Finding her, staring wide-eyed, tears streaming down her cheeks, at the seat next to her at the bar, only to find McKenna missing pissed me off. She’d been sitting there where I planted her ass as I told her not to move while I was meeting with my brothers and Leon in church. She reluctantly agreed, and I was expecting to find her there.
Instead, my sister is upset, clutching her stomach, and crying.
“I don’t know what happened,” Evelin cries, shaking her head.Fire tucks her closer, comforting her. “One minute she was sitting there, we were talking, the next she vanished through a black hole in the floor.”
“That would be my mother’s doing,” Leon grumbles. “What were you talking about?”
“Um . . .” Evelin licks her lips and murmurs, “We were talking about something between her and me, and then suddenly she looked scared and near panic.”
Leon nods. “If she were on the verge of a panic attack, Hel would sense it and pull her away to protect everyone.”
“Protect everyone from what?” I demand.
“It is not for me to share.”
I had to hand it to the guy for his loyalty to McKenna, but now wasn’t the time. I need to know what the hell she’d need to protect others from. Especially considering my sister was pregnant and closing in on her due date.
“Leon,” I growl. “You can either share freely and willingly, or I’ll make you share.”
I didn’t give a damn if he’d be able to take me or not. I needed to be able to protect my club and family, but also, I needed to know how to keep McKenna safe.
“On Mick’s eighteenth birthday, Hel gifted immortality to her along with the ability to see the death of people around her. When she did this, the Norns also added to it the ability to suck souls from those around her. When Mick gets overwhelmed or starts to have a panic attack, the lock she has on this power slips. Hel senses it from her and intervenes to protect her and those around her. My mother adores Mick and doesn’t want to see her do something she will regret. Taking a life will destroy my little sister.”
She’s not his little sister, yet he claims her as such.
I’ve never known a god or goddess to give so willing to someone that is not born of their blood, yet I stand corrected when it comes to what they’ve done for my woman.
Leon’s explanation does nothing to ease my anger at McKenna’s disappearance. I could’ve been the one to calm her down. I know I would’ve been able to ease her out of the panic she was feeling.
“What do you mean she can suck the souls of those around her?” Brimstone asks, anger vibrating off him.
“She can kill by taking their souls,” Leon states.
“She’s a soul-eater?” Fire growls.
“No, she doesn’t need the souls. Doesn’t thrive on them. The ability is that she can rip the soul out of someone as a way to kill them. It’s kind of like if you were to rip the heart out of a vampire.”
I didn’t like that she could do this, but what’s the difference between her taking a soul and me putting a bullet between someone’s eyes, or even slitting their throats?
It doesn’t matter.
“The only time she doesn’t have control is when she’s overwhelmed with panic?” I ask.
“Yes.” Leon nods. “She dances because it’s something she loves, and she can block out the world. Mick thinks I don’t see what she’s doing, but I do. The times she’s on stage, she’s simply erasing all her thoughts, giving her mind a break.” His gaze locks with mine. “You’ll never understand the gift the Norns have given you when it comes to Mick. She’s special, not because of the gift she has, but because of her compassionate heart. People, human and supernatural alike, would kill to break her of that compassion and make her into the destroyer she could turn into.”
People would kill to break her. I won’t let that happen.
Seems my little troublemaker needs me more than she thinks she does.
A thought crosses my mind, and my anger grows. “Is there a possibility the stalker is after her because of this very reason?”
Before Leon can answer, a black hole forms, and McKenna, along with a woman who can be none other than Hel, appears. With a wave of her arm, Hel closes the hole and looks directly at me.
“Rankin.” Her voice is like a melody, soothing and lyrical, and it was just her calling me by my name.
“Everyone calls me Heat,” I tell her, and look to McKenna. I don’t bother with words as I cross the distance between us and pull her into my arms. It’s only then that I feel myself being able to breathe. The weight of her being missing is now gone. “You good, Trouble?”
“Stop calling me that,” she mutters against my chest.
