Page 131 of Lethal Souls
CAZ
Hours have passed, but my heart doesn’t race any less. The Blackwater army is ready, dressed head to toe in black armor with their weapons strapped and faces solemn.
I stand in the front line with Killian and Rowan on either side of me. All of us stare at the hovering rock.
“Dragons are one thing, but how the fuck did she make giants?” Rowan hisses.
Hassha had explained to us what to expect on the battlefield. I knew the dragons would return as well as those creatures that attacked us the last time, but giants? That astounds me. One drop of their fists and it’ll take out dozens of us.
From a distance, I hear a rustle in the leaves. The sounds around me along with my sight have changed drastically. I sense someone running through the forest nearby, their breaths heavy and their heart booming.
“Something’s coming,” I say, conjuring a gun. Killian and Rowan whip theirs out to point in the direction I’m looking.
Three bodies tumble out of the forest, staggering across the field toward us. When I see who they are, I realize they’re no threat at all.
“Fuck,” I mutter, forcing my gun to disappear.
I march with my clan as one of the bodies collapses on the ground.
“Devlin?” Rowan calls. He jogs ahead as the two men with Devlin help him stand.
“What happened?” I ask as they haul him up. His head lolls to the side.
“Tried to…kill me…” Devlin grounds out. “Killed…everyone.” Devlin’s head falls, and I look from him to the two men holding him.
One is a Rippie. The other is clearly a Whisper Grovian based on his brighter attire. He’s familiar. I’ve seen him before.
“You are?” I ask the Whisper Grovian.
“Second in leadership of Whisper Grove,” the man answers. “My name is Hale. I saw Conan go off in the night to feed Ripple Hills, and then I heard screaming. The next thing I know, Conan has departed with the weapons and armor and most of the Rippies are dead.”
I clench my jaw, remembering the traitor that was in our midst.
“How did he survive it?” I ask, gesturing to Devlin.
“I pumped his stomach,” Hale replies. “These two were the only ones to make it. Bolv, there, didn’t eat at all. It’s why he’s okay.” He bobs his head to the brute looking Rippie clinging to Devlin’s other side.
“I see.” I put my focus on Devlin again whose face is a pale-gray color. I could use Devlin in this fight, but Hassha and Korah are double checking their protection of the bunker at the moment and can’t heal him.
But you can. Right. Yuri.
I don’t know how, I think. You’ll have to lead.
Thank you for trusting me, he says. Touch his head.
“Hold him still.” I press a hand to Devlin’s forehead as the men adjust him. When I close my eyes, I whisper the word heal as Yuri’s voice instructs. Heat accumulates in my palm. When I open my eyes, a flicker of red travels from me to him.
“What the fuck,” Rowan says through a ragged breath.
The light works its way through Devlin, traveling through his throat and chest. When it disappears, his head falls again.
I frown, waiting for him to budge, to wake up, to move.
When he doesn’t, I step back, trying to figure out what I did wrong.
What happened? I wonder. Did it work?
A sharp gasp pierces the air, and Devlin snatches himself out of Hale’s and Bolv’s hands to immediately reach for a sheathed dagger at his waist.