Page 210 of The Delta's Rogue
Sarina shoves me as flat on my back as I can be with the shackles binding me. She scratches an X into my chest, right above my heart, then pierces the flesh with her claws.
I scream in pain. It’s not deep enough to hit my heart, but she twists her fist side to side several times before removing her claws.
I sigh in relief, but it’s short lived. She shoves her claws into the same wounds she already inflicted—once, twice, three times. Each time, my scream diminishes, fading with the darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision.
The fourth time she winds up, her arm pulls back further. Her muscles tense tighter, and her lip trembles.
“I love you,mi reina,”I say into the vast nothingness where our mate bond used to be.“I will always love you.”
Her broken eyes lock onto mine.
I nod once, then exhale on a sob and close my eyes as Sarina prepares to strike a killing blow to my heart.
My wait for deathis endless. I teeter on the precipice between the living and the not, waiting for the end to come.
Only, it never does.
Sarina’s body collapses on top of mine. Her arms wind around me, clinging to me like she’ll float away into the vast open sky if she doesn’t hold me. The chains loosen and detach, although the shackles remain on my body, and I return her embrace.
“Lo siento,” she sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
The apology shatters me. She breaks me into tinier pieces with each repetition of the unnecessary phrase.
There’s nothing for her to apologize for. None of this is her fault.
“It’s okay.” I wrap her tighter in my arms, grimacing from the pressure on the wounds she gave me. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
A piercing scream flies over the grounds.
I jerk upright, Sarina clasped in my arms. Wesley, Reid, and Nolan—running towards us now that the barrier keeping them away is gone—all skid to a halt. Sarina yanks her head from my chest. The sound snags our attention, erasing all other thoughts.
Around the lake, near Nuncio’s dead and mutilated body, Amara screams, flanked by Maddie, Cav, and my dad. Blood spurts from stubs at the end of her arms. Maddie tosses a hand to the ground, and Cav shakes his head before spitting another out, right next to the first. The hand uncurls, and a small vial of blood rolls out of it and disappears into the tall grass.
That’s why Sarina stopped attacking me. Witches need their hands to perform magic. Without her hands, Amara could no longer control Sarina.
Amara’s screams are endless.
Cav attacks her detached hands, throwing them in the air and catching them like they’re his new favorite chew toys. As Cav plays with her hands, my dad and Maddie continue their assault on Amara’s body.
My dad grabs her long, too-perfect hair, wraps it around his wrist, and yanks so her face tilts to the sky. Maddie sprints towards her and towers over her as she slams her palm into Amara’s face, breaking her nose in a single, powerful strike. Keeping her momentum, Maddie spins and kicks Amara in the throat.
Amara’s scream morphs into a grunt of pain before disappearing completely as she reaches for her throat with the bloody, shaking stumps where her hands used to be.
“Please…” she begs.
Maddie is already slicing through Amara’s legs below the knees. Amara falls to the ground as my dad releases her, and the lower halves of her legs detach from her body.
Maddie rises to her full height, spits on Amara, and smashes her face with her foot. Icy rage fuels each of Maddie’s blows against Amara. Her foot meets Amara’s face relentlessly. She doesn’t stop until we no longer see Amara’s chest rise and fall, and even then, Maddie lands one last stomp to her face for good measure.
We all jump to our feet as Maddie backs away and gazes down at her handiwork. The surprise of her brutal takedown of Amara kept us frozen in place, stuck on the edge of our seats in limbo, as we watched and waited for the end. But now that it’s over, our stunned trances break, and the five of us run to join her, Cav, and my dad.
“Remind me to stay on Maddie’s good side,” Reid mutters.
His hand covers his mouth as he gags and turns his face towards the forest, his skin tinted with green.
“Why did you watch?” Nolan asks.
“I couldn’t look away!”
