Chapter 13

Kit

Ettienne is already halfway down to the arena, with me just far enough behind him that he can't snatch me, when Darren, Rand and Broker catch up with me. Clearly, whoever was guarding them is now preoccupied with other matters. The whole place is in chaos. Not only are Ettienne's guards storming the arena, but so are many of the spectators since the bottle of the coveted elixir fell onto the sand for anyone's taking once the shield disappeared. I guess it wasn't held suspended by the priests, but just laying atop the invisible shield. Those who aren't rushing into the fray are on their feet, vying for a better view.

"Safe to say the trial arena is no longer sacred ground," says Rand.

Darren grabs my arm. I know what he intends to say and spare him the effort. "They are my mates. I left them once. I am not doing it again."

"I can't let you go down there."

I wheel on him, my scales flaring. "You swore to me as your queen. Does your oath only extend to orders you like?"

Darren's own scales flare in reply. Leesandra is down there and he is vibrating with the need to get down to her, but he stands his ground. "What do you imagine you'll do down there?"

"I can fight."

He raises a brow.

My hands curl. We don't have time for this. "I don't know what I'm going to do, alright ? But they are stronger when I'm close. When the five of us are together. I can feel it in my bond. My mates deserve every extra drop of strength I can offer."

Darren swears, but releases his hold on me and tosses me one of his weapons. "Don't die. Please."

"I won't," I promise as I rush down the steps. "Lee is holding my pack back. Take her off their hands. That's also an order."

A short growl is the only answer I get. Darren knows he is being manipulated, but we both know his heart will not let him ignore the instruction either. Plus there is little time to argue.

We shove the rest of the way through the crowds into the fray. I've never been in a full scale melee before and it's utter pandemonium. Bodies shoving, people screaming, weapons flying, blood splattering. Growls and snarls and yowls of pain come from all directions. I don't know how all these people know where they are even going. Maybe they don't. Not now that we are all here, the heat of the arena pounding down on us, they are as disoriented as I am.

I follow the pull of my mating bond, elbowing my way through the crowd. Now that I'm closer to the pack, its pull is stronger still, as if the bond itself is sensing the danger and is ready to turn heaven and earth to bring us together.

Wildcat!

Tavias's mind voice sounds in my head. I can't see my mate, but I know that he is close. That he is fighting his way toward me.

A clap like thunder fills the space and the labyrinth of mirrors explodes violently. Shards of glass spear the air, some flying straight to lance everyone in their path, others arching up to strike from above. Not a natural pattern for flying glass. But nothing here is natural.

I feel a sharp sting in my side, there for a moment then gone as Tavias's mind call grips me again. Then there is an arm around me, and I know it's him before I even see the male. Hauck and Cyril are next to him, Quinton covering the rear guard. They are all bleeding, but all alive. Here. Unlike the rest of the crowd, my males move as a unit, leaving enough space between them to allow for a swing of a weapon or change of direction. Now, Tavias propels me into the center. Amidst the sea of shifting bodies, I vaguely see a glimpse of red hair and familiar large males. Lee's pack, fighting for her.

"The battle plan's changed," Tavias says matter of factly, as if we weren't in the middle of a growing riot. "A little heads up would have helped."

The last is directed toward Quinton, who beheads a male coming at us without breaking stride. "How exactly?"

"Less talking more beheading," Hauck suggests, running his sword through another attacker. I recognize him as one of Geoffrey's cronies. Despite Hauck's steady voice, I know he isn't nearly as well off as he seems. The mating bond is pulsing with his wounds and exhaustion. With all their wounds and exhaustion. Still, not one of them falters as Tavias orders the pack to make for the southwest gate.

Another explosion rocks the world around me, this one sending a torrent of sand into the air. I'm ripped away from my males and thrown to my knees. Grains of sand scrape my eyes. I shield my face with my hands, only to be swept down again as a second explosion opens a sandy chasm not ten paces away.

Through my blurry vision I see the hooded priests of Orion stepping in pairs onto the bleachers above, their hands moving in unison as they paint symbols in the air. They've regrouped for a counter offensive.

I hear a gong.

Then the world tilts. Literally tilts, a portion of the arena rising up at an angle. Stones rise from beneath the ground and rain down on the crowd.

Kitterny!

"I have her." That's Ettienne's voice and Ettienne's scent. An iron grip plucks me from the ground and throws me toward Tavais as the ground beneath us continues to shake violently. An earthquake. Or the priests' version of it. "Get to the tunnels."

I'm half dragged, half carried toward an archway at the side of the arena, then tossed through the opening into a darkened passage. The males follow, pushing me farther in. The ground continues shaking, the walls trembling all around us. I scream as stones start falling from the ceiling. Behind me, whole pieces of the wall are cracking. Collapsing.

In the midst of the darkened chaos of explosions and collapsing walls, a phantom ill-timed song starts up quietly in the back of my mind.

In the heart of the ancient skies,

Where stars shimmer and fire flies,

Lay a dragon, wings spread wide,

Whispering secrets of the tide.

"Move, move, move." Tavias bellows, urging me forward, deeper and deeper. "They are burying the whole arena. Move."

I do as Tavias orders, his voice filling my existence, the sole lifeline in the mayhem around me. He shouts for me to sprint and I do, barely escaping an avalanche of stone that piles higher and higher in the passage. I don't stop until I'm in total darkness and realize that Tavias's voice was never in my ears, but only in my mind. That he'd been covering me from the back.

That he isn't here along with me.

"Tavias?" I shout. My voice reverberates off the rocks.

Tavias. Tavias. The stone answers.

"Tavias! Cyril! Hauck!" I bellow my mates names.

This time, my answer comes in a shower of stones. And this time, I have nowhere to go.