I could feel Ryder bearing down on me, hunting me. But when I looked over my shoulder it wasn’t me he had gone after—he'd gone after Adam. He held him by the back of his hood, Adam shook his head. He was telling me to go. "Let him go Ryder," I shouted wishing the music would stop.
"I told you Syn, when I found you I would punish you. You only feel when something is taken away from you Pet," he turned smiling coldly at Adam who was now struggling in earnest to get away from him.
"Ryder, take me. Let him go," I whispered knowing he would hear it over the crowd that had now sensed danger.
He didn’t listen, instead he turned and propelled Adam to Dristan who grinned and touched Adam. I felt the connection I shared with Adam waver briefly, he was trying to keep me from feeling what was going on. I watched his eyes as they settled on me and locked. I shook my head in denial. Ryder wouldn’t allow this.
The noise went silent around me as if I'd stepped out of reality. The only sound, my own blood flowing inside of my ears and my own breathing as everything went still around me—frozen in time. Dristan was trying to turn Adam FIZ. It was too much and everything inside of me snapped as the world stopped around me. Like a vacuum. One minute I was standing silently, the next I was screaming my pain with everything inside of me, everything I had. I would die before I let the Fae hurt my family again.
Glass exploded from the limo and the surrounding buildings, crashing to the pavement below. Humans screamed in pain as they hit the ground. I couldn’t stop. Something inside of me had broken open and was demanding to come out. I barely registered the shock on Ryder and Dristan's faces as they watched me.
I couldn’t stop it, whatever had opened just kept coming, I couldn’t focus on anything and yet I saw everything. As if I was standing above watching as my body reaped havoc on anyone foolish enough to not run away. I could see fear, smell it. It was intoxicating, my hair whipped with electrical current as the ozone grew thick around me.
I tried pulling back, I was in trouble. Whatever was happening—I couldn’t control it. I met Ryder's gaze and locked onto it. His nose was bleeding, but otherwise he seemed to be handling my power overload better than anyone else. He spoke low, clearly and right to me even though he addressed Dristan, "Dristan, let Adam go," he growled never letting my gaze move from his.
Adam hit the pavement and stumbled over to me. Larissa crawled up from where she'd been taken to the ground with everyone else. The only sound was my labored breathing. I couldn’t take my eyes from Ryder, he looked worried and that wasn’t something you seen him show—ever.
"Back up, now," he said as he and his men started backing up slowly.
"Syn, you have to stop now!" Adam shouted but when I turned to meet his eyes he flinched, "Oh my God Syn," he whispered horrified.
My chest was heaving, my face tilted to look up at him. Humans sobbed and I tried to look at them but Adrian sifted in and stopped me.
"Syn, look at me," Adrian said. I met his eyes and watched him flinch at the sight of me.
My coven was here, unharmed and all trying to calm whatever was going on inside of me. They should be running away. All of them. Adrian cupped my face while Adam and Larissa tried draining the power from me. Ryder approached silently, his eyes meeting mine as I heard his shoes crunch against the pebbles in the road.
"She needs to come with me," he whispered to Adrian, "She has to release the power. If she doesn’t, it will consume her mind. She doesn’t have—" he stopped narrowing his eyes as Adam touched my face and pushed Adrian aside, "— a familiar."
He frowned, his eyes lighting up emerald and lime green, glowing. He looked as shocked as I felt, but his touch was calming. I felt my heart start up from where it had stopped, as if Adam's touch alone had jumped started something inside of me. He frowned as he met my eyes, "Your eyes are fucking purple and blue Syn."
I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t sure about anything just now. I just watched him, confused as to why his eyes also glowed. His were lined in a vivid colored lime and had never been that way before now. Was it because he was taking whatever it was that had broken inside of me out and into his own body?
"I'm…monster," I panted as tears started down my cheeks, Adam's eyes swirled with a mix of lime and emerald as he held onto me.
"I thought it was dream, only a fucking dream all those years Syn. I thought it couldn't be real, it didn’t make sense then—but now, now I remember Syn, I followed you here. I felt you here—from Faery, you pulled me here Syn when you needed me," Adam whispered as his arm dropped back to his side.
My body shook from the drain, my teeth chattered as I backed away from him. My head shaking as Ryder, Adrian and Adam all tried to move in closer to me. "Stop, just stop Adam. This isn't happening. We have to go. Now."