunges. It slams her to the ground with a snarl that echoes through the chamber. I turn to help, but I don’t get the chance. Because a pulse erupts from the floor beneath her—pure, blinding violet—that knocks everything off kilter. The Rogue is flung backward. Light consumes the chamber, forcing me to shield my eyes. When it fades?—
There is a fox standing protectively between Lilith and the Rogues. Its body is massive, its luminous glow like amethyst fire. This is her Predator.
Lilith rises to her feet beside it, bathed in that same violet hue. She’s no longer trembling. No longer doubting. No longer holding back. And I’ve never seen anything more terrifying—or more beautiful.
Twenty-Nine
LILITH
A waveof energy floods through me, electrifying every cell.
It’s exhilarating. Like stepping into the role I was always meant to play. The power settles in my bones like a long-lost friend finally returning home. It’s as though it has lingered in the depths of my being, waiting for the moment it could be unleashed.
And now that it has permission, it surges through every vein and nerve, flooding every inch of my essence.
This is what I was made for.
Something deep within the marrow of my bones was crafted for this purpose—to protect.
I am a Protector.
