Khalon's Blood (Indra's Heart, #2)

THIRTEEN | 53

Tyce falls to the ground, and Andrew's horrified scream pulls me out of my robotic trance long enough for my opponent's blade to rip through my skin. I clutch my arm, watching Andrew's visible distress for his teammate be the very reason he joins him in defeat.

The nobelist of distraction.

"No!" I yell, feeling the hot liquid pour from my wound.

Like a domino effect, Number Eight's selfless act has thrown us all off course, and now we have two injured members of The Elite unconscious in enemy territory. Both males' chests are heaving up and down, Tyce in his human state, Andrew in his wolf form. We still have time to save them. But how?

"Get them in the middle pronto!" I instruct, taking the approaching brute's weapon, and jamming it in his throat. We move as one, walking over our soldiers to protect them with our fortress, and Sierra wraps an arm around each of their necks to help drag them along. "Make the circle tighter!"

A tiny explosion of glass catches my attention in all of the noise, and chills run up my body. Not now! Yet still, I ask the question that I already know the answer to. "What was that?"

"Ahh! The elf-eye shattered." Will fires his last bullet, blinding an Orvex guard in one eye, and making him an easy target for Nova to finish. Then he knocks another one across the face with the butt of the gun.

He has heart, for a human.

The opposition continues multiplying the closer we get to the vehicle, and the constant exertion has weakened my knees. But even when I sustain another blow to my back, I do not fall. It is by the grace of the Moon Goddess and the blood of Alpha Chantel running through my veins.

"It is too many of them!" Cataleya's face is pink as she rapidly nears her limit. "The elf-eye was our only hope. This may be it."

"Number One, duck!" Nova remains the most vigilant. Venom in her eyes when she snaps the wrist of a female guard, and prevents a second one from jabbing me in the ribs.

"I cannot thank you enough, Number two." I breathe, keeping the pressure on my arm.

"I have your back, always!" She nods.

The Orvex guards suddenly make way for a slender gray wolf charging towards us at maximum speed. Not just any canine either.

Alpha Nuavin.

He leaps, aiming his head for the center of our circle with the intention to annihilate our most vulnerable members.

Before anyone reacts, the sun is eclipsed by a flying animal, and everyone's body is slammed onto the ground, the Alpha taking the brunt of the force. The battle has ceased involuntarily. We are unable to move a muscle, courtesy of a blinking glass sphere that has been thrown into the chaos. Blood has soaked the soil, its metallic scent creeping into my nose as the side of my face rests in it.

"Hiylo, finally." Cataleya closes her eyes, relief neutralizing her expression.
The gryphon descends gracefully, its feathers and fur unstained unlike the scene beneath it. Three elves jump off the beast, two females, one male. The shortest one's eyes no longer glow their yellow hue, and have returned to a chocolate brown shade.

Her Zenith Sryx has come to the rescue for the last time. I shut my eyes, to keep the grateful tears at bay. She has truly earned her title as Andrew's guardian elf.

She taps the blinking glass sphere, and gravity lessons for the six of us, but keeps the Orvex natives captive. Her Zenith Xorett and Her Zenith Exo collect Number Eight and Number Nine, loading them onto the massive saddle.