I already knew that. What she didn’t realize, was that I had no intention of coming back at all.
She didn’t move as I raised my hands to her face, and unleashed the fiend.
36
Riley
I rolled with it, twisting and sinking my teeth into his neck. He thrashed and tore at me, his talons penetrating deep. But I closed my jaws.
And drank again.
I dropped the body and ducked the talons of another Dragon—he had scorch marks over his shoulders.
But something was terribly wrong. Agony radiated through my gut, as though a million tiny knives were slicing it to ribbons. And some of the blood running off my muzzle was mine…
“Riley, wake up!” Lucas’s strained voice roused me.
I woke up on a wave of pain, to find myself hunched in a fetal position, cradling my gut. But the agony faded as my awareness increased.
It wasn’t my pain. It was Havoc. And he was battling Dragons while being eaten by parasites.
I had to get to him. To save him. I looked up into Lucas’s worried gaze.
“Rafael’s gone,” he said.
Rafael. Rage tainted my frantic terror for Havoc. “He—he controlled me. Forced me—”
Lucas’s eyes widened. “He forced you?” I saw the dawning horror in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have left you—”
“No, not that,” I said. “Besides…Iwanted to.” I stopped, and swallowed. “But he rejected me. Said it was too dangerous, and when I tried to argue, he ordered me to lie down and go to sleep.” It sounded pretty tame when I said it out loud, but my anger was tinged with fear. He’d done it so easily, like it was second nature to him.
My heart felt like it was tearing in two. He’dforcedme to obey him. Controlled me. It was a betrayal on a level I hadn’t expected of him.
I looked up and met Lucas’s troubled gaze.
“Did we make a mistake, freeing him?” he asked. “Isobel raised him. Maybe—maybe she’s done too much damage.”
Despite my anger and the doubt his actions had caused, I was quick to defend Rafael. “He didn’t have to free Marcus or Havoc. There is good in him.” I was right, wasn’t I? He’d taken control over me so easily. I’d fought him with everything I had, and it hadn’t made a bit of difference.
He’d done it anyway.
But somehow, I couldn’t face the fact that Lucas might be right.
“Where would he have gone?” I asked.
Lucas grimaced. “I think I know, and I have a bad feeling about it.”
“Where?” What Rafael had done must have worked because my fever was gone. I felt weak, but more normal than I had since Jumping to this realm.
But weak. Too damned weak.
“The gate guards say he left over two hours ago.” Lucas shook his head. “I think he’s gone to face Isobel. He must not have thought you’d be able to Jump.”
My veins turned to ice.No.But as I pushed myself up to a sitting position, I realized Rafael had been right. I was still too weak to Jump myself, let alone anyone else with me.
I fixed my gaze on Lucas. Despite what Rafael had done—my every instinct said I had to find him. “I can reach him.” I didn’t know why I was so certain. Perhaps it was because I had to be. It was the only way. “I need crystal dust.”
His brows dropped. “You take more now, and you could go right back to where you were. And you have no idea where Rafael is.” He shook his head. “We need to run. It’s the only option. We can’t help Rafael now. And considering what he did—maybe he’s where he should be. His fate will be cast with Isobel’s.”
