the skin.
Another one grew balls and shot forward and I spun to the side as I kicked out, aiming my big-ass boot into his glowing stomach. He doubled over as static crackled in the air. Dipping around, I shoved my hand through the light. The Luxen flickered into human form for only a second, but it was long enough. My hand was inside him and I wrapped my fingers around the slender length of bone. I yanked my arm back and the Luxen howled.
He fell into a boneless mess on the floor.
I tossed the spine aside and whirled around, slamming my fist into the jaw of another Luxen. His head snapped back and on the return, I grasped the sides of his face, and slammed my head into his, and then I twisted. The darkness inside of me howled at the sound of cracking bone.
Light pulsed around the nearest Luxen a second before a bolt shot across the distance, slamming into my shoulder. It knocked me back a step, but not down.
I laughed. “I kind of liked how that felt.”
The Luxen reared back, releasing another blast of supercharged power. I dodged the blow this time, then shot forward, mowing him down before he knew what was coming.
As I straightened, I caught sight of Serena’s terrified face. A Luxen had ahold of her. A fucker in a suit was beside her, who I assumed was the senator. My focus went right back to Serena. There were bruises on her face and her lip was bloodied.
The Luxen holding her jerked her back roughly and her answering whimper sliced through me like nothing else could.
I lost control of my human form.
My mass grew with the absorbed power of so many feedings. The walls of the warehouse rattled like tin cups. A lone chair in the corner skidded across the floor.
Storage cabinets shook and then toppled over, sliding across the floor. The chair reached the dark tendrils surrounding me first and then the cabinets. Each item spun into the air, whirling around me in a vicious cyclone of debris and dirt.
The items stopped, suspended for a flicker of a moment, and then they collapsed into themselves like a giant hand crumbling paper. There was nothing left of the cabinets or the chair. Not even dust.
I drew the power in again, focusing on four of the Luxen standing between Serena and me. Fighting this way would expel energy more quickly, even with the opal cuff, but I was beyond pissed, beyond controlling myself. I wanted them all dead in a painful way.
The Luxen flew toward me, flipping back and forth between their true forms and their human facades. Someone yelled, but it was lost in the vacuum. The moment they touched the darkness surrounding me, their screams became a chorus. The pressure clamped down on them as they were caught in the shadows. They were gone, too, and like the chair and cabinets, nothing remained when the air settled.
It wasn’t that I was necessarily stronger than them. Luxen were formidable opponents. I was fighting differently than I ever had before. It wasn’t about the age-
old battle of Arum versus Luxen. I wasn’t fighting to feed or to work off aggression. I wasn’t fighting because I was told or was obligated.
I was fighting for Serena.
She meant everything to me.
Knowing that, fully understanding what that meant, I was on a motherfucking warpath.
The remaining Luxen rushed me, and blasts of the Source lit up the room, cutting through the shadows pooling in from outside through the cracks in the wall.
I took a hit but barely felt it. I fed again and rose up. A Luxen followed. We twisted along the ceiling. Light. Darkness. Light. Darkness.
Darkness won.
The Luxen’s lifeless body dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. I mowed through each one that came after that. I could feel the energy seeping out of me and shit was going to hurt like a bitch, but I grabbed the nearest Luxen and speared him through the chest.
I brought the dying Luxen to the floor, preparing to finish the glowbug off.
Serena’s sudden shrill scream stopped me when nothing else in this world could. I rose up, immediately finding her in the chaos. Only one Luxen remained—the senator, and the bastard had his hand around her fragile neck.
I took my human form, breathing raggedly. My body ached, but I ignored the pain.
“If you have an ounce of intelligence, you’ll let her go now.”
“Or what?” the senator said, backing away, dragging Serena along with him. “You come after me, she dies.”
The air darkened and charged around me. I focused on the senator’s glowing eyes, because if I looked at Serena right now, I’d lose my shit. “You’re not going to get out of here, especially if you hurt her.”
Senator Vanderson’s lips quirked up at the edges. “Is that so? I’m sure I’m the one in the position of power right now.”
“I’ve killed all your Luxen and I’ll kill more if they come.” I took a step forward, but stopped when Serena whimpered. My hands curled into fists.
“That may be true, but I have this feeling you’d do anything to make sure she walks out of this situation.” His grip tightened, and she gasped. “Isn’t that right?”
My gaze flickered to Serena’s. I didn’t hesitate. “I would.”
“Good,” he replied, taking another step back. Over his shoulder was the exit. “Get on your knees, Arum. Where you belong.”
Oh, yeah, that made me want to put my hand through his face. I stared at him, barely able to rein in the dark rage that made me want to obliterate everything in the room.
“Get on your knees or she dies right now,” the senator repeated.
I took a deep breath. I wasn’t stupid. If the senator did what he thought he could do to me, it was doubtful he’d let Serena go. And even if he ran, Serena wasn’t safe.
She’d never be safe with him alive.
That left me only one choice.
“No, Hunter, don’t,” she begged, and those pretty eyes filled with tears. “Don’t listen
—” Her words were cut off by the senator’s grip. The sound that came out of me would send demons scurrying. Senator Vanderson’s eyes widened a fraction, but he kept ahold of Serena.
“Do you want to see what her insides look like lit up?” he asked. “I’m running out of patience.”
It went against everything in my nature not to rip into him right then, but he’d snap Serena’s neck before I’d take a step. She was worth more to me than my pride. That was the truth.
I went down on my knees. “What?”
The senator took a step to the side, keeping Serena directly in front of him. I knew any movement I made at this point would mean her death. He was caged with all the dead bodies lying around him and he knew it. “How’s it feel to be where you should be? On your knees before your superior?”
I arched a brow. “Feels the same way it will when I’m standing over your dead body.”
My response seemed to unnerve him. “Your arrogance is rooted in stupidity.”
“And your lifespan is getting shorter by the second,” I promised, my eyes meeting Serena’s. The look in that stare let me know she was ready for anything. “You’re wasting air and space.”
The senator sneered. “You’ll see. You and the humans will soon see.”
In a second, Senator Vanderson slipped into his true form. The sudden light was blinding for a moment. I rose, losing sight of Serena in the glow. Her scream echoed through my soul, and at that moment, I knew I had one. Human or not, it rocked me to my very core.
The senator shoved Serena to the side with such force her feet came off the ground.
She was a distraction for him to escape, because the senator thought I’d go after her.
He was right.
I caught her around the waist before she hit the ground. She twisted in my embrace, gripping my arms as she lifted her head. “Hunter…”
