Page 121 of Wings So Wicked

I let the darkness come.

I often felt strongest in its depths, anyway.

I reached for Wolf’s hands before I fell, but he wasn’t there. Nobody was. It was just me, just as it always was.

Just as it always would be.

“Huntyr, Huntyr! Wake up, Huntyr, we have to move. We have to go, now!” Wolf’s voice echoed through the comforting, dark numbness. I didn’t want to leave the soft caress of home, but something in his voice—something that hurt me to hear—forced my eyes open.

Fuck.

Fire erupted around us. We were no longer in the castle, no. We were now in a forest with thick, overgrown trees towering above.

Wolf was leaning over me, shaking my shoulders. He cursed as soon as he saw my eyes open, his pupils swarming with lightning.

“What—”

“Get up,” he hissed.

I scrambled to my feet, hearing an anguished cry in the distance.

Someone stepped behind Wolf, weapon raised.

Wolf spun and swatted the weapon from their grip before snapping their neck.

Fuck.

I turned, looking for a path out of here, away from the chaos. Everyone fought. I glimpsed Lanson’s figure in the distance, battling for power with another fae I didn’t recognize.

Heat overtook each sense. Trees burned around us, limbs fell.

Wolf was right. We had to get out of here as fast as possible.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me, leading us through one of the few openings in the trees that weren’t erupting in flames.

“Huntyr!” a female voice screamed out.

Ashlani’s voice.

I spun, looking for her in the flames and chaos. “Ashlani? Where are you?”

Wolf tried to pull my arm, but I shook it free and continued back toward the fighting. If she needed help, I would help her. I would not have Ashlani’s death on my shoulders, too.

A hand shot from the smoke and latched onto my forearm, fingernails digging into my skin.

I aimed Venom directly at their chest before recognizing the blonde, singed hair. “Hells,” I gasped. Her face had been coated in blood, her eyes covered in smoke and her hair all but burnt off.

“You’re hurt,” I mumbled.

Wolf yelled something else behind me.

Ashlani’s eyes widened; she must not have realized that she was injured.

She looked down at her torso. I followed her gaze.

“No,” I breathed. Someone’s dagger protruded from her stomach, so deep that only the handle was visible.

She looked back at me, a single tear slipping through the blood on her face. “It’s okay, Huntyr,” she cried.

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