Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I’d written that rage into Cy’s name. Poured out my wrath. Gave it to my mate to help me manage. I had no idea at the time that’s what I was doing, but it makes sense now. Cy was always the one who picked me up, carried me away from my fears, and gave me normalcy. And love. He gave me love, even if I was too angry to accept it back then.
Now I swallow that love whole.
I drink it in huge gulps, letting it fill me to the brim.
“Tonight is the night you and your pack die,” Theb taunts. “I’ll save your mate for last so you can watch as I peel his skin from him and then destroy him with my cock.”
His words don’t cause fear inside me.
Instead, peace trickles through me. I tap into my past, remembering things that Dad taught me—memories I’d shut out when I’d watched Theb murder my sister and mother.
“You’re the water and the air and the soil and the sun,” Dad says, grinning at me. “You’re in everything because your shift isn’t just within you, it’s apart from you. It’s all of you and none of you and everything in between.”
“Riddles,” Mom teases.
“I like riddles,” I argue, though I don’t understand.
“I sense he’s coming.” Dad’s voice grows dark. “And if he ever does…If he ever succeeds…”
“I know,” Mom assures him. “Out of Canada and to—”
“Don’t say it,” Dad warns, his voice thrumming with authority. “Feel it. Know it. And take your time finding it. Leave no trail.”
“You’re more powerful,” Mom argues. “He won’t win.”
“More powerful, yes, but he’s incredibly intelligent. He’s not where he’s at for being foolish.”
They continue to chat about territories and futures and a lot of other adult nonsense. I’m focused on the plant on the windowsill. The flower is pretty. Dad says the flower is me. I’m in the flower. I think of the red petals and wonder what they’d look like as blue. I feel the pigments almost as though I’m touching them with my fingers rather than my mind. Shifting them from red to blue is easy. A flick of a switch. I grin when the petals change to blue.
“Mom! Dad!”
My words are cut off as sirens wail.
The perimeter has been breached.
Bad guys are here.
That was the last time I’d seen my father. Only six years old. Mom shielded me from his murder and managed to escape with me and Hope. She spent the next two years traveling us all over until we finally landed on Beacon Island. It felt like coming home. I wanted to stay.
Little did I know, she was bringing me to my mate.
She thought she failed, but my mate found me shivering and near death in the woods.
If only my parents could see me now. Aware of my abilities. Unafraid. Hungry to avenge their deaths.
“You’re mute, not dumb,” Theb growls, spreading his massive leather and bone wings out, making him seem three times as large. His white hair that matches Cash’s is streaked with mud and blood. Blood-tinged teeth glint in the darkness in warning. “Kneel to your king.”
I prowl closer, my head lifted high and teeth bared. Sure, from here, I’m sure I seem insignificant. But I am far from too weak, too small, too broken.
I am strong, brave, resilient.
I’m the water and the air and the soil and the sun.
Molecules and atoms and everything in between.
The matter becomes mine, moldable inside my mind. Something I can control and manipulate. Blood becomes ice. Veins are snakes and worms. Bones are hollow, made of brittle straw. Skin becomes stone, hardening to keep it all inside.
Atoms are blades.
Cutting, slicing, tearing.
With a swipe of my paw in the air, I drag the sharp edges along every part of him, shredding him from the inside out. The painful gurgle that rasps from the incubi shifter trapped in stone is a delightful sound. Once I’m sure I’ve wreaked havoc on every organ and muscle and bone, I turn the stone back to skin. Theb’s body collapses to the earth with a thump. I vaguely realize my pack is behind me and Cy at my side. We all watch as snakes pierce Theb’s flesh, squirming their way out of him. Another swipe of my paw and they transform into earthworms to be eaten at dawn by ravens.
Peace settles over me as the fog dissipates around us.
I’m exhausted.
My body aches as I can’t contain the shift from wolf to man. It hurts, and the whimper I make isn’t audible but heard through the bond. I collapse to the ground for half a second before I’m being scooped into powerful arms.
My mate.
So strong and fearless.
Mine.
Cy’s blue eyes are less intense in his human form, but still incredibly beautiful. He strokes his fingers through my hair and presses a kiss to my lips.