Page 36 of A Clash of Embers

“Same.” he chuckled.

I smiled knowing that I enjoyed every minute except for Evander trying to ruin it for me. I slowly felt my heart ratecalming to a resting rate and so did Leo’s. I wanted to protect him. Keep him safe. But I was scared that something would happen and I’d lose him. I knew I was technically bait to get Eros out, but it didn’t mean that Leo had to be hurt because of it.

I didn’t realize I fell asleep until I heard screaming and yelling coming from outside. When I looked around the room, I saw Leo getting dressed and he looked frantic.

“Clara, get up, we’re under attack.” I quickly jumped out of bed and started to get dressed as fast as I could. He was ready much faster than I was and he ran towards me grabbing my face with both hands, forcing me to look into his eyes.

“I need to go. When you’re ready, come out and be ready to fight. Be strong, Clara. Don’t forget you are agoddess—you have power that is far superior than everyone that is in this fight. We’ll find Eros and capture him.” He leaned in and pressed a hard kiss on my mouth as if it was a goodbye, forever. As he walked away, I grabbed his hand forcing him to turn to look at me.

“Please be careful, Le— Mads. I don’t know what I'd do if something happened to you.”

Leo walked back towards me slowly this time and gently clasped my face in his hands. I saw the fear in his golden eyes as he spoke to me. “I know you might not be ready for this Clara but... I love you. I want nothing more than to have a life with you. Promise me you’ll fight hard. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” He gently pressed a kiss into my lips and I felt a tear fall down my cheek as he left the small shack.

I stopped for a moment to process what he just told me but screaming ensued outside, which made me pull my pants up as fast as I could and fastened all of my weapons onto me. I had two swords poking out of my back holsters and daggers in the straps on the side of my pants. I was livid and I was ready to fightanyone who got in my way. I was going to find Eros and I would kill him.

Chapter 17

Leaving the shack, I was overcome with the smell of rusted metal.

I instantly realized that it was blood. Everywhere around me our soldiers were being ripped to shreds. I saw some of our militia pushing the line near the opening past the trees so I ran.

Along the way a man wielding a sword approached, and all I did was reach out my power causing an eruption of roots from the ground to wrap around the man's neck and snap it in the blink of an eye as I kept running.

I thought of Leo and where he was. I would find him and when I did, I would unleash havoc on anyone within five feet of him.

Approaching the tree line, I saw the fighting in slow motion, with my powers enacted. Our enemies were both human, vamprye, and werewolf, but I was a goddess and nothing would stop me. I had convinced myself of that.

I removed my swords, wielding them one in each hand as I struck down two of the humans attacking one of the Fae soldiers. To my left, I noticed a large wolf tearing apart anyone in reach,but a fog covered the entire field, blurring everything in sight. I had fought valiantly against anything that attacked me, but I was worn down. I was hurting.

The gnashing of teeth was straining my ears as the sounds of flesh ripping sunk into my core.

Death.

I tasted the metal in my mouth as I wiped my face with the back of the leather sleeve. My armor had been ripped and I was now exposed with nothing but my clothes guarding me. In my left hand, I held the emerald sword I had grown to love that Bethany was able to give back to me. In the other hand, I held an onyx-encrusted sword with a golden blade that shimmered whenever it touched blood, the one Callan bestowed to me.

I finally stood straight up, looking around at the mass casualties that surrounded me. Leo was nowhere to be found. I searched and searched but couldn't find him.

I heard the soft ground around me start to rumble as I turned to face a large black-haired wolf that was easily ten times larger than I was. He walked in circles around me as I followed his gaze. We were on the edge of the battlefield, farther away from the others. His snarl was vibrating through me as I tried to reach out to his thoughts. When I did, I was surprised at what I found.

He said to not kill the gray-eyed girl. But I want to.

I narrowed my eyes to the beast in front of me and I smiled. A wicked smile. I sheathed my swords in my back leathers and the beast stopped his prowl, staring at me in disbelief. I stepped towards the wolf and his eyes widened slightly at my approach.

"Who told you not to kill me?" I questioned him.

His lip lifted slightly showing his large canines that could easily rip me to shreds in seconds. I tried to reach back out to his mind, but this time he had a wall surrounding it, and I smirked.

"Oh. You don't like someone prying into your thoughts, do you?" I looked at the ground and held my hands open on my sides. "Well, you certainly won't like this."

Instantly the roots underground ripped through the top layer of soil like it was paper. I held my hands level with my shoulders holding the power of the roots in the air as the light glow emerged from me. My essence flowed all around me, through me, and through the roots I now held with my power.

The wolf started to retreat slowly backwards as I took slow steady strides towards him. "You see,wolf, I am not just a gray-eyed girl. I am much more than that and I think you realize that now, don't you?"

I pushed my power out, sending the roots chasing after him. One root gripped his right hind leg, stopping him momentarily but not long enough. The other root wrapped around his other leg pulling him back towards me. His front paws were clawing the ground frantically trying to get away from me.

As he should.

Finally, when he was close enough, a final set of roots shot out of the ground wrapping around his front paws halting his movement entirely. He was struggling against the roots that tightened every time he tried to escape from me. I walked around the large wolf and squatted down in front of his enormous snout. I was eye to eye with the beast and I tilted my head in curiosity as I questioned him. "I'm going to ask you again. Who told you not to kill me?"

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