THE LUNA THEY’LL NEVER LOVE

41: RAPID ATTACK

PHEEONA.

The man reeled, hands flying to the back of his head, staggering sideways like he'd lost all sense of which way was up.

The shattered ceramic crunched under his boots as he tried to find his footing, fragments scattering further across the floor with every uneven step.

I backed away fast, grabbing hold of the girl and pulling her close to my side, my heart slamming against my ribs hard enough that I could feel it in my throat, my own breathing coming in short, panicked bursts.

He staggered toward the threshold, blocking the only way out of the room. He righted himself slowly, swaying, blinking hard like he was trying to clear his vision, and then he turned to glare between the two of us.

He was pissed off and drunk enough that the blow hadn't fully registered yet, but it was clearly registering that I'd hit him at all, it was evident with his eyes narrowing in on me with something dark and dangerous.

"You b***h," he seethed, voice slurring around the edges.

He lunged for the woman's neck.

I threw my heels at him, both of them, one after the other, hard as I could manage, and he flinched back just enough that his grip missed her completely. Then his attention turned fully on me, and he charged across the room with both hands already reaching, fingers curling like he meant to do something far worse than grab.

I scratched at him, clawing wherever I could land a hit, raking my nails down whatever skin I could reach, and ran. We circled the room, both of us scrambling over broken ceramic and scattered fake flowers, my bare feet stinging against the debris, until we made it close enough to the door.

He caught my wrist and dragged me back hard enough that my shoulder screamed in protest. Then he flung me against the wall with enough force that my vision blurred white at the edges for a second, stars bursting behind my eyes, my breath knocked clean out of my chest.

"Run!" I screamed at the girl, my voice cracking with the effort. "Go get help!"

She bolted, finally breaking free of whatever fear had kept her rooted in place, disappearing through the door without looking back, her footsteps fading fast down the hall.

The man staggered toward me again, breathing hard, sweat and alcohol thick in the air around him, and I slammed into him, driving my knee up into his crotch with everything I had left in me.

It barely registered. He was too big, too solid, too drunk on whatever cocktail of alcohol and rage was keeping him upright to feel anything through the haze he was clearly riding.

I ran.

I found a gap in the wall, some narrow space between a storage shelf and the corner, and slipped through it, hiding somewhere dark and cramped, counting seconds in my head, hating that my second time out in Ashenbane had ended in disaster again.

My breathing was ragged, too loud in my own ears, and I pressed a trembling hand over my mouth to muffle it, every nerve in my body screaming at me to stay still, stay quiet, stay hidden.

After a while, when the sounds outside seemed to fade into nothing, I thought I'd lost him.

I stepped out.

I walked for a while, putting as much distance as I could between myself and that room, my pulse finally starting to slow, my legs shaking with the aftermath of everything that had just happened, my bare feet aching against the cold floor.

I needed to find Bennedict and Anyssa.

Then someone grabbed me from behind.

He pinned me against the wall, his body heat sinking into my skin in a way that made me recoil instantly, gagging away from the vile words breathed hot and slurred against my ear.

I fought him, clawing at his arms, twisting against his grip with whatever strength I had left, and he hit me hard enough that my knees buckled and I went down onto the cold floor, the impact jarring through my entire body.

He grabbed me again, hauling me back up roughly, spinning me around, pinning me to the wall by the throat.

"If you won't play nice," he said, voice slurred and ugly, breath rancid against my face, "then I can just kill you and have fun with your carcass instead."

His grip tightened until my eyes watered, my vision swimming at the edges, black creeping in from both sides.

I clawed desperately at his hand, fingers scrambling uselessly against his grip, fighting for air that wouldn't come no matter how hard I tried.

Through my rapidly blurring vision, I saw someone staggering closer, a shape moving fast down the hall behind my attacker.

My heart fluttered at the proximity of him getting closer and closer.

I blinked frantically, my vision clearing for a single, suspended second.

Just long enough to see Nashyn's face, blanked entirely by rage, as he reached forward and snapped the mans neck.

Killing him in a single instant.