Shadow Wings (The Darkest Drae Book 2)(95)

I fell to the ground, hoping to crush him, but I saw him dart from underneath even before I landed. As I heaved my body up to whirl on him, a root shot from the ground and skewered him through the heart. The Phaetyn girl raced in, hand bleeding, and swiped her hand across his grizzly wound. In the fraction of an instant, black cracks appeared on his chest, climbing up his neck as her toxic blood entered his system. He opened his mouth and vomited black blood before slumping to the ground. When I’d poisoned Jotun, his Drae side had died in seconds, and it was the same for this Druman except, with a wound to his heart, his human side had no chance of surviving.

The Druman on my back reached the base of my neck and wrapped his legs around me. With his feet locked, he punched over and over on both sides. I snarled and boomed in pain. The persistent hammering blows had me seeing red, but I couldn’t find a way to dislodge my opponent and retaliate.

Tyrrik roared in tandem, but he could not reach me. I bent my head to try and escape the Druman, and my vision snagged and halted as I caught my mate’s gaze through the chaos between us. He faced me, frozen at attention, his eyes glowing black. The Druman swarmed him, but he stood still, so distracted by my pain he was unable to fight back. Several of the Druman surrounding him managed to get a rope over his back and then another.

Tyrrik, I snarled. You will not be captured because of me. Fight!

I needed this to be over. One Druman was not going to be my undoing. Out of ideas and unable to dislodge my attacker, I rolled onto my back. My instincts screamed in protest, and I couldn’t hold back the bellow of pain as the fine bones of my wings bore the heavy weight of my reptilian body. I wriggled, still on my back with the Druman pinned, and then repeatedly banged my neck backward until I felt his grip release. I rolled back to my feet and jumped, leaping as high as I could without taking flight. I landed, coming down on the Druman’s head with the full weight of my body, and felt his skull pop beneath me.

“There are no more here,” the Phaetyn girl yelled to me.

I nodded once at her, relieved she recognized me as a friend, while panting to catch my breath. Despite all I’d been told about instincts, I was exhausted by this activity I was so unfamiliar with. How was Tyrrik doing this?

The Druman tossed another rope over Tyrrik, and I took three bounding steps in his direction before pulling up sharp at his menacing words.

If you come over here, I will never forgive you.

I’d never heard him use that tone, and the certainty of his statement rang through me. I whined low in my throat, a sound of worry and care, pleading with Tyrrik to let me help him. There were so many of them, and they were winning. I studied the tendrils of our bond, whining again as I saw the vibrant blue nearly overwhelming all traces of black. No, not black, a dull, flat gray. My mate was weakening fast, and I rose up to count; there were still dozens of Druman alive—dozens of Druman still assaulting him.

They threw another rope over Tyrrik, and several Druman on either side pulled him flat.

No! Tyrrik, no, please.

Shh, Princess. You must take the Phaetyn and get out of here. I’ll join you back at Gemond.

I wasn’t a fool. My mind raced as I tried to think of how I could help him. I could hear the doubt in his voice and feel it through our bond, and while he begged me not to go to him, I wasn’t leaving.

Please, can I come over there? I knew I could help. I could do something. I had to. Tyrrik, please. Please?

The Phaetyn girl gasped beside me as Druman crawled over Tyrrik.

My heart pounded, and a roar filled my mind. There was no more time to think. Every fraction of every second lessened the possibility of success, and I would not fail. I would not lose my mate. I would not let him sacrifice himself, not when I could save him.

And I could. I could save him.

Even knowing this would change my life—knowing in my mind, my soul, and my body that I would be bound to Tyrrik forever, that we would never be separated, that I would never be just Ryn— I happily said goodbye to the girl I’d been because somewhere along the line, I’d already accepted this moment. And I wasn’t worried. I was relieved.

Closing my eyes, the threads of our bond drifted into focus. So little black, the plainness of my blue threads was heartbreaking. I wanted the contrast of his onyx black wrapped with the blue of my Drae energy. The beauty of our bond was in the contrast and compliment of colors, and I wanted his strength, chivalry, and support in my life. I wanted his wisdom to balance my naivety, his humor to lift me from sadness, his soberness to ground me, and his strength to protect me.

The blue tendrils still held us together, and I understood then they also served as channels. He’d shown me how to pull my energy away from him when we were flying to Zivost, how to lock it deep within my core and block him with mental barricades. I imagined the fortifications I’d constructed, the tall and thick walls of stone meant to keep us separate—and I dropped them, crumbling them to dust to forever disappear in the darkness. I instantly felt the change. Nothing remained between Tyrrik and me.

Princess.

His pain tore at me, and I wanted to tear the world apart for his suffering. I’m coming.

I could not do otherwise; it would be against everything I was, betraying my very existence, to not aid him. But, more than that, I did not want to do otherwise.

Tyrrik was mine. Mine alone. He was mine forever.

With a roar, I pushed my energy through the blue channels, willing them to thicken, to expand, to burn brighter as I fed him with the strength of my Drae. My Phaetyn powers had prepared me in part for this, but I didn’t merely wish to increase his energy or heal him. I thought of the risks Tyrrik had taken as Ty and Tyr to make sure I was fed, his generosity and patience. I imagined his hands scooping nectar over my body in the cave after turning Drae, and I gathered the power of those moments inside the center of my body where the most vibrant blue resided just underneath my ribs. I pulled and scraped armfuls of that force and heaved it out through the now thick bonds, and I did it over and over again.