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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

emma

N ow, Emma!

Logan’s roar echoed in my head, breaking through the last of the magical restraints keeping my magic from me.

When I had reached for him, my mate’s alpha strength and the combination of all the alphas had flooded me, almost drowning me, and my fingers had uncoiled as multimorph power had engulfed me once more.

I crouched and pressed my hands to the ground drawing primal strength into me, and every bit of power from the alphas who had stood by my side since the beginning.

I will save you all!

Then I spun toward the spot where I knew our enemy stood, ready to rip him into a million pieces and protect the clans I now led.

“No!” Acheron yelled. He flung his hand toward Logan, and a stream of bright white shot out of his palm .

Logan dropped to his knees, his eyes bulging as balefire slammed into his chest, burned through him, and crashed into the concrete wall behind him. I’m sorry, Emma. I’m not strong enough.

His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to his side with a sickening thud. Then Logan’s presence blipped out of my head.

The other alphas and Acheron’s shifters exploded back from Logan and slammed into the wall behind them, each one slipping down into a heap on the floor. None of them stood.

“No, no, no,” I repeated, falling back a step, shaking my head, unable to believe what had just happened. Power drained from me.

Acheron sagged against the metal tube that held Riley, panting as though the balefire had weakened him. He tugged on the lid, trying to undo it with his gnarled hands, but his hands weren’t functioning properly.

“Come, my children,” he rasped, waving to his slowly stirring followers.

Two wolves bounded toward him, ready to sacrifice themselves to return him to strength, a rapturous light in their eyes as they disappeared. More of his shifters stirred.

My chance was now.

I crouched again, pressing my hands onto the ground once more. Primal strength surged through me, and I fixed Acheron in my mind. Lore swirled in my thoughts, and colors shot through my mind. The chamber shook as energy entered me from the earth that surrounded the chamber.

Olivia cried out as she climbed to her feet, and I glanced toward her. She steadied herself on the door frame, her face twisted in horror as she took in Logan’s lifeless body on the ground. Two red foxes, a panther, and a polar bear lumbered to their feet.

But I couldn’t focus on her, on them, right now.

Marcus climbed to his paws, and his cat eyes landed on Acheron. He sprinted across the room and leaped into the air, landing on Acheron’s back, his giant paw knocking the mage to the side.

He changed to his human form and leaned down into the snarling mage’s face. “Where is my sister?”

Acheron’s face twisted into a cruel mask. “Devouring your bitch of a sister was made easier because I knew it would hurt you. She screamed for her son as I consumed her, and I made him watch as she disappeared into me.”

Marcus lifted a hand to strike Acheron, but he thought better of it. Instead, the cat shifter’s face twisted in pain before straightening once more. “Where is her son?”

“You will never know. Never know. Never know,” Acheron sing-songed. His mouth moved in other syllables, making him look as though he’d been dubbed over.

“Shit!” I screamed. “Get out of the way. He’s casting a spell!”

Marcus scrambled away, allowing every bit of rage and sorrow to rush through me all at once. I pressed my hands to the smooth floor, reached out to the earth around us, circling the whole room.

The magic warding of the Conclave danced in my thoughts, and the enchanted magnolia tree bloomed in my head, forever a reminder of the multimorph and what the multimorph must give to keep her shifters safe. If it killed me, I would send the mage far away, locked away, in a box like he’d locked me.

Gritting my teeth, I sent all of the energy toward Acheron, and a pulse of light launched from me and wrapped around the evil mage. Shrieks of terror split my mind, and I smiled as he faded from view.

Then he disappeared.

I turned to face the other shifters, the ones who had helped Acheron. I gathered another burst of primal energy and sent them all to the place Acheron had gone.

The silence after turned heavy, and I avoided looking at my mate, dead on the floor.

Olivia gasped. “Where’d they all go?”

Marcus cursed. “Now he’ll never tell me where my nephew is.”

“We’ll find your nephew. I’m sure of it,” I sighed, panting as I sank to the concrete floor. “As for Acheron and the others, I locked them all in warded boxes far away.”

“Forever?” she breathed. “Like we never have to see his ugly face again?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve ever done that before. Maybe we should ask Dr. Wise what she knows about the making of the Conclave.”

Marcus stopped beside Logan. “He gave his life for you.”

“No,” I moaned, the sound single syllable transformed into a wail. “No, no, no. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We’re supposed to live forever.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit, Logan. I knew you were going to get yourself killed.” Olivia’s feet pattered across the concrete, and she dropped to the ground beside Logan. Her voice caught in a sob, and Jasper crouched beside her, offering his arms. Olivia turned into him, wetting his shoulder with her tears.

“We’re going to search the bunker,” Torbin rumbled. “Call us when you need us, multimorph. We’ll come.”

Torbin, Flynn, and Marcus slipped out of the room, leaving us to our mourning.

Yet…

Logan was my mate, and he had been fated to me since the moment he’d found me back at the campsite. What cruelty would steal him from me now? Could I heal the death of the one I needed, the one I loved, the other half of me?

Without speaking, I moved across the floor, keeping my footsteps silent, making no sound as I settled on the floor beside him. Still thrumming with the primal aftermath, I pressed my forehead to his, pouring my sorrow and my love into the magic inside me.

“You cannot go,” I whispered. “I need you. You are mine, and I am the multimorph, and I would give you my life. You will have my flesh as your flesh, and my bone as your bone.”

His body jerked, and he gasped, “Emma?”

“Fecking hell,” Jasper gasped. “What was that?”

Olivia pulled away from Jasper, and her eyes went wide.

I couldn’t answer. His life force was still in there, held in a place I could still barely touch, and he was slipping away a little at a time.

I focused on Logan and the burned-through balefire hole in his chest. Healing… Healing… Testing the void in his chest, sensing the edges, building him back, knitting his flesh together.

A surge of power circled us, the wind turning faster and faster, lifting us both into the air, pressing us together, bonding us, uniting us. Around and around, we circled, caught in a shifter magic tornado, magic so strong we glowed in multi-color.

I screamed as multimorph cells tore away from me and slammed into him, filling the chasm in his body, using bits of me to make him whole again. His life force flared, roaring through my consciousness.

Oh, how it hurt.

But I’d give it all for you, Logan.

Piece by piece, I broke apart, and Logan fused back together.

“Torbin!” Olivia yelled. “Flynn! Marcus!”

The three bolted back into the room, staring at us in awe.

It was seconds .

It was an eternity.

Lifetimes of multimorph energy made us both stronger than we’d been before, two fated halves of a forever whole. Slowly, we sank back to the ground, tangled together in a heap.

He coughed and lay completely still, and I settled him on his back, decreeing his health. I am the multimorph.

“Open your eyes, Logan,” I whispered and bit back my sobs, waiting, barely inhaling, afraid I would miss the moment he returned.

No sound reached me. Maybe they’d all gone, but I didn’t take my eyes from the face of the alpha I was meant to love.

Finally, his chest rose, and his breath feathered through my hair. His presence filtered back into my brain, sleeping.

“He’s going to be okay,” I rasped. “He’s going to be okay.”

It was true. Logan was back in my head again.

Olivia sank to the ground, racked with sobs, and Jasper wiped at his eyes and slipped to the floor beside her. He wrapped his arms around her.

Torbin, Marcus, and Flynn stared at me.

“Anything else out there?” I asked, not wanting the attention or the questions they all probably had.

“No, it’s empty of enemies,” Torbin rumbled, stepping closer and leaning over us to study Logan’s face. “Found an SUV in a hidden garage. We can use it for the trip back. ”

Marcus held up a small bracelet. “Also found this. Belonged to my nephew. He was here. In the SUV, at least.”

“We’ll find him, Marcus,” I said.

If he’s alive . The words didn’t have to be said. We all knew what was possible with Acheron.

“I believe you.”

I tried to climb to my feet, but a wave of dizziness knocked me down. “I have to help Riley now. Acheron kidnapped her, and she’s in the metal tube over there.”

“What an asshole,” Jasper cursed, his face tight, probably thinking about the shifters he’d sent to keep Riley and Shannon safe. He shared a long look with his brother.

I pressed my hand to the bright pink flesh in the center of Logan’s chest, glad for the heartbeat thudding away. His heart was now made of mine.

“Can one of you stay with Logan while I help her?” I asked.

Torbin settled on the ground beside him. “I will.”

I tried to climb to my feet once more.

Marcus darted toward me and caught my arm before I took a step. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“She’s hurt. Maybe dead.”

The last word practically choked me. As soon as we got out of here, I had to check on Shannon, my mom, Sheila, and so many others. Who all had gotten caught in Acheron’s scheme?

“I don’t think that’s a problem for you,” he murmured, leading me to the metal torture chamber .

“Everybody isn’t Logan, and I think that only worked with him,” I said, grasping the support arms for the tube as Marcus unlatched the lid and raised it.

Riley’s eyes were closed, moisture covered her cheeks, but her chest rose and fell.

Her matted red hair stretched out beneath her head.

Dozens of puncture wounds covered her, blood soaking the shroud she’d been wrapped in.

She’d gone incredibly pale, and it sounded like one of her lungs was punctured.

“I don’t have much time,” I whispered.

Marcus and Olivia helped me keep my balance as I pressed my hands to Riley’s chest. Flynn waited nearby.

When I lifted my hands from Riley’s cold skin, I swayed, aware of how much I’d pushed myself today but regretting nothing.

As I watched, I smiled, pleased that the punctures were already beginning to look less angry than they had before.

Suddenly, a realization hit me, and I scowled. “What happens when she wakes up and remembers what happened?”

Torbin stepped forward. “I can delve her mind and ease the trauma.”

My scowl deepened as I studied her. “Is that okay? Shouldn’t we ask her first?”

Jasper draped his arm around my shoulders. “If she wakes up before Torbin tries, she’ll remember everything, and he won’t be able to help her at all.”

Not sure I had the mental capacity to make a difficult decision, I said, “You’re all alphas, so whatever you think.”

“No, that’s not how that’s going to go.” Logan’s gravelly voice sounded from behind me, and I squealed as I whirled, throwing my arms around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around my middle, and I relished the warmth of him, the life inside him.

I pressed my now-healed palm to his cheek. “You didn’t sleep as long as I thought you would. You’re going to need sleep again soon.”

“Thank you for saving me, but if you ever risk yourself like that again…” he whispered in my ear, lowering his arm to my waist.

“Don’t get yourself murdered again.”

To the others, he said, “We may all be alphas, but Emma is the multimorph, and she must make the final decision. Torbin is a master delver, and he’s an alpha. Both truths make his ability better than any other shifter in Louisiana.”

His words landed hard in my heart, and I was once more reminded that my whole life had changed since my first shift. It would never be the same again, and I had so much more to learn.

I hated not having Riley’s input or her consent, but the trauma would plague her forever, post-traumatic stress disorder chasing her through her life in Willow Creek. That sounded worse than taking a risk on preemptive treatment, but indecision held my tongue.

“Well, what do you think?” Logan’s thumb tenderly stroked the back of my neck, and every logical thought fled.

Finally, I nodded. “I think you should try, Torbin.”

His large hands practically circled Riley’s head, and he peered down at her forehead. Several minutes ticked by before Torbin lifted his hands and nodded.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“It’s the best I can do.”

Logan grinned. “Which is to say it’s good enough.”

Flynn stepped forward and lifted Riley into his arms. “I’ll get her back to Willow Creek since I’m headed there anyway.”

“Checking on your shifters?” I asked.

He gave me a grim nod.

“Let me know if I can do anything,” I offered. “Healing, whatever.”

“That I will,” Flynn said before carrying her out of the bunker.

“You ready to go home to Red Tail? Maybe for some more training?” Jasper asked with a sly grin.

“Now you can fuck right off, Jasper,” Logan said, punching the fox shifter’s shoulder. “She’s coming home to Six-Mile. With me.”

Home to Six-Mile…

With him .

Yeah, my life’s never going to be the same.