Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(76)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I looked at Sam. “Something’s wrong.”

Riley approached, studying the dragon, and then his eyes settled on the feathers lying at my feet. “Ana,” he murmured, and then his body spasmed and he looked at me. “There’s something wrong with Ana!”

The Devourer shrieked again, a painful sound that made me think he was agreeing with Riley.

“Can you take us there?” I asked the dragon.

He dropped low to the ground, allowing the four of us to climb onto his back, Riley taking the front position and hunching low over the dragon’s neck. It made me think this wasn’t the first time he had taken a ride on the Devourer.

“Hurry,” Riley said as his great wings lifted us up into the air. “Take us to Ana.”

I’ve never heard that kind of worry in Riley’s voice before. I’ve never heard him sound afraid. What had he been doing all this time down in hell? Had he been spending time with Ana?

The dragon shot through the air, toward the island, and I prayed Ana was okay, that nothing was wrong. For her sake. And for Riley’s.

Riley

Something was wrong. As we flew, the once brightly colored feathers of the Devourer grew duller and duller and fell from his body, leaving bald patches in their wake. He was weak. Carrying four people on his back was a chore of determination for the great dragon, yet he refused to give up.

We flew over the black ocean, for once the water looking something other than slow. It moved in big waves, choppy and violent. I wondered what could have the power to churn it up like this, but I was afraid I already knew.

Ana.

When I left her the last time, the weather on the island was something other than perfect. She told me it was because of her emotion, that I was making her unstable.

So I left.

Without my presence what could be creating a storm so great it was leaking out into hell?

A picture of Hecate flashed into my mind.

She’d been there when I crawled out of the ocean. She’d been watching me with suspicious eyes and asking me what I was doing there. Had she somehow figured out where I’d been? All these weeks I was down here, is that what she was doing—following me—hoping I would lead her to the one thing that would bring greater power than control of the souls?

Was Hecate on the island with Ana?

“Hurry!” I snapped at the Devourer and he shook his wings to try and do my bidding.

He literally fell out of the sky when his lair came into sight. The four of us were left holding on as he crashed into the ground, where he lay and didn’t get up.

I climbed off while Heven rushed to soothe the dragon.

I ran. I ran through the cave, racing to reach the other side, searching for the light at the end of the tunnel. It was there, but it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as it usually was.

I stepped onto the other side and into a ravaging storm.

Rain pelted me from all angles, rain so cold it felt like a million sharp knives cutting into my skin every second. Wind pulled at my clothes and hair, pushing me back the way I came until my limbs had to strain against it to not lose any ground. The ocean waves were violent and menacing. They rose up out of the sea like a threatening tsunami and then crashed just before the shore, sending furious sprays into the once vibrant green grass.

As I approached Ana’s cabin, lightning and thunder broke through the sky, lighting up the churning sky and rumbling the ground beneath my feet.

“Ana!” I roared, the wind carrying away my voice before it could be heard.

I didn’t stop yelling. I screamed her name over and over until my voice was raw and I was at the back door, which was already open, all the glass shattered and the wooden frame beating against the stone wall as the wind knocked it around.

I rushed into the house, shoving my hair out of my eyes and looking wildly around, desperately wanting her to come rushing out of the kitchen and throw herself into the safety of my arms.

I rushed through each room, screaming her name, and each time coming up empty. The hard knot in my chest seemed to grow.

The house was empty.

Inside her bedroom a floodgate of emotion ripped out of me and I slammed my fist through the bedroom window, the glass slicing through my skin and causing blood to drip.

Where are you, Ana?

I stood there beside the window, bleeding and heaving, when movement outside caught my eye.

There was a woman concealed by a blood-red cloak, hunched forward and leaning over someone lying on the ground. The figure in the cloak shifted and I caught the sight of wheat-colored hair.

I roared and threw myself out the window, ignoring the way the remaining glass tore open my skin. The pain I felt was nothing compared to what I was going to do to Hecate.

I raced over the grass and launched myself at her, landing on her back and rolling, my arms closing around her middle and taking her with me. We rolled for several turns. She fought against me, but I wouldn’t let go.

She tried shooting magic out her palms, but her aim was untrue and most of it fired up into the storming sky, creating explosions of power. Finally we stopped rolling. I had her pinned down on the ground, her face in the mud.

My mother used to tell me men didn’t hit women.

I wasn’t much of a man.

I reared back my fist and struck her in the back of her neck, making her body jerk. I reared back to do it again when the earth around us seemed to explode and grass and dirt flew up in chunks. I turned my head to protect my eyes and caught a glimpse of Ana lying on the ground, struggling for air.

I pushed off the witch and ran to her side, skidding to a stop beside her and scooping her up in my arms, pulling her into my lap. I leaned over her, keeping the rain from hitting her face, and pushed the drenched, heavy strands of her hair out of her eyes.

She blinked up at me, her green eyes coming into focus. “Riley,” she said, her voice hoarse. My blood boiled when I noted the strangulation marks around her throat.

“Hey, baby girl,” I said, trying to sound like there wasn’t something inside me that was dying. “You were supposed to stay out of trouble.”

“Hecate found the island…” She coughed and made a face like it hurt. “She followed you.”

“I should have stayed away,” I said, hating myself just a little bit more.

“Don’t say that. I—” Whatever she was about to say was cut off when Hecate pushed herself off the ground and sent some kind of magic spiraling our way. I threw myself on top of Ana, covering her body with mine, and the ground exploded once more. Rocks and dirt pummeled me as I shielded Ana.