Page 86 of Fractured Souls

She couldn’t bring herself to say the words. The old, crippling fear returned, and she hated herself for it.

“Nythian’s not going to die,” the soldier drawled, sharing a knowing glance with his companion. “Although I respect your loyalty, female, I really do. Goddess knows his kind need a lot more of the likes of you. As we told you before, just wait and see.”

She noticed Ektans standing in one shadowy corner, leaning casually against the wall. He had that same infuriatingly smug look on his face.

“You all seem so sure that this is going to work out,” she grumbled. It almost felt like they were having some sort of fun at her expense.

Outside, the monster whipped back and forth, its body turning into a dark, sinuous tornado. And Nythian was inside… trapped in a constricted space, crushed by peristaltic organs, his body coated in corrosive gastric juices…

Oh god.

It hurt to even imagine Nythian in such a place. Her man was in there? Alexis’s chest tightened. Her heartbeat kicked into a lightspeed gallop.

Her trigger finger twitched. So frustrating. She, who was so used to being in control… she couldn’t do a thing right now.

Her mind went blank. She was on the verge of losing it again, just like when she was back in her quarters, when she’d foolishly punched the wall.

Only Nythian wasn’t here to absorb her madness.

So she did the only thing she could think of at this point in time. She raised her right hand and grabbed the Kordolian in front of her, curling her fingers around his throat—the only part of his body that was exposed. Her hand tingled as she released just a little bit of the power Anuk had given her, much in the way she’d learned to do when she’d straddled her powerful silver warrior…

But there was no tenderness in her touch right now.

“I don’t know you people,” she said, and she was surprised to hear how cold her own voice sounded. “I know Nythian does, and maybe he trusts you one hundred percent, but I don’t.”

The Kordolian stiffened. A trace of fear entered his crimson eyes. “Seriously, human? What are you doing?”

Ektans and his offsider moved like the wind, and suddenly a big black armored hand clamped down on her arm.

The power flowed through her, just a trickle right now, although she could turn it into a torrent any time she wanted.

Just like she’d done with Nythian.

Funny that during the most mind-blowing sex she’d ever had, she’d learned how to kill with a touch.

“Don’t, boss,” the warrior under her touch whispered, his silver skin turning platinum-pale. Deep grey blood vessels stood out on his temples.“She’s doing something to me… heart’s slowing down… I can’t breathe…” He swore in rapid-fire Kordolian, the words coming out as a half-choked wheeze.

“I’d have a blade to your throat right now,” Ektans hissed, “but for the fact that you’re Nythian’s mate. But you do anything to hurt my man and we’re all going to have a big fucking problem. What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing, human?”

“I can kill him with a thought,” she said softly, her calm tone hiding the rage coursing through her veins. “If anything happens to Nythian out there… if I don’t get him back, then I’ve got nothing to live for. I’ll take down at least a few of you before you can kill me.”

“Ah…” Ektans loosened his grip ever so slightly. “Ah.”

“Confirmed crazy,” her victim muttered. “Just like every other fucking human I’ve encountered. Tch. Nythian didn’t tell us his female had sorcerous death-touch abilities.”

Suddenly, all four of them froze and looked out the window.

That sound…

It was the most awful thing she’d ever heard in her life, like steel cutlery screeching on glass, but magnified a thousandfold. It made her want to curl up into a ball and cover her ears.

It came straight from the beast’s throat, a sound of pure terror.

A death-knell.

“Here we go.” Ektans muttered. “This ain’t going to be pretty…”

The dust had cleared just enough that she could make out the monster’s twisting form. It bucked and flailed, its movements becoming wild and erratic.

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