Page 96 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)

Elena

S uddenly the air whipped around my face, and a scream ripped through me as I felt weightless as I made a rapid descent.

The gods only knew how our fates would end, and it seemed as though this might be where I met my end.

Faster and faster, I hurtled toward the floor, my heart thrumming so hard against my chest it felt as though it might break through.

“ELENA!”

Declan’s yell shattered against my eardrum at the same time as I collided into his solid body. We crashed into the ground and the sound of our bodies crashing against stone filled the cavern.

Declan groaned in agony and forced me to roll off him. The ache in my chest was unbearable. I must have cracked a rib, if not more. Declan’s breaths rattled in his chest. Hells, he must have punctured a lung.

My swollen eyes barely opened, but it was enough to get a sense of my surroundings.

Declan lay sprawled on the ground, clutching his chest. Both of us were covered in massive amounts of blood and open wounds.

“Don’t think his act of valor will save you, Elena.” The sound of Alastor’s voice made me cringe. A malicious laugh rumbled about the cave as footsteps neared. “I’ve already taken every last bit of Alaric’s dynamis.” The king’s slumped body dangled from the iron chain around his wrist.

Dec snarled, fighting the pain as he pushed himself onto his feet. I thrust my shoulder under his arm and wrapped my arm around his back to steady us both as we faced Lord Grimshaw.

“You will both submit to me.” Blackness had almost taken over the white in his eyes, turning them into two pools of darkness.

“I will go after your little Rebellion city.” My eyes widened.

“Yes, I know he’s been hiding it from us all these years.

I’ll take them. Every. Single. One. Each one will die in front of you both, and I won’t stop until you both submit to me.

The power you hold belongs to me, and I will never stop until it is mine once more. ”

His words made my mouth become instantly dry. Declan gave my shoulder a squeeze, forcing me out of my spiraling thoughts, reminding me that I was not alone—he was right there beside me, and he always would be.

“Perhaps it’s time to show you exactly what I mean,” Alastor sneered, stretching out his arm. In a flash, Will dangled from Alastor’s hand.

Alastor hissed a string of incoherent words. Declan and I both watched in horror as Will’s body began to transform. Dark claws ripped his boots to shreds as thick black fur sprouted over his flesh. He tossed his head back with a scream that chilled my bones as his teeth grew into ivory fangs.

Will turned his body towards us, his blue eyes still full of flame. “Run!”

Alastor’s face paled as fire ripped out of every inch of Will’s transforming body.

The first blast shook the walls of the cavern, sending rocks cascading from the ceiling.

I narrowly moved us in time to not get squashed under them.

Another blast ripped from Will, met by Alastor’s own dynamis.

When the two powerful dynamis collided, another blast ricocheted from them.

The force sent all of us crashing to the floor and tore a hole through the side of the cavern. Declan rolled his body on top of me, shielding me from the rocks that crumbled all around us.

Will’s howl broke through the sounds of tumbling rocks. Run.

He had sacrificed himself so that we could escape, so escape was exactly what we were going to do. Remorse tugged at my heart as I glanced back one last time at Will. With a deep breath, I turned towards Declan and rolled him off me.

“Lena” he grunted, as I somehow found the strength to pull his broken body up and hold him next to me. “You need to make it out of here. Please let me go, love, save yourself.”

“No!” I snarled. “I’m never leaving you. We escape together, or we stay here and die together. There’s no option in which I’ll be leaving you alone.”

He tightened his arm around my shoulder. “Alright, let’s get out of this Hell, Wildfire.”

As we clawed our way through the hole, another growl rang from behind us. We turned our heads just in time to see Will pounce on top of Alastor. A grin lit up my face at the sounds of Alastor’s screams.

However, I didn’t get to enjoy the moment for long. More growls filled the cavern. Thousands of dark eyes met ours. A whine and a beastly shriek tore my gaze away as Alastor attacked Will with his lightning dynamis.

Three hooded creatures appeared behind the wave of foul beasts that now filled the cavern.

The leader of the pack howled, and the horde barreled towards us.

Blood pounded inside my ears as I scrambled up the rest of the rocks, pulling Declan in bursts.

I gripped the soil on the other side of the hole and pulled us onto it.

We both took a moment to inhale the fresh outside air.

Wind howled against our broken bodies, and all at once my body jolted with a surge of power.

Declan’s eyes caught mine. “Did you feel that too?”

Every inch of my body hummed with my dynamis. The glow of my body was dim, but it was there. Alastor must have used blood magic to curse our dynamis while inside his lair. No wonder we hadn’t been able to sense it.

Claws scraped against the rocks behind us. Panic resumed, as well as the familiar pinprick of my dynamis begging to be released from under my skin.

“Love, we’ve got to zephyr.” His eyes shifted to his broken leg and back to mine.

Tears gathered in my eyes as I pulled my crumpled body to its feet and helped Declan do the same. My heart tugged as the pain drained the blood from his handsome face.

He pulled me into his arms as his lips brushed over my temple. “I’ll never get tired of the feeling of holding you in my arms, love. When you’re in my arms, I know I’m home.”

I pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Wind blasted all around us as we zephyred away.