Page 72 of Jagged Souls

A truth that every atom of my soul is screaming:

I’m going to be too late.

Eighteen

HER

“Maddox!” I scream as the three chimeras shove him against the cage, pinning the door shut so I can’t get out. Blood sprays in the air and across the bars as they slash him to pieces with their claws.

“Fucking shift!” I snap, my body buzzing with a need for violence I can’t release. The bars are big enough for me to push my arms through, but the only person I can reach is Maddox. The three men are on the other side of him, slicing his back open, taking turns, having fuckingfun.

He didn’t even manage to turn around, so he’s facing me, his eyes glossy with pain, blood trickling out of his mouth. His right hand twitches with magic, and hope flares through me that he is about to defend himself. He only has a few seconds before he passes out from blood loss or they just rip his head off, but maybe that’ll be enough.

Maybe he can force them off him and –

“Don’t!” I scream, my heart plummeting as he presses his hand to the cage.

And that defensive spell I was praying he was forming never sees the light.

Instead, he’s taken those few precious seconds to seal the door of the cage with magic. Trapping me in. Protecting me from their reach.

“Brother!” I scream in desperation, hoping that fucking demon can hear me. But Maddox’s circle didn’t contain him, which means none of the words were binding. The Prince of Pride could’ve fucked off, using his time of being untethered on Earth to find my sister.

So he can drag her down to Halzaja’s Underground, to his kingdom of Sin.

So she can have his baby.

Oh my gods, I’m going to kill her.

“Shift, you little piece of shit,” I cry as I squeeze his other hand. “I need to kick your ass for giving stupid advice to my sister.”

He half-chuckles, half-gives a dying breath. “Don’t cry…” he says.

But his words can’t stop the tears from falling down my face.

I squeeze his hand harder. “Don’t you dare fucking die on me.”

He tries to squeeze me back, but his grip is so weak.

“Shift, Maddox, please.”

His fingers start to loosen.

His eyes glaze.

And then he’s gone, sagging against the cage as his legs give out.

A foot slams into his lower back, keeping him up before he can drop far. The kick rattled the bars enough to make me jump. My gaze jerks from Maddox’s face and over his shoulder, landing on eyes that I know too fucking well.

Hourglass.

The bitch I stabbed with my bone knives. The one I didn’t get a chance to kill because some fucker tackled me from the back.

I won’t be stopped the next time I come for him.

Smiling cruelly, he holds my furious gaze, my promise of revenge as he reaches a hand inside Maddox’s back.

The sound of blood squelching around as he digs inside his body makes my stomach twist.