Page 44

Yeah, Bren!

My fists shake with rage, heat rises within me and I want to lash out. I want to make him shut up. I want to make him pay for everything he’s ever done. To me. To others.

Leave him, Bren. I’ll take care of this.

“What? What do you mean ‘take care of this’?” I growl, eyes on Percy because I don’t want to lose sight of him. I don’t even care that I’m having a conversation with my extra soul in front of him. He can bite me if he has a problem with that.

I’ve always taken care of you, Bren. That’s why I’m here. I love you.

No.

No. No. No. No. My stomach drops and I feel weak as panic claws at my throat. There’s a pulling in my chest and I can’t stop it. It’s not painful, just cold. An emptiness begins to fill me and my hands scratch at my chest, as if trying to keep my heart within me, but it’s no use. I feel the separation as keenly as I feel the counter behind me. My gaze meets Gabe’s through the glass as my breath is stolen from me. The emptiness gets bigger, louder, crippling and I can’t hold onto Frank. No matter how hard I try I can feel her slipping away, my hands reach out to her but wisps of her slip through my fingers until I can't feel her anymore.

“No!” is torn from me just as the last of Frank pulls away.

My knees buckle and I can’t breathe, not with this crushing emptiness inside me.

“Bren! Baby, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”

Gabe's arms wrap around me, but it’s not enough. It's not enough to fill the empty cracks, to fill the silence inside me. To hear my fears, my hopes, my dreams.

“Holy shit,” Gabe mutters, his lips pressed against my crown, arms wrapped tight around me.

Looking up at him I notice his gaze over my shoulder, the way it was when we first met. Turning, my breath catches at the sight.

“Frank,” I breathe.

She’s…here. She looks as real to me as Grammy does. I blink, trying to take her in. She’s breathtakingly beautiful. Light blasts out of her like the sun, her red hair so like mine, glowing like burnished copper. She turns to look over her shoulder, locking eyes with me. She nods once, a little smirk on her face before her jaw sets. Her attention shifting back to Percy.

“You wanted me?”

Percy looks gleeful as he stares at Frank, licking his thin lips as if he’s starving.

“For a long time.”

“Well, you got me.”

Percy takes a step forward. Then another, arms open wide as he moves to gather Frank, my Frank close. A cry leaves my lips, but it’s cut short when Frank looks back once more. And winks.

Gabriel

Well, shit.

Brenna sniffles into my shoulder as I hold her, tears running down her beautiful face and I cannot imagine the grief she feels right now. She’s lost so much in her life and yet she’s prevailed, knowing someone, or something always had her back. Sharing a look with my sister and her husband, she still has people at her back, but I know it’s not the same. That’s why I need to keep Frank safe. As best I can.

Frank starts to dissipate as Percy’s arms wrap around her. He inhales, deep, long, like he’s inhaling her goodness, her essence. Drawing her soul into his lungs he physically becomes larger, stronger, that pallid look clearing, revealing a man I know well.

“Marcus Newman.”

Everyone's heads snap my way, “You know him?” My sister asks, gun trained on Marcus.

I swallow, unable to believe my eyes. “Gabe?” Brenna asks, palm resting over my thudding heart.

“I, he, he was one of my first.” I whisper out.

Brenna looks from me, to Marcus. “Your first soul?”

I nod, watching as Marcus gets stronger and stronger, the soul fragments calling to me. The urge to free them is overwhelming, but I can’t risk freeing them and losing Frank. I won’t lose Frank. Not if I know there’s a chance I can save them all.