Page 119 of Ascendant King

The howls of pain echoed in my ears, and I only had a moment to move, ducking low as I tried to avoid taking one of the lashes of orange fire on my chest. It skimmed over my shoulder, and I didn’t need to look to see the flesh blistering, blood trailing down to my elbow.

I rolled forward, trying to get closer, only to find my hand glued to the pavement, pink magic trapping me there. As I tore at it with the nails on my free hand, I heard Phelan laughing.

Half of Phelan’s body was burned where Isaac’s magic had done its work. Now, he was paying that back in full. One of the whips sped out, wrapping around Nia’s neck and dragging her closer. She growled, twisting even as the magic burned the fur, all the way down to her skin.

“Stop. Moving.” Phelan growled, stepping on her with his melted boot. She whined but kept struggling, resisting as much as she could when pinned.

He adjusted his grip on the whip, the position shifting. There was an ominous crack, and I jerked my head up, my stomach twisting. Nia was still.

With renewed energy, I tore the pink magic loose, grabbing at the fallen iron chain. I didn’t need magic. I was going to wrap the iron around his neck and?—

Nia’s body exploded into an altar of flowers. They covered her, growing until they reached Phelan’s knee.

He hopped back, gaping down at his leg. Nothing was left of it. Everything below the joint had been removed cleanly.

I was only a few yards away, the chain gripped between my hands. I could already see myself wrapping it around his neck and pulling it so tight that he went down and didn’t get up.

Something slithered up my arm, and I looked down to see some of Cade’s magic darting up my skin, avoiding the iron but giving me strength just by its presence. I didn’t dare look around the battlefield for him. We had one enemy. As soon as we got Phelan in chains, I could find Cade again.

His magic gave me the reassurance that he was alive, that he was fighting.

I was only a few feet away when Nia hurdled out of the bed of flowers, fully healed. She had grown larger, her teeth sharper, her eyes more vicious.

I pulled up short as she took him down, landing on top of him so heavily that his arm bent backward, elbow cracking. Standing on top of him, she panted, her eyes wild.

As she growled, spittle dripped from her jaws, and I was sure she was about to rip out his throat. I landed next to her, twisting the chain around Phelan’s throat, wrapping the hand that wasn’t bent backward in iron. He shouted in frustration, but his magic sizzled, burning when he tried to use it.

Nia pulled back, whining and pawing at her neck. The thin silver chain that she wore as a collar was missing, and she turned, nosing through the bed of flowers, searching for it. After a few seconds, she emerged with it between her jaws, looking at me with something akin to pain.

“We’ll find Rhys. They’ll fix it.” Underneath me, Phelan shifted, and I tightened my grip, but my distraction had been a mistake.

He had wiggled his free arm up and pressed it against my chest. With a vicious grin, he sent a sharp spike of green through me.

It sliced like a sword, pushing through my chest bone. I felt it come out the other side, felt it puncture a lung. Then, the magic opened, spreading like scissors, tearing at my skin and bone.

I growled, the pain overwhelming.

With unsteady hands, I twisted the chain again, wrapping it around his hand, but it was too late. Even as the green magic fizzled out, it left a gaping hole in my body.

Phelan tried to cast again, but his own magic exploded, worsening the damage to his broken arm.

He screamed, both eyes crimson from broken blood vessels. As he struggled, I tightened my grip, pressing down on top of him.

My shoulder screamed, my chest nearly numb from the agony. Then, a steady pair of hands took hold of the iron chains.Emilio was next to me, his scent familiar even after so many years. His voice rumbled.

“I have him, Alpha. I have him. He’s not going to get away.”

Nodding, I leaned back, collapsing on the ground, gasping. As I stared up at the blue sky, I thought about what Summer had said before the battle started. I had spent my entire life, every moment of my adulthood, fighting by myself.

Once, I had taken a wound like this during a fight with a rival gang, but I had been fighting by myself, so I had just gotten up and kept moving. When I was done, I’d dragged myself back to Declan, and he had given me a couple of Tylenol and a half day off work.

But I never would have been able to take down Phelan by myself. If it’d been just me, I would’ve died.

I had a pack now. But that didn’t just mean I had people I wanted to protect; it meant that people wanted to protect me. Yes, because I was the alpha, but Nia never would have pledged herself to an alpha she didn’t believe in. I had to keep going.I had to get up.

They needed me.

As I started to struggle to sit, Cade landed beside me. He was panting, face sweaty, and a coil of complicated black ink covered his palms.