Page 136 of Taste Me

Royce groans as he falls onto his back and clutches at his chest. “Holy shit. What was that?”

“A safe word that came in handy, even if it didn’t work the first time,” Zy says from the front door. He’s bloody and hanging his arm around Jas, and his eyes are swollen shut.

Spirits, what did they do to you?

He looks like death warmed over, but he’s alive. And he’shere. They both are.

We all are, sweetheart,Kor’s voice says inside my head.

Tears of relief prick my eyes.

Kor’s in there, somewhere. His body flinches as Royce continues to grab at his chest.

His eyes change from red to silver and back to red again.

“Fuck! This asshole is trying to push me out!” Royce growls. There’s an echo to his words now that wasn’t there before.

Zane was rearing back to kick me again, but he’s looking away from me now. “Damn idiot,” he says, then spits. “You disgust me. I knew you were just a wanna-be patriarch.”

I claw my way across the splintered floorboards, ignoring the pain digging into my skin as I head toward Kor.

Follow my voice,I tell Kor.You’re in charge of your own body, not some asshole patriarch, you hear me?

Keep talking, sweetheart,he replies.Your voice is music to my ears.

“Give me a blade,” Zy says.

He’s completely blind with his eyes swollen shut, so I’m not sure what he intends to do with a weapon. Dark veins spider out from his eyes, suggesting a spell is keeping him from healing.

Jasper doesn’t question him. He produces two from the many he had stocked in his arsenal. “Take as many as you want, brother.”

Zy takes a moment to compose himself, then swirls them both around using his wrists in a practiced motion.

A feral grin stretches over his lengthening fangs.

Jasper looks at me. “Turn the lights out, witchling.”

I realize what my mates intend, but it takes faith in them to believe they can pull it off.

My lips move of their own accord, my spirit giving me all the faith I need.

And then the room goes dark, and the screams begin.

Chapter43

Zyran

Arush of magic informs me that Issy has come through.

It’s pitch black, leaving everyone else in the room just as helpless as me.

Although,helplessis a strong word. I’m never helpless, even temporarily blind.

“You underestimated me,” I whisper, projecting my voice to the other side of the room with my magic.

An explosion of wood and cracked furniture tells me Zane has reacted, because I doubt that Royce is able to move right now.

And I know exactly where he is. Jasper whispered his precise location to me before Issy turned off the lights and blocked out any illumination coming in from the window.

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