A lazy half smile was on his face. “You liked it. Admit it.”
His warm breath teased my face as he leaned down, bringing our mouths closer, and the tips of our noses brushed.
Now was not exactly the time to be thinking about kissing Dash, but I really, really wanted his lips pressed to mine. I was insane. The Night’s Guard was hunting us and, like Blink said, all I could think about was sucking face with Dash.
He turned his head so our lips aligned without our noses getting in the way. I held my breath in anticipation. Right as our lips were about to touch, Dash reacted.
His body twisted, his arms raised, and he threw a knife that was suddenly in his hand.
Where had that come from?
The blade sunk into a guard’s thigh, and he went down like a paper sack.
“Your timing really sucks.” Dash stood up, his feet eating up the ground to reach the groaning guard. He threw a punch to his nose, knocking the guard out cold. “Don’t you know the bro code? Never interfere when a dude’s about to kiss a pretty girl.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Is he always this impressed with himself?” Blink asked.
“Always,” I replied.
“You’re not done yet, Slayer. When have you ever known the Night’s Guard to send only one soldier?”
Blink was right. A tall and broad man with olive skin covered in tattoos stepped out of the brush. His hair was buzzed so close to his skull that it was hard to distinguish the color. He had no weapon in his hand, but that meant nothing nowadays. Often the ones who didn’t need weapons were deadlier, Dash being the exception. I also noticed he wasn’t wearing the standard blue uniform, instead this guy looked like he had just left a biker bar.
Dash took one look at the guard and crooked his finger at him. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Harley.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Harley growled.
Dash stepped in front of me, becoming a dangerous obstacle. “I can get behind that thought process.”
“Um, I thought the Institute wanted us alive,” I mumbled.
A tight smiled pulled at his lips. “This guy is making it personal.”
Wonderful. My fingers grabbed on to the hilt of my dagger as Harley took the first swing directly at Dash’s face. Dash was wicked fast. He sidestepped Harley’s fist and pivoted, planting his foot into the small of Harley’s back, who stumbled a step or two but recovered quickly.
I decided it was a good time to make what was becoming my signature move. Hurling a bolt of lightning at Harley, I waited for the spear of energy to hit its mark. Imagine my surprise when it pinged off his skin like he was made of rubber.
For the love of—
Harley threw back his head and laughed.
“That was funny?” Dash asked. “Then you’re going to find this hilarious.” He lunged forward, slamming his blade into the guard’s chest.
“You’re right. That was hilarious.” Harley swung out, catching Dash on the side of his face with enough force to send him sailing into the air.
Dash lifted his head, spitting blood on the ground. “Well, that’s never happened before.”
My mouth dropped open.
This was bad in epic proportions.
Dash and the guard wasted no time going at each other. Fists flying. Dodging. Dipping. Kicking the crap out of each other. He deliberately pushed me out of the fight and made certain the guard concentrated solely on him. “Why don’t you take your smug, condescending face back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of?”
“I’ll take you with me first,” the guard promised.
Nothing we did seemed to penetrate this dude’s skin. It was inhuman, as many of the Institute’s lackeys were. Dash was keeping him occupied, but for how long? He was bound to get tired. I thought about giving him a break and drew Harley’s focus to me, regretting it the moment he started stomping straight at me. In a moment of sheer panic, I blanked. All my training at the Institute flew out the window. Dash screamed my name as I caught a glint of something shiny in Harley’s hand. It was Dash’s dagger. He must have dropped it after getting backhanded. “You want a piece of me, doll?”
“Do I ever.” No one hit the guy I was in love with. I didn’t care how thick his skin was. Everyone had a weakness, and I was determined to find his. Thrusting out my leg a second before he had a chance to swipe at me with the knife, I hit him in the stomach. The guard exhaled roughly but stayed on his feet.
Damn.
The bastard moved fast for someone so big. Lifting his hand into the air, he arched the knife straight at me. Oh my God. He was going to kill me.
Dash was suddenly in front of me, throwing himself into the line of fire. I blinked, wondering what trick he had up his sleeve, but as the blade plunged straight into his gut, it became clear his ploy wasn’t to stop the guard but to take the hit for me.
No! No! No!
Shock shot through his silver eyes, and a cold, hard reality settled inside me. Dash was injured.
My brain clicked off. The sight of his blood caused something inside me to snap. The air pressure drastically changed. The wind picked up to frightening speeds. A series of lightning spears crackled across the sky one after another, building the electrical current surrounding me. The pressure caused my hair to float up, swirling around my face as the air reached uncomfortable levels of heat.
Harley took a wise step back, but he was a fool if he thought I would let him get away, not after what he had just done. The energy inside me expanded to a point where I might burst, and in a way, I did.
A sudden flash of brightness erupted from my fingers as bright as the sun—a solar flare. I’d done some pretty remarkable things with my new abilities, but this took the cake. The flare hit the guard, burning him alive within seconds. The sounds of his screams echoed in my ears, and I felt no remorse.
Harley was toast. Literally. His skin was charred, and the smell in the air made my stomach churn. I had done that. I had barbequed a man.
That was one very wicked geomagnetic storm.
“God, that was hot. Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Dash groaned, clutching his wound. His back hit a tree trunk as he leaned on it for support.
I rushed to him. “Don’t you dare die on me! Do you hear me?”
“The whole forest can hear you. You’re yelling.”
I took one look at the blood pooling on his shirt and the waterworks came flooding. Tears streamed like a river down my face. What was I supposed to do? I had to save him, but how? I didn’t have healing powers. We were hours from Hurst—the only town I knew in the area—and while I bawled like a baby, Dash was bleeding all over the ground.
In the distance, a shrilling squawk sounded. Blink dove down from the sky, wings spread, as he flew to the ground beside me. “The world must be going to shit if the Slayer has fallen.”
“Blink,” I sobbed. “What do I do?”
“Why are you looking at me? I’m just a freaking bird.”
We both knew Blink was anything but just a bird, and now was not the time for him to take an attitude with me. “He can’t die.”