Page 98 of Run Like the Devil

“I didn’t say we.”

His meaning struck me, and I reacted by kicking him in the back of his knees. “Not a chance!”

“I am more than willing to make a stand even if I know we can’t win, but there is no reason for you to die here as well.”

I shook my head, my eyes burning. That wasn’t an option. It couldn’t be. Even the idea of surviving, of waking up alone, it wasn’t one worth taking.

Some things have too high a price.

Hadn’t I learned that over and over again? If the price of my survival was to lose the men I loved, then I didn’t want it.

“Just fucking go,” Hale snapped without looking back. “There’s no good reason for us all to die here.”

“Then you go!” I shouted back. “The thing wants me anyways! It’ll focus on me the second it can, and you can all leave. If it’s between one life or four, the answer is obvious.”

“Not if that one life is yours.” Tyrus caught my chin and forced my eyes to his. “We have all lived a lot longer than you have. I’m more than willing to sacrifice whatever I might have had left if I know you will get to keep living. Head back the way we came, focusing on getting back to the Chasm. The Path should appear, and you’ll reach the walkway we took here.”

I shook my head, ignoring how it made his fingers dig into my chin. There was no way. It was an impossible order, one I couldn’t obey even if I wanted to.

Yazmor swiped his hand at Guardian, then knocked against him just as Guardian attempted to bypass Tyrus to get to me.

Fuck, even if I ran, I didn’t know that the four of them could contain that thing. It wanted me.

Why?

I stared at it, at the way it snarled and hissed and never seemed to fully take its eyes off me.

It’s connected to Hubis. Those words had come again and again to me, but I hadn’t thought about it much. Hubis didn’t control Guardian, but they had a bond.

Guardian was here to protect not just the Plains, but Hubis himself. It was here to ensure nothing passed.

No, that’s not right…

It was here to ensure nothing that would hurt Hubis could pass. I recalled getting a finger trap when I’d been a kid, remembered how no matter how hard I pulled, I couldn’t get free.

Each time we went harder at Guardian, it responded in kind. Every time we hurt it, it came back harsher, struck harder.

Guardian was the final trap.

Which meant there was only one way through.

“Go,” Tyrus snarled and shoved me behind him before turning back toward Guardian, flanked by the others, all of them willing to die just to give me time.

If we were going to die here, then we’d go together. Though…I could only hope I was right.

I took a deep breath, then rushed forward, ducking through the small space between Hale and Tyrus, avoiding when both tried to reach for me. It was a benefit of being smaller—I was a lot harder to grab.

I didn’t stop until I stood just before Guardian, but held a hand up toward the men. “Wait,” I ordered them.

“The fuck are you doing?” Hale asked.

“Something stupid, as usual.” I held my hand out with the dagger, then dropped it. It disappeared before it struck the ground, the burning on my wrist showing it had returned there. Still, my point was clear. “I submit.” I dropped to my knees, unable to hide my shaking. In fact, it was good I was kneeling, because I doubted my legs would hold me anymore.

But, fuck, if I died here, at least it was an interesting story, right? I could have ended by getting run over or something equally boring, but this was a story worth telling.

The idiot who got on her knees for a beast.

Not the worst thing I’ve gotten on my knees for.

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