and gulps audibly.
“My power…it’s gone. Gone for good.”
“So that means when Hadley burns out our essences, the power won’t go back to us and we won’t be able to do the spell again,” Auston surmises on an exhale.
Abruptly, Brax jumps to his feet, face set into a scowl of determination.
“Then that just means we have to get to Hell’s belly in three days,” he says resolutely. “Or die trying.”
Chapter 10
Auston
“Well, what the fuck are we waiting for?” I growl, pulling Hadley to her feet. “You okay?” I whisper so no one else can hear.
She nods. “I think so. Just more shaken up, ya know?”
“Come here,” I murmur, pulling her into my chest. Her little hands wrap around my back, and I bury my face into her hair as her wings tickle my face. Her shoulders shake, and she sniffs, the sound just breaking my fucking heart. “Hey now, baby girl. It’s going to be okay.”
She looks up at me with big fucking puppy dog eyes, red from her tears, and it almost shatters my fucking heart. “How do you know?”
I shrug. “Just another awe-inspiring trait of being a Guardian. We’re unbelievably handsome, have huge fucking dicks, and can predict the future.”
A smile pulls at Hadley’s lips, making her even more beautiful. “Oh? And what do you see for us?”
My cock jerks in my pants at that, already ready for another round of my sweet girl. But before I can respond, Caius interrupts.
“I think we should get moving. The clock is ticking, and we don’t want to be far from her essence when she burns through yours.”
Hadley’s smile falters, and she drops her hands from around me, moving over to where Caius is hovering. Braxton comes up next to me and claps me on the shoulder. “Well, that was unexpected.”
“Tell me about it.” Grumbling to myself, I move over to the edge of the mountain, gazing out over the lava lake. Fuck. If I had my fucking wings, I could fly all of us across this thing. Turning back, I look at Braxton, who is talking to Karston. His wings are still fucked. There’s no way he can carry any of us. Which means…
“We have to climb,” Karston says, standing next to me. “Or more like scale it, I guess. There’s no other way out of here.”
As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right.
“I could try and fly us.” Shifting my gaze to Hadley, I can’t help but frown. There’s no way in fucking hell—no pun intended—that she could carry any of us. She can barely fly her own ass into the air.
Scowling, I cross my arms over my chest. “If I had my wings, I could do it.”
Caius groans. “You’re not going on about that shit again, are you? Get over it, Guardian. You’re grounded whether you like it or not.”
Cocksucking motherfucker…
“There has to be an easier way,” Preston chimes in, timidly looking over the mountain’s edge. “Caius, you’ve been down here long enough. Surely you know an easier route?” His voice is hopeful, but fear is etched into his face.
The smoke surrounding Caius shifts, hovering closer to us. “It’s not like I go exploring in my spare time. Mostly, I existed only in my cage, with just a tiny hole from which I can look out. I didn’t go searching through the many levels of hell with an unknown destination. There are things down here you can’t unsee, horrors that would churn your stomach, etching themselves into your retinas so you remember them for all of time.”
“Knock it off, Caius,” Hadley says, wrapping her arms around Preston. “You’re scaring him.”
“Good,” Caius responds. “He should be scared. You all should be. The whole lot of you are underestimating what’s waiting for us. And I can’t wait to see the look on your faces when Hell reveals itself and knocks you on your fucking asses.”
“Chill out, bro,” Karston says, putting his hands up. “No need to get all hostile. We’re on the same team, remember?”
Caius scoffs. “Well, you can’t just take a walk through the park like you all think. The way is difficult—full of traps, obstacles, and monsters.” He moves along the mountainside as if he’s pacing, though all we see is a wispy black cloud. “When I want to go to my body, I just latch on to myself, and I’m pulled through Hell in an instant. But we can’t move that way. However, the link still remains. I can sense the way to go, but I