Page 93 of Broken Shadows

I turn inward, locate my brothers’ bonds, and focus on their location. Dammit, they ran much farther than Aiden, which isn’t surprising as they’re demons and he’s a weak human, but at least they’re near each other.

The fuck? That can’t be right.

I track their energies down our bonds once more. No, I was correct. It’s as if they’re practically on top of one another.

“Lorcan? Did you find them?”

My eyes drift to Evie. “Of course. However, be on alert. Their signatures are far too close, it’s likely that they’re locked in a fucking brawl again.”

“Could you pick up on any landmarks?” Rosa asks, stopping to face me.

I raise my brows, even though I know she won’t see the questioning expression behind my mask.

She sighs and speaks with her hands. “It stands to reason that if we all know what to look for, they will be located sooner.”

“Oh! Good point,” Aiden remarks, lifting a hand in the air and holding it there.

A smile blooms across Evie’s face, and she arches a brow. “Well, don’t leave him hanging.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

A sonorous gasp vibrates my eardrums and my nose wrinkles.

“What? Bro, Demon, are you telling me you’ve never given someone a high five?” Aiden shouts, his eyes wider than dinner plates. Of course, I’m aware of the odd human behavior, but I have no intention of enacting saidhigh-five. Aiden reaches toward me with his free hand, picks my hand up, then slaps it against his own, smaller, clammy hand. My nostrils flare as Evie and Rosa burst into a fit of laughter.

A growl seeps from me, low and deadly. “If I were you, I’d remove your touch from my hand immediately.”

Before Aiden gets the chance to follow through with my demand, Gomez flies over and bites the back of my hand, and retreats to my witch’s shoulder. I glare at the cute bastard, then close my eyes for a moment. My fingers curl at my sides and my blood boils.You cannot kill the bat, or the human, Lorcan. Evie would never forgive you.My eyes flash open and my neck cracks as I twist it side to side before speaking over my shoulder and stalk to the head of the group. “We are all off topic yet a-fucking-gain. Yes, Rosa, they’re near a fairly large boulder, perhaps a quarter mile or less to the North.”

We walk in silence as I track my brothers. I have no way of knowing how long we've searched for, but it’s clearly long enough that Aiden forgets to remain silent.

“Are you sure we aren't lost?” he asks.

“Yes, I'm sure. You can't hear them?”

Aiden tilts his head. “Uh, no?”

I release a pent-up growl. “Of course not, because you're talking loud enough to wake the fucking dead.”

“Hey, asshole, that certainly looks like a big ass boulder to me,” Rosa interjects.

I spin toward her, following her stare with my own. Sure enough, just over a crest in the slope, part of a massive boulder rises.

Fucking.

Finally.

I jog toward it, picking up on more sounds as I eat up the distance between my brothers and me.

“Get it away from me!” Ezra screams, tears shining along his lower lashes and dripping into his beard.

Gideon roars, “It's not here for you. It's here for me! Run, Ez.”

My eyes narrow as I round the side of the boulder, then I laugh. “Oh, this is just too fucking perfect.” Three heartbeats register in my ears, and I glance over my shoulder at Evie, Rosa, and Aiden.

Ezra peers out at me with wide eyes, all his featured stretched with fear from beneath a cute little doggy pile of zalvie spirit monsters. So, that’s what manifested the hallucinations, the zalvie’s most potent power.

Ezra sits up and at least twenty of the fluffy creatures fall off him. “Lorcan, did you see where it went?”

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