Page 134

Story: Darkness Echoes

“I won’t tell you again,” the wolf says, and this time, two twin rosy-pink flames pop to life in the palms of his hands.

This is what he was describing to the others when he was dreaming inthe MRI. This is his chosen battle form, from all the powers the Earth can bring forth.

“Stand down, Warrior,” echoes in the cavernous room, and his flames flicker.

Her voice carries authority, and her hands reveal ginger-colored lightning snapping and crackling between her fingers. There’s a small smirk on her face, and it incites the wolf’s ire to new heights.

“Mom, for fuck’s sake. You’re just pissing him off,” Emmy mutters, and forces her mother’s hands down. “You’re going to bring the building down on our heads, or worse.”

The wolf takes the opportunity to pull again on that pulsing life in his chest, and his feet leave the floor. In the blink of an eye, he has the woman’s throat in his hand.

“I can’t help you if you kill me now, Warrior”. The voice echoes again, and this time, it’s followed by a raised eyebrow.

Help him? Warrior?Yes, that part feels true.

“Your soulmate is suffering.”

Nix.

At the mention of his angel, Grayson finally acknowledges the torrent of power he’s drawing from their joined souls and checks on Nix’s end. It’s not as strong as it usually is, and worse, his mate is diverting pieces of himself to protect their babies.

With a last look at the woman and Emmy he sets her feet and his own back on the blue library carpet. He doesn’t walk or run to his omega’s side as much as he wants to be there, so he is. He takes Nix’s slack body from Gideon’s arms and eases them both to the floor.

“What do you want, magic user?” Gideon spits, moving to shield them with his body. The alpha is using his tone and stature to intimidate, and Grayson thinks he has never seen his mate look more regal.

“He’s okay, Gray. Breathe. You are burning up,” Finn says quietly, phone app pulled up; he must be toggling between his and Nix’s pages. Knowing he hasn’t drained their shared soul dry, Grayson can turn an ear to the conversationgoing on above him.

“My daughter thought I might be able to help your mate, Alpha. Although she wasn’t sure at first, it didn’t take much to figure out when she got a look at his scans. Magic users don’t have MRIs voluntarily, and she suspected you didn’t know what you were dealing with.”

“How did you know where to find us?”

“Your mate dropped this. It has his…DNA on it.” She throws something small at Gideon, and he catches it with lightning reflexes.

Sighing, Gideon thrusts it behind him, toward them. It’s his piercing. Shit. It must have fallen out of Nix’s pocket in the aftermath of the explosion.

“You tracked us here? With his blood?” Blood magic sounds terrible.

The woman laughs but shakes her head vehemently. “Blood magic is bad magic. The gold is receptive to his life force, and he holds it in high regard and wears it over his heart. It was easy.”

He did hold it in high regard. It was a gift from Finn that he treasured. Finn smiles a little and winks to let Grayson know he appreciates the sentiment.

“You really are ignorant of this, aren’t you? I can’t blame you, I suppose; a Were with magic.” She shakes her head incredulously.

Bad magic? Does that mean there must be good magic, then? Wait…ignorant? The wolf growls at the insult, and Grayson has to roll his eyes at the stupidity.

She’s right. We know fuck-all, you dumbass.

Regardless of the threats from the signage, Finn retrieves two bars of chocolate from the depths of Nix’s sweaters. Without opening his eyes, Nix’s mouth opens like a baby bird so Finn can feed him tiny pieces. He holds the other one to Grayson, who shakes his head. He’s exhausted, but Nix might need them both.

“Warrior, you should listen to your mate. He knows what he’s doing. The food feeds your inner fire and you used a lot of energy there. You don’t want to be at a disadvantage while you’re charging up.”

Gideon growls, stepping into the woman’s space. “Are you threatening my mates?”

Emmy squeaks at the sheer force of Gideon’s alpha wolf and steps behindher mother, who just smiles. “I wouldn’t have come to a library if I intended to harm you. But we should leave as soon as we can. We were accessing The Plain for too long not to go unnoticed. I assume you are avoiding any unwanted attention?”

Unwanted attention sounds about right. And she was right; the chocolate helps settle that energy in his chest down enough that he can see the women are sincere in their intentions. How he knows they are sincere is unclear to Grayson, but they are.

“She’s right, we should go,” Nix says and climbs to his feet, but slides his palm under Grayson’s shirt. Skin-on-skin contact helps instantly, and their bond magnifies tenfold, making his exhaustion fade even further.