Chapter 93
[ 1,449 words ]
You dare betray me
93: 93.
You dare betray me Aria
Everything happened at once.
Kane’s cry was an animalistic snarl.
Ransom attacked the two Hunters at his side.
He stabbed a blade into one’s neck, blood spraying on his face as he turned to the next hunter.
Knife jutting from Kane’s chest, he backslapped my mother.
This one attacked with a kick to the hip.
Ransom bore the brunt of it before he hit him, shattering the man’s nose.
Aldren snarled, shifting out his claws as Ransom set his sights on him.
“You dare betray me,” Kane shouted.
Mom rolled to her feet, determined and loathing, turning her eyes into ice.
Blue spikes of ice appeared in her hands, and she unleashed them.
That flash of blue, the stark reminder of my mother’s power, snapped the confusion and momentary paralysis.
Mom and Ransom?
I’m not in any position to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I don’t.
I step back and crouch forcing the two warriors holding me out of balance.
There grips didn’t let go of me for long.
I stomp on the foot in front of me earning me a cruse and a yank of my hair that wrenched my head back.
“I’d stay still if you don’t want to hurt you bitch,” the warrior snarls.
Kane crosses my vision as he jumps to the left, yanking out the knife and tossing it to the side before launching himself at Mom.
He swiped at her with unsheathed claws, and she moved with his first three strokes, but the fourth came down hard on her side.
Something crashed into us, and we toppled to the ground.
The warrior’s heavy body presses me painfully into the cement, my shoulders on fire from the awkward position.
I cry out, gritting my teeth halfway through the sound.
Then the weight is gone.
Twisting, my eyes land on the Ice spear bulging out of the head of one of the warriors.
“Hold still,” Ransom says.
There is a scrape of metal against the cuffs at my wrist, and anticipation makes my blood pound.
Ransom grunts, and I turn to see him fighting the warrior that had been dazed just moments ago.
I ignore the ache in my arms and lift to my knees.
With a cry that is half frustration, half resolution, I tackle the asshole off Ransom using the little strength I have to even the playing field.
Scrambling towards me and shoving the key into the lock.
He’s ripped from me before he can turn it.
“Fuck!” I roar.
Ransom locks in battle with the warrior, punching and kicking in a flurry of movement.
Ice flies through the air, and I turn just in time to see Aldren slamming his hand on a button, calling for reinforcements.
Kane cries out.
My mother is on top of him, using her body weight to force her claws into his throat.
Aldren attacks, shifting into his wolf mid-leap.
“Mom, watch out!” I cry, but I’m too late.
Aldren’s grey wolf sinks its teeth into her shoulder as he throws her off.
She cries out as she hits the ground.
I shuffle backwards until my shoulder makes contact with something hard.
I am so fucking tired of being weak, of having something between my wolf and me, of sitting on the sidelines and watching as they hurt the people I love.
I hold on to the anger.
Think Aria.
Think.
I look around, aware of the sound of hurrying boots getting closer.
If they get here before I can get the cuffs off, they will bind me to Kane, and they’ll kill my mother and Ransom.
A small opening between the panels is enough to give me hope.
I feel around hurriedly pressing the cuffs so I can feel where the key is pressed into the hole.
Slipping it against the wall as slowly as I can manage, I almost yell out with joy when I feel it sink into the small space.
I twist my arms at a strange angle, moving the key.
The sound of my mother’s cry distracted me.
Aldren and Kane worked together, attacking and breaking her down, but not giving her a killing blow.
I let out a bellow of fury as I twist so hard my wrist feels like it will break.
“Did you honestly think you could win against me?” Kane snarls, “That you could save her,” Kick.
“You can’t even save yourself,” Kick.
“Kane enough,” Aldren orders.
Mom’s body slumped, her body jerking as Kane landed another hard kick.
Bodies crash into my side, and my shoulder snaps from the force.
Pain flares white hot, and I know something is broken.
The warrior’s body is draped over Ransom.
Aldren looked over his shoulder at us, but quickly returned as he pulled Kade away, whispering something in his ear I couldn’t hear, pulling him away from my mother’s huddled form.
Ransom’s hands jerked up towards his chin, the movement meant to deliver maximum damage while not to drawing attention.
He covers the warrior’s mouth, blood oozing between his fingers to muffle the gurgles.
Bile rises in my throat at the sound.
The way Ransom kills is bloody, personal, like some part of him enjoys the feeling.
Silently, he pushes the warrior to the side and comes to mine.
On a ragged breath, he pushes to his knees.
“Shit, sorry.” He looks over my form.
“This is going to hurt.”
“Just fucking do it,” I hurry, knowing it will only be about thirty seconds before their reinforcements are on us.
“You’re wrong,” mom’s weak voice drags across the room.
A wrong feeling creeps in my gut, spreading cold through my veins.
It was an ice so frigid it burned, gnawed, left something gaping and waiting inside.
She lifts her head, her face a mottled mess of bruises and bumps.
Blood dribbles down her chin when she cracks a sad smile.
Blue flares in her hand, a dagger of ice molding in it.
Her eyes flick to mine, just for a moment, then they drill into Kane.
“I never meant to save myself.”
The door bangs open as my mother turns the dagger on herself fearlessly.
“No!” I scream as Ransom jerks the cuffs off me.
Kane falls with my mother.
Aldren, letting him crash to the ground, the length of his loyalty snapping along with his life.
My mother’s words ring in my ear.
They will bind you to them, and you will not get free.
A life for a life.
Intertwined.
That’s why he didn’t kill her, because it would have killed him.
That’s why she……….
The pain from moving my arm melds with the yawning ache of my mother’s sacrifice, and the sound that leaves me is a terrible, anguished cry born of regret, hatred, and unbridled fury.
Kane falls with my mother.
Aldren, letting him crash to the ground, the length of his loyalty snapping along with his life.
My strength barrels into me, my body moving without conscious effort.
I throw my hands forward, reckless, wild as my fire becomes a lash of fiery retribution.
The fire lashes across the throng of warriors, breaking into their ranks and making them fall back.
Aldren weaves behind them, making for the exit.
“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” huffs Ransom.
I drop to my knees by my mother, a cry on my lips, and tears streaking down my cheeks.
Ransom plants himself in front of me, facing off with four more warriors.
“Aria, get up,” he says, dodging a blow.
“It sucks, but we don’t have time for this.”
A warrior flips him onto his back, and he gasps for air.
Lock it down, my wolf says.
We need to survive to get vengeance.
I wrench away from my pain and force myself up as I jump into the fray, kicking that son a bitch away from Ransom, the last person I have on my side.
I’m not an idiot.
He just betrayed the hunters to help me.
Still, a part of me needs to know.
“Why the fuck are you helping me?” I say, setting the next two warriors on fire.
“Ask my cousin, she didn’t leave me much of a choice.”
I pause.“Hazel,” It isn’t a question, it’s a realization.
One that makes me sag with relief.
Which is the wrong thing to do because a sap of pain on my side, and the world tilts.
I grunt as I hit the ground and kick out, satisfied with the oaff I hear.
“Christ, keep your fucking head,” Ransom snarks, smashing his fist into a warrior’s throat.
I shift out my claws and cut at a male’s Achilles tendon.
With a scream, the warrior drops to the floor.
Another warrior drops beside me, his empty eyes looking up at the ceiling.
The remaining warrior backs up a few steps before he turns and runs.
I give chase only to watch him being torn apart by a shifted wolf.
Felix.
Fuck.
He shifts back into his human skin.
“You’re with me.”
His eyebrows raise when Ransom shows up behind me.
“We’re with you,” Ransom says.
“Oh, kay,” Felix says.
I shrug, “Long story.
He’s with us, though.”
“Alright, then let’s move our ass.”
He leads us down the hall, and we follow.
As we make our way down the corridor, a chilling howl shakes the walls, and I smile.
Liam is free.
Ronan is coming.
And Aldren is about to pay.
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