My hand slips to my pocket where my new weapon is stored, along with my memories of the last six months. Right now, figuring out how I returned isn’t important. My priority is tracking down my quintet. They’re suffering from their vengeful curses while the rest of the world has gone to shit thanks to me.
Now that I’m back, my first order of business is checking on everyone I left behind.
The Nether humans. Kenzie. Lillian.
My guys.
I try not to think about what six months might’ve done to them. By now, maybe they’ve come to their senses and decided to despise me for not fighting them harder and preventing all of this. I chose to be selfish with them, and now they’re far worse off.
But they can hate me as much as they want as long as they’re still alive.
You’d all better be alive, or I’m destroying what’s left of this godsdamned world.
I pause, tipping my head when the faintest sound catches my attention. It sounded like a nearly imperceptible voice, calling someone’s name in a whisper. I move away from the road as quietly as possible, limping into a thicker section of frost-encrusted trees for cover—until I hear the hissed voice even closer.
“Randy!”
Oh, my gods.
Kenzie?
Shock and relief flood me. I keep still, listening until I can make out the faintest crunching of someone walking through the snow. As soon as I can tell she's still moving in my direction, I step out of the cluster of trees, ready to greet her.
But Kenzie’s bright blue gaze flashes to me for barely a second before a vicious snarl rips from her. Before I can react, she launches toward me, shifting midair.
Winter clothes rip as golden fur sprouts all over, her bones snapping and reshaping in the blink of an eye. All at once, the air is crushed from my lungs as I'm pinned to the snowy ground by a lithe, majestic lioness, her sharp teeth bared in my face and animalistic, feline glare fixed on me.
Holy shit.
She can shift, which must mean that she's fully bonded now. Her curse is broken. It's the happily ever after she's wanted since the moment I met her.
I immediately have questions, but my innate reflexes kick in when her teeth go straight for my jugular. Magic explodes outward from me—only, this isn’t what I’m used to. It’s not fueled by death.
Instead, it's the same burning, powerful sensation I felt when I fought Gideon in Alaska.
Holy magic. The kind I have no fucking idea how to fuel or control.
The lioness yelps in pain and jolts away from me, writhing in the snow. I sit up, alarmed when her animal cry transforms into Kenzie's voice. Her shift back is obviously forced and painful,but finally, she’s left naked and shaking in the snow, glaring murderously at me.
This isn’t how I pictured our reunion.
“I didn't mean to—” I start.
“Shut the fuck up!” she snaps with impressive vitriol.
I've never seen her so pissed off as she gets back to her feet, wiping sweat off her brow and baring her teeth as a shifter warning. My attention slips down to one of her bare arms, which is marked with all four quintet emblems running down her tricep. There’s also a faint bite mark on one side of her neck.
I open my mouth to congratulate her, but she cuts me off. “It’s bad enough that you look like her, but I swear on the fucking gods, if you evendareuse her voice–”
Kenzie’s own voice breaks before she’s on me again, pinning my arms to the snow, pure hatred on her face as her wild blonde curls curtain around my head. If looks could kill, I’d be dead again.
“Haven’t you monsters taken enough from me already?” Kenzie growls. “Stop fucking mimicking her or I’m going to?—”
Mimicking?
Oh. That explains her fury.
“Changelings have square pupils,” I remind her.
