And Cade, he didn’t even make it ten steps from me. There are five on him at once, and even with his alpha strength, he can’t hold them all.
Do it, Wolf encourages.We’ll deal with the aftermath later. They need us. Our mate needs us.
Helplessness claws through me, raw and merciless. The hum inside me swells, louder and hotter, until it’s not a vibration anymore but a roar. The power shoves through me, tearing past every fragile barrier I’ve tried to hold in place since sensing it.
It’s time to find out who I really am.
Even if I don’t like the answer.
The instant I let go, fire swallows me whole.
It detonates outward in a violent rush—energy ripping from my body, screaming through the yard in a wave that blasts everything in its path. Enemies go flying like broken toys, slamming into trees, skidding across the ground, crumpling in heaps. The air is a storm of mist and screams.
But it doesn’t stop there.
The blast doesn’t sparethem.
Liz drops, her body limp on the ground, motionless. Archie’s bulky form slams into the dirt and then, with a small, shuddering twitch, he shrinks back down, his fur matted, chest heaving. Iris lies on her side, needles and glitter and bandages scattered like confetti, her chest unmoving.
For an earth-shattering second, I think Cade got free, but one full turn, and that hope dies.
He’s there on his side, face half-buried in the blood-dark grass. I think I see his chest rise, the tiniest sliver of life, but I can’t tell if it’s real or if my terror is tricking me.
What have I done?
Silence falls in the wake of the blast, broken only by a groan and the crackle of settling debris.
My chest heaves. My hands shake. The air around me thrums with the last echoes of whatever the hell I just unleashed.
And all I can keep thinking is?—
What have I done?
I wait for Wolf to tell me it’s not as bad as it looks. That the bodies of not only our enemies, but my family, all lying much too still, can’t be real. But she’s not there.
There’s only absence. Like the entirety of her presence has been ripped out of me.
That knowledge should gut me. I’m desperate for the true grief of this moment, because even if I can sense my family beginning to stir, even if they’ve survived this…
I’ve ruined everything.
I know this just as I know the sky is blue. Yet, I’m paralyzed, nailed in place, feeling the world tilt away from me. I stay there, staring at nothing and everything all at once. There’s a rustle of movement, more heartbeats, proof of life, but I can’t. I can’t look deeper because if it’s not those I care about, I’d rather die right where I stand.
Seconds tick by, and a shadow falls over me. I tense, but the presence isn’t familiar. A hand gently settles on my shoulder, making my skin tingle as I look up into dark, silver-rimmed eyes, barely peeking out beneath a charcoal hood.
“Hello, Rowan.” His voice is like silk and winter collided. “How would you like to never feel this suffering again?”
I should get up and break the hold he has on me, but a trickle of energy pulses through me, leaving me even weaker and susceptible. More than that, I willingly sink into the reprieve.
For one stretching moment, everything collapses. I feel every memory from the last couple of weeks—Cade’s mouth, Archie’s steadfastness, Iris and her muumuus, Liz’s dedication. Each one stacked beside the image of their bodies on the dirt that will forever be etched into my mind.
None of it hurts yet. Not in the way I know is coming. Worse, I know what will happen if this pain is set free again. The heat will consume me. I’ll lose myself and, if I haven’t already, I’ll burn them alongside me.
Cade. Iris. Liz. Archie. Elias.
Everyone.
I hurt them.
