Treasured Secrets (The Coveted Saga 1)

He backed away, as did his followers. He knew they weren't ready to take on Iris and her family. Nor was he ready to take on his aunt and cousins. I shivered to think of how hard it was for Tallis and his family to face off against their own blood. He must have felt my shiver.

"Are you okay?"

I barely nodded in response. But I was far from okay. I felt a horrible sensation in my stomach. I tasted the toxic air and felt the shift. Something bad was going to happen.

My eyes moved slowly, trying to find the other shoe before it dropped. I should have looked sooner. By the time I found it, it was too late.

Out of all the things I'd seen recently, the barrel of the gun pointed at me was the most terrifying yet. The rapid-fire rhythm of my pounding heart found my ears, drowning out all other sounds.

My mind hadn't wrapped around all the crazy, but I knew how deadly that piece of metal could be when in the hands of a killer.

The man behind the gun was just a few feet away from us. Kao was in the man's head. He wanted me dead, even if he didn't want to fight my family.

Before I could warn anyone, a shot rang out. As soon as the bullet burst out of the barrel, everything dropped into slow motion. I couldn't move like normal. Even I was in slow motion.

Everything was moving at a fraction of the normal speed, including the bullet. Tallis was suddenly in front of me, seeming to be the only one not slowed by time, and the bullet exploded against his chest, still in slow motion.

I could see each fragment shattering in its own separate direction. You could almost pluck them from the air.

As though a spell was broken, time resumed, once again finding normal speed. The shards of the bullet fell to the ground like broken glass. Kao tilted his head as Tallis threw his hands forth, launching an attack.

Kao didn't explode, but a powerful blast wounded his side. Kao grabbed his side and glowered at Tallis. He grimaced in pain and anger, and then disappeared into the crowd.

They were retreating. It was such a relief. We were going to live.

The overload of adrenaline fled, leaving me weak with hot chills. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both.

Ayla was still restoring peace, and everyone held their place, keeping her protected. Finally, normalcy was restored.

Tallis grabbed my hand and we walked toward Jaslene.

I could hear my guilt-ridden tone. "Mom, I'm so sorry." I started crying as I hugged her, collapsing into her embrace.

She pulled me back to speak, her eyes soft and sympathetic, despite the reaming I deserved. "It's okay, dear. We'll talk more about this when we get home. But don't ever do this to me again."

"I won't. I promise, I won't."

Tallis hugged his mother. "I guess I wasn't strong enough to kill him. Now what?" he asked, acting disheartened.

"We'll worry about it later. It's good we found out what we did today. This may have been the best thing. Now we know a little better about what we're dealing with."

"Ayla is much stronger now," Desmond said, interjecting himself into the conversation.

Tallis and his family seemed somewhat pleased with that new bit of information.

"Jay helped with that. Our families uniting was a good thing." Allaysia touched Tallis's saddened face. "Let's get Aria home."

Chapter 18

Accepting My New Life

Time continues to move forward even if we're standing still.

After nearly getting everyone I loved killed, I was feeling pretty rotten for running away. Ash sat across from Tallis and me. I caught her scowl and awaited my well-deserved lashing.

"Oh, by the way, thanks for losing my passport."

I flinched. I left my bag on the side of the trail and forgot all about it during the sudden retreat. "Sorry," I mumbled, adding that to the long list of things I'd never be able to make up for.