Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,93
too fast, her presence within him beginning to crumble and wither. As he followed the glimmering threads, the snowy blues of her magic writhed and cavorted in an endless dance that grew more frantic the weaker Aida herself became. Pouring his heat and power into her, he grabbed hold of the jagged core of her energy and wrenched it under his command.
As before in the village, her power did not care for his forceful manipulation. It seethed and thrashed, scalding through his veins as he once again fell to his knees. Half aware of Kal’s body and the innate power of the Phylix surrounding them in a living shield, protecting Er’it and Aida from the violent wail of magic tearing apart the forest, Er’it changed tact. Force had never worked on his sweet Aida, never the way he’d intended at any rate. Cradling the magnificent power much as he did her body, he crooned over his little Omega and begged her to come back to him.
His pride fell to ash, the arrogance of his ego dust as he murmured the pleading words against her slack lips. Er’it begged with his heart in a raw ruin within the softness of her palms, his soul hers to do with as she wished if she would but open her eyes. He would not let her go, not now, not ever.
She was his and always had been. He had to get her to the temple, to set her upon the dais he somehow knew remained untouched within its walls.
Thunder rumbled through a sky shaded in soot and ash. Shouting against her pallid cheek, Er’it grabbed hold of Kal with one hand, dragging them up the Phylix’s body until he could scramble onto Kal’s back. Er’it’s roar was a broken, shattered thing as Aida hung listless in his arms, a broken doll that would not come back to life no matter how much of his power he forced her to take in. Faltering as his head grew fuzzy, his sight wavering to blur the colliding landscape into smears of colors, Er’it set his knees to Kal’s sides.
Vicious crimson lightning tore apart the midnight darkness of the sky. Sizzling arcs of white-hot blue answered in kind. Kal’s hooves drummed against the earth, carrying them in a blinding run through the ever-changing forest. As they dodged full-grown trees, reaching shrubs, and tangling vines, there were too many near misses to count. Kal screamed as his hind leg became snared in a twisted clump of greenery, but before his great weight could plummet to the ground, an electric blue charge struck the earth. Burning through the lush vegetation, the rush of power buffeted them upright, even lifting Kal from his feet as it set them back upon the path.
Kal’s trumpeting became lost in the shuddering booms of thunder, the moments of quiet scarce more than a heartbeat as they lurched back into a mad dash. The ruins of a castle loomed, its crumbling stone façade appearing from thin air. Surrounding it were shambles of bones, piles of them surrounded by blackened slime and moss. Er’it grew fainter with every long stride Kal took, yet his hold upon Aida never wavered, not even as the Phylix stormed through the shattered doors of the single intact structure.
Blinding white light erupted from the domed ceiling. Casting noonday shadows, it shone brightest upon the polished gray stone of the altar. More than just intact, the dais hummed with energy. Groaning as he tumbled down Kal’s heaving side, Er’it managed to twist at the last moment to protect Aida from the cruel stone the back of his head cracked open upon. His blood hissed as it met the utter smoothness of the bricks, and Er’it shook his head to clear it, unable to see beyond the brilliant glare.
His curses were a weak roar while he climbed to his knees and dragged them toward the dais. Every nick and abrasion sizzled with the sound of water on a hot iron as his blood seeped out to stain the pale grey. Cutting his hands and arms upon the stone’s jagged edges, he pulled himself to his feet as trails of wispy smoke tickled his nose with the scent of burnt cedar. Pulling Aida onto the gleaming surface took all of his strength and more, his shattered cry as the last of his power scraped his soul raw following him down as he collapsed beside her.
“Wake, Aida,” he hissed on a faltering breath, his hand too