Her feet kicked helplessly as I lifted her into the air. The other female lunged for me, but I caught her by the neck too and lifted them both high into the sky. Their faces morphed from a Demon red to a satisfying purple.

“Where is my mate?” I growled as they clawed uselessly at my arms.

The Illusionist pressed her mouth into a thin line. Hayyel’s lips mouthed nothing but panic and lies. With a crunch of my fist, I ended the first and tossed her away like a broken prey.

Hayyel, I eased to the ground. Two bloody corpses rose again and dragged her to her knees. She thrashed against my dead’s hold. I called a third to yank her head back.

With an animalistic growl, I curved down, my face inches from hers. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” she choked out, tears leaking down her face.

Pathetic.

“Are you stupid or were you bluffing?” I snarled, my fingers itching to reach forward and choke her again.

“B-bluffing,” she coughed out. “She went down, but then your dead arrived and I lost track of her.”

Hope twisted my heart. She could still be alive, our bond muted by Hayyel’s magic.

I found my sword a few feet away, caked in mud and blood. Flipping the hilt in my hand, I leveled a feral, hateful glare on her. “No one, and I mean no one, who dares to harm my mate lives.”

With one powerful thrust, I split her in the middle. Ruby spittle flew from her mouth and landed on my armor. But it was already soaked in Angel blood. One more stain meant nothing.

Next, I grabbed a dagger and dug it into her arm. She screamed, but that only furthered my pleasure. I dragged it along the length of her bicep, splitting muscle until I saw the white flash of bone.

A wicked, evil laugh rumbled in my chest. I dug my fingers in, wrapping around it. Crimson poured out of her, coating my hand, but I didn’t care. In fact, I very much enjoyed it, especially as her cries grew more and more frantic.

“This is for daring to swing a sword in her direction.”

I yanked.

The bone ripped free. Tendons popped, audible over the cacophony of battle.

A piercing wail, sharp enough to be another incoming psionic blast, tore from her throat. The Angels around us whipped their attention to our altercation.

I raised the bone high like a scepter. Held their gazes. Let the beast inside me loose.

“Surrender now and you won’t face the same fate,” I bellowed in Angelic, voice booming over the battlefield.

Then, I redrew my dagger. In one swift slice, I swept it across Hayyel’s throat. Not deep enough to kill her immediately, though. She’d drown in her own blood first.

I kicked her chest, flattening her on the ground, then directed my dead toward the remaining Angels, fighting against the Demons who had flocked to me in my time of need.

Hundreds of my bodies spread across the battlefield, ripping at the limbs of the Angels. A wave of fatigue swept over me as I faced the direction I’d last seen my mate.

Bone in hand, I hunted her. I had to find her. Had to give her this gift.

But with no bond to lead me to her, I was lost. Adrift in the dark. My side, where I always tucked her for safekeeping, was cold, empty, when it should have been warmed by her presence. We were made to walk the dark together.

I wasn’t sure I could follow the path without her anymore.

Grem and Zeec raced in sweeping arcs around me, sniffing the ground in search of her. Piles and piles of Demons and Angels did not reveal my mate. The sounds of battle muted to a buzzing in the background as fear sank its claws into my chest again.

What if she had died?

A sob cracked out of me. I couldn’t fucking breathe without her.

Wind blasted across the grassy field, and among the metallic tang of blood was a hint of a garden. Grem and Zeec, their noses far more sensitive than mine, halted. Heads uplifted, nostrils flaring, they inhaled deeply.

And then took off at a run.

I sprinted, trusting my hounds to lead me home.

Leaping over corpses, dodging half-broken weapons protruding from the earth, we raced back toward the academy. The hounds halted at an outcropping some distance away.

My lungs burned as I approached, but I didn’t slow until I was upon it.

And there, lying on the ground, covered in blood, was my mate.

Movement from above had me throwing myself over her. Pain speared into my ribs as someone stabbed me. I whipped around, hand snapping out, only to find Vokkia gaping at me with wide-eyed horror. A dagger fell from her palm a moment later.

“Oh, fuck, Halálhívó, sir, I am so sorry.” She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Clasping her hands together, she prostrated herself. “Please forgive me. I reacted when I saw movement, before I realized you weren’t an Angel come to finish off the Szélhámos.”

My fury abated immediately. She’d acted out of loyalty to my mate.

“You may rise,” I commanded, and she did, though her entire frame trembled. “You followed your orders exactly, soldier. There is nothing to forgive.”

“She saved me,” Assyria coughed, and I faced my mate again.

“Little imposter,” I breathed, kneeling in front of her. “I thought I lost you.”

She offered me a weak smile. Her helmet had been discarded and rested against the ground beside her. A hand pressed into her bad shoulder, and garnet leaked between her fingers. “You’ll always be able to find me. Even if I run.”

The echoes of our first conversation speared into my heart. A choking sound escaped me as I swept her into my arms. I crushed her against my chest like I could plant her vast love there so I’d never be without it again.

“Assyria, Assyria, Assyria,” I repeated her name like a whispered prayer. Like words of gratitude to the Fates. “I will always be able to find you, mate.”

Our bond flickered like a struck match in an endless night. I nearly wept from the relief of it.

Releasing her and easing her back against the rock, I grabbed the bone and offered it to her, along with a dip of my head. Her delicious lips curled into a wicked smile like I’d handed her a crown. “This is for you. After all, the Szélhámos needs a seat beside the Halálhívó. What better day to start building it than today?”

The lust that blasted our bond made me want to fuck her right then and there. She plucked it from my palm, boasting a devious grin. “My protector. My Halálhívó. My Fate.”

“That’s fucking right,” I ground out, cupping her cheek and smearing more ruby on it.

A moan tore my attention from her and toward Rapp. The spell between us broken, we both rushed to his side. “He overdid it,” Assyria explained. “He might have pulled something again. He dove into the Angel to save me. Vokkia dragged us both to safety.”

Rapp coughed, his brows pinched in pain. “I’ll be alright.”

“No,” I snapped. “Both of you, back to the academy. We’re almost done here.”

“But I can fight through the pain. I’m already feeling–” Assyria started, but I silenced her with a heated glare.

“You will go, and you will not argue.” My attention ripped to Vokkia, ensuring she saw the seriousness etched into my face. She offered me a subtle nod, confirming she’d escort them back.

“Then release some of your dead so you don’t burn yourself out,” she hissed back, inky tendrils dripping from her palms and wrapping around Rapp.

She had a point. The sheer number I’d wielded had nearly drained my well to its dregs. Only wisps of smoke remained where the inky shadow had been. I rose, then selectively dropped bodies. From what I could see, though, they’d made quite a dent and allowed the Demon soldiers to recover from the psionic wave. Only a few thousand Angels remained, and even more Demons lived.

“Go. I’ll finish this.”

This time, she didn’t argue. With Vokkia’s assistance, the three hobbled back toward the academy. When they disappeared down the hill, I faced the battle again. I needed to find that fucking psionic-wielding Angel and get some answers out of him.