Of course, that only kept Jas out of harm’s way, because the men came to me anyway, even though I almost took control of my body again and sent them back. But we needed the backup, tearing into the wolves’ bodies and releasing the hordes of souls. This time though, there were far less wolves than before, and we’d ambushed them, not the other way around.
Since I wasn’t worried about my body, I felt the souls come for me that time, desperate to latch onto the edges of my magic. With my mind free to focus, I threw up a shield around myself and let them bounce off with screams of rage.
There was only one soul that I was looking for here, and as soon as I found him, I was taking him and we were getting the flub out of here.
With how few wolves were left, it didn’t long to kill them, such a different outcome from last time. The snow ran red with blood, but none of it was ours.
“Where is he?” I gasped finally, as Dyre separated from me and stood there with a dark, stoic sort of expression on his face. Most of the souls we’d freed were starting to realizing I wasn’t going to be quite the easy target I was last time, and slowly, they drifted away and disappeared.
A huge purple fox trotted up beside me—Trubble—and fluffed his tails to get my attention. Seeing him like this, it was hard to believe what’d transpired between us earlier. Flub, it was hard to believe that Vexer was dead.
Closing my mind off from the pain, I followed Trubble over to where a small ghost sat in the snow, panting, his eyes wide and his red braid hanging forward as he leaned over and looked about two seconds from passing out.
“Talon,” I whispered, dropping to my knees in front of him. I threw my arms around his neck, tears streaming down my face as I tried to imagine a moment in my future that wasn’t going to suck, that wasn’t going to be dark now that Vexer wasn’t in it.
At this point, I was literally begging Haversey to have left him as a ghost.
That was the only hope keeping me float in that awful afternoon sunshine.
“You didn’t have to come for me,” he whispered back, his voice gravelly and harsh as he slowly, carefully put his arms around my shaking body. “A sacrifice is a gift that never needs to be paid back.”
I drew away from him and then pressed my mouth suddenly to his, tasting just a brief moment of that first kiss between us, the one that seemed so long ago, like it was in a different life altogether. I hadn’t been so conflicted, so weighted down, so scared … and so wanting then. It was like a dream.
All of these new changes in my life: finding out that Airmienan loved me, meeting Elijah, dating Vexer, discovering Talon, learning about Dyre and Trubble, and dragging Spicer along for the ride … I liked all of those things.
And if I could just get that spell to work, then maybe my life wouldn’t be Hell.
But it was Hell right then.
Drawing back from my kiss with Talon, I simply put my face in my hands … and wept.
When I next stood up, I was leaving for Markt and I’d be gods-damned if I wasn’t going to find out what’d happened to Vexer.
To Be Continued …
The Academy of Spirits and Shadows, Book #3 - Preorder Now!
The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf, Book #1 - Read Now!
Deep in the Louisiana bayou, The Wild Hunt rides.
Epic Kitsune Urban Fantasy.
We're all mad for you here.
Flip the page for an excerpt of chapter one.
CHAPTER ONE
Down The Fucking Rabbit Hole
A book.
That's what starts it all, the bloodshed and the violence, the romance and the sex.
A goddamn book.
“Are you seriously reading right now?” my younger sister, Edith, asks as she stands next to me in a silver dress covered in sequins. Her hair is twisted into a bun and secured to the side of her head with about a hundred bobby pins. The design looks like a snail shell to me, but I decide not to say anything.
I close the book in my hands—some whimsical fantasy of a life I'll never lead—and watch her eyes latch onto the cover.
“You're reading for fun?” she asks, bending down and snatching the book from my hands before I get a chance to grab it back. I knew I should've brought my Kindle outside instead. At least then she wouldn't have seen the werewolves on the front cover. “This whole thing?”
“Sorry it doesn't have any pictures in it,” I joke as I rise to my feet and give her a smirking grin in response. “I know that's the only type of book you can read.”
Edith rolls her eyes and swipes at her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Whatever, it's hot as hell out here and we have a party to get to. Come on.”
I roll my eyes right back as soon as she turns around, and take the daisy chain out of my own hair, tossing it onto Edith's perfectly coiffed head without her noticing.
“This is a big deal tonight, so try not to screw it up for me,” she says as I cross my arms over my chest and follow her from the backyard, past the pond and my father's prized koi fish, and into the house.
“How could I possibly ruin a high school party? Isn't the whole point to screw up?”
“Seriously, Allison?” she says, yanking the sliding glass door open and stepping inside. She kicks her flats off near the door and heads for the stairs, probably to put on a pair of heels that would most certainly break my neck if I put them on. “And no tennis shoes!” she shouts down, just before slamming her bedroom door and making the whole house shake.
“Shit.” I run my fingers through the ratted, tangled strands of my hair, all mussed up from lying in the grass and reading all afternoon. “And you think this is gonna impress Brandon?” I whisper under my breath.
Grudgingly, I pound up the stairs and kick open the door to my room, digging around in the clean clothes pile on the floor (I'm not big on folding stuff and putting it away) until I find a fresh pair of jeans and a plain white tank.
“Is that what you plan on wearing?” Edith asks, leaning against the edge of the doorframe and looking down at me from under a pair of false eyelashes. “Jeans and a t-shirt?”
“It's a tank top, Edy,” I say as I stand up and tear my grass stained tee over my head, trading it out for the new one. “It looks good on me,” I blurt, defending myself before she can say anything mean. With Edith, it's always best to stay on the offensive.
“You're into Brandon, right?” she says coyly. I cross my arms over my chest and stare her down. The bitch sneaks into my room and reads my journal; I have no secrets. I don't even bother trying to hide them anymore. “That chess geek or whatever?”
“Fuck you,” I tell her, pushing past to get to the bathroom before she does.
Edith chases after me and shoves her way in anyway.
“I've got a dress for you,” she tells me, sucking her lower lip under her teeth and smearing lipstick everywhere.
“I don't fit into your dresses, Edy,” I chastise, pulling out a box of tampons and waving them at her. “Can I please get some peace to put one of these in?” I'm not actually on my period, but you know, privacy comes with a hefty price when you've got a sister.
“Not until you agree to try it on,” she says, heeling the bathroom door shut behind her.
As soon as she does, I see it hanging there on the back of the door.
Shit.
“What is that effing monstrosity?” I ask, pointing at the blue and white thing dangling from the hook. “I'm not wearing that.”
“Oh my God, Allison, give me a break. When's the last time you wore a dress?”
“Three years ago when Aunt Margaret passed away; Mom made me.”
“You're eighteen years old for crap's sake. Just try it on. If you hate it, I won't make you wear it.”
“I hate it now. How will putting it on change that?”
Edith stares me down and then glances over at the mirror, adjusting the daisy chain so that it sits even prettier atop her perfect white-blonde hair. I have the same hair, but I always put a few colored steaks on the side. Today, I've got a miniature rainbow woven in.
“I bought this with my own, hard-earned money and …”
“Fine.”
I reach over and snatch the dress from the hook, giving it another once-over. To say it's not my style would be an understatement. The skirt is too short and the color …