For a split moment in time, we were immersed in a liquid galaxy where all senses ceased, only hugged by a sea of stars blanketed across total darkness. But that second of absolute silence vanished when Reks pulled us out of the gateway, gripping me tight, and diving sharply to the side as little gems chased us through before the gate could close.
"Duck!"
I squeezed his neck and ducked my head against his chest. He clung to my waist and head before my back collided against rock. Spurts of violent pink light lit up the area like blinding flares. Each detonated like giant versions of snappers on the Fourth of July.
My shoulders slid across grating rock, ripping through the fabric of my shirt. I felt the vibrations of debris pelting Reks' back. One hit harder than the others, causing the air to rush from his lungs. His back arched, and his grip tightened around me. Whatever hit him caused his Guide to suddenly slacken around our waists. Jagged rock burned against my back.
He ducked his head into my hair and neck until it all came to a stop, leaving only our ears ringing from the aftermath.
We stayed there like that, holding each other, breath shaking. His Guide trembled as if threateningly cold.
Had he overused it? I didn't know what limits something like that would have or what tolls it took on him and his Guide. With how badly Luk trembled now, it couldn't be good.
Broken shards of rock crumbled down the sides of the craggy terrain. I coughed, waving away the cloud of dust from my face.
Obsidian hair brushed past my cheek as Reks lifted his head enough to see my face. I braced myself for whatever snarky comment he'd throw my way, or retaliation for interfering in his counter against Blaire in the first place. For being the cause for blame – the reason things went too far.
"Are you h...urt?" his breath hitched, almost as if in breathless pain.
The darkness of his eyes looked hazy, like orbs of smoke. Blood had smeared down his forehead and eye like uneven warpaint. The vitiate who had all the ammo to condemn me... only stared down at me with worry. Something twinged deep in my chest from the sight of him.
"Reks... no. You saved me." My hand slipped from his neck to touch his bloodied cheek. Nicks and scrapes peppered my hand from where I protected his neck. A gnarly colored bruise from where Blaire death-gripped my arm was now exposed with the tunic ripped halfway off. My back tingled as Nox prioritized healing whatever damage burned there from sliding against rough sandstone.
It was nothing compared to his wounds. He held back because I begged him to, and he'd been hurt because of it.
A pained expression masked his relief as he pulled away to slump against the wall of sandstone. "It... isn't safe here. Outside the barrier."
Luk still hadn't retracted back into his body. Tendrils from both his wrists quivered, as if trying and failing to move against a great pain. His hand trembled when he lifted it, looking hazily at his ringless finger. He slowly turned to squint through the rubble where it must have fallen – where we narrowly escaped the tiny, but deadly explosives.
His jaw clenched, holding in a pained groan when trying to move in that direction.
Dread snagged my heart. He was hurt in more places than one. There was a deep gouge clean through the middle of his hand, a head wound, and all kinds of miscellaneous cuts and gashes from those gems.
He did so much to protect me. A girl he hardly knew. He could have abandoned me to my fate if he wanted to, but he stayed, despite it all.
"Hey, don't move. I'll get it." I gingerly touched his shoulder to stay.
YOU ARE READING
The Moon's Fangs | 1
Fantasy{star-crossed romance/forced proximity/18+} Normally, intergalactic drama doesn't reach into any place as backwater as the Milky Way Galaxy, let alone a planet as primitive as Earth. But an exception is made in Amelia's case. She is thrown into a d...
