Outlaw (Wolves of Royal Paynes #4) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,34

Quin was trapped beneath. I lunged forward again. My muzzle slammed into the water wall, cracking as the bone snapped. Blood poured from my nose, but I didn't give a fuck about that.

Not when it looked like the water demon was weakening, shrinking by the bucket, soaking into the dirt and pouring over the edge of the cliff. I looked back toward the driveway, spotting a young man with sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He held his hands palms out and stretched in opposite directions, a look of complete concentration on his face.

I turned back to Quinlan and dove, shifting once more when I breached the wall. The force of the water nearly brought me to my knees, but I grabbed Quinlan and rolled. My shoulders dug into the ground, and I clutched him tightly, rolling once more to push off the ground and get into position to begin CPR.

I froze with my hands clamped together, prepared to begin chest compressions. Quinlan's entire body was covered with a black, smoky bubble. I poked my index finger against it, and the wraiths popped open. Quinlan blinked rapidly, turning his head toward me, the smallest smile turning his—

A tsunami of water pushed me off my feet. I'd kept my eyes open long enough to see that Quinlan hadn't also been swept away, but then I dropped over the edge of the cliff, and I couldn't see his face. It looked like he'd been screaming.

I half shifted, dragging my claws through the rock wall sliding by in front of me. The friction ground at my claws, snapping several down the middle before I managed to snag a root. I closed my fingers over it, gripping while waiting for the root to snap in two, which would send my body plummeting to the rocky shoreline below.

It didn't. At least, not before I peered up the cliff at the line of faces looking down at me from over a hundred feet away.

"He's here! Tell Quinlan he's fine."

Fine was an overstatement.

Knox's announcement was met with a shuddering gasp that sounded too much like the beginning of a sob. I climbed upward, arms shaking as I fought to keep hold of the wet cliff face while also plotting the fastest route up.

"Hi! I'm Kansas, Wyatt's omega," a cheery voice said up top while I climbed. I figured it was the sandy-brown-haired man I'd spotted.

"How did you do that?" Knox asked sharply.

He got an equally sharp growl in reply, I assumed from Wyatt.

"I-I can suck a person's energy—well, not just a person, actually. I recently learned that. And, thankfully, I also recently learned how to draw and release without giving it back or consuming it, which, thank God, because that was some nasty energy. Like old dirt. Borrowed. But powerful."

Borrowed?

My arms ached, the way made treacherous by slippery roots and handholds. I dug my feet into the wall beneath me and pushed to the top, gripping two handfuls of grass and mud. The twins were closest and reached their hands down, but I was too focused on getting back to Quin to accept the help.

First in my line of sight, hovering close behind Kansas's shoulder, was Nash's twin, Wyatt. I didn't know why they were here, but I was fucking glad.

I found Quinlan, my gaze dropping to the pulse in his neck, pounding like a tiny piston under the skin, his breath making his shoulders bounce as quickly as a hummingbird's heart. My boy needed me.

"Quin."

9

Quinlan

Though the demon creature was gone, I still felt like I was underwater gasping for air that I didn't even want while I pictured Diesel's body broken and lifeless. I'd rather be lifeless too.

With my wraiths around, I'd grown bold, cocky. Nothing happened to me that I didn't want—except I really didn't want Diesel to go over that edge. Beneath all that power, the wraiths still had to choose. I knew they would choose me.

Aliiiive. Heeeee's alive.

"He's here! Tell Quinlan he's fine."

The world snapped back into sharp focus, flooding my senses with too much stimuli. My skin tingled like insects crawled the surface of my body. I wanted to cry but knew if I did, I wouldn't be able to stop. I'd sob my internal organs right out my mouth like a frog vomiting out its own stomach to expel toxins.

"Quin."

His voice was the sweetest sound. Rough and raspy, it slid over my body like a lion's tongue, bringing pleasure and pain. I couldn't speak. I wasn't able to ask him