Page 83 of Shackled to the World
Annora danced out of his reach, cocking her head to study him, no longer seeing him as anything other than prey. He ceased being human after his first kill, and she taunted him like he’d taunted so many of his victims. “How many times have you heard that over the years and laughed while you slaughtered your own people?”
The fighting around them had come to a complete halt. The guys were gathered around Logan. The rest of the people kept their distance, and she wasn’t sure if that was because they believed he deserved death or because they feared her.
The thought of her guys no longer wanting anything to do with her nearly ripped her guts out, but the darkness crushed it. She gave herself over to the afterworld completely, using it like a shield nothing could penetrate. It welcomed her home, the cool air making their breath fog, but she embraced the numbness, the afterworld taking away all emotions but the need to maim and kill the creature before her.
The necklace she wore burned, nagging at her, refusing to let her surrender completely. It kept her grounded in this world when all she wanted to do was burn it down. It refused to let her forget her pain, refused to let her forget the men she loved so much.
It shackled her to the land of the living, and she reached up and grabbed the chain to rip it away. Only the instant her hand came into contact with the metal, she heard the guys yelling her name. Every wonderful, wretched emotion she felt for them came flooding back, the avalanche of feelings threating to overwhelm her, and her hand jerked away like she’d been scorched.
Not wanting to deal with her grief and loss for fear that she would be crushed under the weight, she did the one thing she’d promised to do from the start—save the men, no matter the cost.
As the last of his life force left Erickson, his flesh began to shrivel. Skin slowly sagged against his bones like he was a deflating pool toy, leaving him a ghost of himself. His wolf snarled at her, then the yellow gleam in his eyes flickered to brown like a light had been doused.
“No!” The roar ended in a scream as the shadow of a mangy, feral wolf slipped out of his human form, slinking low along the ground. It managed only a few feet before it staggered and dropped to its side and began to flake away and scatter like ash.
The pathetic thing that remained of Erickson was barely human.
Then the ball of light in her hand sputtered, and she watched the cord between her and Erickson finally snap. He dropped to his hands and knees, clawing his way toward her with a breathy wail of rage and denial.
The sphere of threads she’d gathered from Erickson pulsed like a heartbeat. The power felt like it was the opposite of hers—full of light and life instead of darkness and death. The longer she held it, the more it burned her skin. She could see the strands slowly wrapping around her hand, trying to graft themselves to her, and she shuddered at the thought of having anything that belonged to Erickson anywhere near her.
The pain in her hand began to feel like she’d stuck her arm in a shark’s mouth, teeth ripping and sawing into her flesh. She had two choices…toss it into the afterworld to be consumed, or…give it back to those he took it from.
Annora pitched the glowing ball up into the swirling cloud mass raging overhead. Lightning cracked as it exploded across the sky, and she watched the golden sparks of light glitter in the darkness like a light show at Christmas. Then the glitter began to rain down like tiny fairy lights, healing everything they touched.
Once spent, the tiny sparks winked out of existence, leaving behind ash floating in the air like snow.
A clump of the golden liquid stitched together like a web over Logan. Power soaked into him, and her heart froze like a lump of ice until she saw his chest rise and fall. The tightness in her throat made swallowing impossible, and she bit her lip to hold back the sob caught in her throat.
In every direction, the darkness retreated, and her sanity returned…along with the magnitude of what she’d done.
She’d killed Erickson.
She didn’t regret it, but she would undoubtedly be punished for daring to slay an alpha. However it turned out, though, she took fierce satisfaction in knowing Erickson’s final act was to give back to those from whom he stole so much.
Annora slowly made her way over to where Sadie lay. The witches and shifters watched her in awe, their attention feeling like spiders were crawling all over her skin. Though Sadie was struggling to heal, the darkness trying to stitch her flesh together, it only dissolved before it could finish, her injuries too severe.
She was dying.
Annora didn’t understand why the afterworld wasn’t bringing her back.
Maybe she was too weak?
Or maybe the sword was built specially to kill their kind?
The devastated expression on Edgar’s face was like a lance to her chest, hitting harder than any physical blow.
Annora glanced down at her hand, still able to see the tiny etches where the strands of light had tried to worm their way into her flesh, leaving her palm coated in the stuff. Chest hollow, knowing she was going to regret it, she knelt and carefully placed her palm over Sadie’s chest.
The moment she touched the girl, her back arched off the ground, and she wheezed for air, the sound raspy and painful. Annora watched while tiny threads of gold forked their way under the girl’s skin. With every pulse of her heart, the wound at her neck healed a bit more. Little nicks and bruises faded.
As the gold light faded, Sadie collapsed back to the ground, unconscious but alive.
The battlefield was so quiet it was eerie.
No one moved or even made a sound.
When Edgar reached for her, Annora flinched. As she pulled away, dizziness struck her so hard, it was like the earth was trying to swallow her. A babble of voices rushed to her ears, and she staggered to her feet.
