It is the first time I’ve known I could never go through with it. Not when I think of Julian, Felix, and even Dimitri, and I know I could never put them through that.
The shadows move around me, directing me, and I know it’s Felix. Nobody else has this kind of control over the shadows or can withstand traveling within them for so long. When we were kids, he used to disappear into them for hours, said it was like having his own room, a place just for him.
It wasn’t until later that I learned that too much exposure to the shadow realm can be dangerous to one's mental health. I’ll forever wonder if that’s what drove him to kill his mother, even if I’ll never have the balls to ask.
Whatever caused it, her death changed him and Titus; the once close brothers are hardly ever even in the same room now, let alone talking. Wren has brought them both closer together than I ever thought possible, but even still, it’s no secret that Titus hates him, and I can’t say I blame him.
I lost my mother when I was young, so I have few memories of her, but she was killed by cancer, not my brother.
My brother.
Gavin…
That’s a whole other problem. I should have told them, shouldn’t have kept it a secret; I have enough of those already; this one wasn’t even worth it.
No, I don’t have time to worry about that right now. We need to find Wren and her wicked bitch of an aunt. I can only imagine how upset she must be with Wren right now, and given Wren’s reaction to her coming, well, I don’t really want to imagine what she might do.
If I let my imagination run too wild, my beast might end up taking over, and while I’d love to see him kill her aunt, I’m not sure she would appreciate that.
No, a demon coming out of the sky to tear her aunt limb from limb might just traumatize her.
Later.
I round the corner and stop dead, even as the shadows urge me forward; it's as if I’m frozen, shocked.
Wren hits the ground, her hands hardly catching her before her head hits the ground, and it’s like the second I see her, the floodgates open.
Everything she’s feeling hits me like a train, making me stagger back a step. I’m not sure how she was hidden from me, but seeing her here in the flesh, even with her current state, helps me breathe easier.
She’s alive and here.
Which is more than I might be able to say for her aunt, if she keeps putting her hands on Wren.
My shock and relief are short-lived as I watch her grab Wren’s hair, forcing her neck back at an angle that looks unnatural and painful. I clear the courtyard in record time as she pulls her hand back, ready to strike her for what I’m sure isn’t the first time, and my beast rages inside even as I manage to snatch her wrist.
The urge to let him have his way with her is strong and only grows when I see the cut and rapidly darkening bruise on Wren’s face.
“Excuse me!” Her cunt of an aunt shrieks, sounding like nails on a chalkboard, and I release her, shoving her back a few steps, unwilling to keep touching her when Wren needs me. “Who do you think you are, putting your hands on me? Do you know who I am!”
I ignore her in favor of tending to Wren. I bend down to offer her my hand and watch her eyes go wide, her panic very clear as she looks between her aunt and me. Now I understand why she was so afraid before.
“We don’t put our hands on students.”
All this time, is this what she’s been dealing with? I’d only felt her emotions on mute for years; having them like this is almost enough to make me throw up, especially when I think about the fact that I could have saved her.
I’ll never be able to make that up to her, but I’ll never stop trying, so long as she’ll still have me when she finds out that is.
“Youdon’t put your hands on her.Iwill do whatever I want withmyproperty, especially when she has the nerve to make a fool of me!”
“You're doing that all on your own,” I mumble without so much as glancing her way, which only seems to piss her off further.
She attempts to push me aside, but I don’t budge. She’s small and weak, and I know Wren needs me to be strong for her right now, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
She gives up after a moment, instead reaching for Wren once again, but this time I don’t have to intervene. Felix has clearly had enough, stepping out of the shadows behind Wren and making her aunt stop dead in her tracks.
Everyone who isn’t mortal, or a dud, knows who Felix is and just how dangerous he is.
“Come on, Wren, let's get you out of here.” I offer her my hand once again. This time she looks down at it, and I feel the way she longs to go to me. She might still be mad at me; hell, she can be mad forever if she wants to be, but she knows I’ll keep her safe, and that fills me with pride.
