The fabric fluttered over the mirror and settled in one dark sheet, covering the glass and silencing my mother’s outraged screeches. I let out a breath, releasing the extra stress that call added on my already pressured shoulders, and then spun to look at Eryn.
“Please tell me you weren’t bluffing.”
She shook her head. “Rani was filming that night,” she answered, voice choking on her friend’s name. “I don’t know whether it's the proof we need, but it's the only record of what happened that might counter the lies spun against you.”
This brilliant, genius girl. I swooped down and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. Maybe she’d see the intelligence in my plan and could be reasoned with. Doubtful, but a guy could hope. Ezra wasn’t going to like the abrupt change either, but what I had in mind was the best we had to work with. In the living room, Ezra waited by the front door. His anxiety was beyond obvious, as was his outrage when I told him my plan.
“I’m going after her, cuz.” He bared his teeth and made to push past me.
I shoulder-checked him and added a little extra buffer with my shadows. They were going to get a lot of use tonight, I was positive.
“You aremysecond,” I said, carefully controlling my tone. “That means you do as I say. If you can’t follow my orders, Ez, you’re doing more harm than good.”
He was loyal down to his bones; I had no doubt about that. Rani worked her way under his skin, but he knew what he had to do. He clenched his jaw and offered me one more pleading glance, but I held firm. The temperature of the room lowered until I saw my breath. Still, I wouldn’t bend. With a final dip of his chin, he conceded, and I clasped his shoulder.
“Get the phone safely behind these wards, and then come join me. We’ll destroy them together.”
The plan was for me to go to the exchange point—the spot where Kol thought Eryn would give herself up for her friend. But my bond wasn’t going to be there. Using my shadows for coverage, I would whisk Rani away, probably back here where itwas safe, and then I’d return to reap absolute carnage on those who dared to threaten me and those I cared about.
At the same time, Ezra was to go to the dorms to find the phone so we could secure the proof needed to save my life. If, by chance, Rani had her phone on her, then I’d kill two birds with one stone and have them both back here behind the wards. If I was lucky, I’d kill far more than two birds tonight. There was just one more thing I had to do.
Nowhere in that plan did I hear what I would be doing.Eryn finally spoke down that mental bridge, her voice disarmingly calm.
I recognized the beginning stages of rage building in her, and knew I needed to end this before it became a full argument. We didn’t have the time. But telling her what to do and expecting obedience wouldn’t work with her. I didn’t think she had an obedient bone in her body, not even when I had her naked and beneath me. Especially not then.
“You’re going to stay here,” I told her, preparing a thick band of my shadows for what came next. I settled it over the door, sealing her inside. This wasn’t going to go over well, but it couldn’t be helped.
“No, I’m not,” she argued.
“It's a trap,” I tried reasoning with her, but she wouldn't hear it. “A very specific trap. Foryou.”
“I’m aware, but if this Kol asshole wants to kidnap my friend just to get me to introduce myself, then I’ll fucking go and say hello!”
She tried to fake me out and run around me. It was cute but unsuccessful. My legs and arms were much longer than hers, there was no way she was getting past.
“You’ve actually already met him. He’s the one who stabbed you.”
She froze, and a slow, maniacal glare spread across her face. “Even better.”
We were running out of time, and it was obvious Eryn wasn’t going to back down. Forced to use more of my shadows, I wound them around her and essentially tied her to a chair. Her screams of rage echoed in the empty condo and drowned out my apologies. She’d forgive me. Eventually. When I returned with her best friend.
Until then, I left a kiss on her forehead and stepped through the thick shadows still over the front door. My magick would hold until I traveled too far out of reach, which would be almost to the meeting point on the edge of campus. I hoped that was enough time for her to calm down and see reason.
Miracle. I needed a miracle.
twenty-eight
Eryn
I was going to kill him. First, I was going to save him and maybe kiss him, but then most definitely kill him. The back of my head throbbed as I raced toward the docks. Breaths choppy because I had no time to warm up before launching into a full-on sprint, I thanked the gods Kai’s place was closer to the beach than it was to campus.
I tracked him all the way out here, following the pulse of his shadows in my mind until they suddenly snuffed out, along with the ones he left behind to keep me away. The dull pain lingering in my skull was the only clue I had for what might have happened. I knew going alone was a bad idea, and I should have fought harder to be included in their plans.
Damn him and his overprotective instincts. And damn me for failing to break free sooner. I smelled the ocean before I saw it, and this late at night it appeared as a wall of complete darkness that roared a daring challenge to come closer.
The full moon highlighted three figures huddled around acouple of jet skis, as well as one prone body on the sand. My heart stopped. Kai didn’t move, but I knew he was alive. That connection between us was still strong and wide open. Not for the first time, I cursed myself for letting him block me with his shadows so easily.
Talk to me, Kai, I shouted down the bond.Tell me you’re okay.
