[Rock]People might think trolls would be slow because of how big and heavy we were. As soon as I saw the demon start over the stony cliff and up the hill, I was immediately after him. While the others were busy figuring out how to carry the others, I was chasing him down. He was much larger than me, so his strides were longer and he was able to jump off the tall hill at a distance that would have hurt me. I could see Carmen in her half-wolf form, Austin, and Matt where it landed. In the distance, Rhett was leaving with Dolly. Carmen would have sent him away after that thing threatened Dolly. I wasn’t mad at him for leaving. Children were important to many supernaturals. My mate was no different from the others. Even if she was part goblin, I didn’t want anything to happen to the girl, either. When Rhett stopped to look back, I turned my attention back to the demon, my mate, and the two men. I heard the demon threaten her, and I heard Carmen answer back in true troll fashion. All the time, I was rushing to get down to her. I needed to protect her. This demon was strong, and Oberon probably made it even stronger than a normal demon. I was almost down the hill when I saw the demon raise his arm to hit my mate. I’d seen it destroy people with a swat of its hand like they were gnats that were annoying him. My heart was in my throat as I pushed harder to get to my mate. Suddenly, her dad and Austin knocked her out of the way just in time to get hit by the demon’s attack. They went flying off. Austin had gotten hit with the brunt of the attack, but Matt still caught enough of it to send him a good distance. I saw Matt hit the ground and slide several feet. Austin hit a tree, making it shake as if a truck had hit it. After a few moments, I saw his limp body fall from the tree near Rhett. The warlock glanced down at Austin, then up at Carmen before turning and walking away. Dolly looked back at me. I could see her little mouth move and she reached out a hand. For a moment, it looked like her eyes glowed golden. Carmen’s scream turned my attention back to the demon. There was no one to protect her now. I reached her as the demon tried to hit her again. Using my earth magic, I planted myself in front of her and took the brunt of the hit. Something inside me cracked, but I wouldn’t let it hurt my mate. The demon howled in pain upon hitting me. It had hit more solid things earlier and didn’t seem to be fazed. There was a shout from up the hillside, telling me the rest of the supernaturals were almost there. They diverted the demon’s attention briefly, but I knew it wouldn’t last. I turned back to my mate, resisting the urge to take her in my arms. I couldn’t defend if I was holding her as my body ached to do. “Rock, you’re glowing,” Carmen whispered. “Run, Carmen. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can.” It didn’t matter if I was glowing. Saving Carmen was the only thing on my mind. I’d deal with glowing later. “There’s nowhere your woman can run or hide from me. How did you get an angel’s blessing? Tell me where to find the angel spawn and I’ll let you live. A soft troll will have no problem finding a troll woman to accept them. You should stay with your own species anyway,” the demon/Oberon said. An angel’s blessing? That must be the glow. I smiled. I’d use this to destroy the thing that tried to take my mate and hurt my friend. “Fuсk you,” I replied and attacked the demon. “No,” Carmen whimpered as I rushed at it and used both fists to hit its knee. The demon stumbled, but it was quick to recover. It swung its arm at me, but I dodged it and landed another hit on its other knee. It growled in frustration and tried to crush me with its hand. I used my earth magic to create a shield around me, protecting me from its attack.I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever. The demon was too strong, and I was starting to feel the cracks within me widen. The Templars and other supernaturals needed to hurry the fuсk up. But for now, it was just me and the demon. Its eyes had turned a fiery red, and I knew it was channeling all its energy into killing me. I couldn’t let that happen.After dodging an attack, I rushed the demon again, hoping to catch it off-guard. Instead, I ended up falling through what I thought was his leg. There was no ground to catch me. I just kept going. The fall seemed to go on forever. I contorted myself, but I couldn’t see anything in any direction. Damn it. I needed to get back to Carmen. I called my earth magic, but I was the only thing made of earth around me. Rage coursed through me and I felt a roar build up in my chest. My troll self wasn’t happy about being thwarted and it wanted to destroy. After falling for a bit longer, I felt something wrap around my wrist. It was a pure blackness, nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. But it was familiar. I could feel the earth in it. Grabbing onto the darkness with my other hand, I pulled a few times, testing if the darkness would pull back. It did and started tugging back as it spread to both my arms, over my shoulders, up my chest. I could feel the familiarity in the magic as it grew and covered more of my body. The darkness attached to me started to glow, matching the angelic light that was still emanating from me. The two energies mingled and intertwined with each other, creating a powerful force that I had never felt before. It was almost like a third entity was born from the two energies coming together.Once I was covered, I felt a strained movement, as if the cocoon around me was being assaulted, squeezed, and pulled. I didn’t like just sitting there, so I hoped this would be over soon. A few minutes later, the darkness retreated, and I was sitting on the ground in the middle of the forest. I could hear the demon roar in the distance. Carmen.... “Stand carefully,” Rhett told me. “I thought your magic was drained,” I replied as I got to my feet. “It is. I didn’t do that, even though my magic was used.” He looked down at Dolly, who was holding his hand. Her eyes were glowing, but she didn’t seem to see anything. Rhett refocused on me. “It appears Dolly wanted to protect you and Carmen. There must not have been enough magic to take you both,” he said. “He was closer to death,” Dolly replied hollowly. “The demon sent him into the void. It can’t use that magic again for a while.”“How did you know that?” I asked. “Mama told me.” “Send me back to where the demon is. I have to save Carmen,” I insisted. Rhett frowned at me. “My daughter just saved your life and you’re going to risk it again? Carmen’s fine. The others should have reached her by now. Dolly said you were closer to death. If she’s able to do what she did with what little magic I’d recovered, then she should be able to save anyone else with it, too.” “Does that mean Austin survived what the demon did to him?” I asked. His face turned stony and a glittering tear rolled down Dolly’s cheek. Remembering the way he fell to the ground, I wasn’t surprised. My rage swelled further. Austin was more than a friend to me and Carmen. He was like family. The idea of him being gone stabbed at me. Gemma lost her mate tonight. I wouldn’t let her lose her best friend, too. “Please, send me back. I need to protect Carmen. I need to know that she’s alright,” I pled with the little girl. “Mama says I can send you back the same way I got here, but she said I can’t use any more magic after that. I can’t save you or Carmen if you go,” Dolly murmured. “Let me worry about saving us. Give me a minute to heal myself, then send me there.” She nodded. I was grateful that she listened, even if Rhett didn’t seem to be too happy about it. I couldn’t worry about that right then. Looking down, I saw radiating fractures in my skin. I might be soft, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t shatter like any other troll might. Gathering stones in the area, I used my magic to patch the breaks and cracks. I replaced chunks of my body that had broken off when the demon hit me. Asking about Austin had been stupid after feeling the impact of the demon’s strikes. If it could take chunks out of me, then it wouldn’t have any problem killing a softie. I shook my head. I couldn’t focus on Austin right now. That wouldn’t help and would only cause me to be distracted. I’d mourn him properly once the demon was gone and couldn’t harm anyone else ever again. “Okay, Dolly, I’m ready.” “The blessing will be gone five minutes after you get there,” Dolly told me. “The only reason it didn’t hurt you as much was because of the blessing Mama told me to give you.” “Is this how you got this far away? There was no way you could have made it this far on foot,” I said. “Dolly said she could move us faster, but it would take a lot out of her. I was willing to keep walking, but she worried about the demon catching up to us,” Rhett explained. I nodded. Protecting your family was important, no matter who you were. She wanted to make sure she didn’t lose Rhett like she lost her mother. “I’m ready,” I told Dolly. She let go of Rhett and came over to me, beckoning me down to her level. I knelt down and Dolly put her hand over my heart. I could feel it heating up as she whispered something in a language that I couldn’t understand. When I tried to interpret what she said, my head hurt. I’d never had a headache in my life. That made me stop. When she pulled away, I was confused. A gentle glow on my skin started moving toward my back. I turned my head as much as I could and saw something I could only describe as wings made of light and rainbows coming out of my back. “They’ll take you where you want to go,” Dolly said as she started going limp and Rhett rushed to pick her up in his arms. I stood up, feeling the wings on my back. They felt light and airy, like feathers, but also somehow solid. I looked at Rhett, who was carrying Dolly away from the clearing where I’d ended up.“Thank you,” I told Dolly. She didn’t have to do this for me. I knew when to express my thanks, and I was more than happy to owe the little girl a debt if she took my thanks that way. My mate needed me. Without wasting any more time, I took a deep breath and focused all my energy on Carmen. I closed my eyes and pictured her in my mind, feeling the weight of her love and her presence as I did so. I took one step forward and felt the wings lift me off the ground. When I opened my eyes, I saw the world below me shrink away as I soared higher and higher into the sky.