Marked (25 page)

“Bullshit.” Zane didn’t even look her way. “Stop being a coward.”

Suri frowned. “You know, I have a better idea. How about I kill her, and you watch?” Silver flashed, and a Degoller Star filled his palm. He flexed his hand and threw.

“No!” Zane yelled, leaping across the cavern.

Janie cried out and tried to duck, but Suri was too fast.

Kalin growled and jumped in front of her, his hands still bound. The star slashed through his neck, and he fell to the ground.

Janie dropped to her knees, reaching for him.

Shock covered his face. His eyes closed, and his head rolled into the fissure.

Zane blinked, his gaze focusing on his pregnant mate. She sat on the floor, pale and trembling next to Kalin’s headless corpse.

The Kurjan had saved her.

Suri swore, and the world narrowed to the threat he posed.

Zane lunged across the schism and tackled his uncle, throwing them both into a series of boulders. Pain ripped down his spine, and rock splinters stabbed his neck. Blood still poured from his chest wounds, and his knees felt like rubber from transporting one last time.

But if this were his final moment, he’d take Suri with him.

He turned his head to capture Janie’s attention and get one more glimpse of the woman who held his soul. “Get to the lift and then run.”

Suri grappled him into a headlock, and Zane had to concentrate on living long enough to give Janie a chance at survival. A slim chance, but if anybody could live through this, it’d be Janie Belle Kayrs.

Just the thought of her name awakened something inside him. Deep and strong . . . and beyond his current limitations.

Using Suri’s chest as a fulcrum, Zane flipped his feet over them both, landing on his knees above Suri’s head and jerking free his neck. He clapped both hands into a solid fist and drove down into Suri’s nose.

Blood arced almost in slow motion across the cavern.

Suri punched up. Zane’s jaw cracked, and unbelievable pain threw him back into a solid sheet of rock. His head hit and then his shoulders, the impact ricocheting down his body.

The earth rumbled in absolute fury. The fissure widened, and several smaller branches broke from the main one.

Zane blinked and fought for consciousness. Across the cavern, Janie had risen to her feet, her hands settled protectively across her belly, a look of hard determination blanketing her delicate face. She leaped across the widening gap in the earth and dropped to scrabble through the rocks shifting and falling all around.

“Get out of here,” Zane yelled.

Suri turned and stood, his chin down, the promise of death glowing in his black eyes. He stood tall and formidable—an ancient demon with unimaginable power. “I gave you everything.”

Zane snarled and spat blood. The monster had beaten him, threatened him, and made most of his childhood hell. Even worse, he’d turned Zane into a killer. “I thank God every day my father had years with me before you stepped in.” God only knew what kind of beast Zane would be without his father’s guidance and his mother’s love. And Janie’s. “You’re never going to have the chance to harm any of my family.”

Suri’s fangs shot out. “I should’ve killed you on day one.”

Zane allowed his fangs to descend. “You really should have.” Drawing on a strength taught by his father, he crouched and then attacked. Fists flying, knees lifting, elbows swinging, he went at Suri with everything he’d ever had.

Suri countered, crushing Zane’s rib with one hard punch.

Zane dropped to one knee.

Suri chuckled and drew a Degoller Star from his back pocket. Silver glinted in the dim light, brighter than possible.

Janie cried out.

The Prophesies of Arias volume flew across the room and smashed into a wall. Pages whipped open. A shriek of unimaginable decibels roared from the pages.

Zane’s brain swelled against his skull.

Suri growled at the book and then advanced toward his nephew, lifting the deadly weapon.

“Zane!” Janie threw the other star toward him. Still coated with Kalin’s blood, the star spun wickedly through the air, spraying red.

Zane ducked, and the weapon wisped by his ear to embed itself in rock.

Suri laughed and lifted his arm.

Zane shoved pain, fear, and humanity to hell and let the demon inside him trump all else. His eyes stung, no doubt turning all black. He twisted on his one knee, yanked the star from the stone, and drove up just as Suri swung down.

Suri’s star sliced across Zane’s shoulder.

Zane’s aim stayed true, and he sliced the sharp disk into Suri’s trachea. The demon leader gasped, his hands grabbing the star. Zane let his momentum propel him into his uncle, and they both crashed to the ground. Another fissure opened up beneath Suri, spreading out from his waist.

Suri bucked, his hands sliding through the blood on the weapon.

Zane straddled him, his vision wavering. He wrapped both hands over Suri’s on the star and turned to seek his mate. She stood on the other side of the cavern, pale, visibly trembling. “Get out, Belle. Before he dies, get out.”

She looked down at her protruding stomach and nodded.

Zane shut his eyes. He could kill Suri and take the responding explosion into his body. To save Janie and their son. He could do it. Suri’s struggles gained force, and Zane’s hands lost dexterity.

He leaned up and stared directly into his uncle’s black eyes. “For my family.” Letting out a warrior’s battle cry, he shoved with all his weight. The star cut to the stone—through muscle, tissue, and bone.

Blood gurgled from Suri’s mouth, which dropped open in an expression of pure shock.

Zane released the star and grabbed Suri’s hair, yanking his head from his body with a sickening wet sound.

For the smallest of moments, death held peace.

Then a wave of deadly power exploded out, throwing Zane into a table. Agony lanced down his back. He dropped to his knees. The air morphed and turned brown, the oxygen flashing with sparks. Wind somehow burst through the cavern with a painful keening.

Blood dripped from Zane’s eyes, turning the world red. The earth bucked in displeasure, ripples turning into earthquakes.

God. What had he done?

Pressure built, heavy and devastating. The earth began to fold in on herself, sending out shock waves for miles.

Janie emitted a powerful cry of denial, hopping over fissures to reach him in a low tackle, landing on him. “Hold on.” Grabbing him tight, she yanked him out of hell.

 

Peace and warmth. Zane opened his eyes to the oddest sense of safety. He blinked and sat up on heated sand in their dream world. “Belle?”

She lay next to him and pushed herself up on hands and knees, looking around. “Oh.”

Zane glanced down at Suri lying beneath him. “How?”

“I don’t know.” Janie stood up and brushed sand off her jeans. “But we only have seconds.”

Zane stood, battered and bleeding, and kicked his uncle over onto his back. Suri’s mouth remained open, his eyes wide in death.

“Ouch.” She grabbed her belly and grimaced.

“What?” Panic swelled and choked him.

She shook her head. “Not now. God. We have to get out of here.”

Zane tried to force thoughts through his muddled head. How many concussions did he have, anyway? The sky opened up above him, red lightning flashing against black clouds. The entire dream world wobbled.

The air chilled to freezing.

A figure hovered near the tree line. Kalin? Zane shook his head, trying to focus. The Kurjan was almost transparent, and his greenish purple eyes glowed through a rapidly thickening mist.

Janie stilled. “Kalin? Why are you here?”

The Kurjan smiled with blood-red lips. “I’m just passing through.” His image faded in and out. “This isn’t how I saw destiny.”

“Thank you for saving me,” Janie said, rubbing her belly. “For saving us.”

Zane cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

Kalin gave a short bow. “Life. What a surprise. I see the future, and it’s a shocker. Thank you both for being the closest to childhood friends I ever had. Live well.” He flickered in and out, his gaze dropping to Janie’s stomach. “Maybe tell your babe about me, so someone remembers me?” His voice trailed off at the end, and he disappeared.

The ocean began to boil and turn black.

Suri leaped to his feet.

Zane shoved Janie behind him. “But you’re dead—”

Suri smiled. “Kind of.”

Janie grabbed the back of Zane’s demolished vest. “I forced us all in here to keep the world from exploding.”

Suri advanced. “In the dream world all rules are gone.”

Thunder bellowed into a shriek. Lava bubbled up through the sand, hissing toward the ocean. The environment rose under pressure, pushing in, adding gravity to the very oxygen.

Zane faltered.

Red filled the sky and spiraled down, thundering through the heavy atmosphere. He sensed that the second its energy touched the lava, the dream world would detonate. By taking Suri’s power from the real world, Janie had sacrificed their dream world.

Suri snarled, his face contorting.

Zane turned and grabbed Janie close, opening up a space in time and dimensions. One more jump. Just one more to save his mate. The dream world exploded, burning his feet just as they jumped through.

He turned instinctively to land on his back and cushion Janie’s fall. The ground rocked beneath him. He opened his eyes, his nose filled with the scents of dirt and death. “We’re back in the cavern. Damn it all to hell.” Struggling to his feet, he fell. His head dropped to his chest.

Janie struggled to stand and grabbed his arm. “We have to get out of here.”

The earth continued to rumble, even with the power surge caused by Suri’s death removed. Zane nodded, blood sliding from his ears. “I’m not gonna make it, Belle.”

“The hell you’re not.” She propelled him toward the lift and around the opening schisms in the ground.

He glanced down to see lava and red core. The physics keeping the cavern safe were about to fail, and his woman was fighting to get him to the lift. Taking a deep breath of heat, he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other. Reaching down, he grabbed Suri’s head by the hair.

Janie blanched.

“Trust me.” He moved like an old man onto the lift and sat.

Janie sat and then stood back up. “I need the book.”

He grabbed her arm just as the book spun round and round, finally dropping into the largest schism.

“No,” Janie cried, struggling.

“Yes. Let’s go, Janie.”

She shook her head but tugged the gate closed. “Well, I guess we figured out my big destiny,” she groaned, sliding onto the seat next to him.

Zane closed his eyes and surprised himself by grinning. “Saving millions of humans by forcing Suri’s power into the dream world is a hell of a destiny.” He slipped an arm around his woman. “Although, don’t take this wrong, I figure you have more than one destiny.”

She paused. “I have more to do?”

“You are the Prophesied One.” His chuckle turned into a cough for air. It’d be a miracle if he lived past the day. He leaned down and grabbed a bunch of dirt to rub in his hair. Mixed with the blood, it’d hide the gray.

“What are you doing?” Janie asked.

He finished by patting some dirt onto his face. “Taking years off my life. Push the button, Belle.”

She frowned, hit the button, and the lift sprang up through rock. Then she hissed. “I can’t believe I lost the book.”

“Forget the book.” As far as he was concerned, the damn thing was cursed.

Janie peered over the edge but didn’t stop the lift.

“Stand behind me when we get to the top.” Zane tried to find strength, but only pain filled his mind. This was a long shot, but it was all they had.

The lift reached the top, and he forced himself to stand. Stepping out of it, he counted the number of demon guards flanking the exit. At least twenty. Shit.

He staggered to the opening, very conscious of the woman covering his back. Wind and rain pummeled the area, and trees swayed as if furious. The earth continued to quake. Several helicopters rested at the far tree line; there was no way to get to them without fighting.

One by one, the demon soldiers turned their focus on him. They were the elite of the elite, all wearing flashing medals across their chests. All close followers of Suri.

Zane blinked blood and rain from his eyes and lifted Suri’s head high in the air. “Follow me or die.”

He sensed a wave of pain behind him. From Janie. “Are you okay?” he muttered.

“Peachy,” she said, stepping to his side. “I’ll take out the right side of soldiers and you take the left?”

“Funny.” He kept his gaze hard as Suri’s blood dripped onto the earth. “Decide. Now.” The demon in him came out full force in the harsh command.

A couple of the soldiers eyed each other.

Dread dropped into Zane’s gut. He could barely stand, much less take them on.

A whir of sound echoed through the sky. He lifted his gaze. One by one, several helicopters dropped Realm soldiers onto the ground. A chopper landed, and the king stepped out, followed by Sam and Logan.

Zane’s brothers ran toward him.

The demon soldiers slowly dropped their weapons. “Looks like you’re the new leader,” a well-decorated soldier said, respect filling his eyes.

Relief buzzed through Zane.

He threw Suri’s head back into the earth and grabbed Janie, starting for the nearest transport. “We still need to get out of here.”

She cried out and doubled over.

“What?” he asked, holding her upright.

Her eyes widened, pain turning her face pale. “I don’t know.”

He stilled. The entire world stopped spinning. “How bad is the pain?”

“Shit. Bad. Something’s wrong.” She bit her lip, tears filling her eyes.

Sam shot him a worried look and slipped an arm under Janie’s shoulder. Between the two of them, they got her to the helicopter, where the king quickly put everybody in seats, and Janie sat next to a worried looking Talen.

As if choreographed, the Realm helicopters and the demon helicopters all rose into the air and then split into two different directions. Zane held Janie close, his body bleeding, his heart breaking. It was way too early for the baby, so she must’ve been injured somehow in the jumps. Pain racked his mate, and he tried to draw it into his body. But between the fight, the virus, and teleporting, he was done.