Page 195 of Whispers of Wisteria
It felt as though the breath was knocked from me.
Hehadher.
Julian was the first to react.
“Bianca!” He rushed forward, but he didn’t even touch her before Titus struck out, blindly swinging his arm as he let out a low growl.
“Stay back!” he snarled.
But Julian didn’t stop; panic was overriding all else. “Titus, let me see her. Maybe I can do something!”
He grabbed Titus’s shoulders and tried to drag him back, but the dragon was immovable.
I pushed down my rage and studied Julian instead. He wasn’t trying to get to her in grief.
This was something else.
Miles joined Julian, touching Titus’s back. “Titus, please. Let her go, just for a second.”
The fae stayed back—a wise decision, Titus wasn’t in any state to hold back—but Joe had stepped forward.
“Titus—” he began, but we both knew there was no use.
Logic wasn’t going to break through to him. He wouldn’t see that, right now, he was preventing the necromancers from doing what they needed.
I trusted them, even though I didn’t fully understand their plan.
I looked past the gathering darkness surrounding the fae and spotted my brother. He’d been silent, watching.
And, right now, his expression was broken as he stared.
I’d deal with that later.
“Finn.” I stepped forward, and his attention snapped to me. I moved to Titus, and Finn understood without words.
There was only one way to subdue a maniacal shifter.
We pushed back the others, the words already humming in my mind, focusing my concentration into a single point, and when I grabbed Titus’s shoulder, the white fire was waiting.
Titus roared, fighting it, refusing to let go, until both Finn and I wrangled him back.
Julian snatched Bianca the second Titus’s grip faltered.
I didn’t look after her—I couldn’t. The sight would make me lose focus.
Still, despite being held back both physically and through the spell, Titus raged. He lashed out, and sweat dampened my forehead as I fought to keep him pinned.
“I can’t hold him anymore,” Finn said as the dragon clawed at his arms.
I was beginning to agree. I leaned forward and pressed my forearm against the dragon’s neck. My shirt was stuck to my body from sweat, and my heart was pounding from effort, even outside of trying to keep the dragon at bay.
His reactions were… telling.
As Bianca’s mate, he’d be able to sense it.
She really was dead.
Suddenly, Miles was beside me. He slapped at my hands, pulling at my grip.
