Hadn’t taken long to realize the viking and his allies had no plans to harm the girl. Bane then turned his attention to Erik’s army of humans. The perfect outlet for his rage. He’d planned to decimate the army—an obstacle to his prize—find Vale and whisk her to his lair, then contact Nola. Instead, Nola had teleported to him once again. Why?

If she’d already realized the error of her ways—never teleport without speaking to him first, or she might end up in the middle of a battlefield—he would consider the possibility of thinking about forgiving her—for the right price.

With her life in jeopardy, he retooled his tasks. Kill her captor in the fastest and most violent way possible, grab Nola, find Vale and rift to my lair.

“I’ve decided to walk away,” Bane told the mortals. A lie. “I suggest you let me.”

“What?” Nola squeaked. “You’re abandoning me?”

Never. But he needed the males to think so. Needing a genuine reaction from her, he adopted his darkest, meanest sneer, and put genuine fury into his tone. “The way you abandoned me?”

She flinched, and his chest tightened. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry, but I did it to protect you,” she said. “And yeah, okay, I was about to abandon you here, too, but only to protect you. Shouldn’t I be praised for my sacrifice and selflessness? My utter brilliance?”

She’d decided to stay with Zion to protect Bane? He...didn’t know what to think about that. He only knew the hottest flames of his fury gained new ground. She’d tried to shield him, and now some human thought to shoot her in the head?

A human who grinned, smug, thinking he’d cowed a beast. “You aren’t walking anywhere.”

Boom, boom, boom. Another round of bullets pierced his wings. His legs, too. Bane rolled over the ground again, grabbing two guns his victims had dropped. He aimed and hammered at the triggers, shooting one missile after another. Grunts of shock and agony resounded, men toppling.

While the other soldiers were distracted, Bane lurched to his feet and sprinted into the cover of trees, pretending to retreat. In reality, he circled the army without their knowledge, planning to come up behind Nola and her captor. As he tore around trees, his ears picked up different voices.

—Where’d he go?—

—Follow him!—

—Go, go, go! I’ll take care of the girl.—

His control? Almost completely razed. One gun, out of bullets. He dropped it and palmed a dagger. The other gun had one bullet left. Excellent. He charged into the masses, using the dagger to swiftly and quietly kill everyone in his path. Bodies toppled. Soon, no one stood between him and the object of his rage.