House of Leights (Secret Keepers #3)(40)

She sounded so devastated; I really felt for her. These were not the sort of decisions we should be making at eighteen, or ever, but here we were, in a life-or-death situation.

Three motorbikes swerved into the path a few yards ahead of us. Two of them revved up their engines and let their bikes fly forward toward our cars. At the last minute, they bailed, which left us in the path of two riderless bikes.

Vines whipped out of nowhere and slammed against the out of control bikes, knocking them off to the side. “There are too many of them,” Emma cried as more bikes appeared beside us. “No matter how many times the guys knock them down, they’re back again with the same numbers.”

As if to prove her right, something hit the car with force, sending it skidding to the side. This was followed by multiple bangs as our tires popped. We flew out of control and I let out a low gasp, planting my legs and bracing myself as the car started to flip, over and over, at least five times, finally stopping on the edge of the tree line, on its side.

I let out a groan, pressing the numb strip across my chest where the seatbelt was cutting into me. I quickly moved my arms and legs, satisfied that I wasn’t seriously injured.

“Everyone okay?” I called out. Callie, Emma, and I had been wearing seatbelts, but I was pretty sure none of the guys were. Especially not after they started using their gifts.

“I’m fine, just a few bruises,” Emma said.

“Same,” Callie added.

“I’m fine,” came from Daniel.

I held my breath, only releasing it when Chase said, “I’m fine, no injuries.”

“Lexen…?” Emma called, fear in her voice.

“Don’t worry about me, baby girl.” His reply was immediate. And he sounded perfectly fine.

A low familiar whomping sound echoed around the cabin of the car, and the moment it registered all of us scrambled to free ourselves. I tried to get the seatbelt off, which was hard because all of my weight was pressing it down, making it almost impossible to unclick.

I struggled for about eight seconds before Chase was there. He leaned in, using one arm to lift me while the other unbuckled my belt. Lexen did the same for Emma. Callie managed to free herself on her own, and she climbed forward to help Daniel with the front windshield.

As I collapsed against Chase, he wrapped his palm around my face, thumb brushing along my cheek. A sting followed its wake, and when he pulled back I saw the blood. I blinked, lifting a hand to press to the cut. “I didn’t realize I got hurt,” I said. “Is it bad?”

He shook his head. “It’s not bad, just a small scrape.” The hand still wrapped around my face tightened minutely before he gentled it again. His eyes were darker than usual, almost gray.

“Is there something else?” I asked, unsure.

He shook his head. “I just don’t like seeing you hurt. It’s testing my control. And I’m usually very good at remaining calm in crisis situations.”

A low rumble shook him, and I had a firsthand view of his gift when he spun around and pushed both of his hands forward. I sucked in deeply as the very hands that had just held me started to lengthen, shooting out as vines.

The glass shattered when the vines hit the front windshield, which I knew took a hell of a lot of force to do. Daniel kicked out the remaining glass, and then we crawled through one by one. The black-clad motorbiking assholes were surrounding us, of course, and the sound of the helicopter was extra loud now, wind whipping through the trees and grass to hit us.

“My parents?” I asked, looking around for them.

Lexen, who was maneuvering himself in front of Emma, said, “They kept going. Chila, Chase’s father, will get them to safety.”

He would have been as worried about them as I was. His baby sister had been in that car; no wonder he’d continued to stare out the back window. He’d already lost one brother to this war. No doubt he was going to do everything in his power to make sure there were no other casualties.

I was going to do the same. My family had to remain safe. I would not entertain any other options.





12





“If you send the three humans across, no one else will get hurt.” The muffled threat came from a helmeted asshole nearby. Yep, it was time for the big curse words to come out. I was pissed.

“Screw you, dickbag, I would rather eat shit and die than go anywhere with you.”

Emma snorted quietly to my right.

“I get sweary when I’m mad,” I told her back.

Heat washed down my spine; it was such a sudden burst of warmth that I immediately stepped away, afraid my butt was about to catch on fire or something. Swiveling toward it, I let out a whimpering sound. It wasn’t my butt on fire, it was Callie and Daniel. Literally … literally on freaking fire.

“That’s normal, right?” My voice was still whimpering.

Chase took a step closer to me, angling his body across mine. “They’re fine. This is their power.” He started to change then, growing larger. “You three need to get out of here before Laous arrives. He’s always two steps ahead of us, knowing exactly what powers to use to counter ours. We can’t risk him getting his hands on you.”

“It has to be the starslight stone,” Lexen added. “It’s a huge asset for him.”

“All those years I carried the necklace,” Emma groaned. “Why did I never get awesome powers? I could have saved my family. Stupid ability to never get hurt enough to bleed on it.”