Page 34 of Payne's Envy

I slashed and slashed until the hard shell broke completely. There was nothing beneath me. I must have been floating in midair. I was falling, but somehow landed on my feet. The bed creaked as it buckled under my weight. Then I realized the bed was on fire! The flames came from me.

I wondered if I could make it stop. It was distracting when everything burned around me. Glimpsing at my hand, I willed the inferno to stop. The fire pulled into me, as if it seeped back into my body.

“Payne!” the female said again.

“Son.”

The man called me… Son.

I got a good look at them. There weren’t like me. Their scent was unfamiliar. They must be weak. Tattoos covered the male, and a dark aura wafted from him. Why did the wordimmortalcome to mind when I saw the strange essence? Was he immortal? If so, he wasn’t weak then. The female beside him had long, black hair and dark eyes. Eyes that were shedding tears as she stared my way. Why was she crying?

I didn’t know them. And I didn’t care to. My mate needed me. Spotting the windows, I turned for them.

“What are you doing, Payne?” the man asked.

Pain?That again. Were they wishing for it?

Ignoring him, I walked to the window. Before I could exit it, the man appeared and blocked my path.

Portal chip.Portal chip. How did I know that’s what he used? How did I know what it was?

“Wait, Son.” The male leaned back slightly and looked up at me. He placed his hand on my chest, then yanked it away. Half his skin was gone, and it impressed me he never once uttered a sound. Nor did his expression change. “Do you know who you are? Where you’re going?”

What a strange thing to ask. Of course, I knew who I was. I was—who was I? Pain sliced through my skull until a single word remained.

“Deathraka,”I told him.

I didn’t know why I said the name, but I was certain that was what I was. “If you keep preventing me from reaching my mate, I’ll kill you,” I warned.

“Mate?” the woman said, and I looked over my shoulder. “Joy? You know where she is?”

Joy.The word swept over me. The orange glow of my veins seemed to intensify as I repeated, “Joy.” That was her name. “Move. If something happens to her because you keep speaking, you’ll know a wrath like no other when I come for you.”

The male clenched his jaws, but he stepped aside.

I rammed my fist into the window. The glass shattered, tiny shards pinging off the castle.

The woman shouted, “We can’t let him go alone.”

“He’s fine,” the man murmured. “If Payne knows where Joy is, he needs to get her. It’s been three days. Any minute, their powers—”

“But why is he climbing out of the window?” the woman asked.

Ahead of me, the flapping of wings blew wind in my face. The dragons flew down the edge of the castle before bursting upward. Spinning in circles, the winged creatures waited all around. As the pressure itched along my skin, I smiled, realizing why.

It was my first flight. The flight to claim my mate. Right after I killed all those that harmed her.

I jumped.

“Payne!” the woman’s scream became a distant sound in my ear.

Chapter Eighteen

Joy

“Wake up!” Pain vibrated across my jaw as the loud smackechoed off the cave walls. I slowly opened my eyes to see Harvest on one knee before me. He squeezed my jaw in his hands until the bones cracked. A whimper escaped my lips.

I’m weak.Everything hurt.

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