Page 118 of Death Warden
We were right in front of the doorway now.
“I love you, Fin.” I closed my eyes.
He made a sound that was part frustration, part rage, then spun away from the abyss, grabbed the door, and closed it.
The whole thing winked out and we collapsed onto the stony ground.
I hugged him tight, adrenaline spike leaving me dizzy. “You don’t get to check out, cat boy.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, his rapid breaths mingling with mine. “Actually, I might stay in male form for a while.”
I grinned up at him. “Yeah? In that case, we need to buy you some clothes and get you your own room.”
“Spoilsport.”
* * *
SPECTRE
The sky is lit with flames and embers as the manor house burns, taking Dralos and Hubert with it.
The Sisters of the Golden Apple are huddled on the sidewalk, stunned and shaken. Looks like they were in Dralos’s grip for a while.
The Mageri are in custody and Wendall is on the phone to the syndicate, giving them a blow-by-blow of the turf breach.
They’re not going to be pleased about it.
This is all stuff I need to be worrying about, but I can’t think right now. All I can do is focus on the burning building, heart in my mouth as I wait for my mate to emerge. All I can do is wonder if she’s alive and how I’ll deliver the news that she’s lost another father. Dax’s death is a weight sitting on my chest, grief that needs to be vented, but I can’t do that, not now. Not until I know Adi is safe and not here.
“She’s alive,” Curo says. “We’d feel it if she wasn’t.”
“Yes…she’s alive, but where?”
“You think she got pushed through the door,” Logan says.
I swallow the lump of dread in my throat.
“We wouldn’t feel her if she did,” Logan says. “The spirit plane is connected to our world, but this other place isn’t. If she went there, then we wouldn’t feel her.”
“Are you sure?” Curo asks.
Logan is silent.
My eyes burn from the smoke, but I keep them open, unblinking.
We stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, holding on to the connection, waiting.
My nape prickles; the mark on my arm throbs.
“Adi…” Curo says.
We turn as one to look down the dark, empty street, instincts screaming at us that she should be there, and like a wish she appears with Finley beside her.
But there’s something else with her. A glowing orb that grows larger, rushing toward us.
Curo makes a strangled sound and falls to his knees. “My soul…it’s back…”
The orb slams into him, lighting him up and then sinking into him.
