Page 48

I left the others with Seth and threw myself into the writhing shadow. My fingertips brushed Logan. Nothing was stopping me anymore. Whatever risk Rachel might pose was nothing compared to watching the love of my life die in front of me.

I’ve always been yours . I drove my fangs into her throat and pressed my hand between her lips, dragging my skin over her little omega fangs. Bite .

She did so, weakly, but it was enough.

Logan burst like a star in my chest, and immediately the hook of the magic drain snared into me.

Fucking fuck.

Even knowing I was sentencing myself to losing everything, being part of Logan for a brief moment, feeling the cascade of love that thundered down the bond from her to me, was worth it.

I’d felt it from the outside thousands of times, seen the way her eyes lit up for me, heard her sweet sighs and needy whines, melted under her touch, but this was different.

Magic or not, she filled me up from the inside out, bathing every cell in my body with her affection, fear, and hope.

The creature sucked me dry, replacing my magic with ice so cold I couldn’t stop my scream against Logan’s skin.

A soft brush of starlight touched my face, and when I opened my eyes, I was in the sacred forest. Godric is waiting, dear one .

My gaze slid behind her to where Logan was struggling with a bound man. Without a second thought, I leapt toward them, shoving her away from him. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”

He had no life in his obsidian eyes, only a vicious hunger, but he had a brief second of clarity before he lunged for me with a low growl. “Mine.”

“Caden!”

“Keep going,” I ordered, trying to fend him off from taking a bite out of me.

“My blood,” he hissed. “ Help me.”

“We’re trying!”

His fingers dug into my flesh, as if he could absorb everything he wanted from me through touch alone. As my own power flickered down to nearly nothing, the energetic hook that had torn into me found something new and ripped it open.

Magic rushed down the bond into Logan, my mate’s eyes glowing as she shredded the final shackle and rose up like an ancient goddess.

Her hands brushed the creature’s cheeks, drawing his gaze to hers where he was held mesmerized by the glowing light of her eyes.

“Hey! What the fuck? Oh, holy shit.”

I turned from Logan to see Rachel, red hair cascading down to her waist, eyes the same electric blue I remembered. She didn’t even spare me a glance, sprinting toward Logan, pressing against her back, and wrapping her arms around my mate.

“You’re actually doing it.” Rachel looked surreal standing next to Logan. “You can do this.”

You know how to give your magic, little star , Hecate said softly.

As if in a trance, Logan held her palms in front of her chest, summoning up the same little sun I remembered her practicing with when Melinda had taught her in the woods.

Logan offered it to the man and he stared down at it before drawing her hands to his chest, shuddering and screaming as it sank beneath his skin.

Ungodly pressure crushed my ribs. Logan’s body was so close to dying and I couldn’t do a fucking thing about it except feel the agony of her impending death.

I stumbled over to them and clapped my hand on his shoulder. “Take what you need and no more. You’ve already taken so much and you can’t have her.”

I swallowed hard, following a compulsion I didn’t quite understand.

I had no magic like Logan, but I made the same move, and the same glowing light drew out of my chest, leaving me hollow and unsteady.

Still I offered it, the creature taking what it needed from me before a blast of power knocked us all off our feet.

Cool relief rushed through the bond.

“Logan!” Seth’s voice echoed through the forest, wrenching us from the spirit plane.

I blinked burning eyes up at the canopy.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Seth chanted. I used all of my strength to turn and see him doing mouth-to-mouth on Logan, breathing into her damaged lungs for her.

My body was too weak to move anything else. The whole of me felt hollowed out and everyone was dark in the bond. Were they alive?

Seth was the only one of us spared the drain since his power had already been taken.

“Logan,” I croaked. I sounded like I’d been smoking a pack a day for decades. Even that small movement, forcing my mouth to form a word, exhausted me.

Rachel had…she’d been…what the fuck was going on? How was she there? Why was she there?

“Logan, if you don’t start breathing, I swear to every god in existence I’ll—” Seth was a ball of panic. It radiated off him in waves.

I needed to help. I needed to?—

Everything was so fuzzy.

I’m coming .

I recognized the voice but didn’t have enough brainpower to match it to an identity.

The world faded in and out.

Logan drew in a shuddering breath.

“Thank the gods.” Seth broke into sobs. I couldn’t even turn my head to look at them, to see for myself that Logan was okay. Maybe okay was being generous, but I would take alive right now. Alive was a blessing I hadn’t banked on.

The sun was too bright, too cheerful above us, almost obscene. Light filtered through the branches, blinding me every so often when a beam winked right down to my eyes as leaves danced in the breeze.

Seth pulled Logan closer to me, laying her down near enough I could feel the warmth of her body. He stared at me with wide eyes. “Thank fuck. I worried you’d died while I was dragging Logan back from the brink.”

Are they… Even telepathy was draining. … alive?

“Unconscious, but yes. I don’t know what the fuck to do. Dr. Atling is too far away for telepathy to reach and I don’t even know who I’d call. Are there hospitals around here that treat shifters?”

I wanted to tell him it would be okay, that we’d figure something out.

“Also, who the fuck is this guy that burst out of the aether?”

Instead of answering, I closed my eyes, letting the darkness take me.