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“ I think we’re almost there.” Myles picks up the small, silver sphere delicately, one panel open and shifting the internal wiring aside to reach the core. “You’re right, it’s two degrees hotter today. Shit.”

It’s a nerve-wracking balance, not being able to test it and also trying not to accidentally activate it.

Myles has infused it with his magic, but we’ve hit an annoying new complication.

His intent was for it to absorb supernatural abilities, but he can’t set it to happen permanently yet or it might strip us of ours.

So now we’re in a frustrating loop of it absorbing whatever magic he tries to reset it with before it can alter the device’s intent like a miniature void.

But does it actually cannibalize the energy and let it naturally dissipate back out into the world, or are we feeding a ticking time bomb?

“Tungsten is probably the way to go then.”

He nods, screwing the back panel in place again. “Agreed. I reached out to my usual guy, but he’s backed up on custom jobs for at least a month.”

I’m already pulling out my phone. “I’ll see if Dane has any contacts that can do a rush order; rich guys always do.”

As soon as I hit send, a huge crash rings out from the other side of his workshop door, glass shattering in the lobby and Ledger faintly cursing up a storm.

My stomach sinks as Myles and I jump to our feet, his face furrowed in confusion. “Nobody should have been able to get past the wards I set up.”

After the stadium incident, the guys have been on high alert, Myles setting up an additional barrier around my house and his office, as well as insisting I activate my necklace when traveling between the two.

Old me would have thought it was overkill, but after that night?

I’m happy to lay low until this all blows over. .

Myles rushes through the swinging door first, and I crash into his back as he abruptly stops. “What the fuck?” he breathes.

Two of the front windows are completely shattered, but it’s the flames spreading like wildfire across the lobby that lodges my heart in my throat.

“Shit, I only have it set to keep people out. Stupid, stupid,” Myles mutters under his breath, bolting to go patch the loophole in the shield around the building.

“Get away from the windows!” Ledger shouts, ripping the fire extinguisher off the wall and attacking the blaze.

My stomach roils as I realize why he isn’t insisting I get out of the building. Because staying inside with a fire burning is safer than leaving the barrier to face the angry mob that tried to torch the place with a couple of molotov cocktails.

Shaking myself out of it, I start to duck behind the counter in case the psychos lob any more projectiles, when one of them shouts, “How the hell did a mimic even get past the town’s barrier? You leeches are all the same. You don’t give a shit who you hurt or whose powers you steal.”

I know I fucked up at the arena, but thanks to the nosey siren’s recording, everyone assumed it was the device to blame for the guard temporarily losing his abilities.

Or so I thought.

It’s not that far of a leap from stealing powers to mimics, though.

Sure, most people think we’re a myth, but if the compound proved anything, it’s that there are still people out there tracking our kind down.

Bellamy devoted his life to saving mimics that were being abused.

But hearing stories and actually experiencing that fear firsthand are wildly different things.

The guys weren’t exaggerating. These people genuinely hate me just because I was born with a supernatural ability they don’t understand.

“Bomb threats, people going missing... and only since you came to town. Now you're stealing people's powers and attacking our people?” he accuses, true hatred burning in his eyes and looking like he might legitimately try to take me out 'for the greater good.'

I take a nervous step backward. “People are going missing?”

He snarls, fire dancing from his palms up his arms, the mob around him inching away to give him a wide berth. “Don't act all innocent. You show up to town, and suddenly we have threats to the barrier and mysts disappearing? It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.”

He hurls another fireball, but before it gets close, it bounces off the newly-erected barrier as Myles thunders into the room. “Are you insane? Back the fuck off.”

The guy sneers at Myles before pinning me with a challenging look. “You say you aren't a threat? Fine then, prove it. Leave .”

My throat tightens. I’ve skipped town over less dozens of times before. Hell, this is the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place in my life, but... I can't just pack up and move on like I used to. I have a house that I love. My mates own businesses here.

I’ve built the kind of life I’ve always dreamed of in Mercy Ridge. One that would utterly wreck me if I left it behind.

My voice cracks. “I can't. ”

He holds my gaze without flinching. “You should. Because we don't want you here.”

A cold mask of fury falls over Myles’s face.

Striding right up to one of the broken windows, he releases a pulse of power that knocks me back a step, the familiar, fizzy champagne feeling of his energy rushing through my muscles.

Clearly, it’s not nearly as pleasant to anyone else as the entire crowd collapses onto the ground with pained shouts.

Twitching and muscles jerking, they wrench their phones from their pockets and toss them away like they were tasers electrifying them.

“Get the hell out of here while you still can walk,” Myles demands, jaw clenched.

One rises to his feet on shaky legs with such hatred burning in his eyes, I’m amazed I don’t burst into flames.

“Mimics aren’t worth good people getting hurt, and if you think men will ever stop hunting you, you're deluded. So do your ‘mates’ a favor and leave before they get killed trying to protect your pathetic ass.”

Fire finally under control, Ledger tosses down the extinguisher hard enough to leave a wicked dent in the floor, radiating so much aggressive energy, the fine hairs on my arms stand on end.

Ledger isn’t just furious, he’s downright feral.

“Stay. Here,” he barks with so much power dripping from his snarled words, I’d take a seat even if the place was still on fire.

Without bothering to strip first, he shifts mid-air as he jumps out the broken window, clothes shredding and falling in tatters around him.

By the time his paws hit the pavement, the massive hellhound-sized wolf seems to have reset the angry mob’s brains and reminded them that there are mysts far scarier than a mimic in Mercy Ridge. And they just attacked one’s mate.

They scatter, but don’t even make it two feet before Ledger pounces on his first victim, snapping his neck between his jaws with an audible crunch that has my stomach churning, shaking the limp body like a ragdoll.

Myles wraps an arm around my waist, turning me away from the gruesome sight and into his chest, resting his chin on top of my head. “Don’t listen to him.”

“Why not? It’s not like anything he said wasn’t true.”

He tightens his hold, stroking a hand along my spine in a slow, steady rhythm. “I’ll talk to Seraphina and her mates, they’ll handle it.”

I hum a noncommittal sound of agreement, because what else can I do? That guy was the most vocal, but the angry crowd made it pretty damn clear he isn’t the only one that feels like I don’t belong here. That wants me to leave.

And… he’s right. I do put the people around me in danger simply by existing. And now I’m becoming exactly the kind of monster mysts have always feared.

A mimic that can take someone’s abilities away forever.