Instead of leading us to her wooden cabin, she directs us toward a large cavern on the far left of the compound. As soon as I enter it, I understand why.
It’s dark inside. Soothingly dark. But just light enough that I can see where I’m going and make out the outlines of those around me.
Malia hurries to my side. “I told Athella what you need. She didn’t seem surprised. She said that Momma M told her many things while we were away, and Athella seems to have some knowledge of the angels’ realm, too.”
When we were here the first time, there were things I didn’t share with Athella or the eagles—in fact, there were many things I didn’t know myself. That Roman was a demon. That he was the Master of Demon Runes. That Koda, whom at the time we thought was Lord Rune, was actually my brother. I certainly didn’t share the existence of my demon wolves. But between Mom and Malia, the ancient woman seems to understand exactly what we need now.
“Quickly,” Athella calls to the eagle shifters who are helping us walk inside. “We must act quickly to restore their dark souls. Help them to lie down in one of the circles. Yes, even the wolves.”
Circles?
I finally make out the multitude of black crystals lining the floor. They’re laid out in oval shapes, large enough to lie down within, but each circle is also far enough apart to create a narrow walkway between them.
Gianna helps me to the circle in the center of the cavern, and I’m grateful that Adriel leads Roman to the circle next to mine.
Dastian carries Taniya to the circle on my left, but he refuses to let go of her hand, kneeling beside her as close as he can without entering the circle. She’s barely awake, but she doesn’t take her eyes off him.
“When you’re healed, you and I need to talk,” he says to her, his voice low. There are new fine lines around his eyes and a darkness in his expression that wasn’t there when we first met him. I can only imagine that he suffered while we were gone, his separation from my sister as hard on him as it was on her.
Nearby, Koda is helped to the circle at my head, and I’m glad that the eagles never saw his face last time he was here, so they don’t know he was the one who was terrorizing Vegas. They have a right to know, and it’s a problem I’ll have to face eventually, but first, we need to be healed.
All around us, my wolves also lie down, their soft whines telling me that they’re hurting as much as I am.
Finally, Jareth rests in the circle at my feet, still wrapped in the blanket Athella brought him. Mom kneels at his side and her location allows her to watch over him as well as to see me, Taniya, and the wolves. And Malia, who remains at the side of the cavern. Adriel stays with her, leaning against the wall beside her. He’s put away his black wings, but if he spread them, I could imagine them disappearing into the darkness that shrouds this place. He seems to have toned his internal light down to the point that, outside of his otherworldly beauty, I wouldn’t even know he was an angel now.
“Rest, Nova,” Athella murmurs, dropping to a crouch outside my circle. “You kept your pack safe. You brought your father home. Now it is time to heal.”
“What is this place?” I ask, unable to relax until I’m sure my pack will survive.
“I use this cavern as a quiet place to think,” she says, and then she winks. “And also to heal sunstroke. Even eagle shifters can get too much sun in this desert. It seems it will help you now.”
I’m not sure that she’s accurately representing the nature of this cavern, because as I finally allow myself to lie down, the stones seem to come alive, dark mist swirling within their fist-sized forms. The darkness within them is even more soothing to my soul than the absence of light within the cavern. Even so, my muscles scream as I curl my knees up to my chest and lay my head onto the earth. I’m too depleted for my natural healing to kick in.
I’m done.
So done.
“You are all drained to the point of near death,” Athella calls quietly. “These stones are not as strong as my healing light, but I cannot use light to help you in this instance. Instead, the stones will remove the saturation of angelic energy you have experienced.” Her old eyes meet mine as her voice lowers and she continues. “And replace that energy with darkness.”
I catch her hand before she can rise. “Why would a spiritual guide have stones imbued with darkness?”
She gives me another mysterious smile, the shadows playing across her face. “Because only in darkness can you find light.”
It doesn’t answer my question, but it seems it’s the best she’ll give me. Despite my need for answers, my eyes are closing. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel like the experience in the angels’ world. Not a sensation of being pulled down into a drugged sleep, but a sense of safety and healing within the darkness.
Athella rises to her feet and begins to hum, and the stones respond to the sound of her voice, swirling gently and growing darker.
As I sigh out the last of my fear for my family, I find Roman’s gaze on me. His stormy-green eyes and his scent once reminded me of basking by a bonfire on a beach. Burning wood and the heat of flames. While on Mortem, his essence was that of a demon, here… I sense the shifter he used to be.
I desperately want to reach out and take his hand. He stretches out his arm in my direction and I do the same, and then I can’t seem to find the strength to keep my heavy eyelids open.
My mind fills with Athella’s humming, the tendrils of darkness reaching out from the stones, and the power of the dark seeping into my bones and pulling me under.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
Iwake to a buzz of energy across my cheek. It feels like the brush of a wolf’s whiskers, and I open my eyes expecting to find my demon wolves crowded around me.
Instead, a wolf with bronzed fur and russet paws rests its head near my cheek, its body lying across the black stones circling me.
