“I’ve always enjoyed a good torture.” He switched to fire, and Trevor screamed as his skin blistered. Alec snapped his fingers, and Trevor crumpled to the dirty floor.
Goddamn these bastards. I rushed to Trevor to grab him and teleport out, but they weren’t having any of that. I’d barely made it a few feet toward him when my entire body went numb as Spencer called water to freeze my cells. A slow, steady throb sprang to life in my palm. I didn’t need to look at it to know the pulse glowed a faint yellow just under my skin. I concentrated on the icy cold crawling up my arm, on the darkness consuming me.
I shot a stream of ice at him, sending him flying backwards and killing his call. He slammed into Alec, and they both went down. Keeping an airfield up around me, I called earth to hold them down. The concrete vibrated beneath us, but the roots couldn’t break through. Dammit. The floor was too thick. I’d have to rely on my other calls.
Or, the smarter thing would be to get the hell out of the warehouse with Trevor before they recovered from the ice attack. No way in hell would I leave here without him. They’d kill him just for fun.
Spencer pushed off the ground and charged me. I threw a fireball at his face, singeing off his eyebrows and a good measure of those shaggy locks. He countered with water, and my flames fizzled out, leaving him smoldering and the lovely scent of burnt human hair wafting through the air. He felt for his eyebrows, then the top of his head, before howling out, not in anguish, but over the loss of his perfect model image.
“That’s a good look for you.”
He roared in response and sent a rolling wave of wind thundering through the warehouse, rattling what few windows there were.
Alec took advantage of my focus on Spencer and attacked me from behind, pulling me into his arms and squeezing hard. I was about to send his balls into his sinuses when he grabbed me by the back of my neck and slammed me down against the concrete. I heard the sickening crack of my head before I felt it. When I did feel it, when I felt the warm, steady trickle of blood streaming down my face, the room tilted.
I pushed myself up and staggered to remain upright. My vision blurred, and I staggered again. Lifting my hands, I called air and created a weak shield around me, not knowing what else to do. I couldn’t beat them, not together. The best I could hope for was to save Trevor before the two dark dicks took me out.
Spencer surrounded me in a ring of fire, which didn’t make any sense. He knew it wouldn’t hurt me since he was the one who showed me the neat little trick he now used against me. Then again, with as weak as I now was, I had no idea if I had enough strength to fight off his call.
“That’s the thing about two quads willing to do whatever it takes to bring the rightful side to power. The more you can tip the scales, the better.” Alec strolled around the circle of fire, taunting me as I struggled to breathe. “I’ll admit, I couldn’t beat you alone, not without a little help from my friend here.” He knelt, parting the wall of fire enough to look me right in the eye with that sharklike gaze. “Any last words before I have him finish you off?”
“Suck…my…” I coughed as I ran out of air before I could get out the last word.
“I’ll leave that to your harem of boy toys.” He straightened and backed away slowly. The fire closed back up. “I can’t help but notice they’re not here. Oh, how unhappy they’ll all be when they discover your body. Say good-bye, quint.” Alec nodded to his charming little prodigy. The call increased around me and sucked the oxygen from the air. I coughed and gasped for breath, but the air was so hot, it singed my lungs. Pushing my fire to the surface, I countered the attack as I’d done during training.
This time, it didn’t work.
I fell to my knees as everything grew darker. I was going to be sick. Collapsing onto my stomach, I rolled to my back and stared at the skylight. And smiled.
The shadows of four very distinctive, very gorgeous men popped into view just outside the skylight. Oh, thank God. The guys had found me. They were far enough away and had enough of the building separating us that my next move wouldn’t affect them. I hoped.
With the last burst of strength I had, I rose to my knees, threw my arms out, and called light. It exploded out of every inch of me and in every direction. The entire warehouse burst into a blinding white with the brightness of ten thousand flashlights.
I fell to my hands, panting and fighting to remain conscious. Shadows danced all around me, and my vision blurred. My strength failed, and I fell back to the floor. Concentrating on the cold now pounding in my hand and pulsing up my arm, I pulled as much as I could from it. The throbbing increased as the room stopped spinning. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely didn’t feel all that awesome. Ice coated my flesh and seeped that frost into my bones.
Although freezing, I called fire, grateful when it heated my core, melting the thin layer of ice that’d collected on my skin. I focused my calls, on all my calls, and centered that energy on the crack in my skull. Please heal me.
