Just in time, Wolf growls.Don’t stop.
The Keep also responds with fervor.
New, concrete walls erect around me, and I think I’m going to be trapped, but one path remains open, and I realize this is the castle’s way of fighting back against Malrik. It’s not turning on me.
Threats aside, I have to keep going.
I don’t know how long I have before Malrik finds a way to blast through, but adrenaline surges through me, my legs moving faster than they ever have.
The path curves sharply, a stairwell appears, spiraling downward in a smooth, sweeping descent. The runes along the rails thrum in rhythm with my heartbeat as I stretch my legs, taking the stairs four at a time.
When my feet hit the bottom, the castle’s pulse becomes a drum. The air splits. A seam of bright goldenlight slashes open along the far wall—wide enough for a person to squeeze through, its edges crackling like the inside of a storm.
A harsh breeze from the outside cuts through, and I shiver, but the fear of freezing to death is no longer stronger than staying here.
Shift and we’ll be fine, Wolf confirms, but I hesitate a second longer.
I place a hand against the wall next to my exit. “Thank you.”
I almost promise to come back because I know there are innocents in here like that woman in the hallway with the stacks of books, but I don’t. I can’t. Not when I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I’ll make sure someone comes for them, even if it’s not me.
Another rumble echoes closer, and this time the concrete barriers start to crack. Malrik’s power surges through like a toddler with a tsunami of a tantrum in aisle two.
Time’s up.
I move toward the rift, gather my power, as well as my courage, and step through.
Chapter 12
CADE
Snow claws at my legs as I push forward, breath burning like frost in my lungs. I’m not sure what’s real anymore. The world keeps folding in on itself—trees where cliffs should be, cliffs where sky should be. This place wants me lost. Broken. Gone.
I failed. Not only to protect my mate, but even staying alive long enough to do so again. I deserve this gruesome death…alone and tortured and slow.
Sounds come and go, but never make sense long enough to grasp onto. Sometimes it’s footsteps. Sometimes it’s whispers. Sometimes it’s the screams of those I’ve let down.
Rowan. Elias. Liz.
I should stop fighting, but I can’t. Not even when my fingertips turn black. I keep crawling into the storm because I have no other choice.
She needs to know we did our best, my wolf says, his way of encouraging me to go just another inch.
Though who knows if we’re even pointed in the right direction any longer.
Mate. His growl echoes stronger than it has in days.
I question his sanity but decide not to say anything. Her memory is all we have left to cling to.
But then it hits me.
Warm. Sharp.Impossible.
Rowan’s scent.
Wild jasmine and summer rain, the sweet pulse ofher. It spears through the freezing wind with such clarity that my heart nearly stops. My knees buckle, but I catch myself before I hit the ground, a snarl ripping free of my chest.
She’s here.
