Binding Ties

by Shannon K. Butcher

  Her attack hit him with an invisible force.

  Joseph’s world exploded in pain. He felt like his skin was being ripped from his body one cell at a time.

  He couldn’t think, could barely see. His hearing was fine, filled with the sound of his own voice lifted in agony.

  Run! he tried to tell Lyka, but nothing got through. Their connection was already full, roaring with the flow of power.

  Then suddenly, the pain was gone. He slid down the wall, rocks scraping his bare back. Even that felt good by comparison.

  When his eyes finally started working again, he saw Treszka lying on the floor, pinned in place by an iridescent band of energy. Lyka’s hand was raised, bloody and trembling as she held the demon down.

  “She’s yours,” said Lyka to the demon wearing bits of silver duct tape and hovering tentatively nearby.

  It eased from the group, moving closer to its queen.

  The tracking device was still glued to its back, where Nicholas had put it.

  Treszka screamed and thrashed against Lyka’s bonds.

  Another rush of power flowed out of Joseph as she strengthened the magic holding the demon in place. It was already wobbling, weakening with every passing second.

  That’s when Joseph felt what she was doing with his power and realized that not only was Lyka pinning Treszka, but she was also using a tiny shield to patch Eric’s artery and slow the bleeding.

  She was still new to wielding magic, and multitasking was draining her fast.

  Joseph didn’t have much time left to act before his window of opportunity closed.

  Tracker Demon inched closer to Treszka’s feet and pushed her velvet skirt up her legs. It lowered its mouth and a long black tongue spilled out to lick its queen’s skin.

  Revulsion churned in Joseph’s gut, but he didn’t let it slow him down. As long as this demon lived, Lyka would be bound by her vow to it. She’d be trapped by her word, unable to kill the demon queen that was hell-bent on taking all of them down.

  Joseph pulled sparks of power from the earth surrounding him to fuel his body. His skin tingled and glowed as he attacked, slicing off the head of Tracker Demon in one single blow.

  The instant it died, Lyka screamed and siphoned off a huge rush of energy. Joseph fell to his knees under the strain of providing what she needed. A couple of seconds later, he saw Treszka’s head twist hard and keep twisting until her neck broke. Her body went limp and the taint of power around her dissipated.

  The rest of the demons that she had controlled paused for a second in confusion before they realized they were free.

  No longer held by the will of their queen, the demons charged.

  Chapter 44

  Lyka was better at killing than healing, but for Eric, she was determined to learn the skill fast.

  As soon as she knew Treszka was dead, she popped a shield over herself and her brother and went to work.

  Demons were scrambling outside the shimmering dome, but Joseph was on the job. Even though there were a ton of them, confidence radiated from him, reassuring her that he was in complete control.

  She’d never seen a man fight like him. So much skill and carefully contained power. No rage or berserker attitude—just calm competence.

  His confidence flowed around her, giving her the peace of mind she needed to focus on the task at hand.

  She really didn’t know what she was doing, but she’d studied a little anatomy and knew that all she had to do was line up Eric’s tissues and keep him from bleeding to death while his body did the rest. Slayers healed fast, and while his body was taxed from what he’d been through over the past few days, he was strong.

  “You can do this,” she told him. “Just close your eyes and relax. I won’t let you bleed out.”

  Treszka’s bite held some kind of poison. Lyka wasn’t sure how she knew, but it must have had something to do with the connection she now had with her brother. Part of her consciousness was in him, monitoring his body for signs of what she needed to do next.

  Joseph kept cutting down foes one after another. Reddish black blood spattered his skin, leaving angry welts wherever it touched.

  Synestryn blood was toxic, and Joseph had only his jeans to protect him from the spray of his killing spree.

  Inside the dome of protection, Eric shivered and panted, struggling to stay alive.

  “That’s it,” she said as she kept pressure on his wound. “You’re almost out of the woods.”

  At least she hoped it was true.

  One of the demons got a hit in on Joseph, slicing his arm with a rusty blade. She felt the sting as if it had been her own flesh, but he didn’t so much as flinch. Each stroke of his sword was as graceful and smooth as the last.

  Eric sucked in a long, shuddering breath and opened his eyes.

  “Welcome back,” she said.

  “Just in time to join the fight.”

  “Joseph’s got it,” she said. “Just stay here and relax.”

  “Hell of a fighter you’ve got there.”

  “He sure is. And that’s not all he’s good at, either.”

  “TMI, Sis. I really don’t want to have to kill him.”

  Joseph cut down the last of the demons in the area and surveyed the room, looking for more. His gaze met hers, and she felt his love for her spill over her, warming her soul.

  “If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, I’m ready to go,” said Eric.

  She helped him to his feet, bracing his weight. “He needs some rest, but he should recover.”

  “We’ll grab the kids and head out,” said Joseph.

  Eric nodded. “I saw two of the young go that way.” He pointed to the opening on the far side of the cavern. Then he nodded to the door nearest them. “The rest are this way.”

  “I’ll head to the west,” said Joseph. “You two start toward the exit and pick up the kids on the way out.”

  “I don’t want to separate,” said Lyka.

  Joseph glanced at Eric. “He won’t make it much farther. You have to get him out.”

  “I can go as far as I need to go,” said Eric.

  Lyka knew it was a lie. He was in bad shape—way too close to death for her to take any chances.

  She nodded at Joseph. “We’ll meet you outside.”

  “I love you,” he said, then ran off before she could recover from her shock of hearing the words aloud, much less say them back.

  “Come on, Sis,” said Eric. He stared at the motionless demon queen, looking at her with an expression of loathing and regret. “I need to get out of this fucking place.”

  They wove their way back toward the exit, passing piles of Synestryn bodies as they went. There were two more still alive, guarding the cavern where the young were being held, but Lyka made quick work of them, slamming them together so hard, their heads caved in against each other’s.

  The young rushed out, hugging the adults and crying tears of relief.

  Except for Kayla. She went to the demon bodies and began kicking them in fury. A string of filthy words poured from her mouth, but Lyka gave her a pass. After what they’d been through, the girl deserved a bit of leeway to vent her emotions.

  Got the boys. Joseph’s thoughts filtered through her head easily now. She didn’t even think about fighting him. This telepathy stuff was way too handy for her to shun it. Sending them back to you while I guard their escape.

  Through his eyes, she could see that there were still dozens of demons alive in this system of caves, and they were all gunning for Joseph. The scent of his blood was pulling them out of the shadows, but he was still going strong, holding them off with the help of the narrow tunnels to funnel them to him one or two at a time.

  Lyka turned to Eric. “The young will help you get out. Joseph found the other two boys. I’m going back for them.
”

  The kids realized that this was their chance to shine and crowded around Eric to help him stay on his feet.

  Lyka picked up the swords of the dead demons and handed them to the young. “Don’t be afraid to use these. Scream if you run into trouble. I’ll hear you.”

  To be certain she would, she amplified her hearing with the help of Joseph’s power, and set out after him.

  A few minutes later, she ran into the pair of Slayer boys. They still wore metal cuffs around their wrists and ankles, attached to broken chains. They were a little scuffed up, but basically both still in one piece.

  “Is Joseph behind you?” she asked.

  The older boy shook his head. “He had to stop before the cavern and hold them off. There were too many left for him to risk them surrounding him on all sides.”

  Lyka reached out to him, but all she got was a sense of weariness and growing concern.

  “How many were there?” she asked.

  The boys shared a frightened look with each other. “Hundreds.”

  As strong as Joseph was, as skilled as he was, and even with the advantage of the tunnels limiting his foes, there was no way he could defeat odds like those.

  You need to hurry, said Joseph. I can’t hold them off much longer.

  She opened herself up to him and, sure enough, she saw the kind of odds he faced. There were demons as far as the eye could see, their bodies pressing together, trying to force Joseph back into the giant cavern a few yards behind him.

  Lyka looked at the boys. “The exit is clear. Put your left hand on the wall and don’t take it off. Keep moving upward. Eric and the others are already on their way out.”

  “We can’t go alone,” said the younger boy.

  “Yes, you can,” she told him, giving him a little shake. “Go now. Hurry.”

  The boys took off on scrawny legs, kicking up dust behind them.

  Don’t you dare come back here, Lyka, said Joseph.

  Don’t you dare die before I get there, Theronai.

  It’s too late. I can’t hold them. Run!

  Chapter 45

  One of Joseph’s greatest fears had been that he would die behind a desk. Now he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  He’d served his people well, fought hard and found true love. It was more than most men ever got, and a life he was lucky to have led. His only regret was that he wouldn’t live long enough to let Lyka know just how much he loved her, how precious she was and how honored he was that he got to call her his, if only for a little while.

  I’m not done with you yet, she told him.

  He knew he wasn’t getting out of here alive. He’d known it from the time he’d sent those boys running while he held off the demons on their tail. There were too many Synestryn for him to defeat alone, and there was no way he was going to call Lyka for help.

  She needed to survive. His people needed her. There were so few female Theronai that every one was precious.

  She more precious than most—at least to him.

  There was no sorrow in his sacrifice. He could not think of a more noble death than defending innocents and protecting the life of his mate. It sure beat the hell out of dying of boredom in his office back at Dabyr.

  He could feel the powerful flex of Lyka’s muscles as she ran toward him. She’d shifted to her tiger form and was rushing headlong into danger.

  Don’t do this, Lyka. Please. Turn around.

  Not going to happen. If you don’t want me to die down here, then keep your ass alive. I’m almost there.

  Tell Nicholas that my death wish is for him to lead the Theronai.

  Do I look like your secretary? she asked. Tell him yourself.

  The demons were bearing down on him. One had already slipped around behind him and left a deep gash on his back.

  At least those swords weren’t poisonous. His body was still going, despite the pain of his wounds. But it wasn’t going to last much longer. It was simply a matter of numbers.

  Fatigue weighed down on him. Even using the trick of pulling power from the earth, his cells were starting to rebel. His reflexes were slowing, his muscles burning. Every slice his sword made was doing less than the last. As the sheer mass of demons pressed him, his only choice was to take a strategic step back now and then to avoid taking damage. Each step gained his enemies ground toward the cavern that was only a few feet behind him.

  And once he was in there, he was dead. No amount of fancy sword work was going to keep them from attacking him from all sides.

  Another attack shoved him back a step. He could hear the echo of steel on steel bouncing off the cavern walls behind him.

  One slippery little fucker slipped past his guard and popped up at his back. There was nothing Joseph could do to stop the impending blow—not without giving another three demons his back.

  That move would kill him for sure.

  So he braced himself for the blow, searching for a single second’s opening to turn and deal with the demon at his rear flank.

  A feral growl sounded behind him. Then a demon let out a hissing scream of pain as it died—a familiar sound now, after the dozens he’d killed so far.

  Got him, came Lyka’s satisfied tone in his head.

  He caught a flashing image of a demon’s limp body being shaken in the teeth of her tiger form before she tossed it aside.

  A flash of movement warned him a second too late that an attack was coming. His sword was already engaged with another, blocking it from reaching his flesh. He tried to avoid it by taking another step back, but it was too late. There was nowhere he could go to stop the blow.

  He felt Lyka’s alarm, felt her siphon off a huge surge of his power.

  A pale, shimmering light appeared in front of him as she erected a shield wall. The momentum from combat rocked him back on his heels. He lost his balance and fell back into the cavern opening.

  Something was wrong. His body wasn’t responding right. He looked down to see what was the matter.

  Protruding from his chest were four inches of rusted steel—the tip of one of the demon’s swords. It had been severed by the shield, which left the blunt end glowing orange where it had been sheared.

  Lyka was beside him in an instant. She looked down at him with the eyes of a tiger, but he saw fear glowing in those golden depths.

  Don’t move, she told him, panic filtering through with her words. The sword is near your heart.

  Was it? He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t feel anything but a faint flutter in his chest and a chill racing through his lifemark.

  That was probably a bad sign.

  “You need to leave,” he said. “My power won’t be available to you for much longer. Once it fades, you’ll be trapped in here with all the demons behind your shield.”

  Your power isn’t going to fade unless you die, and I won’t let that happen. Her tone was confident, but the feeling of panic scampering through her proved it a lie.

  His heart fluttered again, only this time it felt like a fist being shoved through his chest. He clamped his lips around a scream of pain and was left panting by the time it passed. “Go, kitten. Please. Before it’s too late.”

  I will, but you’re going with me.

  The feeling of rock-solid resolve coming out of her was the last thing he felt right before his heart fluttered, stuttered and then stopped.

  Chapter 46

  Joseph wasn’t breathing.

  Panic engulfed Lyka, making her shake so hard, she was kicking up dust under her paws.

  She didn’t know what to do to save his life, but she knew she had to.

  She loved him. She couldn’t let him go. Not before she at least had the chance to tell him how she felt.

  She’d been an idiot not to see it before. It had been huddled there, cowering inside her, afraid to make itself kn
own. He wasn’t her kind. He wasn’t what she’d wanted for herself.

  None of that mattered. Love didn’t care about artificial boundaries. It laughed at the plans of Slayers and Theronai alike. Love did whatever the fuck it wanted, and turned the lives of everyone it touched upside down.

  But accepting it . . . that was the sweetest feeling in the world.

  If only she’d done so sooner. If only she’d realized how she felt sooner and told Joseph, maybe something would have ended up differently. Maybe he wouldn’t be lying there with a sword sticking out of his heart and blood trickling across his flesh.

  A feeling of denial boiled up inside her, burning off everything else.

  Screw all the if onlys. Fuck all the maybes. She was going to change reality to suit her, dammit.

  Lyka pulled magic from Joseph and used it to reach inside him and squeeze his heart, forcing it to pump. Wherever there was a cut in his veins, she patched it with a tiny force field. He wouldn’t heal anywhere near as fast as Eric, but she’d find a way to keep the magic flowing for as long as it took for his body to do its job.

  She was handling a lot of different tasks, and the shield holding the demons at bay began to fizzle out under the stress.

  Before it failed, Lyka had to get Joseph out of here.

  She needed to keep him as still as possible, so she formed another thin film of power beneath him. His body hovered off the ground a few inches atop the stretcher she’d made.

  Still in her tiger form for speed, she grabbed the edge of the barrier with her teeth and shoved him forward. She moved faster and faster as she got the hang of it.

  Joseph’s power flickered as he teetered between life and death. She managed to keep the thin film of energy solid beneath him, but that was all. The wall behind her—the one holding back all the demons—fell.

  The sound of excited clicks and yelps grew louder as the demons gained on them.