Zach let out a breathless, cruel laugh from behind me, tightening his grip on my broken ankle. I hissed, pressing my face into the dirt as the white-hot agony flared all over again. He hauled himself up, placing a heavy, combat-booted foot directly onto my fractured bone, pinning me to the earth.
"You little b**ch," Zach snarled, his face covered in dirt and scratches from my initial blast. "Look at you. You think you're so smart?"
Malakai slowly walked back toward us, his breathing heavy, the absolute rage radiating off him in suffocating waves. The surrounding guards were groaning, slowly pushing themselves out of the brush, battered but still very much alive.
My father stopped right above me, looking down at my crumpled body with cold, murderous eyes. For a second, I thought he was g
