Fourteen
Liam
The demon looked more surly and terrible than usual, with bloodshot eyes and a heaviness to his gait that made his boots scuff the floor when he walked.
The vampire seemed to be recovering, albeit slowly; a slight tremor remained, and the effort of attacking his friend seemed to have taken another toll on him.
Both men sat on the couch, looking up at me almost like children awaiting news of their punishment.
To say I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation was a serious understatement, but I couldn’t put it off any longer. I’d already lost hours getting back to the material plane; it was becoming more difficult to transition between my forms, and the human vessel made travel much more challenging. For Gray, it’d likely been days since I’d left her. I hated the thought of her wandering the realm without me, hated knowing some of the horrors she’d likely face.
Hated knowing that the hunter was still after her, even there.
“I have connected with Gray,” I finally said. “She sends a message.”
“What thefuck?” Ronan was on his feet again. “And you’re waiting untilnowto tell us?”
“It seemed wise to wait until the female shifter was gone,” I said, though in truth I’d been avoiding it. Despite Gray’s many assurances to the contrary, I’d failed her, utterly and completely. How could I admit to such a gross dereliction of duty? Such a breach of trust and friendship?
“What… what happened?” Ronan asked, struggling to speak. Emotion had taken hold. “Why… Is she… How is she?”
How was she? I would not use words likewelloralive, for Gray was neither of those things—not by their strictest definitions. But she was present. Relatively whole, though I had no idea how long that would last.
Sidestepping the question altogether, I said, “She is trapped in the Shadowrealm.”
“What?” he roared. I sensed he was holding back from attacking me. His arms shook with the effort, his eyes already turning black.
“How did this happen?” the vampire demanded, his tone even more accusatory than the demon’s, though he hadn’t risen from the couch. “What have you done, reaper?”
Fresh anger bubbled inside my vessel, filling me with hot rage. “She condemnedherselfthe moment she chose to banish the hunter’s soul. In fact, one might say she condemned herself the moment she refused my invitation for proper training after the first ripple of her power called across the realms to me. No Shadowborn has ever refused the call.”
From the corner of my eye, I sensed movement—no more than a blur, really—and then the demon was on me, slamming me to the floor.
Even in human form, I could’ve destroyed him. Snuffed him out with the snap of my fingers and settled up the debt for his soul with the Prince of Hell later. Perhaps it would’ve been worth incurring Sebastian’s notorious wrath.
But I wouldn’t do it. Gray loved this demon. He was important to me by extension, whether I liked him or not. As were the vampire, the wolf, and the incubus.
“What is she to you?” the demon demanded, his hands fisting my shirt, his face so close to mine I nearly fell into the bottomless darkness of his black eyes. “What do you want with her?”
“That is neither relevant nor—”
“She’s in the fucking Shadowrealm—your domain! I’d say that’sdamnrelevant!”
“I was supposed to help her manifest her powers and realize her full potential through rigorous training and education—that’swhat I wanted with her. Perhaps you’ll remember that the next time you try to dissuade a Shadowborn from fulfilling her—”
The force of Ronan’s punch would’ve crushed my vessel’s skull. Fortunately for me, he’d hit the floor next to my head instead, cratering the wood.
“Shit,” the wolf said, grabbing the back of Ronan’s shirt and hauling him to his feet. “That’sdefinitelygoing on our tab.”
“Along with the mug I broke,” Darius said.
“And the wainscoting I destroyed this morning,” Emilio said, exasperated. “Guys, what are we doing? Gray’s trapped in that place and we’re here, breaking my sister’s things, taking orders from her pack, and crawling the damn walls. We need to stop arguing and figure this out. Everyone just… just take a deep fucking breath.”
Whether he’d run out of steam or realized that his violence would not bring his beloved witch back to us, I had no idea. But Ronan did as his friend asked, then offered a hand to help me from the floor.
I took it as a show of faith. Besides, his attack hadn’t done any real damage.
If I’d been at my full strength, he wouldn’t have been able to attack me at all, but that was a problem for another time.
