“No!” I screamed at the sight of Maya as a wolf, my heart shattering into a million pieces. “Maya!”A strong arm caught me mid-step, locking around my waist and yanking me against a broad, solid chest. Kael. His grip was strong, but I thrashed against him, my teeth bared in a half-shifted snarl, as panic swirled through me.“Let me go, Kael! Let me go!” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. I needed to get to her.Heavy boots pounded behind us, Kael’s guards fanning out in a perimeter. Their guns were already raised, barrels pointed directly at the trembling wolf. My chest constricted as Maya’s hazel eyes scanned the threat around her, confused, terrified, on the edge of snapping.“No!” I screamed, my voice sharp with fury. “Put your weapons down! Now! Do not fire!”Her lips curled back over her teeth, a growl building in her throat. One wrong move and she would attack. Or
My instructions grew more frantic as I realized I might have been taking us in circles.I let out a strangled scream at yet another dead end as I slammed my hand against the dashboard with tears spilling out of my eyes.“I can’t remember!” I cried out. “Why can’t I remember?! Maya!”Kael swerved to the side of the road and parked. His hand immediately wrapped around my wrist, stopping me from striking the dash again.“Hey. Ash, look at me!”My eyes darted to him again.“That. It’s not helping, okay? You need to breathe and think rationally. Was there ever a time you went and weren’t blindfolded?”“Yes, the first time,” I heaved, breathing in and out. “I drove there. Veyra gave me encrypted coordinates.”Kael nodded, already dialing someone. “We can get my tech guys to trace that. Do I have your permission?”
My chair screeched across the floor as I stood so abruptly it nearly toppled backward. My heart was thundering, and my fingers trembled wildly as I reached for my bag, needing to confirm that the information was wrong. I could barely grip the zipper because everything blurred into one another.All I could hear was my heart's fast beating. Even Kael’s low voice, trying to break through my panic, was just noise.I snatched my phone out with my numb fingers and dialed Veyra’s number. One ring. Two. It was greeted with the beeping tone of her voicemail.No, no, no.My hands moved faster as I redialed. There was still nothing. My thumb slammed on the screen of my phone repeatedly as fear tightened its grip around me.“Stop!”The phone was yanked from my grip.I snarled as I spun around. “What the hell do you think—”Kael.His hand was raised, holding the phone just out of my reach. &l
I could barely breathe.The weight of everything Kael has said clung to me like chains. My mind reeled, spinning with everything. His bloodline was cursed?! And I didn’t even suspect a thing about how he must have been so bothered about it.It was a lot. For him and for myself.Because what was that about him being handed a mission while still bleeding from the wreckage of everything he thought he held dear? A mission to end The Order?I hadn’t expected to feel sympathy when I came here today, but there was something so painfully human about his story that made my throat tighten with unspeakable emotions.Not to undermine the torment I went through when I had to pick myself back up, but it seemed like while I was flailing in darkness, Kael had been clawing is way through it, in order to be able to do something right at least.Kael’s voice cut softly through my thoughts. “They weren’t exactly called the Order bac
“Ask,” I prompted her. “Ask whatever you want to know.”She straightened, and her eyes sharpened. “I want to know everything, from the beginning. If there’s any chance we work together, I need to know what’s real and what isn’t.”I nodded, tensing slightly. I’d known this was coming. Still, it didn’t make it easier.Ashina exhaled, most likely noting the way I’d tensed up. “Back to this? You used to be better at sharing.”“With you,” I said quietly. “Only you.” I didn’t say the rest; that losing her had stripped that ability from me.Her eyes softened, just a touch, as if she didn’t need me to say it because she already knew that.“Why did you reject me before you died?” she asked. “You said you were saving me. From what?”I drew in a slow breath. My fingers tightened slightly on the edge of t
As I entered the lobby, past the empty reception desk, the memory of the last time I’d walked in here snagged at the edge of my senses. I’d strode in with determination to clear my meeting and had stopped short at the familiar scent I’d caught a whiff of. For the first heartbeat that followed, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.After the news that she had died, I’d caught her scent at unsuspecting places. But that was at the beginning when the grief was the hardest. None of it had been recent, so catching that same one that I knew was unmistakably hers was like a cruel twist of fate. And so I couldn’t help myself as I paused and turned in the direction from which it was coming, following it like a possessed man.I ignored the surprised calls for my attention from Dawn and Tyro. And the moment my eyes landed on her, my heart had nearly stopped. This person who looked so much like Ashina was just a few feet from me and was very much