With a groan wrenched from my chest, and eyes blurred with tears, I clawed fingers into the dirt simply to feel grounded… then dropped my head under the blanket of shame.
“I am… I am… my father’s son,” I wheezed.
In the seconds that followed, that admission almost killed me. And I fought again—fought for my life.
Heal. See yourself. Know yourself.
HEAL.
“I am… my father’s son!” I croaked. “But please… God… I do not want to be.”
The truth will set you free.
~ JESSE ~I sat on the end of my bed, my trembling hands clasped in my lap, and my entire body… vibrating.I didn’t shake. I hummed. I was afraid to move, because it seemed like if I did my bones might actually disintegrate. And yet, I had never felt more alive.Conflicting emotions roiled through me—anger, rage, hate, self-pity, the desire for revenge… But for the first time in my life, the stronger those feelings got, the stronger I felt.Whatever was happening within me, it was strong.So strong I feared it might wash me away if I gave into it.
~ JESSE ~Rake spoke to me through the link again a moment later, though he was probably halfway through the house by now.‘Jesse, please… I’m taking a car, so I’m going to be out of range quickly. Please tell me that you believe me. And that you won’t do anything reckless. They’re dangerous—your father, your brothers, their friends… they’re dangerous. And they’re deeply entwined in the pack politics, though they have no clue how precarious their position is. Just… please… promise me you’ll stay safe.’I lay there for a second, but then realized if I tortured him he might do something stupid, so I sighed and made myself answer.‘I’m going to do nothing except w
~ JESSE ~The water in my glass began to ripple and splash inside the glass. I put it down before I spilled it, then picked up the pill and looked at it.Then I turned—slowly in case my head exploded—and looked up at Chase, holding it out… and found him with a small frown on his face.“You think…” I said quietly. “You think you can bring me into all of this and that’s it? That’s the only part of this that you need to take responsibility for?”Chase sighed like I was annoying him. “Look, I know it’s been rough with the wolves&mda
~ JESSE ~It happened faster than thought, and yet, everything slowed down too.One second I was standing there, fighting laughter, staring at my father with my frozen brother at my side.Then, somehow I made the decision to let one of those coiling snakes inside me strike—just one. I didn’t even have to think about it, didn’t even have to give a command. I just… let it go.My father screamed like he’d been shot with a taser, and dropped to the floor, writhing and twitching like someone was still pumping him full of electric current.I jerked back a step, watching him, fascinated, the entire world thrumming. Lights crackling at the edges of my vision. My heart puttering in my chest like a bir
~ CASIMIR ~When the night gave way to morning and my tears had finally dried, the humming energy inside me did not. I’d fled the catacombs—wary of my vow to Maya, but so desperate to escape the weight and darkness that I’d been living in for so long it was suddenly necessary to see the sun.I would die if I didn’t.So I fled, praying, and the moment I met the eastern tunnel that led to the surface, I turned and took it, vowing that I wouldn’t do more than hide myself under the trees so that I could breathe.I had to move.I had to think.I had to
~ JESSE ~It had been hours since I’d stopped running. But I hadn’t stopped walking yet. And I wouldn’t. I didn’t care how long it took to get back to the wolves. Because every step I took, the power got stronger, and I was growing more and more afraid of what I might do if I didn’t get some help.I could barely feel my skin. I should have been sweating. Should have been growing more and more tired. But, instead of being burned by the sun, it seemed like I… absorbed it. And it just gave me more.My existence swelled with power. I was still trembling. Still fighting a battle at every moment not to simply explode with it. But I knew… I knew I had to get back to Cazz. To the wolves. To the Catacombs. Something… someone
~ JESSE ~The strange man’s eyes went wide, then rolled back in his head. The truck lurched, then roared forward, then he slumped and his foot must have slid off the clutch because the truck jerked to a halt so hard I was thrown forward and slammed into the dashboard. Luckily I got my arms up in time to catch myself—but my forearms were bruised.When the truck stalled, we were sitting there in near silence, him slumped over the wheel, staring at me with glazed eyes.I started to cry… but there was nothing else I could do.“Take me back… back to that little road that winds up the mountain—”“We already on it,” he mumbled, his eyes still unblinking.
~ CASIMIR ~I found myself laying in the grass of the clearing where I’d brought Jesse. I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten here—in my wolf?—but when I sat up I felt… strange.My body felt shaky, but under my skin. Like I’d spent every ounce of energy I had.Yet, for the first time I could remember I was oddly calm. And right alongside the bond in my chest—that brittle, cold thread that still connected me to Jesse—was a tiny ball of warmth.Hope.For the first time in a very, very long time, I had hope.I began to smile until my traitorous mind immediately began to ask all the questions—how I would ever make it