Page 44

CHAPTER 44

S ylvia pressed her hands to the cockpit glass, heart slamming wildly against her ribs as Kyhin strode out into the crimson-stained snow.

He looked like a shadow made real, his black armor glinting faintly under the strange red sun. A lone figure against a tide of silver.

The enemy.

She didn’t know what they were. Didn’t care. They moved with a terrible kind of coordination—too fast, too many. And they were here for him.

Or her.

Her throat closed. She swallowed hard, fighting the panic rising like bile.

He was walking into an army.

She’d seen him fight before—seen him tear through a dozen armed enemies like they were nothing more than training dummies. But a hundred? Maybe more?

He can’t. He won’t make it. They’ll kill him.

And it wasn’t just the thought of being taken that made her stomach twist.

It was the thought of losing him.

That brutal, beautiful creature.

She didn’t want to admit it. But god, she felt it now.

Kyhin meant something to her. It was madness—she didn’t know exactly what he was or where he had come from, didn’t know much about him at all—but she actually cared about this strange, winged, alien male.

The army moved. Surged. Streaks of silver across the white, kicking up snow as they charged forward, silent and swift.

Kyhin flared his wings and rose.

She gasped as he took to the air, guns drawn, sleek and lethal. The Nalgar fired upward, shots cracking across the sky, but he soared higher, out of their range, turning into a blur of black against the bleeding sky.

What is he doing?

Was he trying to fight them from above?

Then she saw it.

A group of silver-armored figures breaking formation, veering toward the ship.

Toward her.

Fear gripped her.

Should she run? Hide in the room he’d kept her in? Lock herself in and hope?

But before she could move, a blur descended from above.

Kyhin.

He dropped like a missile, a black winged fury with twin blades drawn, moving so fast he became a blur.

He hit the ground, and a head went flying. Then another.

She choked, a horrified sound escaping her. She staggered back from the window, hand to her mouth.

Blood splattered the snow in arcs of deep crimson.

He rose again, wings slicing through the air, before diving once more.

Death. Precision. Fury.

He didn’t stop. He didn’t hesitate.

And all she could do was watch as her protector—her captor—became something more terrifying and awe-inspiring than she’d ever imagined.

An angel of war… or a demon.

He annihilated the ones that had dared approach the ship. None of them got within ten meters. He did it with such violence and fury that it sent a clear message to any who dared approach.

The snow was streaked red now, littered with broken bodies.

And that, his savageness… gave the rest of them pause.

The horde hesitated, their momentum faltering.

Kyhin used it.

He flew higher again, gaining altitude fast, wings stretching wide, a dark blur against the dimming sky. They opened fire—blasts of searing blue streaking upward, cutting through the cold air—but he climbed beyond their range.

Drawing their eyes. Drawing their attention.

A diversion?

Realization clicked through her like a bolt of clarity.

He wasn’t just fighting.

He was buying time.

For the ship: the alien ship that was coming to retrieve them.

She could see it now, descending fast through the cloud cover, rectangular and brutal-looking, all hard edges and armor. A different kind of beast compared to Kyhin’s sleek vessel.

Hope surged in her chest, mingling with dread.

Hold them off, Kyhin. Just a little longer.

Please.

All of a sudden, the rescue ship opened fire.

Explosions ripped through the snowfield, columns of flame and debris erupting like geysers. The ground shook with the force of it, and the sky flashed with red and orange bursts.

The silver army scattered like ants.

Kyhin veered hard, dodging the blast radius, soaring away from the bombardment, drawing the last of the firepower with him.

And then… he turned.

With impossible speed, he angled back toward the ship.

Toward her.

Her heart leapt as he descended, wings folding in as he dropped through the smoke, disappearing from view.

He was coming back.