Wrath, page 23
“Training.” Something dark entered Ryland’s tone—something I’d never heard before, at least not from him. “If they can’t handle fighting one nightmare, then there’s no way they’ll survive in the battle to come.”
“Then we teach them, not hurt them,” I snapped.
Fuck, calm down, Z. Fighting isn’t going to get you anywhere.
I took a deep breath, squeezed my eyelids shut, and worked to gather control of my turbulent emotions. When I was certain I could have a conversation with Ryland without losing my damn mind, I opened my eyes and took his hands in mine.
He instantly tried to pull away.
What the fuck?
“What’s going on?” I desperately wished I could see his expression. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Like what?” He tugged again, and this time, I let him go, allowing my arms to fall back to my sides. “Are you embarrassed of me or something?”
“What?” I staggered back a step as if he’d physically punched me. “How the fuck did you jump to that conclusion?”
“All I’m trying to do is train our troops—be useful—and you jump down my throat,” Ryland snapped. “Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to undergo Lilith’s trial. Because you don’t trust me.”
“What?” I stared at him in disbelief. But then, once that emotion faded, I felt mad. Really, really mad. “Is that what this is about? Are you pissed that you still haven’t completed your trial yet?”
The shadows rippling around Ryland began to dance and writhe in tandem with his agitation. “Is it because you don’t want me as a mate, Z? Is that it?”
“You’re being absolutely ridiculous!”
“Of course I am. Because it’s everyone’s fault but your own, isn’t it?” Ryland barked.
What the fuck was even happening?
“Why are you acting like this?” I demanded.
But that was the wrong thing to say.
Ryland remained still for a few seconds longer—eerily still, almost as if he was holding his breath and the world was too—before he disappeared in a swirl of darkness. One second, his shadowy form stood directly in front of me, and the next, he was…gone.
My stomach moved in riotous swirls as I stared at the spot he once stood.
What. The. Fuck?
“Z!” Mali hurried towards me, concern finding a home between her brows. “Are you okay? What the hell was that all about?”
“I don’t know,” I responded. Ryland had never talked to me like that before in his life. Fear scraped up my spine and knotted in my throat. “He wasn’t acting like himself.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Mali agreed, her frown deepening. “Are you okay? You’re looking a little—”
I turned away from her and vomited, my stomach cramping painfully.
“—green,” Mali finished lamely.
She reached for my hair and pulled it away from my face as I emptied the contents of my stomach. I was just grateful I didn’t have breakfast yet. As it was, barely anything came out.
“Are you feeling okay, dearie?” a soft voice inquired.
Jolene was an older shifter and high-ranking member of the resistance, with a face perpetually stretched into a smile and wrinkles bracketing her intelligent gray eyes. She exuded “motherly” vibes in a way I’d never seen before. Not only was she a kind woman, but she was also a healer who specialized in the care of humans. We quickly put her to work in our medical center, and she’d been a godsend ever since.
“Just a little nauseous,” I said, dismissing her concern.
There were more important things for her to focus on—like the soldiers Ryland had just destroyed with his powers.
“She had a fight with her mate,” Mali explained, continuing to smooth back my hair.
Jolene’s face twisted in sympathy. “That could do it. It’s an awful feeling to be on the outs with your soulmate.”
Once I was positive I’d thoroughly emptied my stomach of its contents, I straightened, wiping at my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?” Mali said gently, guiding me back towards my tent.
“I want to look at your vitals as well, if you don’t mind.” Jolene moved to stand on my other side.
Her dark hazel eyes, currently appearing more brown than green, glimmered with concern.
“I’m fine. I promise.” I waved away both of their worries. “I was just feeling overwhelmed.” A lump formed in my throat, making swallowing impossible. “Ryland has never acted like that before.”
“Do you think it has something to do with the trials?” Mali asked. “Is this his trial?”
“No? Maybe? I don’t know.” And that was the truth.
All of the previous trials saw us in a different world, but that didn’t mean Lilith would always do that. Devlin’s trial was proof enough that she wouldn’t hesitate to shake things up.
Could Ryland be experiencing his trial at this exact moment?
But what was it?
Mali and Jolene conversed in soft tones as I changed into my own clothes, brushed my teeth, and then braided back my blonde curls. Once I felt more like myself instead of a walking, talking zombie, I returned and perched on the side of the bed.
Jolene immediately began to fuss over me.
“Is this really necessary?” I huffed.
Mali folded her arms and smirked. “You’re the leader of the biggest resistance in history. You could get a simple scratch and have a million healers look you over, ensuring you’re okay.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue as Jolene fretted over me.
“I need to grab my supplies to do more,” she said, the crinkles around her eyes deepening with her smile. “But I wanted to ask—”
“Z!” The flap to my tent was pushed away, and a familiar human stumbled inside, blood staining the side of his head.
“Stefan?” I stared at the human resistance leader with concern.
What the fuck?
“Z, come quick!” His eyes bulged. He looked unnaturally pale, almost ashen, like someone had taken chalk to his skin.
“What’s going on?” I reached for my weapons and began to sheathe the various daggers I had on hand, along with my sword.
“We’re under attack! Aaliyah’s army… It’s here. It’s fucking here.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Z
Iran out of the tent to see absolute fucking chaos.
“How the fuck did this happen?” I asked Stefan as I grabbed my sword off my back.
Fuck, I wished I had a gun, but they were rare and hard to come by. We reserved our few guns for those who trained with them extensively.
“They killed all of our sentries. By the time anyone could sound the alarm, they were already in camp.” The human’s eyes were wide with fear.
Everywhere I looked, I saw ghouls fighting against nightmares and humans alike.
Ghouls were hideous creatures, with papery skin tugged tight over emaciated bodies. Wisps of graying hair erupted from the top of the creatures’ heads. They had glowing red eyes and serrated teeth the size of my hand.
If you got too close, they would use those teeth to rip you to shreds.
And they were here.
In camp.
Attacking my people.
Anger reverberated through me, but I knew I needed to keep a sound mind. They needed a leader, not a warrior consumed with thoughts of battle.
I turned towards Stefan, only to see that Jolene and Mali had both joined him.
“Jolene, Mali.” I nodded at the two women. “Go to the school. Make sure there are adequate defenses protecting the children. If not—”
“We’ll do what we need to do,” Mali assured me, already taking off at a run, her vampire speed allowing her to blur with the scenery.
Jolene nodded once and then hurried after her.
“Stefan, gather our forces. Take the south side. It isn’t about protecting our camp but about getting as many of us away from here as possible.”
Shock widened his eyes. “We’re abandoning our camp?”
“We don’t have a choice,” I said. “Aaliyah knows where we are. It’s not safe.”
Stefan looked as if he wanted to argue but decided against it. Without another word—and only a single longing glance in my direction that I ignored—he hurried in the direction I’d indicated.
All we could do now was fight the first wave of attackers and abandon camp before the second wave arrived.
I didn’t like running—it went against my very nature to do that—but sometimes, we didn’t have a choice. There were too many innocents here for me to feel comfortable starting an entire war. And if we sent the innocents away and left all our able-bodied warriors to fight, then they would be unprotected. However, if we sent them with our warriors, then this battle would be over in seconds, and those who stayed behind would be nothing but a sacrifice.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I wouldn’t.
The day was thick with smoke and the bitter tang of blood. Screams cut through the air, sharp and desperate, as the ghouls poured over our camp like a flood of darkness.
I didn’t have time to think, only to act. I already held my sword, its cold steel comforting in the chaos. The firelight flickered, casting twisted shadows over the tents as the creatures clawed their way through, their eyes burning with hunger.
With a roar, I charged into battle, swinging my sword at the approaching enemies with ruthless determination and single-minded focus.
A ghoul rushed at me, its red eyes burning like polished garnet stones, but I stealthily ducked out of the way and then popped up behind it. The sword caught in the fleshy part of the creature’s neck, and I watched with only a modicum of satisfaction as the head rolled in the opposite direction of its body.
There was no time to revel in the kill. More were coming—always more.
Another ghoul lunged at me, its claws slashing through the air. I sidestepped, raising my sword just in time to block its attack. It snarled, its breath foul, and I could smell the rot on its skin. I shoved it back with all my strength, hearing the sickening squelch as its body hit the dirt.
But it wasn’t enough. Another one came, then another, until they surrounded me.
I gritted my teeth and raised my sword again, my heart pounding in my chest. This was my camp, my people, and I would die before I let them fall.
Stab, cut, kill.
Stab, cut, kill.
I did this a few more times, my movements nothing but a repetitive dance, until the ground around me was cluttered with dead bodies. Only then did I allow my gaze to travel the battlefield, searching for my mates.
Everywhere I looked, a bloody battle between nightmares, humans, and ghouls raged. There must’ve been at least fifty monsters left. Maybe more. But we were pushing them back with a lethal intensity that we’d honed over the weeks. Our fighters weren’t perfect, but they could shoot, stab, and hit better than they could before we began our training.
I watched Jolene, the sweetest shifter I knew, dive at a ghoul in her tiger form. She ripped the head straight off the creature and then tossed it aside. A human, one of our soldiers, hurried by her, and Jolene—
My breath caught, my feet glued to the ground, as a cold sweat prickled my skin.
She slashed at the human with her claws, sending him tumbling to the ground, bloody gashes running across the length of his back.
“JOLENE!” I screamed, but that one word was lost in the cries and screams of battle.
What the fuck was she doing?
Why was she attacking a human?
Directly in front of me, a mermaid and incubus fought side by side, the mermaid holding a gun and the incubus wielding a wickedly sharp sword. As I watched, horrified, the mermaid grabbed the sword out of the incubus’s hand with a hissed, “My sword.” The incubus, unable to defend himself, was swarmed by half a dozen ghouls.
Fucking hell.
I raced forward and slashed at the nearest ghoul, beheading him. I stabbed my sword through the second ghoul and then kicked out at the third. My moves provided just enough distraction for the incubus to wiggle free, jump to his feet, and hurry away, hopefully to grab another weapon and rejoin the fight.
I made quick work of dispatching the remaining ghouls around me. When the last one fell at my feet, its mottled mouth opened in a silent cry, I finally turned towards the mermaid who’d started this mess to begin with. I didn’t know what I expected to see on his face—guilt, maybe, or even fear.
But all that stared back at me was pure avarice as he eyed the sword I carried.
“I want that sword,” he whispered, taking a step closer.
What the hell?
I didn’t know this mermaid’s name, but I recognized him as someone who had been a part of the resistance for years. He was kind. Loyal.
Though you never would’ve expected it from looking at him now.
His hands curled into fists at his sides. “Give me the sword!”
His words were practically a bellow.
“No can do.” Then, because I had no other options, I hit him with the pommel of the very weapon he wanted to steal. “Sorry about this,” I said as he fell unconscious.
What the fuck was going on?
Jolene attacked a human because it got too close to her. This mermaid almost got an incubus killed because he wanted his sword. They were—
Time stopped.
My heart plummeted to my feet, and icy dread ricocheted down my spine.
Aaliyah could exacerbate sins.
Amplify them.
Make it so it was all the nightmare could focus on.
Was she doing it to my soldiers?
But not everyone is under the influence, I reasoned to myself, trying to calm my pounding heart. Most of the nightmares are fighting, not giving in to their sin. They are—
Then I realized that everyone still fighting were of the sins that hadn’t completed the trials.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Shadows. Mermaids. Shifters. They still had yet to complete Lilith’s stupid trials, and they were the only ones who seemed to be affected by whatever Aaliyah was doing to them.
But did that mean…?
A flash of red out of my peripheral captured my attention. I spun, my heart racing, only to see a figure dash through the forest away from me.
Aaliyah didn’t just send an army.
She was here too.
THIRTY-SIX
KILLIAN
Iabsently scratched at one of my horns as I waited behind a tree near the back of the camp. All I could see was a huge, towering wall cutting through the ground and slicing at the sky.
Deep breaths, Kill. You got this.
I shoved my shaking hand into my pocket, mainly because I didn’t know what else to do with it. I wasn’t even on the front lines fighting, and I was scared shitless.
My job was simple. As soon as the fighting began, I would sneak through the back entrance, which was only guarded by a handful of soldiers, and guide the humans to freedom. My appearance might have been…monstrous, but I was still an incubus. One word from me could calm even the most terrified of souls. I didn’t like using my gifts, but some situations called for it.
Now all I had to do was wait.
I pressed my forehead against the nearest tree, relishing the sting of rough bark against my skin.
All I could think about was Z. I missed her constantly, but today her absence seemed especially pronounced. Maybe it was because I hadn’t yet been in a battle that didn’t have her leading it.
The only comfort was knowing I would reunite with her soon. And not only that, but I’d be able to tell her I’d freed thousands of humans. This was only one camp of many, but Lupe told me this was the biggest. If we could liberate these humans, we could do anything.
Hope left a surprisingly bitter taste in my mouth. I wouldn’t expect that from an emotion like that, but there it was. Maybe it was because hope was closely tied to failure.
Nebulous fear moved in riotous swirls in my stomach. I squeezed my eyelids shut and counted to ten.
Sounds erupted from just beyond the wall, and I instantly perked up, my eyes flying open, homing in on the door that would lead me inside. Shouts. Cries. Screams.
And there. A high-pitched whistle.
My cue.
I hurried towards the back door, my heart racing, and threw it open.
As we’d hoped, all of the guards manning this entrance had left to join the fray near the front.
The reason why this door was barely guarded became more apparent as I scanned my surroundings. It was on the opposite side of the camp from the humans, surrounded by wooden huts I believed belonged to guards.
They didn’t need defenses because the location alone was the most adequate one. Nobody would be stupid enough to plan anything here with dozens of guards resting only a few feet away. Fortunately, all of those guards were currently occupied, and I was able to venture forward with no interference.
But that didn’t stop the icy fear from trickling down my spine as I thought of all the ways this could go wrong. Very, very wrong.
I poked my head around the corner of the nearest building, finally setting eyes on the battlefield. A huge bear I knew to be Lupe threw himself at the nearest guard, clawing at his face. Bash lazily shot out bursts of green magic. Dozens and dozens of our men and women fought alongside them. The enemy forces were rapidly receding.
Yes! I resisted the urge to do a happy dance or even fist pump the air. This was working.
Now all I needed to do was find the humans and sneak them out—
Gunfire ricocheted from the side of me, and I ducked, thinking I was under attack. But no, it wasn’t me getting shot at.
It was my army.
A human soldier fell to the ground, a bullet wound in the center of her forehead.
More and more gunfire.
More and more soldiers fell.
Terror wrapped its fingers around my throat as enemy soldiers materialized from around corners, hurrying out doors, jumping off roofs—way more soldiers than we’d counted when we did recon. There must’ve been at least three hundred more than we planned for. Were they just hiding away? Or had someone tipped them off that we’d be attacking?
