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He struggled to get back up, and when he finally did, he staggered and swayed. He could hardly hear anything, his vision tunneling as he whipped his head about, searching for the others. His heart thumped a frantic rhythm in his ears.Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.Shoulders slammed into him from the front and back with bruising force, jerking him this way and that.

Shit.Shit shit shit,where the hell was everyone? Dallas and Travis. Jewels, Malakai, Aspen… They were all gone!

“Max!” called a faint female voice.

“Dallas?!” he bellowed, panting. He stumbled forward and nearly lost his balance, head gyrating.“Dallas!”

“Over here! Max, over here!”

There she was—sprawled across the ground, unable to get up as people shoved by, tripping over her. She ducked and covered her head with her arms as she took a boot to the back of the neck.

“Dallas!”

“Max!”She tried to stand, but her wings hindered her. People were stepping on them, yanking her back down. She cried out in pain as her wing got caught on someone’s foot, and she was dragged backward as the man tripped and smashed into the ground.

Max charged through like a bull. Punched a vampire in the mouth and a half-blood warlock in the jaw to get to her. Others fell under his might—his blind rage—but he didn’t give two shits about them. He had to get to Dal. Had to find Travis.

“Dallas!” He grabbed her by the scraped hands, shoving a warlock who stepped on her left wing aside. He pushed another—a vampire this time, the guy’s shoe crushing exposed wires on her other wing. “Get the hell off her!” he bellowed, pulling her up. Her wings were bent, worse than before, her cheek and chin scraped, bloody, and flecked with gravel and a dusting of glass. “You all right?” She winced as he brushed the gravel off her face, smearing blood.

Something clattered to the ground nearby.

White smoke erupted. People screamed and scattered.

Max sputtered and coughed, his eyes burning so badly he couldn’t keep them open.

“Oh gods,” Dallas gasped, choking.“Max!”

Another can clattered across the pavement behind them. More smoke choked the air.

He couldn’t breathe.

“Max!” Dallas cried. Her fingers found his jacket, grasping tight. “Max, what’s happening? I can’t see—”Cough. Cough.“My eyes—”Cough.“I can’t open them?—”

“Hold on!” He could barely speak, the tear gas forcing him to cough so hard he gagged. His lungs burned as if they were full of acid. People jostled him from all sides, banging into him and Dallas and nearly wrenching them apart. “Hold on, I got you!” Max promised. “I need you to hold onto me, okay? I got you! I’m gonna get us out of here!”

“Max—”Cough. Cough.“Wait—wait, I can’t breathe?—”

“Dallas, look at me.” Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, because he could hardly keep his blurry eyes open, tears coursing down his cheeks. He managed to find her face, and gently cupped it. “Dallas, listen to me. You’re going to be okay. But I need you to trust me!”

“Okay.” The word burst out of her on a ragged gasp. She couldn’t keep her eyes open, either, not for longer than a second at a time. Her nose was running, her face bright red.

“Close your eyes and hold onto me!” he said again. “Don’t let go—no matter what happens.”

He took her by the hand, lacing their fingers tightly, and led her through the riot, squinting his leaking eyes and hacking up a lung the whole way. All around them, sirens wailed, people smacked into them, more guns went off, more cans of tear gas clattered to the pavement. It was madness.

“Where are the others?” Dallas shouted, her free hand fisting the back of his jacket. “We have to find the others?—”

The crack of more bullets drowned her out. People ran away screaming, blinded by the tear gas that was fogging up the block.

“We’ll find them!” he promised. “Just keep holding onto me. Don’t let go.”

He stayed true to his promise and got her out. The smoke was finally clearing, and although they were still coughing and gasping, they could breathe again. They could see. There were less people over here, less threats, no cops or military personnel, just a couple of burning cars.

“Hold on,” Dallas squeezed out. “Hold on, I need to stop.” She let go of his hand and staggered over to the curb, her bent wings throwing her off balance.

She tripped, smacking into a telephone pole. She wrapped her arms around it, steadying herself, and rested her cheek against the wood, her flushed face glistening with tears.

“Dallas?” he rasped.