Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Twelve

"LEAVE!" he screamed louder, his voice cracked and wild.

At that moment, he let out one last earsplitting scream, the worst one yet. A burst of power unfurled from his body, shooting out to cover everything in a ring of faint light. Grass was uprooted, trees bent in half, their leaves shredded to bits. The glassy pond water shot out with a tidal wave, gallons and gallons of clear water thrown into the surroundings as it refracted moonlight. I was flung through icy wind like a rag doll, slamming into the top of a now bare tree. A sharp crack resounded as a sharp ridge tore through my sweater and dragged through my skin. My vision flickered with spots of black. The warmth of a trickle of blood began to slide down my spine. My ears rang.

Faintly, I could hear car alarms echoing loudly, windows shattering from aftershocks. I was now falling, falling from thirty feet. Twenty feet...ten feet. I thudded facedown with a loud plop into the freshly turned dirt. And then my brain drew me into the warmth of darkness.

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I woke up with my body screaming in agony. Broken bones were probably the least of my worries right now. My eyes seemed to be glued shut with pain and dirt; I groaned and tried to turn my head in the guessed direction of Jace. Raising my hand to attempt to prop myself, I let out a breathy scream of pain. At this, my eyes flew wide, seeing the carnage in my wake.

He was lying on his back, arms and legs sprawled as if they'd been thrown outwards. The bloodless tone to his skin accentuated the carved surfaces of his body as he breathed at irregular intervals. His shape shifting necklace was curved off to the side of his neck. I groaned as I slowly rolled over, hands and feet numb with cold. Worry had me begin a sluggish crawl in his direction, my own breath coming in hitches.

"Jace," I whispered hoarsely.

His eyes shot open, their light shining a revealing perimeter of the clearing. My racing heartbeat shuddered at it all; jagged edges of split trees, a wet pond bed. The turned earth looked like spilled ink in this darkness. He turned his head to the sound of my call.

"S-Skyler..." he moaned, the pain distinct in his tight eyes and voice. My breathing faltered. "Skyler... Are you...hurt?...orry..." His voice faded on the 's', but relief flooded me nevertheless. He was alive. My Jace was alive.  I crawled another foot closer with renewed effort.

"No...its okay. It wasn't...your fault. Just...get better...you're hurting.." My panting breath ricocheted in my aching ribcage as I watched patches of black line my vision. I'd over exerted myself again.

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This time when I woke up, it was many hours later, my eyes fluttering up to the lightening night sky. I saw dawn breaking on the horizon, the orange light spilling over the earth in a soft curtain of gold. I looked around in panic as last night rushed into my muscles. I calmed as something tightened around my shoulders.

I was cradled in strong arms, my head pillowed on a bicep. I looked up to see Jace's jade eyes open and alert. He watched my face in such concern and softness that a lump formed in my throat.

"Jace? What..."

"Skyler. Are you alright?" he whispered. He stroked a strand of unruly hair from my forehead and left his hand on my cheek. A comforting electricity ran from his warm palm all the way to my toes.

"Yes. But are you? The last time I was awake, you looked half dead! What was happening to you? How am I not hurt anymore?" I had now just realized that the throbbing pain of my injuries was now replaced by a strange lethargic relaxation that oozed my joints into putty. The stabbed gash was no longer trickling blood down my back. I could move my limbs smoothly.