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“Ava?”
Instantly, he was on his knees beside her, grabbing at the stakes to free her. Though her eyes were wide with fear, she wasn’t seeing him. Ava was trapped in her own personal hell, the demons of her past sabotaging her attempts to get free.
Above their heads, a drone hovered, recording their every movement. Growling at it, Remmus psychically dipped into its hard drive, allowing his technopathic gift to guide him through the machinery. He found that it’d been deployed only minutes after Ava exited the building, had followed her into the wilds outside the plant and waited for her to drop her guard.
The drone had hunted her.
White spotted along the edges of his vision as he attempted to disable it—but the precision control he’d commanded before the psychic poisoning simply wasn’t there.
Sneering, Remmus’ gift ripped through the software without finesse instead, but not before the drone had broadcast their location to every Citizens guard within the surrounding area. They had been waiting for her.
“Hold on, Blondie,” he cooed, attempting to soothe the wildness of Ava’s eyes. “I’m going to free you.”
Remmus was still recovering from the psychic fire and resulting coma, and his strength was depleted. Pulling at the stakes, the silver netting burned into his palms and seared the flesh of his fingers before he was even able to remove one from the ground.
With a grunt of effort, one gave way, and another followed. Then another, and another, until the woman beneath was finally free. He hauled the caustic web off her body just as gunfire sounded behind them.
Without thinking, he threw himself over Ava, covering her and throwing up the best air shield he could muster to protect them. His heart caught in his throat as he realized they were being boxed in, the gunfire’s aim high and entirely non-violent.
When he attempted to teleport them to safety, nothing happened—he was simply too weak to move both of them. He refused to save himself, and when he tried to teleport only Ava to another location, it failed, and he nearly vomited at the kickback.
Below him, Ava finally regained some semblance of sanity and shifted to catch his eye. “Remmus. You’re awake.”
“Hate to tell you, Blondie, but we might not stay alive long enough to enjoy that.”
“Go!” came her stark demand. “You can teleport yourself away. Please, go—get to safety!”
“No can do, my love. Abandoning you is no longer in my wheelhouse.”
Even as he spoke the words, he could feel his shield faltering, the little remaining strength depleted. Ava saw the truth of it in his eyes. As the Citizens guards surrounded them, her hands gently reached up to caress the sides of his jaw, delicate and sure.
“I love you, Remmus,” she whispered. “I always have. I always will.”
“I’ve never stopped loving you, Ava.” Squeezing his eyes shut, he gasped as his strength began to dry. “I can’t hold it. I’m so sorry.”
As the shield snapped out of existence with an audible pop, the voices of the Citizens guards assaulted their ears. The braying of commands, the shuffling of feet, the distant whir of snowmobiles: this was the beginning of the end. He clutched her close, whispering an apology, as they both prepared for the inevitability of what’d come.
With his eyes closed, Remmus didn’t recognize when the tide of battle suddenly shifted. An influx of psychic energy stormed against his senses, accompanying the sudden arrival of innumerable Raeths and werewolves.
Their backup came out shooting. Not one to ask questions, Remmus continued to shield Ava with his body, trusting that those who’d stepped up had come with good intentions, but leaving nothing to chance. His mate was his to protect.
Everywhere he looked, wolves and Raeths decimated the threat posed against them.
He closed his eyes to shut out the violence that charged the air around them, hoping that the carnage would end with no victims on the immortals’ side. Though every yelp of pain and every growl resonated deeply, nothing could take away from this moment.
Soon enough, they’d won. Riaz and Aidan stood side by side with Kaien, all three of them splattered with blood. Zeke and two of his lieutenants were at his back, staring at them with an unreadable look.
Though the silver burns on her skin were already fading, Remmus’ attention was on his mate, making sure she was unharmed. The bone-deep lethargy that’d seeped into his bones would have to wait.
Over this shoulder, Ava’s attention fixated on another as she mouthed something, but Remmus didn’t stop to examine the interaction.
His focus was blurring, and blinking did him no good. Exhaustion made his eyelids heavy and his movements jerky, and suddenly, it was all he could do to keep upright.
“I think I’d like to go back to Nina’s house now.”
Soft and tentative, Ava’s request had even Riaz sobering. She nudged Remmus gently, attempting to provoke a response from him. In reply, his eyelids lifted slowly—too slowly—and his customary grin was jaded with fatigue.
“I could take a nap or ten.”
