Page 189 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness
“We could use our human glamours and split up,” Harmony said quickly. “Then reconverge at our backup outpost.”
My intuition fired low in my gut. How had they found us in the first place? We were wearing human glamours in thefirstoutpost.
I paused, distracted by the erratic beat of Evie’s distressed heart. “Juliette. She could’ve given them a description of my appearance. She knows what some of us look like.”
But she knewIwas the man Evie loved. And if she told the born who to search for… had she told the lords what I meant to Evie?
Had Evie been ambushed too?
My thoughts scrambled. As soon as the fire had been quelled, more shouts broke out from within the mortal buildings surrounding us. Born poured out onto roofs. A crossbow’s arrow whirred toward me, and I deflected it with my shadows just in time.
We didn’t have the luxury of deciding which path to take. It was being chosen for us.
Vesper conjured a snake made of shadow and fire. The beast roared, consuming the born on top of a nearby roof with the snapping of its jaw.
“Be careful of the mortals,” I called.
Born leaped from windows. An omen rolled through me. This didn’t feel like a street skirmish.
This was the start of something more.
We’d been caught off guard. These were born soldiers, in numbers that far surpassed anything we’d seen before.
It was as though Conrad knew we weren’t just any cell of turned. He knew we were powerful enough to not only warranthis forces, but also important enough to make the move he wanted us to make.
“Kylo, there are too many. We have to—” Blade’s call to action was cut off as he lunged for nearby born sneaking up on Clarke.
I cursed. Vesper and I locked eyes. Firebirds circled overhead.
I didn’t have time to give the dreaded, inevitable order before blood onyx began to rain from the sky.
“Take cover now!” I yelled.
The born decided for us. After all of our careful planning, our eighty years of hiding and restraint, the weeks of tension and heartache between Evie and me…
In the end, not every choice could be ours to make.
I cleared a path for us by allowing my shadows the free rein—something I’d never shown to the streets of Etherdale before.
With blood and grit and sweat, my fighters and I battled our way inside a building, using dead born as umbrellas to guard against the spray of blood onyx. They would never waste such resources on random turned.
They knew exactly who I was.
Chills swept over my skin, an ancient, primal knowing curling around my spine. Evie’s heart was bleeding—I could feel it through our bond in a way that was undeniable. She’d been hurt, in some way. And they were keeping me from her.
They were keeping me from her.
In a brief lull, Blade pinned me with a knowing look. I could tell we were on the same wavelength. I heard Clarke curse, and Vesper murmur,there’s nothing we can do.
“We don’t have a choice,” Blade said. “Do or die.”
We needed reinforcements. And if we brought more numbers, so would the born. And this fighting would spread like a plague. The mortals would jump to help us. Whichmeant we’d need to do the same for them. Conrad would notify Earle. Our allies would alert us to dreaded military movement toward Etherdale. The clans between here and Prospyrus would activate. The chain of events we’d meticulously orchestrated would fall like dominoes.
The only missing piece was the might of the Serpent Clan, who were willing not only to reinforce us in the air and on the ground here in the city, but also bring their wealth of resources amid our disadvantaged drought.
Even with Evie’s poisons, we wouldn’t be as strong until they arrived in two weeks.
“We’ll have to start without them,” I said.
