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Instead, four things happened, one after the other.

The first was that Lena Morrow appeared, surrounded by an armed guard of Claimed warriors, her focus intent on Kaiden as she used her own gift to stop his nullification of Aven.

The second was that Aven used his returned ability to send out a powerful shockwave that ripped open the ground under Alex’s feet and sent her flying backwards just as a monstrous veeyon dropped from the sky. Easily twice the size of the others, it wrapped its talons around the Rebel Prince and hoisted him high into the air.

The third was that the veeyon released Aven, who plummeted back down to the earth, his fiery sword blazing as he fell, directly towards—

XIRA, LOOK OUT!Alex screamed, scrambling back up to her feet.

But it was too late.

Because even though Xira twisted away, even though he opened theabrassaand vanished in a wave of inky blackness, only seconds later he reappeared through it with an earth-shattering roar as his massive bulk fell, fell,fellto the ground…

… With Vae’varka lodged deep into his chest.

“XIRA!” Alex screamed aloud as he crashed near the lake, the field beneath them quaking enough to set the water rippling. “XIRA,NO!”

She tore off towards him, her lungs burning and her eyes streaming as she failed to hold in her tears, as she refused to acknowledge how thevaelianabond between them was fading with every step she took, until it disintegrated into nothing, leaving a hollow, empty feeling inside her.

XIRA!she screamed again, directly to his mind.XIRA, ANSWER ME!

But he didn’t.

There was nothing but gaping silence between them.

And yet, she wouldn’t give up. She just had to reach him.She just had to reach him.

“SORAYA!” Alex yelled, but for the first time ever, her wolf didn’t arrive by her side. Hot and cold filled her at once,since she knew the only reason Soraya wouldn’t come when called was because she couldn’t. And the only reason she couldn’t was if—

Alex choked on another sob as she continued running through the fighting masses, weaving her way towards her fallen draekon. But she was only halfway there when two simultaneous shouts of warning came, one from Kaiden, one from Jeera.

“ALEX!”

With Lena only blocking Kaiden from using her ability, not any of the others at his disposal, the intuitive gift he shared with his sister allowed them both to sense what was about to happen—Aven’s fourth and final move.

Plucked from his freefall by the veeyon, Aven landed nimbly at Xira’s side and met Alex’s eyes across the battlefield.

“Do you know what happens when you eat the heart of a draekon, Aeylia?” he spat, knowing his blood in her veins enabled her to hear him above the clamour. “Let me show you.”

Still sprinting towards them, still too far away to do anything, Alex could only watch as he ripped his blade from Xira’s flesh and reached his arm deep into the wound, pulling out a small portion of the golden heart within and raising it to his mouth.

At the sight, Alex couldn’t stop her reaction. Right there, in the middle of the warring forces, she bent over and vomited, tears flooding from her eyes as she purged the contents of her stomach.

“ALEX!” came Kaiden’s shout again, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t control her gag reflex, couldn’t stop seeing the image of the pure, golden blood dribbling down Aven’s chin. “ALEX!”

She forced herself to look up, just as Aven raised a fisted hand towards her.

“This is on you, Alexandra Jennings,” he hissed, opening his fingers.

“ALEX, NO!”

Alex had only a split second to comprehend what happened next, to see Kaiden running towards her and throwing both his arms out, after which she suddenly found herself cocooned inside a protective force field—Sean’s gift. But battle-weakened as he was, Kaiden used it to cover only her, and she realised as much when, half a moment later, power surged from Aven like an invisible wave, slamming into every living being across and above the combat zone.

‘Do you know what happens when you eat the heart of a draekon, Aeylia?’

She did now.

Because as one, they fell.