Page 38

Chapter 38

The Flight of the Phoenix

KEENAN

“B ut…” I stare down at Vanessa and as I watch, her last breath leaves her lips. “No!” I press my head to her chest, but I hear nothing. I narrow my eyes at Mags. “Bring her back.”

Mags’s face crumples in anguish. “I can’t.” Her voice cracks. “You know I can’t.”

“Bring her back! You did this, now you fix it.”

“Keenan, I – ”

Rush drags her away from me. He’s right to do it. I’m seconds away from attack.

I sweep the shocked crowd, hating them all for not saving her. “Leave!” I bellow. “Get the fuck out of here.”

A scream of anger momentarily pulls me from my grief. Pinky is staring at Vanessa, dragon fire leaping to her eyes. “Vanessa,” she says brokenly and rushes for the cliff, leaping off.

“Pinky, no!” Angel screams.

A dragon thunders into the sky, roaring so loud rocks slide down the cliff peppering the people below. The witches lift their shield to protect the humans.

Pinky shrieks fire into the night as she shoots away, her massive wings throwing gusts of wind at us.

Vanessa’s body shifts in my hands. Under my astonished gaze she starts to disintegrate, her body turning to ash in my arms. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know!” Mags says desperately, pacing away from Rush. “The spell was a longshot, but if she died, then she should just be… dead. I don’t understand this.”

In seconds, she’s gone and I’m left holding nothing but a fistful of ashes.

My wolf screams in pain, throwing himself against the wall of my humanity, attempting to push me back so he can avenge our dead mate. I try to leash him, but he’s strong, stronger than I’ve ever felt him. Losing Vanessa is the final straw.

I punch the rock wall next to me, the pain shooting through my knuckles a welcome respite from the grief. I do it again and again, flecks of blood flying as I revel in the pain of my ravaged flesh.

“Keenan, don’t.” Rachel grabs my shoulders, trying to pull me away. I shove her hard enough that she falls on her ass and continue punching the mountain, ignoring the shrieking humans.

Rush and Lock grip my arms, dragging me back. I try to fight free, but Sarina and Rachel leap in to help, all of them clinging to me, making it impossible to shake them off.

“Look!” Mags’s shout freezes us. She points to where Vanessa’s body disintegrated. The ashes are lifting off the ground in a graceful smoky spiral.

“What’s happening?” I ask hoarsely.

Mags’s eyes meet mine and her lips turn up into a relieved smile. “From the ashes she will rise, a phoenix reborn. She’s transforming, just not the way I thought she would.”

I hardly dare to hope.

Lock grips my shoulder and we watch in breathless silence as the ash twines and twists, faster and faster, a golden glow coming from within the tiny storm. It grows bigger, moving faster, bursts of yellow and red shooting out from the smoke.

I don’t dare to take my eyes off it as it takes the shape of a bird, its wings sweeping out from its sides in gusting sweeps. As it rises, the ash falls away, revealing a stunning phoenix, fire licking at its wings and body.

I can feel the mating bond again, strong as ever. I can feel her!

My mate is alive!

* * *

VANESSA

I have wings. Oh my god, I have wings!

I flap them experimentally and tip over, tumbling to the ground. I pick myself up and take a tentative step, gasping when I see a huge group of people looking down at me with varying expressions of astonishment. They’re all so big!

Oh wait, no, I’ve shrunk. Somehow.

Hailey Whitmore steps past the witches and crouches down next to me. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

She quickly shucks her clothes before shifting into her parrot, then she walks purposefully toward the cliff, gives me a long stare and hops off the edge. A few seconds later, she flies up over us, hovering overhead. She nods her beak at me, and I step toward the cliff.

“No.” Keenan drops to the ground on his knees, his face a map of desperation and hope. “You can practice flying later. I can’t…” He falters, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I can’t lose you again.”

“She has to,” Rachel says softly, kneeling next to us. “You remember what it was like to shift for the first time. Nature took over and told you what to do. Trust her phoenix to keep her safe, the same as my fox keeps me safe and your wolf keeps you safe.”

I reach up with my sharp black beak, nuzzling Keenan’s face. Let me go. I have to do this.

He struggles within himself, with the desire to hold me tight and never let me go, but he does, releasing me and standing.

I hop to the edge of the cliff, look down, then do as the natural order guides, and jump.

“Screeeeeeeech!” I scream as I hurtle toward the ground, tumbling head over feathers as I fall. When does instinct kick in? When do I fly?

A huge shadow moves underneath me, its wings stretched wide. “Pinky!” I shout, but of course it comes out in another harsh screech. How are shifters without a mating bond supposed to talk to each other?

She wiggles her wings again and I follow her guidance, stretching mine out and pushing them against the wind. For a moment, I go up before continuing to fall. I push again, then again, until I get my flapping wings under control.

In no time, I’m soaring next to Pinky. I laugh and shout as Hailey joins us, her smaller parrot flapping hard to keep up with us.

Something inside me glows with energy, igniting the fire that skims along my wings and body. It gives me courage, makes me bold. I stretch my wings as far as they’ll go, tilting them this way and that, experimenting with turning directions.

I laugh, the sound coming out in a high-pitched shriek. I’ve never felt so good in my life, so free!

A howl punctures the night and I recognize it as Keenan.

I shout his name, but of course it comes out in an ear shattering screech. Pinky and Hailey flutter in the air next to me. Pinky dips her head in the direction of the howling and I realize she’s telling me to go to him.

I take off like a shot, listening to instinct and tucking my feet against my body to give me better airspeed. My vision is so much better in my phoenix body that I’m able to spot him even though he’s still a long way off.

I dive for him, soaring through the night, tilting past trees, snapping branches with my mighty body… OOMPH! I hit a too-thick branch and come to a full stop, tumbling through the tree toward the ground where I land on my back, winded, staring up at the dark canopy overhead.

I might need a few more shifter lessons.

When I blink, Keenan’s wolf is standing over top of me, his big furry white body glowing in the moonlight. I reach out to wrap my arms around his neck, but my wings don’t reach. Instead, the tips brush his chest and when I try to curl my fingers into his fur, I smack him in the snout.

I crawl to my feet wobbling as I take a tentative step. Flying is much easier than walking in this form. I need to turn to human if I want to touch Keenan, and right now we can both use a great big hug. I feel the shock and despair in his brain at my death. He needs the reassurance of my human body.

Now, if I can only figure out how to make her emerge.

I walk in a circle, thinking human thoughts, picturing legs bursting from my feathered butt, but nothing happens. Keenan rolls over in the brush, his chest heaving, his feet waving in the air. I narrow my eyes at him. Is he laughing?

I peck him in the side.

Sobering, he rolls onto his paws. You need to reach for your humanity , he instructs, showing me in his mind as he transforms from wolf to human. He makes it look easy, so I follow suit, picturing human Vanessa in my head and reaching for her.

I lift a hand and see a wing. Nope.

“Shit,” he mutters. “We need to find Mags and ask her how this transforming business works. We might be out of our league.”

Sighing, I sit, my butt hitting the ground, my legs sticking straight out. Exhaustion creeps up on me. It was hours ago that I went to my first movie premier, which was bombed. Then I died and came back as a phoenix. It’s been a long night.

Looking up at the sky, I realize it’s not night anymore. Dawn’s rays are creeping over the trees, chasing away the shadows.

Keenan, I think there’s a reason I’m not shifting back to human . At his blank look, I continue, I’m not the only one in here. I can feel the others, all of them. Delilah, Brenna, Sadie, and Gem. Vanessa is Vanessa, but I’m… all of them.

He looks bewildered. “I don’t understand.”

I’m not sure I do either, but I think I need to acknowledge them, feel them, love them, before Vanessa can emerge.

He looks hopeful. “Some part of them was preserved?”

I dip my head. Yes, we are all one, and with each reincarnation, part of them was preserved. I don’t think they could emerge until now, until we were gifted with immortality.

“How do you know?”

I just do . As I think it, I feel a shifting inside as each of my reincarnations works together to thrust Vanessa to the surface.

My bird legs turn to human legs and my feathered wings pop out of existence, leaving behind human arms. I launch myself at Keenan, clinging to his neck and peppering him with kisses. “I thought I lost you.”

His arms wrap around me in a bone crushing hug. “That’s my line.” His voice is harsh, and I feel wetness where he’s buried his face in my hair.

Lifting his face, I kiss the tears away. “I’m here, Keenan. I’m alive and so are the others.”

“You died in my arms.” Agony leaks through his voice.

I kiss him, holding him as tight as I can. “I’m alive.” I grip his hand where it rests on my waist. “Feel me, Keenan. Take me. Prove to both of us that I’m not dead.”

His lips crush mine and he takes me to the forest floor, shoving his leg between mine before thrusting into me. With no preparation it hurts, but I savour the bite of pain, another reminder that I’m alive.

I dig my nails into his back, urging him on as he thrusts into me, each one more aggressive than the last as he takes me with a raw, ruthless need. I lift my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, throwing my head back and screaming into the night. It feels good, releasing my animal.

“Vanessa!” he shouts, the sound inhuman, before he sinks his teeth into the flesh at the base of my neck, biting me.

The pain hits at the same time as my orgasm, and adrenalin rushes through me. I scream and scream, telling the world I’m alive.

When I close my eyes, I see his wolf in my mind, blue and smoky as it wraps itself around my fiery phoenix spirit, cradling me to him. I wrap my essence around his, protecting him with my fiery wings. The world shifts, and we merge as one.