There was no evidence of the burning pain I’d just endured. Not even the remnants of an ache. It almost seemed like I had imagined the whole thing until I felt the sweet taste of blood on my bottom lip. I’d bitten hard enough to break flesh and I slid my tongue along the injury.
“Are you okay?” Arrick asked, kissing my hand.
“I think so. I feel fine,” I answered breathlessly, tucking the stone back under my shirt. My father pushed his way past Arrick and surveyed my hand himself to be sure I was indeed unscathed.
Titan brushed past me, colliding with my shoulder. I opened my mouth to yell at him when I saw what was drawing his attention. It had worked. Ana had opened a portal. Then an eerie thought crept into my mind like a skittering spider. Why was it that Ana could open the portal in the first place? I’d only focused on the fact that she could do it, and not the why.
Right now I didn’t have time to ponder the mysteries of what made Ana the twisted thing that she was, and I focused on the spiraling portal in front of me.
It was about the height of an average doorway, and swirling with black smoke and wisps of dark purple energy. Almost like looking down the funnel of a tornado, except the eye of it was nothing but blackness. I stepped closer feeling the intake of air around me as the portal pulled violently. Ronon stepped up beside his father, both their expressions completely mystified, like they were staring at an alien. Ronon reached out a hand, trying to touch the twirling tendrils of smoky vapor, but I slapped him away.
“Don’t get too close. We need to do this together, remember?” He nodded.
Arrick and I both caught sight of Ana tip-toeing away and I nodded for him to grab her. He sprinted up behind her in seconds, and pulled her back to me as she thrashed at him.
“You said you’d let me go!” she roared.
“I did, and I will, but not here. You’re coming with us first, and then we’ll let you go.”
“You bitch!” she shrieked, snarling and snapping at me as she tried to leap from Arrick’s arms.
“Sorry.” I really wasn’t, but I didn’t have time to fight with her. I needed to concentrate and focus on Ronon and me creating the bond so we could travel through the portal and save Naos.
Arrick handed Ana off to one of the soldiers and followed by my side as I approached Ronon. “You ready?” I asked him, and he grunted.
I gave my Blood Mate one longing glance before I laced my fingers into Ronon’s waiting hand and guided him. I repeated the words I’d said before, only this time I focused my own energies on trying to tether to as many as I could. Of course I latched onto Arrick and my father first, then the soldier and Ana. No offense to Titan and his army, but I gave my team first priority. Plus, I wanted to make sure Ana didn’t have the chance to slip away while we were inside the portal.
With my eyes closed and my fingers wrapped around Ronon’s I almost felt like I was standing in the middle of a plasma globe. Ronon and I were the center and every time we latched onto another hybrid a bolt of energy would shoot out and connect with them.
When our globe was buzzing with activity and full to capacity I knew we’d gotten everyone. I felt electrified, drunk off the amplified power as I released Ronon’s hand. He blinked wildly for a moment like he was waking from a trance until steadying himself.
“You good?” I asked him, grasping his shoulders so I could look him in the eyes.
“Yesss,” he answered, slurring the words. “That was… amazingly strange.”
“Yeah,” I giggled, “but let’s not do it again. Okay?”
“Sounds good to me.”
He stepped away from me, and began to shake off the odd feeling that buzzed around us like a static aura. He rolled his shoulders, and craned his neck at awkward angles until it popped loudly. When he met my gaze again he had regained his rigidity.
“As you enter the portal try to clear your minds of all thoughts. You should feel the bond we created to tether ourselves to you, and I believe it is strong but I don’t want to take any chances.” The army of hybrids nodded their understanding and I continued. “Once