The Curse (Belador #3)(77)

No time to worry about that human woman seeing anything. Evalle tossed a kinetic blast at the demon Svart, knocking him back a couple steps. Swinging halfway around, she threw a blast at the second Svart coming at her, satisfied when he skidded twenty feet on his backside.

That was more like it.

Three massive fingers clamped around her throat and lifted her off the ground by her neck. How had the first one moved that quickly? She kicked her boots wildly but the Svart’s long arm held her deadly blades away from him. He walked forward, squeezing the breath out of her.

She swung her arms, backhanding him with her kinetics, but he blocked her hits. That shouldn’t be possible.

Stars danced in her vision. Her head felt as though blood would explode out the top any minute. Her neck muscles compressed until she couldn’t breathe.

She called up her dagger kinetically to her hand, gripped it and swung over her shoulder, stabbing his forearm. He howled. His fingers released her neck.

She sucked hard. Air barely squeezed through.

Had he crushed her windpipe?

Now would be a good time for Isak’s weapon if she hadn’t dropped it off with Trey and the VIPER team.

Holding her throat, she stumbled back away from the troll. He yanked her dagger out of his arm and flung it at her.

She tried to push up a kinetic field to block the hit, but was a second too slow.

The blade struck her deep in the shoulder. She opened her mouth but the scream of pain stayed in her head.

Glass exploded close by.

She stumbled from the hit of the dagger, falling back in slow motion, and landed on the sidewalk.

An enraged black jaguar roared, charging the troll.

No, Storm. He’ll kill you. But she couldn’t even whisper the words. She clutched her throat and begged for air.

The troll met Storm halfway, lifting arms to slash his sharp claws through the jaguar’s gleaming black coat.

Storm dodged at the last moment, his jaguar form whipping around the back of the troll before the giant could turn. The jaguar leaped up and sank sharp teeth into the troll’s neck, ripping apart skin, muscle and bone. The troll’s head flopped forward with his mouth open in a scream and eyes bulging. The jaguar snarled and ripped the head entirely off, slinging it away and jumping off as the troll went down.

The second troll grabbed Evalle by her arms and started dragging her away. His claws dug into her forearms, ripping flesh open.

New pain slashed through her shoulder. She cried out in her head, unable to gasp for air.

Dark folded in on her. The sound of rage roared past her, then her arms were free as a hideous scream ended in silence.

Someone shouted her name. She wanted to sink into sleep, get away from the agonizing pain stabbing her everywhere. She couldn’t get air, suffocating.

“Evalle, open your eyes. Open. Your. Eyes.”

She blinked twice, looking up at Storm. He had her in his arms, running with her.

Every bounce sent agony racing through her body. Felt as though a fist squeezed her lungs. She ached with the need to draw a breath. Strangling for air, she reached up with her good arm and gripped his neck. Blinding white pain flashed behind her eyes.

“Stay with me,” he ordered, pausing long enough to kick a door open. He walked into a room and lowered her gently onto something soft, a sofa, then knelt next to her.

She grabbed her throat, shaking with the need to breathe. Tears streamed down her face from the pain.

He took her hand away from her throat and held it in his. “Draw on your Alterant like Tristan taught you.”

What? She couldn’t think.

He must have read the word on her lips. “Listen to me. Call up your Alterant. Heal your throat now. You’re turning blue!”

She gripped his hand and turned her energy inward, calling the beast. But she couldn’t shift or the Tribunal …

If she died, would it matter?

Exhaustion pulled at her, offering her sleep if she’d just close her eyes.

“Come on, Evalle, you can do this!” Storm yelled at her, pushing her past the agony. “I won’t let you die.” He started chanting words she didn’t know in a strange voice.

She fought through her panic and tried again to draw on her beast. Cartilage along her forearms popped up, breaking through the skin.

Storm kept chanting and the air around her swirled with strange faces. Native faces. Phantom hands touched her face and arms.

Evalle gritted her teeth and tightened all her muscles, eyes tearing at the pain in her shoulder and throat …

Her beast clawed inside her, threatening to break free, but she held her control and channeled the beast’s power to her throat. Her airway began to expand.

Then she finally drew a breath, gasped, and drew another.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Don’t stop.” Storm’s hoarse voice sounded ragged with worry.

She kept wheezing with gasps of air. Her chest ached, but no longer as much as her shoulder. She looked to the right where her dagger had plunged deep inside her, cutting bone and slicing muscle. That had been the point in having a dagger that worked on nonhumans, but she hadn’t considered the damage it might one day do to her.

Storm stroked her damp brow. “Ready to fix your shoulder?”

She fought down nausea at the idea of his pulling that dagger out.

He put his fingers on the handle. “Look at me, sweetheart.”