Page 44 of Fate of the Fallen
I managed to release Evangeline’s hand just before being taken down to the ground. Deep gashes to my ribs from the things claws was the only damage I took before I ended the scuffle with a quick snap of its neck.
When I turned to search for Evangeline, I was grateful Beth had known to hold her back, only releasing her once I was on my feet and could take her hand.
We were on the move again. The encounter with the mutt had awakened the rage within me and both fists glowed red, heat spreading up my arms rapidly.
Arrows whizzed past our heads and the beat of heavy hooves came closer. Shadows weaved through the trees and my only thought was that I had to get her out of here, had to get her to safety if it was the last thing I did. The only plan I could come up with was to hide her.
All around us, the symphony of screams and death.
We were close, but they were closing in on us. A family of three had caught up and there was no missing the look of sheer terror on the father’s face as he all but dragged his wife and daughter toward the same markweaimed for.
With the wind whipping against her face and through her hair, Evangeline turned, noticing them mere seconds after I had. She didn’t slow her pace, but she was clearly distracted. The dad’s gaze locked on her, too, and his dark skin creased where tension spread across his forehead. His wife’s pale cheeks were tinted red as she panted. Both clutched the hands of their little girl with tight, dark curls.
Looking at them,reallylooking at them, I understood why Evangeline had suddenly lost focus seeing this family.
They reminded her of her own.
She turned away, focusing straight ahead again, but I sensed that her energy had changed. Her thoughts were someplace else and I needed her to keep her head clear. We had to …
“Mommy!”
The shrill cry that burst into the air sent a chill down my spine. Beside us, the family of three had just become two as a dark horse galloped away. On it’s saddle, a lycan soldier with someone clutched beneath its arm.
And with the way the little girl screamed in horror, there was no guessing who that someone was.
“Mommy!” she cried out again.
Her father was clearly torn, his pace slowing as he struggled with two options—save my wife, or save my daughter.
My own heart ached with the difficult choice he faced.
“We have to do something,” Evangeline muttered. The words left her mouth on autopilot. In her mind, that was simply a fact—we had to do something.
Beth passed me a concerned glance, but said nothing. She, too, may have recognized the resemblance of the trio that had been running beside us. It was also possible she worried that it might prompt Evangeline to act rashly.
“There’s no time,” I urged, keeping her at my side as our feet pounded the soil.
If it’d just been me, I would have gone after the woman without a second thought, even if it cost me myownlife. But I wasn’t as ready and willing to die for a stranger these days. Maybe because I finally had something to live for again.
“That little girl,” Evangeline reasoned, “she just watched her mother get snatched away, Liam! We can’t just let that happen.”
There was so much conviction in her tone, it could be felt. Her heart was big, sometimes to a fault, but … this felt like more than that. This felt personal. Like, seeing the girl’s mother being taken away had hit a little too close to home.
Which was the only plausible reason I could conceive for what she did next.
The warmth of her hand in mine left so quickly I hardly had time to process it. However, my heart wasn’t so slow to react. It raced as I held my breath and watched her take off in the wrong direction.
Toward danger.
Chapter Fourteen
Liam
“Evangeline!”
She didn’t respond and there was no time to think. Instead, my body simply reacted, going up in flames as I leapt into the air, bursting into flight. I thought I might stand a better chance of getting a visual on where she’d taken off to.
I couldn’t lose her.