“No, you’re not.”
“I have been for a while. You know it. I know it.” He gazes up at me, sad, like I’m the one laying in a bed claiming death is close.
Grief is slowly lodging into my heart with his every—and numbered—breath. I do know it because he said as much the morning after the attack. “I don’t understand. The magick?”
“Is gone. Carina…”
My teeth snap together at her name and preferring not to yell at Dad, I whirl on Marissa who hovers by the door. “Explain.”
“I don’t know what she did, Ryder.” Marissa worries her hands, brows drawn in with a grim look. “It was sudden. She justtookit. It transferred from him to her.”
Morgan said the only thing any of them could do was the one thing they’d refuse to: accept the magick for themselves—willingly turn Dark.
“No,” I growl at the reminder. She didn’ttakeit. She wouldn’t be that stupid. She wouldn’t accept Darkness, only hours after admitting how terrified she is of what it’ll do to her.
But she would. It’s a hard fact. Carina, as I’ve come to learn, isthatperson. Just like Dad’s impending death. It’s a fact I don’t want to believe but can’t stop either.
“No.” She didn’t do this to herself because I won’tlether be lost to magick unknown.
“She’s a good person, Ryder. Take care of her, no matter what you choose to do with the bond.”
If she keeps being reckless, there won’tbea bond to accept or deny.
Dad coughs again, and it brings me back to the immediate problem. “If the magick is gone, your body will heal. You’ll be fine.”
He lightly squeezes my hand. “Like I said, I feel it. The magick not only weakened me but aged me. Made me tired of living without your mother. Without my mate.” He catches my eye. “It’s a lonely road without one, but it’s difficult to ignoring an earth-chosen bond.”
“No.” Apparently, it’s the only word in my vocabulary.
“I’m ready,” he says, shoving the knife of grief deeper into my gut. “The pack will thrive under your leadership…Alpha.” He squeezes his eyes shut and turns his head slightly, displaying as much submission as he can. “Your mother is waiting for me in the Otherworld. I need her, Ryder, like the pack now needs you. Carina needs you. And you need her.”
I won’t accept this.Thisisn’t how his life is supposed to end.
Marissa wanders closer, resting her hand on my shoulder, but I surge to my feet, denying the knowledge of the facts my stomach twists with; what he’s so clearly telling me.
“No, you’renotdying. You’ll make it. I’ll make sure you fucking survive.”
“Ryder…”
Ignoring him, I command, “Let the others say goodbye.”
Then I take off, with the intent to unleash the monster clawing at my insides to roam free.
But not before unleashing him on the woman who’s making a monster of me.
Thirty-Two
CARINA
I hearhim before I see him from my place by the tree, where I’ve remained even as the sun shifted over the sky and evening approached. It was only a matter of time before Ryder came looking. Whether because of his dad or simply because he’s looking for his non-captive.
The woods crack beneath his rush, the air stilling at the guttural growl he releases seconds before rounding a line of trees and spotting me on the ground. A violent roar forces me to my feet as he stalks forward.
This version of Ryder is different than any other. This one looks capable of murdering me. Perhaps, his father’s impending death reminded him how much he despises witches.
Magick cools my palms to defend, not attack.
Attack.Darkness slithers around my neck, countering the very instinct.
