Val did not like this guy. “You’re Danube, right?” I asked, in case I’d need to deal with a possession or a killing.
“Yes. I’m his brother.”
I didn’t see the similarity, other than that they both had dark hair and there was something of the wolf about them.
Val snarled. “Brother, my ass. In name maybe. Never in blood.”
“Val doesn’t agree,” I noted.
Danube’s eyes widened and he looked away from us to scan the area in front of him. “You can see him? He’s here? You can hear him?”
Before I could answer, Val and his wolf bolted forward. Between one stride and the next, the man and wolf blended into one spirit, more wolf than man, a silver ghost made of fang, claws, and fury.
He was running straight at Danube.
“Shit.” I ran after him.
It was a knee-jerk reaction. I didn’t even think. I just acted, not remembering I was no longer in spirit form, but was a man of bone and blood and muscle.
I couldn’t instantly transport myself anywhere like I used to. Which meant I was nowhere near close enough to grab Val. I’d have to stop him another way.
Those thoughts rapid fired through my brain.
And then…
I reached out with my hands, knowing what it felt like to grab a ghost, knowing the shock of connecting to a level of existence not in line with my own.
It hadn’t been easy to catch a ghost when I’d been a spirit.
It wasn’t easier now.
I shouted as pain licked fire in my muscles, cramping my calves, my stomach, my arms as if I’d been dipped into a vat of burning coals.
My empty hands shook, and then I felt the edges of Valentine’s spirit, my fingers sliding into ice, plunging into an electric cold.
I yanked.
Val was suddenly absolutely still, suspended inches away from Danube’s face.
My hands froze and burned as I struggled to hold the fleeting essence of the man.
Danube took a step back, then another. “He’s here. He’s right here. Isn’t he?”
Lu strode up next to me, and I was shocked to find I’d only taken three steps. It felt like I’d been running on lightning, my breathing coming hard and fast.
“Val,” Lu said. “You need to back away from Danube. If you do, Brogan will let you go.”
I blinked the sting of sweat out of my eyes but didn’t dare move, didn’t dare speak. I didn’t know exactly how I had grabbed the ghost much less how I was holding him frozen. But however I had done it, it was damned exhausting.
If Val didn’t do what Lu said real quick like, I wasn’t going to be able to hold him anyway.
Even though Val didn’t move, my hold on him changed, as if he had stopped running, stopped pushing. The shape of him changed too, sliding away from wolf and more toward man.
“Do we have an understanding?” Lu asked.
I eased my hold, just slightly.
“Yes,” he growled.
