“That creep is on her!” Kyo shouted hoarsely. “Let me go!”

  Ace’s head snapped toward the sound and he did not hesitate. In one smooth, practiced motion, he rose from beside Sable with his bow already in hand. The draw was instinctive and fluid, the string pulled back to his ear as he shifted two steps to clear his line of sight.

  He saw Anthony. He saw Ava pinned beneath him. He saw the smile.

  He released.

  The arrow cut through the rain with a sharp hiss. Anthony moved at the last possible second, never looking away from Kyo as he tilted his head just enough for the arrow to slice past his cheek and bury itself into the tree behind him with a violent crack.

  A thin line of blood traced down Anthony’s face as his smile widened slightly.

  Ava tore her wrist free during that split second of distraction and dropped low, scrambling through the mud toward her fallen axe.

  Hope surged painfully in Kyo’s chest.

  Anthony caught her again with quick, controlled precision, his hand closing around her forearm before she could reach the weapon. Ace was already drawing another arrow, boots tearing through the mud as he adjusted for a second shot.

  Anthony did not look at Ace or Baxter.

  Instead, he leaned down close to Ava’s ear, far too close.

  Kyo could not hear what he said. He saw only the movement of Anthony’s mouth against the rain-slick strands of her hair. Ava went still for half a heartbeat, not in fear but in stunned silence.

  Rage clawed up Kyo’s throat.

  “What did you say to her?!” he shouted.

  Anthony’s eyes lifted again, meeting Kyo’s across the clearing. That same predatory amusement flickered there as he released Ava slowly and stepped back into the rain.

  Ace’s second arrow flew.

  This time Anthony dissolved into shadow at the moment of impact, the shaft passing through empty space before striking the mud where he had stood. The shadows twisted in on themselves and collapsed, leaving nothing behind.

  He was gone.

  Kyo sagged in Baxter’s grip, his chest heaving as fury and humiliation burned hotter than the pain in his body. He had seen it, the way Anthony looked at her and the way he smiled at him, and worst of all he had not been able to stop it.

  For a moment, the clearing felt suspended in a heavy stillness as the storm began to thin and the sky shifted from black to a bruised gray. Dawn crept in at the edges of the horizon, cold and inevitable after a battle that had started at midnight.

  Kyo tried to stand, but his legs failed him immediately.

  Baxter caught him before he could fall face-first into the mud. “Easy,” he muttered, bracing him under the arms.

  “I’m fine,” Kyo lied, even though his voice shook.

  He forced himself upright anyway, leaning heavily into Baxter’s support as he lifted his head.

  Across the clearing, Ace was already moving. He reached Ava quickly, bow slung behind him as he grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

  “Are you hurt anywhere else?” he demanded, eyes scanning her face, her arms, the bite at her wrist.

  Kyo saw her shake her head.

  “I’m fine,” she said, brushing Ace’s hands away.

  She was not.

  Even from this distance, he could see the slight tremor in her stance before she forced herself steady.

  Kyo tried to take another step, but pain tore through his chest and his vision blurred at the edges.

  “Stop,” Baxter warned, tightening his hold as Kyo stumbled. “You’re not making it across that field.”

  “I have to. I need to make sure she’s okay,” Kyo forced out through clenched teeth.

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  Anthony was gone, and Ava was still standing. That was the only thing holding him upright. Relief hit him hard enough to ache, his knees weakening again as something tight and suffocating finally loosened in his chest.

  “She’s okay,” he breathed.

  Water dripped from torn leaves above them. Somewhere behind him, something smoldered faintly where an ability had struck. The clearing looked like a graveyard of everything they had thrown at each other.

  Ava swayed again, and Ace instinctively reached to steady her. This time she did not shove him away as sharply. She looked exhausted.

  Kyo’s stomach twisted because he knew why. He remembered the way the link had torn away, the crash of it, and the hollow emptiness that followed.

  “I drained her,” he said quietly, the words nearly swallowed by the rain.

  Baxter did not respond.

  Kyo attempted another step, but the distance between them felt endless and his body would not cooperate. They both knew it, so he stayed where he was, supported by Baxter, watching her carefully. He watched to make sure she did not fall. He watched to make sure Anthony did not return.

  Ava finally lifted her head and looked across the clearing.

  The moment her eyes locked onto Kyo, something in her expression shifted. Relief flickered first, quick and unguarded then concern.

  “Kyo.”

  Ace was still beside her, one hand hovering near her shoulder while the other reached down to pull her axe from the mud.

  “You need to stop,” he said sharply. “You’re barely standing.”

  She ignored him.

  The clearing felt impossibly wide as she ran across it, boots slipping in the mud. The battlefield was quieter now, but not peaceful. Broken branches, gouged earth, and scattered debris marked where abilities had torn through the night.

  Kyo tried to stand straighter when he saw her coming.

  His legs trembled violently beneath him.

  Baxter tightened his grip. “Don’t overdo it, lover boy. Your body is pretty torn up.”

  “I have to,” Kyo rasped.

  He pushed anyway, ignoring the comment, and managed half a step before the world tilted again. He caught himself against Baxter’s shoulder.

  Ava slowed only when she was a few paces away, a breathless smile breaking across her face. “You took down all those bats. I’m really impressed.”

  The closer she got, the more her smile faded.

  Her eyes tracked the blood at the corner of his mouth and the way he leaned heavily into Baxter for support.

  “You’re bleeding from your mouth and nose again. Did you overdo it?” she asked, trying to keep her anger contained. Her gaze flicked briefly to his stats, and her expression hardened when she saw his health bar sitting at twenty percent.

  Kyo swallowed. “I’m fine.”

  She did not look convinced.

  Then her attention shifted past him.

  Her focus sharpened.

  Her eyes locked onto Broderick.

  Kyo followed her line of sight automatically.

  The mechanical wyrm remained curled protectively over Miles, heavy plating sealed around the unconscious boy. Rain slid down the dark metal, optics glowing steadily as diagnostics continued to run.

  Miles.

  The realization landed all at once.

  “Miles,” Kyo breathed.

  Ava’s jaw tightened.

  Without another word, she moved past Kyo and Baxter, heading straight for Broderick.

  Guilt settled deeper into Kyo’s chest. Miles had collapsed when Anthony attacked, and somewhere in the chaos all Kyo had seen was red.

  Ava did not slow as she reached the wyrm.

  Broderick remained curled protectively over Miles, plating locked tight. Water streamed down his armor as his optics shifted toward her immediately.

  “Ava,” he said, his voice steady but lower now, less clipped than before.

  She stepped close enough to feel the faint warmth of his internal core through the rain-cooled metal. Without hesitation, she placed her palm against his plating.

  “Broderick,” she said, her breathing still uneven. “You did a good job protecting them. Thank you.”

  There was a brief pause as internal systems recalibrated.

  “Miles is stable,” he replied. “Unconscious, but stable. No critical internal damage detected.”

  The tension left her in a slow exhale, her shoulders sagging with it.

  For a moment she simply stood there.

  Then she leaned forward and rested her forehead gently against his armored flank. The metal was cool and solid beneath her weight.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “You kept him safe. You should have seen him, Broderick. He wasn’t breathing. I didn’t know what to do. Kyo trusted me with him and he almost died in my arms. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened.”

  Broderick was quiet for a beat.

  “My purpose is to protect. I will always be an ally you can count on,” he replied, though something softer threaded through his tone. “He was not at risk while I stood. I could not stop Kyo. Some tests should be run on his ears. I will scan him later.”

  Ava let out a small, exhausted laugh as she lifted her head to look at him, a faint smile returning despite everything.

  Behind her, Kyo watched while Baxter supported most of his weight as he tried to steady himself. He saw the way Ava leaned into Broderick and felt a sharp, selfish ache at the realization that he wished he was strong enough for her to lean on him instead.

  Broderick’s plating shifted with a low mechanical hum, unfolding just enough to reveal Miles beneath him. The boy’s chest rose and fell steadily, protected from most of the rain by the wyrm’s armored frame.

  “He will wake,” Broderick added. “His body is recovering.”

  Ava lifted her head slowly and dropped to her knees beside Miles, brushing damp hair away from his forehead with careful fingers.

  “He’s okay,” she said quietly.