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I feel the power inside of me, my shadows, as they move from me to him, but unlike with the guys, this feels darker.

Maybe it’s because we both have the power of darkness.

Everything goes quiet, but it’s not the normal kind of quiet.

It’s silent, as if I’d stepped into a vacuum where sound can’t exist.

Cracking an eye open, I’m not sure what I expect, but it’s not this. All the chimeras have turned to us, eyes wide as they look up at me and Ryker where we stand on the roof, their once white eyes now glowing purple.

The same color as Ryker’s, the same color as his electric shadow things.

“Holy shit.” I breathe, and Ryker’s eyes fly open. Full of concern, he turns to look at me, his eyes glowing the same way, but he doesn’t seem to be aware of what's going on.

Squeezing his hand, I nod out toward the village and the chimeras, standing like statues, a lot like they were under Draven’s command the last time we fought them.

Ryker turns to look, his eyes going wide as he sees what made me react like that.

“Did I…” he trails off, but I don’t need him to finish.

“We did.”

His fingers squeeze around mine, and it’s as if he’s gripping my heart with his bare hand the way it squeezes, too.

“Tell them to leave,” I urge him, unsure how long this will last.

This needs to end. We have injured people to tend to, dead to bury, and a village to rebuild.

Ryker nods, his head bobbing a few times as if in disbelief, and I can’t say I blame him; a lot has happened today.

His eyes fall closed, and this time I watch the chimera’s, my shadows already flowing into him, around him.

A moment later, the chimeras turn and head right back the same way they just came, and I could almost cry.

Almost, but not quite.

One chimera remains, his eyes boring into the side of my face with so much heat I feel as though he’s looking through me.

Ryker is panting as the chimeras finally disappear into the trees. His shoulders slump, but he doesn’t drop my hand, instead holding tighter. Thank the gods shifters are built stronger, or he very well might have broken my hand by now.

“I can’t…” He shakes his head. “He won’t leave.” Ryker nods toward Lyle, but it’s unnecessary.

Who else would he be talking about?

I turn to Lyle finally, and I can’t help but shiver under the weight of his purple-eyed gaze.

It’s an improvement from the white, but still not as nice as the beautiful hazel color.

I’m not sure how long we stay like that, trapped in each other’s gazes, but it feels like a lifetime, and somehow not long enough.

I swallow hard around the lump in my throat. The only thing keeping me in place is Ryker’s fingers wrapped around mine.Everything in my body begs me to go to him, even knowing he could and very well might rip me apart.

Having him this close physically but so far away mentally is torture, and I just want it to end. I want him back, and as his eyes bore into mine, I know I would let him tear me apart if it meant getting him back.

I would trade myself for him if I had to because the alternative, living without him for even a mortal lifetime, will be worse.

A growl that sounds more like Lyle’s beast than any sound I’ve heard from him since Draven turned him echoes around the village. Anger burns in his eyes, almost as if he heard my thoughts.

Too bad.