Arga’s shouting at me, how he’s going to make me hurt, while his fists land on my face, my chest, my shoulders, until my ears are buzzing, one of my eardrums burst, and I can’t make out what he’s saying anymore.
I’m vaguely aware that my cheekbone is cracked, several of my fingers are broken, and my muscles are spasming. I want to call on my wolf, want to numb the pain somehow, but I can’t shift. Can’t run.
A final fist crashes against my forehead, and I hit the ground.
I find myself staring up at the night sky. The artificial lights above me are so bright that I can’t even see the stars.
“Stay down!” Arga roars at me, kicking my ribs. I hear them crack, but it sounds like it’s far away.
My breathing is shallow, air slipping between my lips as I lie still.
In the distance, I sense a disturbance within the crowd. Screams. Power rippling across the air.
“Roman?” I whisper.
Arga kneels beside me, but it’s not until he says, “Which one of you will I kill first?” that I realize I’ve landed near Koda.
He’s facing me, his light-brown skin carrying a gray pallor, his breathing ragged.
“Your power,” I whisper, trying to find my voice, trying to scream, reaching out across the blood-soaked dirt toward Koda. “You have to… find your power.”
“I killed it!” Arga roars at me. “Stupid bitch. Don’t you get it? I crushed his power before he was old enough to discover it.”
Koda’s gaze flickers to Arga. A crease forms in his forehead.
“He killed your bliss,” I whisper to Koda, my voice failing me, but I continue to reach out with my left hand, inching my fingers toward Koda.
Koda’s lips part. His speech is slow, labored. “My… bliss?”
I don’t know what it means, but it’s all I’ve got.
My vision blurs as Arga rears up over me and the screams from the crowd grow wilder—fearful screams, not jubilant ones—and I wish I could fill my last view with the chaos and destruction I imagine Roman and my sisters must be causing right now.
I take my last breath, inhaling the cold air and the remains of nightmares that burn in the back of my throat.
I’m at peace, unafraid, because I know that I’ve done everything I can to make sure thatmygreatest fear won’t come true. Roman will fight to the death to keep my family safe.
Arga’s roar is muted in my damaged hearing as his power blasts around his fist.
He straddles me again, raises his hand, and punches the killing blow into my heart.
CHAPTERFIFTY
Ifeel… nothing.
My body wobbles beneath the weight of Arga’s punch, the impact forcing the air from my chest, but as for pain…
There is none.
In fact, I feel… happy.
A littletoohappy.
Warmth spreads through my left arm, starting from my fingertips and rising up to my shoulder, then traveling across my chest and all the way up into my head. It’s a languid warmth, as if I just dipped my toe into the warm water at the edge of a beach, the waves lapping at my feet, and all of my worries simply… float away.
I find myself smiling. I fill my chest with air, the pain of my broken ribs fading as my lips curve.
Arga’s brow furrows as he stares down at me. “What the fuck?” He grabs my shoulder, but it feels like a mere brush, impossibly gentle. “What are you smiling about?”
