Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
“Sure.”
Raighne sits down beside me and wraps his arm tightly around my shoulders, nudging me to lean into his side. I feel his mouth against my hair and close my eyes.
Lydia. Where are you?
Chapter 30
Alchera
“Shut up! Face down!” Lydia is lying on the floor, her eyes wildly flitting between the men who are dressed in camouflage gear, giving me the impression they’re rebels.
“Where’s the medicine?” One of the men demands in broken English, the whites of his eyes yellow and bulging with hatred.
“In that cabinet…over there,” a man answers, pointing somewhere behind them. “But it’s all we have. Please don’t…”
One of the rebels lifts his rifle and smashes the back of it against the man’s head. He repeatedly beats the poor man until he sinks down to his knees, begging for mercy.
“Stop,” Lydia cries. “We’re just doctors.”
“Shut up! I will string you up and gut you like pigs,” the rebel spits the words at them, pointing the rifle at the beaten man’s head.
Another rebel, who’s standing by the doorway, moves closer with a savage expression on his face.
I stand frozen in pure horror. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
“We’ll listen. We don’t want any trouble,” the beaten-up doctor tries to appease him. Blood seeps from the deep gashes on his face and head. He tries to move backward as he looks at them with terror.
“You think you can look at me? You think you’re better than me?” The rebel lifts his rifle, and the next moment, he fires several shots at the doctor.
My hands fly up to cover my mouth as horror fills my pounding heart. I wish Ares was here to shimmer Lydia away from this dangerous situation.
Lydia lets out a cry, her face pale and tense from shock.
“You are his woman?” the African man grabs Lydia by the arm and yanks her to her feet.
“Bring all the medicine!” another rebel orders from the entrance to the makeshift medical facility. “If you kill them all, we won’t get medicine next time.”
The one holding Lydia’s arm shoves her hard, and she falls to the floor.
I come to with a jolt, and just reacting, I pull away from Raighne and rush to Ares. Grabbing hold of his arm, I say, “Take me to her.”
“Wait,” I hear Raighne snap, but it’s too late as Ares immediately shimmers us away.
We appear right in the middle of the chaos left behind where Lydia’s checking the other doctor’s vitals. Her head snaps to us, and seeing the fear on her face makes me want to hug her so badly.
“It’s okay,” I say as I cautiously move closer to her. “I’m here to help you.”
Considering that we just appeared out of thin air, it doesn’t exactly make Lydia trust us. She darts toward a medical cart and grabs hold of a scalpel, even more scared of us than she was of the rebels who just attacked them.
Ares moves fast, surprising even me, and he grabs hold of Lydia. She shrieks and drops the scalpel, taking desperate and terrified gulps of air.
“Ares, let’s get out of here,” I say, my words rushed. “She’s terrified, and this isn’t making the situation any better.”
I take hold of his arm, and the next second, he shimmers us back to Doug and Sarah’s house.
When we appear, Lydia sinks to her knees and wraps an arm around her stomach. “Oh God.”
Dylan and Jason hurry to her side, and I leave them to explain everything to Lydia once she recovers from Ares shimmering us from Africa to Ireland.
Another one down. Two to go.
Raighne grabs hold of my arm, and I’m yanked down the hallway. Practically shoving me into one of the bedrooms, he slams the door shut behind us.
When he turns to face me, and I see the anger etched deep into his features, I exhale an exhausted breath.
“I don’t have the energy to fight with you right now,” I mutter as I move away from him.
When I sit down on the side of the bed, he growls, “Never fucking do that again. You go nowhere alone with Ares.”
My shoulders sag, and glancing down, I see the blood covering my shirt.
Memories of what happened after I got shot flit through my mind until the image of Void hovering over me makes me freeze.
Raighne stalks toward me, and wrapping his arms around me, he presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Don’t think about him.”
I tilt my head back so I can look at Raighne’s face, his anger from a second ago now gone.
“Who is he?” I ask.
“Where Awo is light, Void is darkness. He rules over the shadowlands on Vaalbara.” Raighne brushes a hand over my messy hair. “Thinking about him gives him access to your mind. Just block him.”
Easier said than done.
Letting out a sigh, I lean into Raighne and close my eyes. “Two more to go.”