7

I reached down deep inside myself, past the wall of flame, past the pain and the emotions, to my shadows that were crying, screaming, burning.

I hauled them up, whispered back to them, told them we had to fight back, told them we were doing this, and gave them every ounce of my will. If magic worked on will, then surely they did too? It was a theory, but it was all I had.

My brother’s will turned his dark; my will had turned mine the opposite way. We had defeated the dark shadows before; we had consumed them. We could do that again. They perked up at that and started filling my body again.

I smirked at the black form floating in the water in front of me, holding me against the fiery lake doomstick. The asshole was going to get munched if that’s how they were going to play it. I reached out and grabbed it.

I wasn’t sure what to do with it once I had it, though. Luckily, my shadows did. As soon as my hand touched the shadow, my shadows covered it, suffocating it, forcing it into me.

I cried out, not sure how I had breath left to expel from my lungs, but when Brax’s body landed on the lake bed beside me, I didn’t care about why. Only about getting out. I grabbed him, tucking him into me before kicking off the ground.

It propelled us up to the lake surface, my legs kicking like crazy until we finally broke the surface. I didn’t try to catch my breath. Instead, I kept kicking, dragging Brax’s body, which was inconveniently big at this moment, until we were out of the death water.

I dropped us onto the bank that had a much nicer texture than stone, a grainy kind of sand but with sprouts of grass too.

I started CPR. I didn’t have magic, but I was human, and technically, he was too. I had to get him breathing or getting him to Cain wouldn’t matter.

“Lorelai! Get through the fucking portal! Now!”  Kai’s voice finally came through clearly in the link, and I snapped my head to the portal at the urgency he was using.  

It was wavering, fraying at the edges, and I gritted my teeth. This realm fucking sucked.

I dragged Brax up the bank, not giving in to the hysteria that bubbled in my throat at the look of his pale face and blue lips. I yanked and yanked until we were at the portal, then spun him so his legs went through.

“Drag him,”  I said, wincing as the portal shrunk further. Brax was pulled through, and just as I was about to go through, a dark shadow hissed, yanking me back, and throwing me away from the portal.  

I screamed as I hit a tree; my back arched away from the pain that ricocheted through it before I dropped to the ground. The portal was getting smaller, and my breaths were raspy as more shadows emerged from the dark forest. I backed up as they circled me.

“Winter born,” the one in front of the portal hissed, and I clenched my jaw.

“Lorelai or Luna, preferably,” I spat back, and it hissed louder in the silence. I had to get to that portal. My shadows were angry inside me, betrayal lacing my body thanks to their emotions, and I frowned.

“My shadows recognize you,” I said. It looked like it was nodding, kind of. But it said nothing, and I wasn’t sure what else it could say. I was guessing that since it was literally a puff of black smoke in the air, its vocabulary was somewhat limited.

“Okay, well, this has been fun. I’m going to need you to move so I can go home,” I said, edging closer. But the shadows stepped closer too. Defeat tried to sink inside me, but I refused to let it, despite the portal getting smaller by the second.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get through it now, even if I reached it. The idea that I was going to be stuck in this bullshit realm for the foreseeable future was kind of pissing me off. The shadows said nothing, and I sighed irritably.

“Look, I just consumed your buddy down there in the water for backing me into a very angry rock of death, and I’m trying to be nice and leave the rest of you alone.

So, can you please just move?” I asked nicely.

I thought it was creepy having them hiss, but having them all tilt their heads slightly, as if they were trying to understand me, was creepier.

Finally, the one blocking the portal stepped aside. It seemed too easy, but I couldn’t argue; I had to get back. I ran up to the portal; it was waist-high and didn’t reach my head—which was still pounding.

I went to go through when I was yanked back with a shadow tendril around my waist. It hauled me back, and I screamed at it, trying to get free. But it kept me there, holding me as the portal slowly closed. The purple magic disappeared, bathing the area in complete darkness.

The shadows moved around me, and I could barely see them. The one that had me let me go, and I breathed heavily, tears springing to my eyes as fear kept me checking everywhere. My eyes had to adjust; they had to.

When they did, I wished they hadn’t. There were more of the dark shadows. They were everywhere. I backed up, trying to reach the mating link, but it was completely severed. Fear filled me, my body in a state of panic as I tried to figure out a way out.

My shadows were ready, determined, wanting to fight, but I was pretty sure this was not my fight; it was theirs. I was just a host—an unwanted one—in their territory.

Then the dark shadows started advancing, stepping slowly closer as I backed up.

“Okay, this is going to suck,” I whispered, jumping as I backed into a shadow being.

I spun to it, and it gripped my arms, the feeling of cold dread and death filling me.

“Stop!” I screamed as it reached for my shadows inside me. I consumed it. Just like the other one, its essence added to my shadows, filling me. I gasped for air at the shiver of cold it created.

Like ice on the charred bones inside me. I clutched my stomach as my shadows tried to contain that essence. It thrashed, and I forced it to conform. The others came closer, and I swallowed.

I couldn’t take them all, not when every time they moved inside me, they felt like grinding sandpaper rather than the smooth silk that my own shadows felt like. It was wrong and made me feel wrong. They were not mine, and I hadn’t earned them like I had with Elias.

Damn, Elias would cream his fucking pants to be faced with all these shadows; he’d consume them all in a heartbeat. But I wasn’t him, and I didn’t want them. I told them that, trying to force them out of me.

They clung, clawed, and screamed inside me as I used every ounce of my will to get them out of me.

They had just leaked out when a rip in the air opened. A stream of shadow poured in and grabbed me, yanking me through the new portal. They dumped me on the floor of an empty hut back in my realm before the rip in the realms closed again.

My magic filled me instantly, and I sucked in a breath, the power tingling in my fingertips going straight for my wounds, sealing them up.

I let out a breath and stood slowly, looking around the hut. It was the hut I shared with my alphas, and it was not empty. Enzi lay in a bundle on our bed, cooing happily.

Her eyes met mine, and I frowned at her. I tested the strength and will of my shadows before reaching into her.

Zale was right there; I could feel him. His shadows, his magic with Enzi’s. They had pulled me out. Tears welled in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away before bending down to grab her.

“Well, aren’t you full of more secrets than your birth.” I kissed her soft little forehead skin, making her snuggle in more. I held her tight and then spun to a roar outside of the hut.

“Get her fucking back! Now!” It was Kai, his footsteps shaking the ground. Snow dropped onto the tent, and the corners of my lips couldn’t help but turn up.

“We better go tell him I’m back before he destroys the camp.” I smiled at her before leaving the tent.

“I’m okay,”  I sent through the link, and all three of them stilled. Kai was being restrained by multiple pack members, including Tatum, who looked like he was the only one of them who had a hope of stopping him.  

Kai’s eyes snapped to mine, but before he could get to me, Derik was there, wrapping me in his arms, holding me, kissing over my face, checking my healed head. I kissed him back, then handed him Enzi, knowing I had Kai coming at me.

Within seconds, Kai had scooped me up and pinned me against the tree next to our hut. The snow shook free from the pine branches and soaked through my clothes, but I didn’t care because his mouth was on mine, crushing my lips beneath his.

I sighed into the kiss, wrapping my arms around him.

“Kai. I’m okay,” I reassured.