Page 29

CHAPTER 29 - TOR

W e heard the blasts before we saw them. A fight going down within the tunnels. Either the fugitives all turned on each other, or they knew we were coming. Personally, I hoped it was the first. Fewer prisoners to round up. Though the nagging feeling in my gut argued otherwise.

“We better hurry,” Knoxe warned, picking up his pace. “The fugitives might have been given the heads up that we’re on our way and on their way destroying evidence and hightailing it.”

“This smells like a trap.” I voiced my concerns of us marching into an uncertain future.

“What other choice do we have?” Lightning twisted on Knoxe’s fingers.

“Let’s find out.” Supergal charged forward with a single-minded determination. Freedom. Whether it came from achieving our objective or death was yet to be determined.

Mads, please look after my family if I die. I sent up the prayer. What the hell, right?

Knoxe broke the no-light rule and activated the lamp on his chest, illuminating our path, preventing us from treading anywhere we might trip. Following his lead, Supergal and I kicked up into a jog.

“Six hundred feet and counting,” he warned, voice low.

An inhuman roar thundered through the tunnel. Something slammed into a wall, and dirt crumbled from the ceiling. More lights blinked in the distance. The snarls and snaps said a life and death battle waged deeper in the dark.

“Two hundred feet,” Knoxe announced as we converged on the source of the chaos exploding with magick and animalistic war cries.

“That sounds like gantii,” I hiss-whispered.

My unsteady leg muscles weren’t used to this exercise after taking over a month off and protested at the faster pace and uneven terrain.

“Not vampires.” Pale orange exploded over Supergal’s palms. Strange chemical elements, numbers, and letters floated away from her hands.

“Is that Pascal’s green magick?” Knoxe squinted in the narrow beam of his light trained ahead.

“And Loco’s bright orange. Serena’s buttercup yellow.” Fuck. Our team was under attack.

“Oh, shit. They’re Lycans. Dad! Pascal!” Supergal tried to bust past us and save the day, and I’d never been prouder to call this brave heroine mine.

Knoxe overtook her, assuming lead position, protecting her. “How do you know?” Ask questions and act later wasn’t his style, but everyone was extra cautious of traps with the added danger looming.

“I’d recognize those chemical elements anywhere.” Supergal flicked away glowing symbols.

What in Hell were the Lycans doing down here? Did they also team up with the traitors?

“Weapons ready!” Knoxe jumped into a sprint, gun trained on the battle too far away to get an accurate aim to nail the enemy battling our team.

We got within firing range, and he released the first laser bullets, catching one beast in the back. It howled, hitting its head on the ceiling and snapped around in our direction, charging at us in a crouched hunch. He picked it off with another round that hit it between the eyes, and it went down.

Loco grunted and went down.

“Dad!” Supergal’s powers clapped out in a wave that spread through the tunnel and hit the Lycan menacing over him.

The werewolf splattered into a bloody mess over her father, the wall, and ground. Loco stumbled to his feet and took care of a beast biting Serena’s shoulder, vaporizing it. Pascal buffeted away a looming threat with Veil power and one raked a claw down his back. He grunted and went down on all fours.

The Lycan was about to make mincemeat of his spine when Supergal broke free of us.

“Pascal!” Supergal took off into a run that neither of us could stop. Amber light detonated in a blinding explosion.

I stumbled into Knoxe, who grabbed me by the arm. When my eyes cleared of the daze, I caught him. Electrical current sparked between his fingers in a display of retribution.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “You haven’t had the opportunity to test out the extent of his new powers yet.”

“I’m sure.” Knoxe released a current that zigzagged through the air and hit its target, lighting up the skeleton of the beast. Howls of pain echoed in the tunnel as his target went down. “Everybody get down!” he shouted.

They didn’t hear him over the din.

“Fuck, this better work.” Knoxe lowered himself to the ground by the side of the Lycan, running his current through its body.

Palm level with the ground, he discharged energy that illuminated the minerals in the tunnel’s soil, turning it into a miniature galaxy of winking sand grains. Veins of electricity crawled all over the bodies of the Lycans, striking their chests, making them convulse and drop as if incapacitated.

“My powers read the exact electrical charge of their heart and overloaded it, sending them into cardiac arrest.” Knoxe tugged me forward.

“Fucking A!” I thumped his shoulders.

Not a bad superpower.

“Help me get everyone back to the Guardians,” he ordered.

Feet away, Supergal crouched beside Pascal, hands pressed to his wounded abdomen and back, tawny light sealing the bleeding. “It’s okay, I’ve got you, White Lightning.”

My knees protested as I squatted beside her. “You’re my Supergal.”

She flicked me a grim smile. “Can you stand?” she asked Pascal.

“I think so,” he rasped, his face twisted in pain.

I wobbled as I climbed with him and gave him a shoulder to lean on.

“Help them, Songbird.” Pascal ticked his chin, motioning for her to take care of the others.

She kissed him short and sweet and moved away to her father. Damn, Loco was in worse shape, a nasty slash across his face, his ear hanging at an odd angle. Looked like he might earn a matching scar across his face to the one the gangs gave him.

“What have I told you about getting in fights, Dad?!” she semi-teased as she bent down next to him.

“Can’t help myself, kiddo.” His bloody smile stained his teeth, warranting him the psycho persona we assigned him.

She sniffled and tears trickled along her dusty face as she repeated the same trick on him. Tissue on his ear regenerated, and his ear lifted back into place. The bleeding stemmed. Flesh on his face sealed over.

“Thanks, kiddo.” He cupped her cheek, staining her with blood.

She squeezed him back. “You good to get up and leave?”

“Should be.” He used her shoulder for support in standing.

“Back in a moment.” She went to take care of Serena, when more unearthly snarls and warring sounds came from further down the tunnel.

Apricot characters flashed in her eyes, and they widened with terror. Using her magick drained some of the vividness and potency.

“Raze!” Supergal scrunched her hand, glancing between her leader and possibly her mate in trouble.

My guts hardened. I knew that look. She was going to abandon her duty and go to his rescue.

“I’m sorry, Serena.” She withdrew three steps. “I’ve got to go.”

“Go!” Our leader waved her away, her pallor too pale for my liking. “I’m not that bad.”

Knoxe caught her before she could make a break for it. “How do you know he’s here?”

“I can feel him through our mate bond,” she said. “He’s hurt. Let me go. Get Pascal, Serena, and Dad back to the Guardians.”

No way would Knoxe go for that. After she got hurt by vampires, he went into ultra protective mode, and barely left her side.

“I’ve got her!” I shouted at him, and he surprised me, reluctantly releasing her, knowing she must do this to save her mate.

Supergal already earned the title, but today, she ascended into the next level of superheroes.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” I told Pascal.

“Go with her.” He pushed away from me and limped to Knoxe, who caught him.

Boots grinded on sand as Supergal took off again and disappeared down another tunnel.

Knoxe leaned Pascal against the wall and bent down to staunch Serena’s weeping chest.

“They came out of nowhere.” Our leader’s rasp chased us into the darkness.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you back.” She groaned as Knoxe lifted her. “Stay with me, Serena.”

Fuck, Mads, help her make it. I sent up a prayer to my god as I jogged as fast as I could on weaker legs.

He wasn’t exactly the right person to pray to in this instance when he had no control over life and death, but he was resourceful and clever, and I didn’t care what amount of debt I needed to get into with him so long as my friends and girlfriend survived.

Supergal and I tracked the human screams and beastly fighting noises to a dimly lit opening in the wall. The closer we got, the nastier the roars, flesh tearing, whines, bricks smashing, and struggle. The hard knot in my gut turned to ice. If that was Raze, he didn’t sound like he won.

“Get him!” a panicked male ordered.

Magick went off like fireworks and exploded into the tunnel.

“Raze!” Supergal’s palms charged so brightly that I knew she was about to let off a nuclear explosion.

“Supergal, no!” I tried to catch her before she hurt whoever was in there, but I wasn’t fast enough, steady enough, and she slipped from my reach.

A loud clap of magick detonated in front of me as she directed all her power at whoever was inside. I flinched at every yelp, splat, and body dropping.

Don’t let it be Raze’s. I sent up another prayer to anyone who heard it.

Supergal’s palms covered her mouth as she arrived at the space, me hot on her heels, surveying the bloody, slippery mess similar to what she did to the Lycan who attacked her father.

Seven bloodied figures covered in Lycan goo took stock of their sudden change in fortune. Supergal’s pals, Luna, Blaze, Talon, Gable, Cole, and two Tollens I didn’t recognize.

“Astra?” Cole’s amber eyes blinked, and he swiped at the mess on his face. “Was that you?”

“Damn straight! She loves to make an entrance.” I shook her shoulders, which I grabbed to steady her amid the slip and slide. My little hero did it! What a spectacle to behold.

Questions scratched at my mind. “What are you doing here?”

Talon took over for his stunned companions. “We came to confiscate the means the gantii traffickers are using to cross untraceable portals.”

“Good thing we found you and Supergal saved your asses.” I went to pat his shoulder and rethought that idea.

“Raze!” Supergal moaned, wrestling for me to let her go to meet her man, who slumped in the corner, his chest torn up pretty badly.

Blood poured out of a nasty bite on his neck. “Little Wo…” he gurgled.

“Don’t move, buddy,” I told him. “Supergal’s got you. Just stay put, okay?”

The last thing we needed was his beast freaking out and hurting her.

Supergal sobbed as she pumped pale orange equations into him. Not enough to do all the job, but enough to stop the bleeding and close the gashed tissue. Raze stroked her hair, getting it wet and sticky.

Her friends gave us a moment.

“Jes, get a stretcher for the wounded,” Talon ordered one of his Tollens.

She, Cole, Blaze, and the other two Tollens dragged the bodies of fugitives to one wall, then packed up the equipment they used for transporting themselves to different locations.

Supergal took his hand. “Your heart is struggling. Did you get bitten?”

Raze brushed his neck. “He got a few good ones in, but so did I.”

Supergal charged up her magick to clear away the Lycan venom from his system, but her earlier expenditure meant she only summoned meagre symbols, and none that would form the equation she needed to heal him.

“Shit! I’m too weak,” she panted.

An idea snapped to mind, something I read from a comic.

“Take my hand, Supergal.” I claimed hers, squeezing it. “Use me as a battery and take what you need to fix him.”

She blinked up at me.

Luna fell in line on her other side, clasping Supergal’s hand. “Use me too.”

Blaze settled behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “And me.”

“Hell, me too, Covalent Bonds.” Gable squished into the small space and rested his hand on her other shoulder.

“Okay.” She swiped at her tears, her voice unsure.

“If anyone can do this, it’s you, Chemistry Nerd,” I told her. “Find the equation that sources the power from us. Even if it’s just one of us.”

She nodded, sorting through hundreds of equations that flashed slower than her regular speed.

“I found it.” She crushed my and Luna’s hands, using what little strength she had left.

Weakness numbed me, and I struggled to keep my body and head upright. Equations fired in the space between Supergal and Raze, and magick soaked into him. Torn flesh in his wounds repaired with rapid speed. He groaned again, this time not in pain. His eyelids cracked open, and his mouth parted.

“It’s working, Little Wolf,” he croaked, watching the silvery venom ooze from the bite marks in his neck.

She sniffed, smiled, and kept going, taking what she needed until he pressed his hand over his heart. Then she threw herself at him, climbing on his thick thighs, curling over him, hugging him tightly and sobbing into his chest, not a care in the world of the goo squelching between them.

Luna grinned at me and raised her arm sloppily. “High five?”

“Well done, Supergal and team.” I feebly slapped Luna’s palm and laughed.

“I’m so tired.” Luna tried to stand but needed help from her men.

Tell me about it. My little hero took it out of me, and I needed a rest.

Cole lifted me to standing, holding me upright, patting me on the chest. “You good to stand?”

“In a little bit,” I said, remembering breathing when my lungs burned.

I’d been so worried about Raze not making it and Supergal getting injured that I hadn’t taken in air in a long time.

“I’ve got you, buddy.” Cole laughed and clapped my chest again.

“I’m good,” I told Cole, knowing he was needed elsewhere.

He released me and got busy with his team. I focused on calming my erratic heartbeat and flooding my body with oxygen.

Supergal murmured into Raze’s chest, and he rumbled at her. He didn’t have the aggressive edge he did from our last meeting, and I felt safe with her near him.

Talon cleared his throat. “I hate to break up the moment. But we should clear out of here in case of further gantii ambushes.”

Agreed. Whoever sent the Lycans likely also worked with the vamps.

Gable, Luna, and Blaze peeled away to assist their team in evacuating.

“Typical of the Guardians to leave us with all the heavy lifting,” Jes teased, jerking her thumb at the prisoners she dragged aside for us.

“Speak for yourselves, slackers,” I quipped. “We’re taking a much-needed rest after saving your skins.”

She snorted, pocketing the red jewel and cleared out the equipment, exiting via the portal.

I got in contact with Knoxe, patching through our coordinates to send a team to collect the unconscious prisoners in T-minus ten minutes to give Supergal and Raze a moment together.

I dropped beside his huge Lycan form and leaned my head on the side of his arm, enjoying the coarseness of his fur.

“You’re really sexy with all the fur. A big teddy bear. I can see why Supergal loves werewolves.” I lifted his arm and tucked it over me, hoping to warm his chilled, shocked body. “Take all the wolf cuddles you want within the next nine minutes thirty seconds.”

He laughed and snorted out air, crushing me to his side. “Come here and give me some love.”

Supergal giggled and sniffed. “I love you both so much.”

I poked her nose. “Don’t forget the Lycan dick you promised to magick for me, Supergal. Hope you got some more juice in the tank.”

“You wish,” Raze rumbled, alternating between sniffing mine and her hair, and I finally got the appeal of Supergal enjoying werewolf romances with all the attention.

“A promise is a promise,” I said.

“I never promised,” Supergal snarked back.

I took her hand and squeezed. “You promised one monster dick.”

“You think I have a monster dick?” Raze joined in, and in that moment, I realized just how much I missed the big, stoic guy.

“Don’t be modest.” I stroked his dark pelt. “That’s a kraken compared to my Great White Shark.”

Supergal buried her laugh in his fur.

Raze’s chest wheezed out a stuttered rumble. “You’ve been entertaining yourselves with monster porn without me?”

I circled his hairy nipple. “It’s been boring without you.”

“You’re all perverts.” Raze chuckled.

“Yeah, we are.” Supergal rested her head back on his chest, her smile full of reassurance that everything was going to be all right.

The battle was over. For now. Who knew how many more we had to face. I took comfort in the small win and the closeness of my non-biological family.