The heat of the bonds wasn’t stifling or overpowering. In fact, I drew strength from them all. Nine perfect threads, each one as bright and powerful as the last.
Each one flooded me with love and warmththat gave me hope. The warmth washed away the horror-induced chill left behind from Dante’s cruel visions, pushing it from my body and my mind.
From the darkness that was his hold over me came a newfound strength to take it back. Walls slammed into place, each one shoving him back, each one a powerful reminder that none of it was real.
None of it would happen, not as long as I lived and held onto Nyx’s magic.
Gone was the image of Thea in her cell and her screams as they dragged her away, replaced with her smiling face as we walked through the old second-hand bookstore towards the romance section.
My crying sisters faded away to laughter as we set up movie nights in front of the television, piles of blankets and pillows making up our bed while popcorn cooked in the kitchen.
The deaths of my mates disappeared, replaced with hope for our future. It was replaced by the knowledge that once this was all over, once Dante was gone, we could be at peace. We would be able to return to our hidden island paradise and rebuild. I would be able to bring the children home. Thea could have her life back. We wouldn’t need to run or hide anymore.
The nine threads of my mate bonds became my lifelines back to the present, back to the reality we were in. Not the nightmares, not the threats.
The battle. My mates surrounding us. Their magic flooding me, refilling the well of my power, feeding it until it was almost too much. Power, blood, fire, pain. Visions of possible futures. My grasp, tenuous at best, over death. Souls flickered behind my eyes, appearing with each fallen body. My jaw ached with the threat of my fangs and the need to strike out at the male across from me. I could almost tear apart the protections Dante so hastily clung to, the charms growing weaker the longer my mates fed my power. The flesh of my arms rippled with the presence of my wolf, while I felt the darkness around me, the trembling earth at my feet.
Every one of my mates’ powers hit me all at once, and I welcomed it all.
As the walls came crashing down, Dante fled my mind with an audible growl. “You can’t run from me, Ivy. All it takes is one?—”
“There are no cracks in my barriers, Dante.” My eyes opened, and gone were the nightmares, the horrifying images. Instead, I felteverything. “And I am not running. Not anymore. Never again.”
105
Ivy
It was more than a rush of adrenaline.
It was like life was pouring through me. In an instant, I felteverything.
From the lives around me to the terror playing out in the streets of the city beyond the mountain. The attacks on innocents, the bloodshed and souls gasping for breath.
I felt the fires around the academy burning brighter and hotter with every second wasted. Every spell the students cast against the flames as they battled against oppressive heat born from the elemental mages attacking them.
Then there was the attack at the Titan’s Channel and the storms battling against their shores. I felt every attempt to enter the Underworld under the watchful gaze of the full moon, each strike of magic against the barriers that would not falter.
In Faery, there were rumbles beneath the earth, as if the realm itself wanted to fight against the bloodshed. Darkness crackled along the horizon, sinking the world in a tar-like substance as the Fae fought each other, two sides warring for power: those who wanted to see Dante reign, and those who still believed in what the Goddess promised.
Life and death all came together, snapping through me like a rubber band.
And I also felt it slipping away.
Beyond the haze of power, I heard a chuckle. “I feel it,” he whispered, awe filling his voice. “I feel all of it.”
My grip on his wrist tightened, fingers digging into his hot flesh. But I couldn’t make any words form on my lips, not as I tried to reel it in, to keep it as my own.
It wasmypower. The one I was born to hold, the one I was always meant to wield. It wasn’t his—and it couldn’t be.
Dante would never be strong enough to hold it.
The air around us crackled with electricity. The haze of the world came into sharp focus as I felt the tumultuous shift in power.
Dante was taking what was mine.
He was absorbing the magic.
And I wasn’t sure if I could stop him.
