sink into instead of metal to be denied by. There was a time where I would have appreciated this guard’s skill, his technique and finesse, but as I spin and dodge and strike, I don’t care how good he is, I need him to die and get the fuck out of my way.
I’m lucky that the fighting has compressed everyone together, because it forces the lamia to move somewhat slower than I’ve experienced in previous fights. There’s not enough space to be flashing around, and it’s something that’s absolutely saving my ass as I go head-to-head with the last of the guards standing in my way. I aim low, but my slash is blocked. I twist and cut up with my blade and just manage to nick under the guard’s arm as he raises his katana to slash down at me. The feel of my blade meeting its mark energizes me, and I start driving even harder against him, raining blows down and focusing them on the side I just injured.
A wolf trying to gain the upper hand in a different fight skids into us. The guard moves to slash at the shifter, clearly not realizing that he just made a fatal mistake taking his focus off of me. I have his head off three seconds later and a clear path to Adriel.
25
My name rings out behind me, but it’s not panicked, and there’s no hint of warning in it. I don’t know who it is, but they can wait. I refuse to let Adriel out of my sight again. He has a sword in his hands, and he lashes out against a wolf who is attacking another one of his guards. The wolf yelps in pain, but it’s quickly silenced when Adriel delivers a killing blow.
I step toward him, when suddenly pain flashes down my back. A stinging sensation starts in my shoulder and angles in toward my spine. I hiss and spin, my sword ready to deal with the claw-happy motherfucker behind me, but I’m instantly confused by what I find. Lachlan has his back to me. He’s facing off with the guard that I slashed behind the knees, and he has the tip of the guard’s blade sticking out of the middle of his back. Lachlan looks like he’s holding onto the sword as the guard tries to pull the blade free. I quickly pivot around Lachlan, and with one strike, the guard’s head tumbles off and his body collapses to the ground where it breaks down into a gray cloud.
I stare at Lachlan for a moment and try to make sense of what just happened. He looks down at the twelve inches of blade and handle that are sticking out of his chest, and then his emerald-green eyes meet mine. A look of relief washes over his face, and I struggle to catch him as he falls forward and his legs give out on him.
“I tried to stop him,” Lachlan tells me as we both fall to our knees. “My magic…it’s…weak, but I had to stop him.” His words float around my head as we kneel knee to knee in front of each other. Lachlan’s bleeding badly, and I’m not sure where to touch him that won’t hurt. I trace the source of the blood, and shock fills me when I realize that he wasn’t stabbed through the chest like I was thinking. He has a wound that starts at the top of his shoulder and slices down to where the sword is sticking out from now.
Holy fuck, did Lachlan just save my life?
Lachlan reaches up and pulls on the handle of the sword. It makes a weird sucking noise, and it snaps me out of my surprised stupor and into action. I drop my katana and rip at the bottom of my tattered sweater. I ball up as much of it as I can and press it into Lachlan’s shoulder. He tries to pull more of the sword out of him, and I slap his hand away.
“Stop doing that; don’t pull it out until I can get someone here who can heal it.” Flashes of me trying to heal Keegan hammer through my thoughts, and I scream out for Ryker. He was near me before, but I have no idea where he is now. Blood soaks through my sweater, and Lachlan’s breathing starts to change. Shit, shit, shit, shit! I scream for Ryker again, and Lachlan sags harder against me. He pulls at the sword