Page 64

Please let this work.

We make great time back to the cabin. The chimeras are thankfully slower than us, though I can still hear them moving through the woods. The command my father gave them will ensure they are drawn to us.

We need to move quickly.

Please let this work.

The second we reach the cabin, I’m moving. I can’t give myself time to overthink this, and more importantly, I can’t give Serena time to catch on.

Pushing open the door, it crashes against the wall, and I hear the wood splinter. I hadn’t meant to push that hard, but I’m not concerned with the door. I’m not concerned with the cabin as a whole, just one thing.

It sits on the table exactly where I left it, and I can’t help but sigh in relief. Not that I think anyone would have taken it. Nobody comes here, and even if they did, the only two people who have ever shown an interest in it were warned about what it does.

“Ryker?” Serena calls from behind me, and I stop in my tracks.

It’s right there.

Turning, I watch her as she walks into the cabin behind me. Her eyes take in the space, and despite her almost demonic appearance, I see her soften, an almost fond smile on her lips as she makes her way toward me. I should step away and keep her at arm’s length; it will be easier, but I can’t.

Looking at her now, I see the stress this day has put on her; the toll using this much of her magic is taking.

Serena isn’t used to this strain, and if she continues to push herself like this, she might just push herself too far.

I can’t let that happen, which is why I’m ready to do whatever it takes to save her. Even if it’s from herself.

It’s also why I don’t move away.

This might be the last time I ever see her beautiful face again, and if that’s the case, I want to enjoy it.

What can I say? I’m a selfish bastard.

“I don’t like the way you're looking at me,” she says, scrunching her brow as she steps into my space, her head tilted up to hold my gaze.

I’m not sure what she sees or when I became such an open book, but her eyes move from me to the table and back again.

“What are you doing?”

“My whole life I’ve been nothing but a disappointment to him, a tool to help him kill and destroy.

He didn’t care about me past how he could use me, and for a long time, I was fine with that.

I thought if I could be useful, he would want me, but I was never enough, and my days began to blur, until I found the most stubborn, na?ve, and beautiful girl I’d ever met. ”

“I didn't question a single thing before you, Serena, but you made me want to do better, to be better. I’ve done so much I’m not proud of, hurt so many people who didn’t deserve it.

I don’t deserve you…” I tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, as I attempt to memorize her face.

I’m not sure if there is an afterlife, but if there is, I need to be able to remember her, even if that means remembering her angry scowl that's on her face right now.

“I don’t care!” she hisses, smacking my hand away as she glares at me, and I’m not sure how, but I know she’s telling the truth.

She really doesn’t care about the monster I am, and I don’t mean my beast.

“I do. I don’t deserve your love, Serena, but I won’t deny I crave it all the same.

My father made me a monster so that he could be stronger.

He never believed I could use it against him, that I would ever even think about it, and I didn’t.

Not until you.” A tear rolls down her cheek, and I reach up to brush it away.

“Let me do this for you. Let me save your mate.”

“But I need you too,” she argues, reaching out and fisting her hand in my shirt as if she’s afraid I might disappear.

I shake my head, half wishing that was true but knowing it’s not. “Not the way they are, the way Lyle is. We’ve shared our darkness, I’ve seen inside your mind. There’s something there, but it’s not the same, no matter how much we both wish it were.”

She chokes on a sob, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip to try to hold it in, but it’s no use.

Seeing her like this is torture, and I find myself having to fight against my own emotions as I watch her fall apart… over me. “Let me save him, let me be deserving of you in this way if nothing else, my Darling.”

She’s right to worry. I can’t waste much more time, not with Lyle after us, but I just need another moment.

I hesitate, unsure of myself, before I force myself to move, pressing my lips to hers. All my worries disappear as she melts into me.

The rest of the world feels as though it falls away, and for a moment, it’s just us, here together in this moment.

A goodbye.

Her fingers dig into my shirt as she holds on for dear life.

Tears well in her eyes as she shakes her head almost violently.

I knew she would never agree to this, but it was worth a shot.

“No! I can’t. I can’t lose you any more than I can lose him.

It would be like losing a limb. Please don’t ask me to…

” Another sob cuts her off as she tries and fails to get her breathing under control.

Slowly, her shadows begin to recede. Her eyes once again return to that beautiful blue as the inky black veins slowly shrink until they don’t even go past her wrists; her horns disappear, but still her wings remain.

It doesn’t matter what form Serena takes my breath away.

A roar sounds not too far in the distance, and I know it’s him. The way Serena’s eyes go wide tells me she does, too.

Movement at the door catches my eye, and I look up to find Garrett watching us, his lips pulled down in a frown.

Garrett moves toward us, his eyes darting toward the door, and I know without words he’s worried about Lyle. He’d be stupid not to be. I look down at Serena, and he follows my gaze as he moves to stand behind her.

She doesn’t spare him a glance, doesn’t even act as if she knows he’s there. Not for the first time, I’m grateful for the gift from my mother, even if I wasn’t aware it was from her until recently.

Garrett comes up behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist before he starts to glow.

“I’m not asking,” I tell her as Garrett chases away the rest of her shadows and making this even harder.

I don’t want to leave her.

“No! Please, Ryker, don’t do this!” she begs, her shouts echoing around the tiny cabin, each word feeling like a physical blow as I grab the tiny pink vine from the table.

Her eyes go wide, the fear in them unmistakable as she watches me, fighting against Garrett’s hold. But it’s no use; she’s used up too much energy, and I almost feel bad for how grateful I am for that.

If not for the fight, she would have easily been able to stop all of us, let alone just Garrett.

“Ryker, please. There has to be another way! I know you don’t think you’re worthy, but I love you! Please don’t do this…” I feel the others just outside the cabin, but they don’t come in, not that they need to.

Serena’s heartbreak is loud enough that it feels as if the whole realm will hear it.

“I told you not to,” I tell her before I let myself fade into the shadows, too much of a coward to keep talking to her for fear I’ll fold.

I move out past the guys into the small clearing where I used to cut up the logs for the fire.

Blair’s the first to notice me, his gaze darting down to my clenched fist at my side that hides the vine. “Whatever this is, are you sure it’s going to work?” he asks, his gaze calculating, as if trying to figure out what I’m doing without asking.

He won’t have to wait long.

Serena screams inside the cabin, and I almost feel bad for leaving Garrett to deal with her. Almost, but not quite, because right now he’s holding her. Despite how angry she might be at him at this moment, he’ll get the chance to hold her a million more times.

A loud crash from inside the cabin pulls me from my musing as Serena makes a break for it, Garrett’s shout of warning coming just a second before she flies out the front door.

She’s fast, but Blair’s faster. He snags her out of the air with ease, his arm banding around her waist. He pulls her back to his chest as she continues to fight and yell, her feet kick out as she claws at his arms, but he seems completely unfazed by all of it…

or most of it. I don’t miss the way his lips pull down in a frown as she pants and gasps, choking on a sob as she continues to beg me.

“No,” Garrett says, having the decency to look ashamed as he moves into the doorway, his eyes meeting mine across the clearing.

“Whatever you’re doing, you better do it quick,” Blair says, looking over his shoulder at the trees behind us.

I don’t need him to tell me Lyle will be here any moment.

With no more time left to waste, I bring my hand up, pushing the vine into my mouth despite every instinct in my body telling me what a terrible idea this is.

Thankfully, that’s kind of the point.