Chapter 86
Lirael
Sebastian's growl was purely animal, vibrating through his chest into my spine. "You touch her, and I'll tear out your throat and feed it to you while you're still alive."
"Oh, I don't intend to touch her. Not right away." Lucas's eyes never left me. "First, we discuss your abdication. And she'll make excellent leverage. The Genesis Foundation's been quite insistent about getting their S-Class specimen back. Very generous with their offers."
The Genesis Foundation. Ice shot through my veins, memories threatening to surface—the cage, the electric shocks, three years of hell. My breath came shorter, faster, and Sebastian's hand pressed more firmly against my back, grounding me.
"Over my dead body," Sebastian said quietly.
"That can be arranged." Lucas's expression hardened. "Take them."
The operatives surged forward. Sebastian moved, hand catching my shoulder, spinning me toward the railing. "Jump. The ice will hold. Run and don't look back."
"I'm not leaving you, you idiot!" The words tore out raw and desperate.
"Lirael—" His voice cracked on my name. "You promised to give me a chance to prove I could change. So let me prove it. Let me protect you, even if it means—"
He didn't finish. Didn't need to.
I could have jumped. Should have. Every survival instinct screamed at me to take the escape. But when I looked at his face, at the resignation and desperate hope warring in his amber eyes, I found I couldn't make my body obey.
"Fuck that," I said, and my hand closed around the blade. I turned, placing my back against his, feeling the solid warmth of him against my spine. "You want me to give you a chance? Then we survive this together. We can talk about your redemption after we deal with these assholes."
For a heartbeat, Sebastian didn't move, didn't breathe. Then I felt him shift, heard low laughter building in his chest. "You're magnificent. And absolutely insane."
"I learned from the best." I adjusted my grip on the blade, watching the operatives close in. "Besides, I refuse to die owing you anything. Consider this payback for the vests."
"Lirael." His voice dropped, intimate despite the chaos. "You don't owe me a damn thing. "
My throat tightened, but I forced the words out. "Then stop trying to make me run and start fighting, you self-sacrificing bastard."
"As you wish." Sebastian's transformation was instantaneous—the cultured Alpha dissolving into pure predator. Claws extended with a sound like knives being unsheathed, eyes blazing gold. When he smiled at Lucas, it was all teeth and promise. "Tell me, cousin, have you ever seen what I can do when I'm properly motivated?"
Lucas's confidence faltered slightly. "Take them both," he ordered, but I heard the uncertainty creeping in.
Then there was no more time for words.
The first operative reached us. Sebastian moved like liquid death, claws finding the man's throat before he could pull the trigger. Blood sprayed across ice in an arc that looked almost beautiful in the headlights, and the operative went down choking.
I ducked under a second attacker's swing, using my smaller size to advantage as I drove the blade between his armor plates. The elf magic in my blood sang as I moved, lending me speed I shouldn't have possessed, and I felt a savage satisfaction as the man crumpled.
"Left!" Sebastian's warning came just in time. I dropped, and his fist sailed over my head to connect with another operative's jaw. Bone shattered with a wet crunch.
We fell into rhythm after that—brutal, efficient, somehow beautiful in its violence. Sebastian was pure destruction, every movement calculated to kill, but I noticed even in the chaos that he never strayed far from my side, his body always angled to intercept threats that came too close. And despite my determination to hold my own, I found myself relying on that protection, on the certainty he would be there.
This is bad, I thought, even as I used my blade to deflect another attack, even as I felt the plants beneath the snow responding to my presence, thin tendrils breaking through to trip an operative. This is so, so bad. Not the fighting—but the way I trusted him at my back, the way my body instinctively moved in concert with his, the way I felt safer in the middle of this bloodbath because he was beside me.
I was falling. Had been falling since that night on the cliff. And the worst part was, I wasn't sure I wanted to stop.
"Behind you!" I shouted, catching sight of an operative trying to flank Sebastian. He whirled with inhuman speed, catching the man by the throat and throwing him over the railing. The scream cut off abruptly.
"Nice catch," Sebastian said, flashing me a grin that was equal parts grateful and feral, blood splattered across his face. "You're getting good at this."
"Don't get cocky, asshole." But I couldn't suppress my own savage smile. "There are still—"
The world went white.
The flashbang detonated above us, and it wasn't just light and sound—I felt magic in the blast, something targeting supernatural senses specifically. My enhanced hearing turned against me, the sound wave drilling into my skull like a spike, and I heard myself scream, couldn't stop it. My vision fractured into a thousand pieces, balance deserting me as the world tilted sickeningly.
Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Sebastian roar—pure animal rage and pain. Felt him reach for me, his hand closing on empty air as I stumbled backward, my body refusing to obey.
Then someone grabbed me from behind, strong arms wrapping around my chest, and a cloth pressed over my mouth and nose before I could draw breath. I tried to fight, tried to use the blade still clutched in my hand, but my limbs wouldn't cooperate, the flashbang's effects still scrambling everything. The cloth reeked of chemicals, sweet and cloying, making my head spin worse.
No. Fuck, no, no, no—
With the last of my strength, I twisted my wrist, felt the moonstone charm come loose from my sleeve. It fell, landing in the snow with a soft sound I prayed Sebastian would hear.
Then darkness claimed me as strong arms lifted me, and the last thing I heard was Sebastian's voice, hoarse and desperate and broken, screaming my name like the only word that mattered.