other side was a thick forest and a horde of fierce animals waiting to come through. Stryx led the way, and as they poured into the center of town, the portal kept growing. More creatures than I ever imagined waltzed through the opening, and I began to let hope sink in that we could beat the dark fae.
Alaryk grabbed my arm and jerked me into his chest, forcing my head up with his other hand. “Were you playing me, darling?”
“Did you honestly believe I could love someone who would kill innocent people in an attempt to hold power over others? Everything about you repulses me. Now let me go!” I pressed both hands to his chest and shocked him hard enough to force him several paces back.
Wasting no time, I ported to the portal that was about fifty feet from us and surrounded by animals I hoped would keep me out of sight. “Stryx, what do we do? He has others here, and he’s keeping our people locked inside. Probably tortured.” My whole body shook at the thought of what the others were going through while we waited for help to arrive.
“The animals will go search for their other halves and help. Just keep an eye on Alaryk and don’t let him get his hands on you. If he takes you…” Stryx didn’t finish the sentence and he didn’t have to.
Speaking of other halves, I would have thought my parents, Jordan, and Ryland would have followed us out of the council room, but I’d yet to see them.
“I have to go find them,” I yelled to Stryx, assuming he heard my thoughts.
He swiveled his head around in the creepy and nearly three-hundred-sixty-degree way I found impossible. “They’re on the steps of the town hall, and Oliver is with them, too. They’ll be here soon. Just stay by my side. The portal magic will help to mask yours from being found by Alaryk.”
Speaking of the devil.
“Kaliah, my love. Where did you run off to? It’s time to go home,” Alaryk yelled over the stampeding animals racing by him to help my people.
Stryx finally came down from the sky and landed roughly on my shoulder. Thankfully, even though they weren’t covered, his claws were magically enhanced not to tear my skin up. Perks of the bond.
“We need to get to the others. We can’t wait for them to come to us,” Stryx said, and then did something he’d never done before.
Suddenly, my mind went blank, and when my vision returned just a couple of seconds later, my eyesight was doubled as my brain was somehow processing what Stryx was seeing and what I was at the same time. Together, we could see from every angle around us.
Then, Stryx’s thoughts began mixing with my own, and I grabbed the sides of my head as I adjusted to the changes. How is this happening? I asked without speaking.
I’m allowing you access to everything I am. Preferably, we would have practiced this, but we don’t have time for that. You have to get to the others, and they’re being targeted. So, let’s move before Alaryk finds you. I can only mask you for so long.
A dizziness rolled through me as I fought to focus on the double vision, and within a minute, I had a decent grasp on it. By then, the animals had stopped coming through the portal and we were no longer hidden by the seemingly endless stream of them.
Once Stryx closed the portal, he urged me to move toward the town hall. Screams and roars from the animals sounded from all around us while plumes of smoke rose into the air, and my heart was slowly breaking. This place wasn’t ready for a war, but it had been forced on them, nonetheless.
On your left, Stryx said. My hand shot out instinctively, grabbing the throat of my attacker.
He was about six inches taller than me, and carried about twice the weight, but I didn’t let it frighten me. “Leave before you get yourself killed,” I said with a sneer.
“We’re not leaving until our king gets his queen,” he replied with a strangled voice.
I really couldn’t fathom killing someone yet, but I couldn’t just let him go and didn’t have time for hand-to-hand combat, so I did the next best thing.
Calling on my power, I let it build higher than ever before on my own and sent a blast straight into the man’s chest. I didn’t even know if he was part fae or