“What is?” She blinks.
“The barrier.”
“Can’t be.” She closes her eyes as Master Harlan stalks back and forth just outside the red spikes.
“Just breathe, Lana.” I stroke her arm, the warm feel of her skin assuaging the terror I felt when Warverian took her from me. “You’re going to be all right. You’re healed.”
“Maybe, but why does everything inside me ache? It’s like I’m too full, too alive, so awake that it hurts just tobe.”
“Shh.” Kyte leans over and kisses her, a wisp of gold swirling between them.
Her pain eases finally, receding like a wave on a beach.
I take a breath and realize her pain affects me, too. It’s shared, just like the link between us. Her hurt is mine, is Jeren’s, is Kyte’s. This bond is unfathomable, bottomless. In the blink of an eye, I’ve seen Lana’s past, her youngest memories, the pain from her mother, the joy from her online friends. I see Kyte and Jeren, too. And it’s not as if I’m outside looking in. They’re all part of me, and I’m a part of them.
Kyte leans back and cups her cheek. “Better?”
“Yes.” It’s her thought, not spoken. “But I can’t make a barrier. It’s not possible. I’m just a human.”
Kyte answers, his voice strong in my mind now, not tinny and distant. “You can now. The circle is sealed. And somehow, when it happened, you took from each of us. Our power is shared, not with each other, but only with you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” Kyte shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but then again, I’m not exactly an expert on power circles.”
“Who is?”
“No one that’s still alive.” Jeren’s voice is clear in my head, too, as if he’s right beside me.
Lana tries to sit up.
“Whoa.” Kyte presses her back to the ground. “Easy. First, we need to take care of this barrier.” He shoots a glance at Onin and Master Harlan.
“I don’t know how.” Something acidic coats our connection. Panic. And it’s thickening. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Calm.” Kyte’s voice rolls through all of us, and I get an image in my mind of the lake where we swam and picnicked just a few days ago, the water utterly still, the sun bright, the sky clear. “Still,” he says.
Lana takes a few deep breaths, her tension easing. “Okay. I see the water.”
“Think about it. How smooth and clear and peaceful it is.”
The barrier begins to shrink, the spikes fading as the red walls turn to pink and, after a few more moments of meditation, disappear entirely.
“That’s it.” Kyte strokes her forehead. “Perfect.”
She looks around, her eyes wide and still flecked with Kyte’s green. “So, it really was me?”
“Yes.” I squeeze her arm, and she gives me a smile that seems to permeate me on a cellular level. The feeling is echoed through all of us, each of her Alphas receiving her warmth.
Onin hurries over and drops beside us. “Injuries?”
“No, we’re fine.” She tries to sit up again, and we let her. “At least, I think I’m fine?” Pulling my coat closer, she scoots her bare legs beneath it.
“You were burned.” Onin raises a brow as he reaches for Lana.
“All good now,” she says, far too brightly.
“Don’t lay it on too thick. They all saw, all felt the circle seal.” Jeren smirks.
