His body was warm against hers, and Katy found that even though she wanted to ask a million questions, and she wanted to see Lola and Maddie, and her dad, she also was exhausted.
“Where are we?”
“My home.”He paused and his body grew tense.“Ourhome.”
Katy didn’t know what to say to that.
“Sleep, Mate,” Gage rumbled.“Everything else can wait a little longer.”
“Are you always going to be bossy?”Katy said just before an enormous yawn nearly split her jaw open.
Gage wrapped an arm around her and tucked her in tightly to his side, her head pressed against his bare chest.His scent, cloves and pine, wrapped around her, and Katy didn’t have a fighting chance.
“When it comes to you, and your safety and health, damn straight.”
She’d argue with him later, when she wasn’t exhausted.Her eyelids felt so heavy that she gave up trying to keep them open, even if she wanted to take time to admire the very fine-feeling chest that currently acted as her pillow.Something was dragging her into the depths of sleep, and she couldn’t fight it.
“Little Wolf.”A smooth, deep, soothing voice called to her.Katy’s chest hurt, and her heart felt as if it was attempting to beat while being squeezed at the same time.She gasped and clawed at her shirt.
“Be still.Be calm,”the voice said.
Katy dropped her hand and realized she was sitting on the bed where she’d fallen asleep, but something was different.
“You’re dreaming,”the voice offered.
“Who are you?”Katy looked around, searching for the owner of the voice.
“I am Visata, Creator of the one destined to be yours.”
Katy felt the urge to bow, or kneel, but then a hand touched her head, like a parent’s caress.
“You are fine as you are.You cannot look upon me and live.My glory would be too great for you.There is something you need to decide.”
“The women.I can feel them.I can feel their pain.”Katy took a shuddering breath.
“What is happening to them is not natural,”Visata explained.“They were not chosen for this path, and yet it is being forced upon them.A choice must be made.Although they were not meant to beanimi, they are becoming so.You must end this.And it must end one of two ways, Katy Dire.You can keep your life and sever the bond between the females.If you do this, they will die.Their life force is too entwined with yours.Or you could sacrifice your life so that they might live.They will go on to becomeanimiand find mates if they so choose.And you will come home to me.”
Katy felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room.Her lungs burned as she considered those options.They sucked.Like really sucked.Her mind reeled as she struggled to process Visata’s words.Sacrifice herself so the captive women could live?The thought turned her blood to ice.Yet, how could she condemn them to death instead?Either way meant unspeakable loss.
“There must be another way,” she pleaded desperately.“Can’t the bonds be broken without someone dying?”
A gentle pressure, like the brush of a feather, touched her hair and settled on her shoulder.“You have a compassionate heart, Dear One.But the magic used was too dark, too twisted.It will require a great sacrifice to break.”
Katy’s stomach churned with despair.How could she make such an impossible choice?These women were innocent pawns.But was she ready to leave this world behind forever?Leave Gage?Katy’s throat tightened, tears blurring her vision.“It’s not fair,” she choked out.“Those girls didn’t deserve any of this.”
“No, they did not,”Visata agreed, sorrow weighing each word.“Yet evil knows no bounds in its cruelty.Take heart though, Beloved.No matter the path you choose, goodness will prevail in the end.Although the path is obscured, have faith.Where there is selfless love, there is always hope.”
Katy’s shoulders slumped under the terrible burden.How could she decide who lived and died?Doubt plagued her.“Even if I sacrifice myself, the women may reject the animus magic.I can’t force this fate upon them.”
“Wise words.They will have a choice.But you must give them the chance to choose.”
Even as despair threatened to drown her, she knew in her soul which path was right.She looked up with tear-filled, but steady, eyes.“Take me, then.Let them find the future meant for them.”
Warm approval wrapped around her like a tender embrace.“You have chosen well, my daughter.Lay down your mortal life and earn eternal peace.”
Katy’s breath hitched on a sob.To never see her loved ones again… She mourned all she would leave behind.But her spirit calmed, knowing she went to a greater purpose.As darkness crept in, she whispered, “Please care for them when I’m gone.Help Gage understand.Let him find happiness once more, even without me.”
“Your wolf will be difficult to console.”Sadness tinged Visata’s ageless voice.“But his fate yet holds purpose.Rest now, Faithful One.All will be made right in time.”
