Out of the corner of my eye, I noted Hel’s surprise. She quickly buried it, but I’d noticed all the same. It made me realize I shouldn’t be able to do this—whateverthiswas.
Before me, Maddox twisted and bit down on Vince’s thigh. The man dropped to his knees. Ryder managed to grab the arm on Vince’s other side. This made a gap for me to enter. Though doubt sat like a tiny whisper in the back of my mind, there was so much arcana inside me now that I doubted Vince could negate it all.
I stepped forward and cupped Vince’s face with my icy hands. For a moment, nothing happened. I thought my arcana had vanished.
Then I learned what they meant bymy life flashed before my eyes.
Vince’s memories rolled out for me like film. Each snapshot burned into my brain. I saw him as a child, waiting for his father to come home. I saw him walking back from school on his own. I saw his life working aboard ships.
Then I saw the moment that changed his life.
It happened, frame by frame. Vince walking alone in the dark after getting off a boat. Vince pausing to listen to a sound at the docks. Vince’s head cocked while he decided what to do. The claws in the dark. The hunger. Teeth bearing down.
The frames turned red.
I wanted to let go and run away from this scene, but I couldn’t move. I was trapped in Vince’s memories with him. Were they this jerky because of his compromised soul? Or was this how it was supposed to play out?
“Stop,” Vince begged. “Don’t go any further. Don’t make me relive this.”
What could be worse than the night he was changed? I thought it would show me how his soul had been ripped apart. Instead, the memories skipped over that part of his life like they’d been hollowed out.
The vision snapped forward. Vince staggered in front of a door. He raised a shaky hand to knock and instead pounded on it. He jerked, surprised by himself. Already, he seemed unreal. It was like reality wasn’t convinced he was really there.
A woman filled the doorway. Her bronze skin and black hair only made her expression brighter. That expression quickly fell. Vince put his hand flat to her chest and staggered into her, pushing her deeper into her apartment. She looked up at him with trust.
Then…the scene turned red.
My heart clenched. The pain from the earlier vision returned. His fingers sunk into my skin. The force of it shattered my sternum. Was this real? Or was it part of the vision? I couldn’t tell reality from memory. It dragged me down into the darkness until there was nothing but the pain in my chest, nothing but Vince’s lament.
Maddox’s roar broke through the spell. I came to with a gasp. Light flooded my vision. I yanked my hands away from Vince’s face. I heard the sound of ice shattering and the pieces hitting the paved driveway.
My icy hands shook. Chest burning, I remembered to breathe again. It wasn’t only my lungs that hurt, though. Touching my chest, my hand came away red with blood. Just the sight of it made my knees go out from under me. Though it’d only been a vision, I reeled from the physical effects of it. Vince’s hand marked my chest, leaving behind a bleeding handprint.
“I’ve got you,” Ryder said, suddenly beside me.
He kept me from hitting the ground full force. In Ryder’s grasp, I looked up. Maddox had moved to put himself between Vince and me. I expected a fight.
What I didn’t expect was the wall of black figures between us and Vince.
“We aren’t her,” the shades chanted in unison. “We aren’t her.”
The shades reached for Vince. Their forms flickered as they closed in around him. Vince clutched the sides of his head and screamed. I still had more arcana left in me—so much more. I shoved it at the shades until they became fully realized versions of their former selves.
Human faces stared down at Vince with pity and anger. I couldn’t erase the dark voids of their hearts, though. The blackness in their chests pulsated. They threatened to suck down everything around them like the tears in limbo sucked me down.
Vince’s aura tore into them. Every time his aura ripped a shade apart, I sewed it back together with my arcana. Hand outstretched, I shook. While my arcana could do anything, my body couldn’t keep up. I wasn’t used to funneling this much power. I’d put so much into Maddox, the visions, and the shades.
Already, my vision darkened and blurred. Maddox twisted and looked me up and down. Panic hit his wolfish eyes. He leapt towards me just as I lost consciousness.
Maddox
Without Addie,the ghosts couldn’t stick around. I licked her face. Ryder gave her a gentle shake. She wasn’t going to wake. There was no time to waste. Addie was safe in the dragon man’s arms. I had to trust my new Alpha to protect the woman I loved.
I thought my beast would complain and fight me, but the creature and I were in agreement. Ryder was a giant scaly tank. He could protect Addie.
Vince howled in pain and lashed out, sweeping his arm through the shades. His aura dispersed the ghosts of his victims. He dragged his other hand down his face before lifting his angry gaze in my direction.
No, not my direction. Vince looked past me. He set his sights on Addie.