willing to let them all die. You don’t have a choice.”
“Fuck you!” I roared.
“What does he mean?” Savannah shouted as she ripped her claws into a
root.
“It means he’s about to watch all these poor souls die while futilely trying
to save you,” said Kahanov.
Planting my feet, I seized the biggest root I could find and began to pull.
My body strained, but the walls of the cave shook, and dozens of rootlets
ripped away as rocks tumbled to the ground.
I would rip this cavern down to protect her, if I had to.
The sorcerer laughed as he leapt to another rootbound wolf. “Who’s
next?”
Tears filled Savannah’s eyes, and she stopped struggling. My stomach
clenched as roots wound around her instantly and started pulling her in.
I strained to get to her. “Don’t you dare stop fighting!”
“Trust me, I’m not,” she rasped. “He needs me alive. I’m buying you time
to save your pack. I’ll save myself.”
With that, she let the roots flow over her, and panic seized me. I released
the massive root and grabbed her hand. She screamed as the tendrils pulled
her in.
Agony and guilt tore through my body as her hand slipped from mine. In
the split second before it vanished, the Soul Knife appeared in her grasp.
Then she was gone.
Rage like I’d never known surged up from my soul. I ripped away the
roots around me and fought my way forward. “I’ll fucking kill you,
Kahanov!”
“Not quite, Jaxson. I don’t need you or these people anymore.” Laughing,
the sorcerer leapt to the walls and unleashed a searing blast of flame, setting
my clothes alight. I growled with pain and tore free of the roots around me
even as my skin burned away.