I shook my head. “No, that’s not her. That’s something entirely different.”
The night answered with a single echoing heartbeat that wasn’t mine.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Author:We have enough bad luck in this world, so let’s not tempt fate. She’s dramatic and already has me on speed dial.
Fate:Seatbelts, sweetheart. This ride is about to get bumpy.
Author:(Face palm) Proceed to Chapter Fourteen. If anything explodes, that’s on fate, not me.
Fate:Challenge accepted.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nowhere was safe. Better to join the deviants and have fun.
After dressing, the elementals dispersed into the night, no doubt vowing never to return to a Roberts gathering again. The key thing was that they shared, gossiped, and whispered about what they witnessed tonight. Weakening Eloise’s positionwasn’t just about the physical power; it was about the family network she had lost.
The foreign heartbeat continued to thrum against my ribs.
“We need the wards back up. Now,” Hudson snapped.
I gritted my teeth and connected to the barrier we lowered to allow everyone inside. The remnants pressed down on it, a suffocating weight that made me drop to my knees. My wings brushed the dirt as the shadows crawled closer and wrapped around my wrists, shackling me in place as they tried to tear me apart in their desperate bid for a tether to this world. I rolled my shoulders and grimaced at the sensation of blades skimming my spine.
They were so cold, lost, and empty. It broke my heart, but I needed to grip them tight and wrestle them back. Another passed through my chest, stealing my breath.
“Do you need help, daughter of death?” The voice was like a heated knife cutting through butter.Donn.
I shook my head. I was already dancing on the edge of darkness; I didn’t need to invite it in. “Leave me alone.”
“Who is she talking to?” Dave asked.
“No idea,” Aunt Liz replied.
“Cora, put the wards back up,” Dayna coaxed.
“I’m trying,” I ground out.
“It’s the remnants,” Hudson growled. “They’re overwhelming her.”
“Help is coming,” Rebecca said, her voice breathless. Where had she gone?
“Miss Roberts,” Harry whispered close to my ear. “I want you to let me in. I can lend you my strength and the strength of every spirit on your land. Together, we can push them back.”
“If this doesn’t work, I’ll be forced to take action,” Hudson snapped.
I huffed. What was my mate planning to do against spectral beings? Growl them to death? Spoiler—they were already dead.
Harry’s essence brushed against my own, and I tried to open my soul and allow him in. He met a wall. Not mine, but Donn’s.
Donn’s laughter echoed in my mind. “When you made a deal with me, you let me inside you.”
“Phrasing,” I muttered.
“In return, you are inside me.”
I gritted my teeth and shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
