‘What do you mean?’Niru shook his head. ‘I don’t know. These shadows, the weight of it, is what is hurting her. We need to take some of it, take her burden.’Part of me wanted to think he was crazy. The other part of me knew this might not be Niru’s mind but more instinct. Justin and I were supposed to balance out Sky. That was what Sophie and Fiona said. Sky said she would be too much for one person to handle. Did that mean we could take some of the darkness from her? Whatever the Blood Witches had twisted, whatever grew inside of her that turn her into a monster, was that something we could help pull out?‘How?’ I finally asked Niru after coming up with nothing on my own.‘I…I don’t know. It’s frustrating. I know we have to do something. We have to save her. I…feel like she’s slipping away, Ethan. I just…I don’t know how to help.’I nodded. Her writhing hadn’t been as bad but that was necessarily a good thing. It meant she’d stopped being able to fight. Otherwise, I’m sure she would
I jolted awake and my eyes snapped open but my body was weight down. Looking down, Sky was still sleeping in the crook of my arm. Yawning, I looked out the window and saw that the sun was peaking through. Had I slept the entire day? I was pretty sure when I tucked Sky in the sun was only going down. Rubbing my face with my one free hand, I turned my body inward a bit without jostling Sky. Laying my head above hers, I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep. The second time I woke up, I knew it wasn’t nearly as long as the first. Sky was shifting though, her brows pinched tight and she was curled up in an even tighter ball.“Sky, you need to wake up. It’s just a dream. You’re not there anymore. You’re right here.”Brushing her cheek a couple times, her face softened and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me with her brown eyes and I didn’t realize how much of a relief it was to see them. I honestly didn’t know what I would do if those red eyes looked back at me this morning. Ma
“Kevin should be back any minute from the gas station as well.”My eyebrows went up. “Kev is here? I thought…”Mom tittered. “Kevin was the first guinea pig for the witches healing potions. They work wonders if you can get past the taste.”Sure enough, I heard the front door unlock and open. Sky sighed as I set her down on the stool facing my mom.“I’m going to have to change the code. Too many people know it now.”“You better not. I just memorized it without Niru’s help.”Sky laughed and I smiled. Kev walked up the steps and he smiled as he came around to the kitchen. He looked okay. His dark circles were a little more prominent but outside of that, he looked perfectly healthy.“I’m glad to see you’re okay, Sky. We were all worried about you. We didn’t know if you got hurt or if you needed help.” Kev slide her a bottle of Gatorade. “Drink that. You need it.”Her nose wrinkled. “It’s the yellow one though. Who drinks the yellow one?”“I do!” Kev huffed, taking out a blue bottle and sli
“I…” I was surprised mostly. Not just that she knew what I had done but that she knew it was an option.Her hands fell and her forehead rested against my chest. “You can’t do that, Ethan. You can’t take the darkness. No matter what.” She looked up at me, determination reflecting in them. “Do you understand?”“No.”“Excuse me?”I put my hands on her shoulders and pulled her back slightly. “If that’s all I can do to support you, then I will. My questions, how do you know?”My tone was a little more angry than I meant it to be but I was angry. If she knew that it was an option, I could have helped her sooner. Part of me wondered if she even trusted me. This was a lot of information to hold back on. She sighed and leaned back against the door. Her body language was like she was curling in on herself. As she did it, I felt my anger deflate.“It starts with chest pain. Like your heart is being squeezed or stabbed. Then, it starts to hurt
After four days, I finally got a moment to step away. Kev was right that the damage could have been much worse but for one she-wolf, Sky did a number. Mostly it was cracked roads or wolves being thrown into building or poles. There was cleanup covered the roads, buildings and in the places that my pack had tried to make a stand against the rogues. The pack house was an absolute disaster. The bottom floor was basically completely ruined along with the outside porch being unsafe to walk on.Then it was getting everyone healed and rested. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the majority of losses that we had were warriors. It was their job to put their pack safety first but it left a huge hole in our own security after. I needed to make sure we had coverage where we now had gaping holes. Sam, Kev and I all took up multiple patrols to cover as many places for the healing warriors before putting the newer recruits sandwiched between veterans. I didn’t anticipate another atta
And ready, I was not.My very busy schedule suddenly got a lot busier. Every other day I had to drive up to the coven. Most of it was sat in meditation for hours, only to get slapped with a staff when my mind wandered. One thing I could do was focus on my drawings for long periods of time but focusing on nothing was not in my wheelhouse. It turned out I was exceptionally bad at it. Leaving me some days recovering just from the amount of hits I got from the two of them.“You’re wandering again!” Sophie hit me between the shoulders with the stick.I knew better than to answer or even growl. That was breaking out of the concentration completely and usually ended up with some kind of magic being slung at me. Taking a deep breath, I focused inside. It wasn’t a natural thing to do. Pushing away the pack bond, even pushing Niru out of my head, was far more difficult than it seemed. I hadn’t been alone in my own head since I was a child. Th
“You’re late.”Sky didn’t even turn around. Her arms were crossed as she watched my guys spar on the mats they dragged out. I put my hands up in resignation.“I apologize. I didn’t mean to be. It won’t happen again.”She looked at me over her shoulder and her eyes narrowed. Turning, she held out her hand. I looked at it, confused of what she was asking for. Finally, I just put my hand on top other open palm. Immediately, it started to sting as she slapped it.“Not that hand. The other one.”I cocked my head to the side and placed the still-tingling numb hand in hers. Her chest rose and fell before she sandwiched the top of my hand with her other one. Slowly, she pulled her hands until my hand was left hanging mid-air. My eyes widened as I had full feeling back in my hand. Looking up at her, Sky had already turned back to the guys.“Don’t do that again.” Her tone was cross.“I…how…you can just…?”Chuckling, Sky shook her head. “It’s my power, Ethan. You think I can’t just take it back?”
“What? How?”Sky turned back to the door and I noticed her hand tighten around the make-shift weapon. “I don’t know. It’s like…a feeling. Like he’s come within a certain range and I can feel him. It’s rough though. I don’t know exactly where. Just…close.”“What do you want to do?”She snorted. “Murder him?”My lips pursed in a thin line. I stepped closer and rubbed her arm that wasn’t holding the crowbar. She leaned back a bit into my chest and Niru purred. Still, her muscles were coiled up and on alert.“We need to give him a chance.” I reached for her chin and tilted her head up so she could look at me. “He’s your mate too. He’s your chance of a future. You need both of us.”“But…”I smiled. “I know. Trust me, I know. But one step at a time.”“Like?”“Like maybe we should head out into the forest? Carl said he was feral, right? So he’ll be in wolf form. We don’t know how much of him is left.”She hummed but nodded. Setting out, I wish she’d let the crowbar go but she took it with he