Page 56

Consciousness returned slowly, like swimming up through dark water.

Each memory I’d relived pulsed behind my eyelids—some tender, some brutal—but none carried the jagged edges they once had.

It was as if someone had walked through the darkest corridors of my mind, not erasing the shadows but simply holding a light so I could see them differently.

The memories were mine, but they’d been handed back to me with greater care than I’d ever shown them myself.

I blinked my eyes open. My body felt both drained and renewed, like I’d been torn apart and put back together with more care than before. Every muscle ached, but my mind—my mind was clear. Whole.

“Well, look who decided to rejoin the land of the living.”

Gideon lounged in a chair across the room, his feet propped on a small table, a half-eaten sandwich in one hand. His posture couldn’t hide the relief in his scent when I pushed myself up on my elbows.

“How long?” My voice came out as a rasp.

“Fourteen hours,” Gideon replied, checking his watch. “Just long enough for me to start planning what I’d do with your office. The corner view would’ve been a nice upgrade.”

I managed to swing my legs over the side of the bed, taking inventory. Same room where it had happened but cleaned up now. The extraction circles had been scrubbed from the floor, the copper bowls and implements gone. I touched my temple, half-expecting to find blood, but my skin was clean.

“You look like shit. But considerably better than when we found you. For a while there, I thought we were going to have to get you a nice padded room and feed you applesauce for the rest of your life.”

Gideon tossed me a water bottle. My hand reached out, but it missed by about six inches. The bottle hit me, bouncing off my chest and rolling onto the floor. I stared between it and my hand.

Well, fuck. So, not back one hundred percent, then.

Gideon didn’t say anything. Just picked up another bottle and threw it at me.

I blinked, adjusted my aim, and caught it one-handed. I opened it carefully and took a long sip.

“Didn’t know you cared,” I said, determined to ignore what had just happened.

“I don’t. Paperwork for brain-dead Council members is a nightmare.” His tone was light, but the worry lines around his eyes told a different story. “Shower’s through there. I’d recommend using it before you terrify any civilians.”

I glanced down at myself. Still wearing the same clothes from before, now stiff with dried blood and sweat. I another took a long drink of water, my mind suddenly flooded with memories of Annabella—the way she’d looked at me when she discovered who I really was, the pain and betrayal in her eyes.

Then, oddly, a flash of her kneeling beside a skeletal wolf, tears streaming down her face as she apologized over and over.

“What happened?” I asked, my throat tight. “How am I… fixed?”

“Esme Parker happened. She woke up from a nap three days ago, insisting you were in danger. Showed up at a secure Council facility with Jem and demanded I get my ass moving to rescue you.”

“I bet that just made Jem’s day.” Jem had lost everything when his mate died, carrying guilt that had nearly destroyed him.

Then Mai had rescued Esme, a witch with dreamlike ways and a fuck ton of power.

Mai had claimed her when no witch had ever been accepted into a Pack before.

Since then, Jem had found purpose in being her protector, channeling all the fierce guardianship of a former Alpha into keeping Esme safe.

“Oh, yes. Jem was a bright little ray of sunshine the whole time they were here. But Esme kept talking about your ‘sparkly thoughts’ being scattered. Said only one person could fix you.”

My heart rate kicked up. “Annabella.”

“Yeah.” Gideon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“The same half-breed who was involved in your mind getting scrambled in the first place. Esme insisted she was key to putting you back together. Something about dual natures and magical bonds.” He waved a hand dismissively.

“I don’t pretend to understand witch business. ”

I closed my eyes, fragments of what had happened while I was… gone… flowing back. The sensation of being rebuilt piece by piece. The flicker of silver-green light through the darkness. Annabella’s voice, somehow both inside my mind and outside it, guiding my memories home.

“I need to see her.”

Gideon’s face closed off. “The Parkers left hours ago. Jem practically dragged Esme out of here after she’d fixed up Talia. Said something about Three Rivers being the only place he could keep her safe and a niece and nephew to get back to.”

“Not Esme. Annabella. Where’s Annabella?”

“Annabella McGrath, along with her team members Mira Tong and Zeke Thornton, were transported to Adarcan Prison eight hours ago,” he said formally, like he was reading from a report.

I was on my feet before I realized I’d moved, my hand fisting in Gideon’s shirt as I slammed him against the wall. “You sent her to Adarcan?”

“Yeah, turns out prison is the best place for terrorists.”

“Terrorists?” The word felt like acid on my tongue. “They’re not fucking terrorists.”

“They’ve been systematically attacking Council members and wiping their memories.

Pretty sure that fits the definition.” Gideon didn’t fight back, just looked at me with that infuriating calm.

“I followed protocol, Shaw. The same protocol you would have followed if you hadn’t gotten personally involved. ”

Personally involved?

My wolf was going crazy inside of me, a snarl ripping from my throat as I pressed my forearm across Gideon’s throat. “I should rip your fucking head off. You sent my mate to that hellhole.”

The moment the words left my mouth, everything inside me went still.

My mate.

Annabella was my mate.

The realization crashed through my entire body like a tidal wave, reconfiguring everything in its path.

My skin prickled with electric awareness, my lungs suddenly unable to draw sufficient air.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears. Every protective instinct, every inexplicable pull toward her, every moment my wolf had recognized what my human side had denied… It all made sense now.

I dropped Gideon, staggering back as the truth settled into my bones.

“Ah,” Gideon said, straightening his shirt with exaggerated care.

“Well, that explains why you’ve been acting like a lovesick teenager with anger issues, instead of your usual charming self.

Nothing like a mate bond to completely derail decades of emotional repression.

Congratulations, by the way. You’ve managed to pick possibly the most politically catastrophic mate in supernatural history.

A Council member mated to one of their most wanted criminals?

Kane will have a fucking field day with this. ”

I ignored him. My mate was in Adarcan Prison.

“I need to get her out,” I said, moving toward the door.

Gideon stepped into my path. “Fuck, no! Mate or no mate, she’s a fucking terrorist. You remember what she did to Reynolds, right?

You remember what she did to you and Talia?

You were a fucking vegetable when we got here, Shaw.

Drooling, muttering nonsense, no fucking clue who anyone was.

She’s getting what she deserves. You need to report back to headquarters.

Kane’s making his move on the Council. Talia’s position is vulnerable while she recovers. We need you there.”

“Fuck the Council!”

“Shaw, I’m serious. This is bigger than one person. The stability of the entire supernatural community is at stake.”

I locked eyes with him. “Get. The fuck. Out of my way, Gideon.”

He studied my face for a long moment, then stepped aside. “You realize they’ll declare you rogue if you do this. Everything you’ve worked for—gone.”

I was already walking past him. “I don’t care.”

I heard him sigh, then call after me, “At least shower first. You smell like something that died in a sewer.”

But my mind was already racing with plans. Annabella had saved me—my mind, my memories, maybe even my soul. Now, I had to save her, even if it meant tearing Adarcan apart stone by stone.

The prison’s security was legendary. No one had ever broken out.

If I was going to do this, I needed help.

I needed my brothers.