Page 43 of Fated to the Damned

I might be mad at him, but I can’t let him be blindsided.

Crouching behind a wagon to avoid a patrol, I weigh my limited options. I can’t be caught, and the longer I stay here, the more likely it is I will be.

Willing my heart to slow, I slide from tent to tent on silent feet, ducking patrols, as I make my way back to the outskirts of the sprawling camp. Freedom is so close I can taste it, but my pulse thunders as a dark elf officer's suspicious gaze lingers on my hiding spot.

Before he can approach and investigate, I melt into the shadows and flee toward the tree line. Under faint moonlight I race headlong toward the wildspont, the living forest coming alive around me to speed my frantic steps.

Glancing over my shoulder, I search for any sign of pursuit. No distinct shapes follow, but I can't shake the prickling feeling of unseen eyes tracking my movement through the brush. Were those heavy footsteps behind me just my imagination? Or have they somehow detected my presence?

Shoving down panic, I push myself harder despite my burning lungs and aching legs. I have to make it back to the vrakken base with the attack plans in time to warn Nikolai. Before it's too late to stop the coming slaughter.

The vines and bushes seem to part before me as if sensing my desperation. I'm nearly there, so close. Just a little farther through these shadowed woods and I can deliver the intelligence needed to save countless innocent lives.

Suddenly, iron-hard hands seize me viciously from behind and a scream lodges in my throat. I twist sharply, a knife sliding free, as my attacker snarls gutturally, "Thought you could spy on us, vrakken scum?"

Terror spikes through me like icy lightning, but I meet the elf's hate-filled gaze defiantly through the darkness.

Whip-fast, I slam my elbow back with all my strength into the dark elf's hard gut before he can act. As he doubles over with a choked grunt, I spin sharply, bringing my blade up in a silver arc.

He tries to dodge, but the knife slices across his chest in a spray of dark blood. He staggers back with a gurgling cry, clutching at the deep, mortal wound.

I press my advantage, kicking his legs out from under him. He crashes to the forest floor with a thud. Before he can rise, I bring my boot down, pinning him as I wrench the blade across his throat in a finishing blow.

Dark blood pours rapidly, his eyes going wide in shock and rage. But it's already too late for him.

Not waiting to watch the light leave his eyes, I whirl and sprint into the shadowed woods. My lungs are burning fire, but I can't slow. I have to get back and deliver the intelligence before they find his body.

I risk a quick glance over my shoulder, seeing no pursuers yet through the dense trees. Still, I don't dare slow my reckless, stumbling pace for anything. I can't stop until I’m back in the wildspont both because they’ll torture me if they find me and I need to help the vrakken.

The trees part before me and close behind me, keeping me protected as I run, but even as I do, I think I hear shouts in the distance. I push myself faster, barely able to draw in a breath as I tear through the forest.

Akeldama, please don’t let me die tonight.

24

NIKOLAI

Ihad forgotten how suffocating it was below ground. As I pace the unused corridor leading from the main cavern to the temple, I have to keep my wings tucked in tight or they’ll brush along the caverns.

Yet, I can’t bring myself to go back aboveground.

“Where is she,” I growl beneath my breath as I keep up my back and forth walk. My ears strain for any sounds of Jessa’s return. I’m close enough to the Council room and entrance to the caverns that I know I’ll hear or see her within seconds of her return.

I peek out of the tunnel, through the massive cavern, for the twentieth time tonight. And still, I see no Jessa. In frustration, I stomp back toward the temple, just to continue the pacing. I have to let the energy out somehow.

I’m not even sure what I’ll say to her when she returns. Part of me wants to promise to Change her, so long as she lets it be me. Another part wants to scold her for acting like this, but I know that will get nowhere with someone as stubborn as her.

Either way, I just want the chance to speak to her again.

And deep down, there’s a small sliver of myself that wants to confess to her that she has made me lose all sense. That the moment I heard her out in the woods, everything else fell away. She is the most important thing to me now.

But I’ve had a hard enough time accepting that myself. How could I confess it to someone else? And push us deeper into a state of confusion since I know I can’t take her as a mate or Change her.

I'm mid-pace, wings twitching in the confines of the tunnel, when I hear footsteps coming down the tunnel from the temple. I turn to see Adelina walking towards me, her loose pants whispering against the stone floor. She pauses, and though her face is partially shrouded in shadows from her hood, surprise flashes across her ageless face at finding me lurking out here.

"Nikolai? What brings you back to the caves?" she asks, green eyes narrowing.

I dip my head respectfully to the woman who raised me since I was a child, though hesitance wars within me. How much do I reveal to her about my tangled feelings?