The dart pierces him in the shoulder. He wheels around, growling. He’d have attacked Solomon if the shift hadn’t already started. Once it’s complete, he curls into a ball and does something I haven’t seen him do since he was little. He cries. The tears are ugly and loud, and his entire body shakes. My heart shatters for him. His pain is so intense, I can feel it. Or maybe seeing him destroyed like this is amplifying my own torment.
“Why did she do that, Cheryl? Why did she obliterate what we had like that?” Karl asks.
I drop next to him and run my fingers through his hair. “I don’t know.”
“I want to kill him,” he grits out.
“I know. But you can’t. If they catch you, they will end you.”
“A mated wolf will never listen to reason. He’ll try to kill Ronan sooner rather than later,” Solomon says.
I whip my face toward him. “We can’t let that happen. I can’t lose Karl like that. That bitch doesn’t deserve his sacrifice.”
He rubs his chin, narrowing his eyes. “I can help… perhaps.”
“How?”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“No!” Karl sits up. “You won’t mess with my head again.”
Solomon raises his bushy eyebrows. “You won’t allow me to meddle even if I tell you I can make the burden easier to carry? Even if you manage to kill Ronan, the ache of Manu’s betrayal will never lessen.”
“Are you sure?” I ask as dread drips down my back. “Not that I want Karl killing anyone.”
I’m not immortal like my brother. I’ll grow old and die, leaving him alone, pining for that bitch vampire.
“Yes, child.”
“I don’t care,” Karl retorts.
My empathetic sadness for him is quickly turning into anger. “I do. Do you think I want to see you suffer like that?”
Guilt shines in his eyes. “Pain is the only proof I have that last year happened. If he takes that away, how can I know what’s real and what’s not?”
“You’re not making any sense. Last year did happen, as much as I wish it didn’t.”
Karl looks at Solomon, almost hopeful. “Can you make me forget Manu?”
He snorts. “I’m not that powerful, boy. You forget that we aren’t dealing with only one bond here. You’re also her familiar. It’s a double knot.”
Karl walks to the cot in the room and drops down on it like a dejected potato sack, resting his head in his hands. “It seems the only way to be free of it all is to end my own life.”
“Karl! Don’t you dare speak such nonsense. You aren’t committing suicide.”
He lifts his pitiful face. “I’m already dead inside.”
I drop to my knees in front of him. “Let Solomon help you however he can. Please. I can’t lose you. You’re all I have.”
Guilt shines in his gaze. He’d better feel regret for saying such a foolish thing.
He looks over my shoulder. “What can you do?”
“Your pain will never go away, but I can make it more bearable, muffle it. That should help with your desire to kill Ronan on sight. But I suggest keeping your distance for a very long time.”
His shoulders square. “We’re bound to cross paths eventually.”
“Not if you leave the continent.”
