“Aegin?” the woman’s voice trembled, her gaze locked on the squirming bundle nestled between Rage’s elbows.
The infant let out a sharp, plaintive wail, his plump fists jabbing the air.
“Aegin!”
The combined shriek of panic and joy in her voice was so palpable that it caused a full-blown shudder to wrack Rage’s entire body. Startled, he pushed back onto his knees.
Without further warning, the woman raced forward, rapidly closing the distance between them. She snatched the bundled infant out of his arms. Ragged, soul-wrenching sobs tore from her throat as she ran past Rage, straight out of sight.
When he tried to turn his head to see where she’d gone, the zombie at his back closed in, a ribbon of bloody slime dribbling from its meaty jaws. Flinching, he directed his gaze back to the man who now stalked toward him with an implacable expression on his face.
While the zombies continued to flank Rage, the man stopped no more than a few feet in front of him. The stranger’s curious gaze raked over his face. “You were protecting him.”
A hot flush crept to Rage’s cheeks. Feeling suddenly foolish about his unexpected lapse in behavior, he bristled. “So fucking what?”
The stranger arched a brow and bent down to look him straight in the eye.
That was when Rage realized, with a start, that the man’s thick, straight brows and the stark curve of his jaw matched his own. Their cheeks could have been molded from the same cast. Even the line of the man’s broad, muscular shoulders held a sense of familiarity.
When the stranger let out a startled puff of air and rocked back on his heels, his eyes going wide, Rage figured he’d just made the connection too.
Interesting…
Rage sat back on his haunches and unabashedly exchanged glances with the man looming over him. Somehow, he sensed that everything in his world was about to change.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Vicious streams of energy wound through Belpheg’s arms, causing them to shake uncontrollably as he concentrated his efforts on resurrecting the invisible barrier around his property. Barely visible currents of power wound down from the moon into the forest directly ahead. The other side had a light-worker on their team—a moon elf.
Normally the elf would be no match for him. Their magical powers weren’t particularly strong. But he was so very weak right now, and he needed to focus on conserving what energy he had left for the casting of the circle.
“What’s wrong?” Mammon ground out from his right side. “This should be no problem for someone with your magical power.”
“Shut up and go get the child,” he snarled, resisting the urge to strike out at Mammon for his snarky comments.
Once Mammon disappeared from his side, Belpheg turned to Emry. “Get out there and stop those things, no matter what it takes.”
Emry’s eyes flashed with fear, but he obeyed, flying out along with the two remaining guards to battle the zombies. But still, too many of them advanced for the guards to handle on their own.
Damnation.
“Get out there and stop them, but protect yourselves at all costs,” Belpheg yelled to his twelve, who were currently using their powers to try to stop the advance from a distance.
All but one of the men instantly obeyed. Unfortunately, their abilities, while impressive in their own right, had little effect over the undead creatures who clearly felt no pain. Though they raced this way and that, Belpheg feared they might get turned into zombie meat at any moment.
That simply wouldn’t do.
He concentrated his efforts on painstakingly weaving the invisible shield over the property once more, gritting his teeth to work through the pain in his chest. Finally, with a flash of power that stole the breath from his lungs, the barrier rose again.
He clutched his chest and bent over, panting for breath. When one of his twelve rushed to his side, he waved the man away. “Help the others destroy the rest of the zombies.”
Once the pain in his stuttering heart subsided, he straightened to observe the scene on his front lawn. His men had dismantled the zombies who remained on this side of the barrier and, with frantic movements, tossed the body parts in various directions in order to slow their reformation.
Emry appeared to be the only ishtari guard left standing, though chunks of flesh had been torn from his battered body. Belpheg watched as he and several of the twelve began to bury the heads. That slowed the corpses even further. However, just outside the barrier, additional zombies lined up in droves, their teeth snapping as they clamored for entrance.
Scrubbing his face with one shaking hand, Belpheg cursed himself for picking a spot that had been the final resting place for so many men. But he hadn’t imagined anything like this would happen.