Acknowledgment floods her eyes, and she’s off me in a nanosecond.
“No!” I scream, jumping up in time to watch her send a fireball at Jensen.
His wide, shocked eyes are the last thing I see before the fiery bullet hits him in the chest. His gaze never wavers from mine as he falls backward, and it plays out in slow-mo until he’s flat on his back on the floor and unmoving.
My agonized scream resounds around the room, bouncing off the walls, and something breaks inside me.
First Dane. Then the guys. And now Jensen.
She will not live to see another day.
The red layer behind my eyes burns hot like the heat of a thousand suns. I don’t realize I’m floating off the ground until I see fear in her eyes. Concentrated power zips through my body, infusing every cell, every nook and cranny of my being. Darkness slithers between the fire, whispering and coaxing.
Throwing my head back, I roar, and a stream of black smoke pours from my mouth.
I’m jittery in my own body. A strange combination of feeling in control and feeling like I don’t know myself anymore. But there’s no mistaking the sense of righteousness I feel. No mistaking what I intend to do. What I need to do.
I float toward Alandra. Shock splays across her face, and, for the first time, I see fear. Real fear. She stumbles as she tries to back up. In the background, I can vaguely hear her father shouting. I sense the incoming bullets, but they bounce off some invisible shield protecting me. I continue floating toward the girl who still believes she can flee this fate.
When I speak, I don’t recognize my own voice. The intonation is deeper, darker, and hauntingly eerie. “You’re really going to wish you hadn’t done that.”
CHAPTER 30
“Alinthia, no!” Glennev appeals to me through my mind. “Not like this. Don’t give in to it. You will only give it power.”
“Stay out of this.”
“You are better than this. You don’t know what this will set in motion.”
I throw my shields up, blocking him out.
Arantu is screaming at Alandra, but all I can see is her. Like she’s glowing under a spotlight, all lit up and waiting for me, like a twisted form of reward for good behavior. With a flick of my hand, I raise her up into the air until she’s directly across from me. She’s trying to fight it, but her body won’t cooperate. She’s suspended in the air, her limbs frozen under my sole command.
Pure, unadulterated terror radiates from her eyes, and I feel a sick sense of satisfaction.
I’m conscious of stuff going down below me, but I purposely ignore it.
“This is for Dane,” I say in that haunting, echo-like voice that doesn’t sound like mine, as I throw the first fireball deliberately at her shoulder.
She cries out in pain, and I can actually see the fire moving through her body, lighting up her veins, one at a time. Flames burn the skin at her shoulder, and she screams, tears rolling down her face.
I tilt my head to the side. “This is for tricking Cooper.” I toss a fireball at her other shoulder, feeling nothing when she screams again.
“This is for torturing Maddox and Beck.” I send the fire to her left knee this time. Agony is written all over her face, but she still can’t move, trapped in a hell of her own making.
“And this is for Jensen.” I firebomb her other knee, watching as the fire invades every inch of her body, knitting and joining, winding like small snakes swarming all over her.
“This is for all the pain you’ve put me through.” I drill her with a look of pure hatred. “And for all the pain and suffering you will no longer be able to inflict.” I fly right up to her, putting my face into hers. She’s whimpering and sobbing, and pain shimmers at the back of her eyes. “I hope you are chained to the fiery pits of hell and that all your sins come back to haunt you. That you are tortured in the many ways you have tortured others.”
I float backward, putting space between us. Somewhere in my subconsciousness, I understand the danger. “Get to the back of the room,” I project to my guys. “Get everyone back there now.”
None of them responds, but they don’t need to. I feel the agreement through the bond. I feel all their emotions. The sense of relief. The pride and awe. The horror and concern.
The snake curls up my arms, infecting my mind, whispering and chanting. Sublime power licks at my insides, and I moan at the heady feeling of complete and utter control. The power is so intense, embedded so deep, I feel invincible.
When I open my eyes, the usual red coating has transformed to black. I feel nothing but an overwhelming thirst for revenge. I stare into Alandra’s eyes as a primitive roar rips from my very soul. I pour everything negative into it. Every ounce of hatred and poison in my heart for her.
A reddish-white light erupts from my chest, thrusting forward and shooting into her body. My limbs tremble as the power leaves me, plunging into her with gleeful delight. The room vibrates, the walls quaking, the ceiling rattling. Screams and shouts mix with racing footsteps below me.
The stream continues, pouring from my chest into hers. The network of veins on her face darken, her skin turning ashen, her eyes turning blood red, and then she explodes right in front of my eyes. Her body literally bursts into a million little pieces while this dark power continues to gush from my body, slamming into the walls now, seeking another outlet.
Debris drops from the ceiling into the room below, as I struggle to regain control of myself.
“Alinthia.” Coop calls out to me, his voice tender and troubled. “Come back to us, Alinthia. You don’t need to do this anymore.”
His soft words break through the dark barrier, and it’s like a switch being flipped. The dark haze over my eyes and my mind extinguishes, and my limbs turn to Jell-O. Then I’m falling, plummeting to the ground as my eyes shutter and I lose my hold on consciousness.
When I awaken, I’m bundled against a warm chest, my body jolting as he runs. I inhale deeply, recognizing his scent. “Maddox?” I croak, forcing my eyes to open.
“Hey, princess.” He looks down at me with relief. “You had us worried back there.”
“Where are we? What’s happening.”
The floor moves underneath us, and dust clouds mushroom into existence as massive chunks of the ceiling drop onto the ground in front of us. Maddox expertly darts around each and every one. People are fleeing in all directions, screaming and shouting with each sway of the building, each dark cloud that hampers visibility. “We’re getting out of here before the castle crumbles.”
“The guys did this? When they blew up the server?”
He pauses for an infinitesimal moment, but I don’t miss it or the meaning behind it. “It doesn’t matter how this happened. All that matters is no one is paying us a bit of notice right now and the shield is down.” He presses a fierce kiss to my temple. “We’re finally getting the fuck out of this hellhole.”
“Let me down. I’ll be faster running.”
“Not a hope in hell, Princess,” he says, holding me closer to his filthy, naked chest. “You are all out of juice.” My limbs ache at his words as if they heard him, confirming his assumption. Every bone in my body is sore. My back aches. Twinges of pain filter up and down my arms, and my head throbs like a bitch.
“Where are the others?”
“They’re just ahead of us. They went with those guys you brought to find a ship we can use.”
“What about the men who were captured? Has someone gone to free them?”
A pained look stretches across his face. “There isn’t time, babe. If we go after them, we risk everyone else.”
I hang my head in shame. It’s my fault they’re here. My fault they won’t get out alive.
“They chose to follow you. To come here and support you. They knew the risks,” Maddox adds, knowing me well enough to fathom the thoughts going through my mind.
I know what he says is true, but it does little to appease my guilt.
“What about Arantu?�
�� I ask. “Where’d he go?”
“His royal guards herded him out of the Chamber. He was devastated, but he also looked scared.” He shakes his head, an awestruck smile gracing his lips. “I think you fucking terrified him, babe.”
I shoot him a feeble smile, caging my fuddled feelings before they get fed through the bond.
Arantu wasn’t, isn’t, the only one terrified.
“What about Kylie and Tav and …” My words peter out as I remember Jensen. Tears roll down my face as the scene replays in my mind.
“I’m so sorry, Alinthia. And I don’t know about the others. I’m sorry.”
“Kylie, Tav, and Ellya are safe,” Coop says into my mind. “They are hiding in the hatch under the hangar.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I just heard Kylie talking.”
“Wait! Your gifts are back?”
“Appear to be. Dane reckons whatever server was destroyed removed the block on our gifts, even if it didn’t solve the teleporting issue. No one is able to do that still.”
“We need to get those chips removed ASAP.”
“I know. But let’s focus on getting off this fucking planet first.”
“You won’t hear any argument from me.”
“Dane has been scouting the hangar. It’s mayhem there, but he’s located a transporter we can use. We’re only about three minutes away. We’ll secure it, get the others onboard, and have it ready by the time you arrive.”
Coop was right. It’s complete and utter chaos in the hangar as people race for their lives. The palace continues to shake and shudder, and a deep vibration rumbles from someplace underground. Screams pierce the air when an ear-shattering, keening sound reverberates around the room and the floor bucks, tossing people up into the air. Maddox stumbles, struggling to maintain his balance, and we go down. He keeps me curled into his front, flipping around so his back takes the impact of the fall. “Are you okay?”
He groans. “Damn, that hurt.” I try to lift off his lap, but he’s having none of it. “Sit still, Princess. I’m fine. Just let me straighten up.”
“Over here,” Beck confirms, projecting an image of a large transporter into our minds.
Maddox invokes superspeed, jumping over obstacles in our path, as he makes a beeline for the transporter. Dane is waiting on the ramp, and he takes me from Maddox’s arms, ushering us inside. He presses a button on the side of the door and the ramp starts retracting, the cover closing.
I circle my arms around his neck, welcoming the opportunity to be close to him. His face is a mask of indifference, his emotions on lockdown, but he holds me tight, carrying me as if I’m precious cargo, to the main cabin area.
I do a quick headcount as Dane sets my feet on the ground. Our numbers have dwindled considerably, and every guard has an injury of some sorts. Guilt jumps up and slaps me full force in the face, and I can’t help feeling selfish. Then my eyes fall to Jensen’s prone body on the floor, and I’m moving across the cabin before I’ve even realized it.
A deathly hush descends over the room as I sink to my knees beside a sobbing Kylie. I reach over Jensen and hold her hand, all tension and conflict forgotten in the moment. Tears cascade down my face as I look at my best friend and the guy I once saw as my forever love. That he should lose his life in such a cruel way is heartbreaking. Although, knowing Jensen, he would be okay with dying like this because he was trying to protect me.
“I should never have let him go after you,” Kylie sobs. “I knew it was dangerous, but he was insistent, and you know how damned stubborn he could be.”
“I doubt there is anything you could’ve said to stop him, Kylie. I should have chained him to the ship.”
“The outcome would’ve been the same.” She lifts her swollen eyes to mine. “We barely got off the ship before Arantu’s guards discovered us. They … they killed the two men protecting us and the three advisors. They didn’t even give them a chance.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“If it wasn’t for Ellya’s quick thinking, we’d all be dead too.” She sniffles.
“Ellya used her ability to create a hole in the floor,” Tav tells me. “Your friend is right. We owe our lives to her.”
“Except it turned out to be futile in Jensen’s case.” Kylie sobs.
Silence descends, and I look down at Jensen again. How the hell will I explain this to his parents? To his sister? To my mom? Jensen was like a son to my parents, and she’ll be upset over this.
The transporter lurches off the ground, and we’re on the move. Most of the men buckle into their seats, but I’m not leaving Jensen on the ground on his own. Dane, Beck, Coop, and Maddox are all silently watching from their standing position by the wall, and I know they are refusing to move in support of me.
My heart thuds in grateful relief that they are here and whole, and I’m instantly waylaid by a new pang of guilt.
“This isn’t your fault, Alinthia.” Beck sends me an empathetic look as he talks in my mind.
I want to tell him he’s wrong. That it’s all my fault, but I can’t summon the energy right now.
I’m too numb.
I still can’t believe this, half-expecting Jensen to jump up and shout boo!
With my free hand, I palm Jensen’s still-warm face, silently telling him how sorry I am for failing him. For not stopping her in time. His sweater is singed in the middle, in the place where Alandra firebombed him, but there are no other obvious markings anywhere on his face or torso. It’s as if he’s just sleeping. His skin still looks flushed, and, out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement in his neck. It’s fleeting and I’m not sure if I’m imagining it or if it’s wishful thinking, but I move my fingers to the pulse in his neck, falling back on my butt at the evidence of his weak pulse.
“Beck!” I shout. “He’s still alive! Find a medical kit.”
“Alinthia. He couldn’t be.” Coop is sympathetic as he draws near. “No human could withstand that firepower.”
“Here. Feel his pulse for yourself.” I take his fingers and press it to Jensen’s neck.
“Holy shit.” His eyes spark with grateful relief, and I could kiss the shit out of him right now. Coop and Jensen have never been anything even close to friends, but his evident happiness at the fact he’s alive is unmistakable, proving how good his heart is. He may not like Jensen, but he doesn’t wish him harm.
A low groan slips out of Jensen’s mouth as Beck and Dane search the overhead cupboards for a medical kit. The ship has left the hangar now; it’s picking up speed, and the guys have to clutch onto the wall to steady themselves.
Maddox, Coop, Tav, and Ellya are all standing, clutching an overhead handrail and watching as Jensen turns on his side, coughing and spluttering. I run my hand up and down his back. “Jensen?”
His eyes flutter open, and he sends me a lopsided smile. “Hey, Tor.”
I burst out crying the same time Kylie does, and then we’re hugging him, and I close my eyes, offering up prayers of gratitude.
“Can you sit up, Jensen?” Beck asks, hovering over us.
“I might be able to if these two koalas stop clinging to me,” he jokes.
Kylie sniffles, and I swipe under my eyes as we sit back, letting him breathe. “Shut it. We know you secretly love it.”
Beck slides his arm under Jensen’s back, helping him sit up. The ship rattles from side to side as it accelerates, leaving the Imperial City behind. Beck presses a silver patch to Jensen’s temple, reading his vitals on a little tablet. “Everything looks good,” Beck says, looking as perplexed as I feel. “But you should still see a human doctor when you return home,” he suggests.
Jensen is grinning like he holds all the answers to the universe.
“Jensen, what’s going on? How did you …” I can’t even put the thought into words.
He looks down at his torso, grinning as he prods his stomach with his fingers. “I freaking knew it would work!”
My
brows climb to my hairline as Jensen rips the remnants of his sweater off, revealing a metallic black vest-type shirt.
“What is that?” I ask, leaning in to inspect it closer. I run my fingers across the material and it’s hard even though it looks soft.
“It’s an alienized version of a bulletproof vest,” Jensen proudly proclaims, beaming at me.
“A what the what?” I blurt.
“I invented it.” I just stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “And it fucking works, Tori! I finally invented something useful that works!”
“Dude,” Daniel says, shouting from his seat. “You are gonna make a killing with that. Patent it the minute you get home.” He glances at Donovan sitting beside him. “And this guy has the perfect customer to introduce you to.”
Donovan slaps the back of his head, muttering curses under his breath.
This time, I burst out laughing, and I laugh so hard my stomach hurts and tears leak out of the corners of my eyes. “Oh my God, Jensen, you fucking genius!” I palm his cheeks and press a brief kiss to his forehead. “This almost makes me forgive you for deliberately disobeying me and risking your own life.”
He gives me a cheeky wink.
“I said almost,” I deadpan, climbing to my feet. I press my mouth to his ear. “I’m so glad you’re okay, but we’ll be having words when we land.”
But right now, I need to go to my guys.
The urge to envelop them in my arms can’t wait any longer.
I grab Dane and Beck by the hand and pull them toward the wall where Maddox and Coop are waiting.
“Group hug. All of us. Now.” My tone brokers no argument.
Coop circles one arm around me and one around a grinning Maddox. I pull Beck into my other side, slinging my arm around his shoulder as Dane does the same with Maddox. We move our heads into the center of the circle, pressing our foreheads together.
The bond is going haywire, ecstatic to be reunited at long last.
The Warrior Princess: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Alinthia Book 3) Page 23