Page 127 of His Retribution

"I have no idea, but I'd love to have an answer to that question myself."

We continue to watch as Joyce hangs her head, kicks at the ground. She meets Cora's eyes and I swear I see a shimmer of tears. They speak for a few moments before Joyce takes over, spews a bunch of nonsense that I can't quite make out and my mate fills with warmth.

I can feel her forgiveness before she even has a chance to speak, but the fact that I cannot hear their words this close sets off a warning bell inside my head.

So I start walking.

I ignore my brother’s protests, their questions, weave through the many bodies standing around the valley, dodge a few overturned chairs and when I'm merely a few feet away, Joyce smiles at my mate then reaches out and hugs her.

Then everything explodes into pale blue nothingness.

My ears ring.

My vision is blurred.

I'm on the ground, body sprawled like a goddamn starfish.

Muffled cries start to filter into my hearing, panicked screams.

I blink repeatedly and look left to find Milos and Andrej attempting to drag themselves off the ground, many others on hands and knees behind them.

To my right, I see Kai crawling toward Posey, the queen helping Grace out from under a chair, both females down on the ground.

Hank is lying on a table, Janet cradled against his chest, and Karel laid out much like I am about a foot away.

The decorations are destroyed, the remaining food scattered all over the grass, and shattered dishes and broken glass strewn all over.

Thank gods the children went to bed a few hours ago—the pregnant females made sure of that.

As that realization sinks in, pain, pain greater than any I have yet to experience rips through my gut, causes me to roll on my side and dry heave. I reach for my stomach, sure to find a gaping wound caused by whatever bomb just went off but there is none, not even a scratch.

Cora.

I shoot to my feet and immediately stagger, my vision still blurred, my stomach still in pain. "Cora!" I shout. "Cora! Angel, please answer!"

I search through the bodies trying to recover, look at faces that are still blurry, listen for voices still muffled. My stomach burns, burns as if I'd been stabbed with a sword still being molded in flames, the pain radiating up and out toward my chest, my hips, snaking all the way to my fingers and toes. I continue stumbling through the wreckage toward the stream, the last place I saw my light, and when I'm close enough to hear the quiet flow of the water, that's when I see.

Cora, my beautiful blue light is standing with one foot in the stream, shining, fucking glowing that iridescent blue glow, Joyce laid out on the ground at her feet.

Thank the gods in heaven she is...

Oh no.

Oh gods no, please.

The pain in my stomach becomes excruciating, so intense I can barely walk but I must. I must get to my light.

"Cora!" Oh gods, please don't let it be true. "Cora! Angel!"

Slowly, so slowly and with apparent difficulty my love turns and my heart shoots up into my throat before it plummets toward my knees.

Cora's eyes are wide, unblinking and glowing even brighter than the rest of her.

Her mouth moves but no sound leaves her already paling lips.

She takes one step but goes down to her knees, her gaze dropping to where her hands cover her stomach.

"No!" I scream, my body lunging toward her just before Cora drops on her ass, chest rising and falling in very shallow breaths. "No! Gods no, please!"