Page 66 of Mated To The King's Gamma
The ground shakes, and I look to Clarice frantically when more go off. I gasp, reaching for Tyson, when an entire wall inside the ballroom is blown out, and I am sent hurtling toward the wall opposite. The air is knocked out of my lungs as I twist at the last second, taking the brunt of the impact, so I didn’t crush Tyson.
Screams ring out loudly as my head pound from smashing against the stone walls; I force myself to my feet, peering around at the chaos when Clarice yells for everyone to get out just as another bomb goes off.
Panicked servants make a dash for the doors as Clarice rips them open, and I stagger, my head spinning as I clutch Tyson, blood dribbling down my head, and every part of me feeling batted as I stumble out the doors, wondering whether or not to try to find Azalea when I hear her voice.
“Get to the tunnels!” My head whips up and turns in her direction just as Tandi and I rush out the doors. We meet up and take off along with the servants that have survived the blast toward the back doors.
“There are tunnels in the woods! There’s a bunker not far from here!” Clarice yells through the mind link. Our feet pound on the stone floor to the double doors that lead toward the gardens when an explosion goes off directly behind us, making me duck and cover Tyson’s head.
Trey yells through the link just as someone outside opens the doors. Everyone screeches to a halt, and Clarice shifts, snarling savagely as she puts her body between ours and the door. But when the doors open, it is Trey.
He waves us forward, and everyone piles out as he points toward the forest. Servants rush out, ducking their heads, and I race to catch up to Azalea, clutching Tyson. I’m bleeding and struggling to hold him. On the verge of dropping him, Trey takes him from me before we all race toward the tree line and the cover of the trees.
My mind races as we stumble out, and I can feel Gannon is alive. I could feel he is okay through the bond. Turning back, I see Azalea running toward me, and I step aside. Azalea just manages to rush out the doors before the roof caves in completely.
Bursting through the doors, smoke fills the sky and the smell of gunfire. Shouting and screaming rings out loudly, and the place has turned into a war zone. It is hard to tell our guards from the hunters, except for the insignia emblazoned on their chest armor.
Azalea pushes me forward after Trey, and we race up the small incline when I see Clarice stop up ahead. Oliver, whom I can see beside her, is holding her hand until Peter grabs him and takes off with him.
Tandi stands beside Clarice who has paused and glances back at us, her eyes widening, before a blood-curdling scream leaves her as she stares past all of us toward the hill of the cemetery. My head turns, wondering what made her scream like that when I gasp.
Logan wanders around the carnage like a little boy lost, dazed, and covered in dust and blood. Azalea just reacts, taking off for the hill as Lycans fight men around us. She reaches out for him; Azalea gets him wrapping her arm around his waist, pivoting on her heel as she clutches him into her chest.
Out of my peripheral vision, I can see Gannon by the flat terrain before the hill down to the stables, fighting alongside his men, but I can’t tear my eyes away from Azalea.
Trey screams at Azalea and shoves Tyson in Clarice’s arms while she runs to get back to the small amount of safety that the side of the building offers. I wave Azalea forward, and her feet slip on the grass; Logan rolls out of her arms, and she gets up, reaching for him just as I scream out to her. A hunter lifts his gun in her direction. My heart nearly stops in my chest, but I react, and all I could think is not her.
She peers up to see me running toward her and I see the glint of the gun pointed at her, and a bullet whizzes past me and clips her shoulder as she grabs Logan. Azalea hisses but continues to run toward me. The growls and snarls tear through the air around us as I reach out for Logan in her arms before my eyes widen, staring behind her.
The hunter is now directly behind her with his gun trained directly on her back. I’m not going to let Azalea die, she has given up so much for me, and I’m going to make sure she lives. She is more than my friend. She is more than my sister. She is my life, and she will live her life.
I force my legs to move faster, my body collides with hers, my arms locking around her in a hug, and I spin her around. It’s like I am punched in the center of my back. It steals my breath, and I jolt in her arms before seeing her eyes widen in horror, her lips part as she screams when I lean into her.
I gasp, trying to force air into my lungs, but nothing I do will make them work. Coldness begins to spread from my back to my chest. I struggle to say my last words, mustering all the strength I have left.
Tears stream down Azalea’s cheeks as she holds me in her arms. With the last of my life, I say what I know she will understand; it means more than any other words spoken because they are ours. “More than my life,” I rasp out, choking on the pain those few words cause me.
I feel the life drain from me, hear my last breath leave my lungs as numbness encroaches on me, along with the coldest feeling. It is death washing over me.
“Abbie! No!” I hear her scream before my eyes flutter shut. The last thing I feel is Gannon’s heartbreak as the bond pangs with immense pain. His howl is what I hear last when I suddenly feel nothing at all.
29
I felt the moment the bond broke. It sliced through my chest and ripped out my soul. It broke every part of me, feeling her tether vanish is like losing a vital organ, something you can’t live without. As I stop, my eyes go to the other side of the castle to see Azalea clutching her, and I scream, the sound coming out in a long howl as I watch her turn limp in Azalea’s arms. I run to them.
I fall to my knees, clutching her body in my arms, forgetting the war going on around us when a blade slices down my back, forcing my attention back to the fight. I am forced to fight, his dagger embedded in my side, and I pull it free, my claws sinking into the side of his neck as I slash at him.
A pain I have never experienced shoots through my chest, and at the realization that she is completely lost to me, the last remnants of the bond fading away as I fight to get back to her. This is my punishment for Sia, the moon goddess cursing me for all my misdeeds.
My surroundings completely fade away as I try to bring her back, and when I can’t help anymore, I clutch her, my heart breaking and splintering into a million pieces. I need her, Tyson needs her, and I can’t and won’t live with this agony; I can’t.
I pump at her heart, praying it will start again, blowing two breaths in her mouth. Her blood coats my lips with each breath I give. I refuse to believe she is gone; it can’t end like this. Come on, Abbie. You can’t leave us like this. I pump and breath until my arms burn. I’m lost trying to keep going. My fist bangs twice with hard thuds to her heart, and still nothing. I howl till I’m dry heaving with despair.
Hunters come from everywhere. I don’t even care if they kill me. I’m dead already without her. From up over the hills, out of the forest, and spewing out from the castle, they just keep coming. Even those who ran for safety in the bunkers are now racing back onto the battleground as hunters chase them back toward us.
The Landeena guards form a circle around us and the queen. Clarice flees with the kids, and Peter barely makes it past our circle of defense that offers little safety as all guards cover the queen.
Crux’s booming voice echoes through the smoke and dust as they surround us.
