Page 36

Of course, I can’t tell Ribit that because that would announce her presence to Kylen, and that definitely wouldn’t be a good idea.

Plus, Ribit is already dead, so it’s not like it can kill her twice.

I still frown though. I really don’t like the idea, and although she can’t die again, she could get hurt, and I really don’t want that to happen.

There is fuck all that I can do about it though, as her hand gets within centimeters of it, but before she can make contact with it, she gets thrown backward across the room.

Shit.

I want to run over to her to make sure she’s okay, but I don’t want to give her away. That would be even more dangerous for her

“I’m alright, I’m okay.” She says quickly, looking at me, and I let out the breath I had been holding.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kylen barks angrily.

I shrug, and don’t bother replying because anything that I do say will just piss him off anyway. Me breathing pisses him off.

“Get the fuck out of here before I decide that the torture I inflicted earlier was not enough and we go for another round,” Kylen threatens, his eyes filling with a dark and twisted joy.

The temperature drops, Ribit’s eyes flare with such anger that I am truly surprised when Kylen doesn’t seem to notice.

My eyes connect with hers.

“Go to your room, Coen, I don’t want you to get blamed for this,” she says through clenched teeth.

Maybe I should argue, maybe I should insist that she doesn’t do whatever she’s planning, for her sake, not his, but why? I don’t care what happens to Kylen, and he’s already told me to leave.

So I do. I walk down the hallway, walk into my bedroom, and close the door behind me. The only reason why I even have a room here is because it would look strange if I didn’t. It’s been a long time since I have had a room and I’m going to miss this one.

As soon as the door closes behind me, a blood-curdling scream ricochets around the rooms, easily piercing the thick castle walls.

You would think that, having heard their leader scream in obvious pain, the next sound that I would hear would be doors opening as my teammates go and check on him, but Kylen isn’t liked by anyone on the team.

Even those that share the same ideals and viewpoints that he does, don’t actually fucking like him, so everything remains silent.

I must admit that there is a part of me that wants to go and see what she’s done to him, and there’s a bigger part that hopes that he’s dead, but if I go out there now and he’s just injured, I’ll be on the receiving end of his wrath and if he’s dead, I’ll get blamed.

So, I stay where I am and busy myself thinking about what the guys could have planned to free me.

Neith

R ibit suddenly appears in the middle of the room, making me jump.

“Hey, you were gone for a while. Is everything okay?” River asks.

Ribit’s smile is wicked, and her eyes sparkle, and before she can reply, I ask, “What did you do?”

She chuckles, “You’ll see. Sorry, it took a while. I wanted to make sure that I got a really good look at it so I could describe it to you properly, and not miss anything vital.”

I smile, “While I want to push you to tell me what you did, I get the feeling that you won’t tell me.” She shakes her head, her smile huge and confirming my suspicions. I chuckle, “Thought so.”

“You managed to see it then?” Doc asks curiously.

“I’m offended by the surprise in your voice,” she retorts and then smiles before Doc can get out his apology.

“Yeah, I did. It wasn’t too hard. Even though most supernaturals can’t see me, their instincts do tend to flare up to let them know that there is something other nearby.

Kylen didn’t notice at all. Coen though, he saw me like you guys do and very nearly gave it away. ”

“Wait, he did?” Raiden asks. “Coen has no affinity with the dead.”

“And he hasn’t got access to his magic right now, or at least he has very limited access, he can’t shift or anything like that,” Reed adds.

“He can partially shift, though,” Ransom reminds us.

“True, but he has never had any gift with death,” Raiden repeats.

Evander’s eyebrows rise. “Yes, but we know that although it’s really rare, some supernaturals develop some gifts later on.”

Realization crosses through Raiden’s eyes, as he remembers that River actually developed more gifts and that, according to the guys, all of their magic has been playing up recently, so it is possible that Coen has developed a new gift since they knew him properly.

“Could it be possible that the new gift has developed because his other magic has been suppressed?” Ribit asks curiously. “I have never heard of it happening before, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.”

“That’s a really good point,” Griff replies.

“Historically, magic has always found ways to adapt to protect supernaturals. It’s a part of us, and it’s capable of protecting us when we’re unable to.

It’s well known that magic has created force fields around knocked out or injured supernaturals, giving them time to recover or heal enough.

It obviously doesn’t happen every time, but it has happened.

So I don’t see why Coen couldn’t have developed extra magic that could help protect him in his current situation. ”

“That happened to a demon when I was a kid,” Reed interrupts looking thoughtful.

“Pretty much like your example, he was a part of the hunting party, and they got ambushed. He got severely wounded and they were crowding around him, his magic threw up a protective shield. He had never done it before and was never able to do it again.”

“So, it is definitely possible, although your example was a temporary thing and we’re thinking that Coen’s is more of a gift development thanks to the dangerous situation that he is in,” Doc replies.

“Yeah,” Reed nods.

“It concerns me that the magic that he has been given thanks to his current situation is death magic,” I reply, my heart squeezing tightly in my chest.

I fucking hate this.

Ribit’s expression fills with understanding, “Whatever the reason is, he could see me, which helped a lot actually. He moved around the room while Kylen was talking to him, so Kylen would lift his head and move, so that I could get a better look. He caught on pretty fucking quickly to what I was doing.”

I smile, “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“I tried to grab it, but I couldn’t.”