I heard a wolf whimpering and my heart lurched. Some of Braxton‘s pack must have shifted to wolf form, but they were all still lost out there. I searched down the shimmering energy connecting me to each of the guys for Mistral and Sebastian. Mistral was closer. I sent my intent outward, trying to guide him to us. At some point the vortex had started humming within me, but I ignored it. Absorbing the darkness wasn’t the answer.
My eyes were drawn to the edge of the light as Mistral stepped out of the dark, his hair wind-whipped and his eyes haunted. There was no time to ask him what he had seen. I simply held out a hand as Gabriel knelt before me, lifting the edge of my shirt to lick a line up my stomach. My core tightened, and the light flared brighter.
Mistral came to us, turning my head so he could cradle my jaw and kiss me. Shimmering stars flared to life, dancing in both moonlight and sunlight. “I tried to bring Sebastian,” he muttered against my mouth, “but it was like he couldn’t see me. This darkness can trap us with our fears.”
“I saw my mother’s ruined home.” Crispin’s agile fingers kneaded my shoulders. “But that particular memory has lost some of its sting.”
“I saw villages in the Bogs eradicated by wild magic,” Mistral said, pressing his forehead to mine.
I felt a tug deep in my gut, something painful and twisting, and the part of Sebastian I could always sense seemed to waver. Suddenly I could barely breathe enough to speak. “Whatever the darkness is showing him, he can’t pull out of it.”
“Then let us chase it away.” Mistral kissed me again, and Gabriel pressed his cheek to my stomach.
They were right. Sex had awakened our connections, and it strengthened them. If we wanted to pull Sebastian out, we would send him our light.
24
Iclosed my eyes, letting Mistral’s kiss ground me as I reached for that wavering thread of Sebastian. The golden cord was there, but thin, fraying at the edges like something was eating away at it. I followed it down, pushing past the swirling darkness until—
He’s younger.Much younger. A boy with too-large eyes and hollow cheeks, standing in a room that smells like old paper and dust. Men in dark robes surround him, and one of them has his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. His father’s hand. But there’s no warmth in it, only pressure.
”You will learn control,” his father says, and Sebastian flinches because he already knows what those words mean. The lesson is always the same. His sister was always more magically talented than him. And more ruthless.
He felt powerless. Utterly powerless. And he had done everything in his power to avoid that feeling for centuries.
The memory shifted,and I saw Sebastian’s sister standing over him, her face a mask of cool satisfaction as she demonstratedher magic for their father. Sebastian sat on the floor, shoulders hunched, unable to summon even a flicker of power under his father’s disapproving gaze.
“I’m here,” I whispered down the thread. “Sebastian, I’m here.”
I felt Mistral’s power surge through me, his earthy goblin magic lending structure to my own chaotic energy. Behind me, Crispin pressed closer, his cool moonlight weaving with Gabriel’s warmth until our combined light pulsed like a heartbeat.
“We’re all here,” I told Sebastian. “You’re not alone. You’ve never been alone.”
The memory wavered. Sebastian’s father turned, his dark eyes scanning the room as if he’d heard something. Good. If the darkness could use his memories, then we could too.
I poured everything I had down that golden thread—love, trust, the fierce certainty that he mattered, that he had always mattered. I felt Mistral’s mouth move to my throat, his breath hot against my skin as he channeled his magic through me in a steady, grounding pulse. Gabriel’s hands tightened on my hips, his sunlight blazing brighter until I could feel it burning through my veins, and Crispin’s moonlight wrapped around all of it like a silver net, binding our combined power together.
“Sebastian,”I called again, and this time the thread pulsed in response. A flicker. Weak, but there.
The memory around him shifted—the dark room blurring at the edges. His father’s hand on his shoulder grew less solid, the pressure easing as Sebastian’s head turned slightly, listening.
“That’s it,” I urged. “Come back to us.”
I pushed harder, pouring everything I had down that golden thread. The darkness parted like a curtain, and suddenly Sebastian was there, his face pale but his gaze determined. He moved toward us with the same predatory grace he always had,but there was something desperate in the way his eyes locked onto mine.
“You came for me,” he said, his voice rough with emotion I rarely heard from him.
“Of course I did,” I replied, reaching for him.
He stepped into our circle of light, and the moment his hand touched mine, I felt the balance shift. The darkness recoiled around us, and the wolves’ howls grew more distant. Sebastian pulled me against him, his mouth finding mine with an urgency that stole my breath.
“Show me,” he demanded against my lips. “Show me what I almost lost.”
The others moved in around us, hands everywhere, clothing being shed in the pulsing light of our combined magic. Sebastian’s mouth traced a burning path down my neck while Crispin’s cool fingers worked at the fastenings of my jeans. Mistral’s hands slid beneath my shirt, his palms pressing against my bare skin as Sebastian claimed my mouth with an intensity that made my knees buckle.
The darkness around us pulsed and recoiled as our combined light grew stronger. I felt the vortex humming within me, but this time I didn’t push it away. Instead, I embraced it, letting it flow through me and into the others.
“The light,” I gasped as Sebastian pulled away to look around us. “We need more light.”
