“Damn.” Tiana runs her hand along the frame without touching the light. “This is a powerful seal.”
“Does that mean I can’t get in?” My voice pitches higher. “Get back to my body?”
I press my hand against my belly. I can’t feel anything there but the gesture is instinct now. “I think I’m going to be a mom soon,” I tell her. “I don’t want to lose my cub.”
Tiana scrunches her face up. “Did I really need to know that shit, Mara?”
I blink at her because I don’t understand why that’s a problem.
“This is going to take a lot of power.” She rolls her shoulders back. “But I think I can pull it off.”
I step back. Tiana plants her feet and raises both hands toward the sealed door. Blue-gold light erupts from her palms and slams into Aaron’s shield. The two magics crash together in a burst of sparks that light up the hallway. The shield flares brighter, fighting her, and Tiana grits her teeth and drives more power into it. Her cloak whips behind her. The veins in her arms glow blue through her skin. The hallway fills with the sound of magic grinding against magic.
The shield fractures down the center and splinters outward. The blue light dies in jagged pieces that dissolve into the air. Tiana drops her hands and bends forward with her palms against her knees. She’s breathing hard.
I reach toward her and stop. My hand would go right through her. “Are you okay?”
She looks up at me, sweat on her forehead, eyes sharp. “Do I look okay?”
The alarms are still screaming. Somewhere outside I hear people running.
Tiana straightens up and reaches for the doorknob. She turns it and pushes the door open. The suite is dark except for the moonlight coming through the windows.
I follow her inside and stop. My body is on the bed. I’m lying on my back with my hands resting at my sides, my face peaceful, my lips slightly parted. My tail is curled loosely beside me on the mattress, the tassel twitching in my sleep.
“So weird to be without my lion,” I murmur.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Tiana tells me.
She flicks her wrist. Blue-gold light pulses from her fingers and I blink.
When I open my eyes I’m looking up at the ceiling. The wood beams come into focus. The moonlight cuts across them in pale stripes. My tail brushes against my cheek—the tassel soft and warm against my skin—and I smile because she’s back. My lion is pressing against my chest from the inside, furious and awake, and my ears twitch forward for the first time since I left my body.
The alarms flood in, louder now, and I hear the thud of shifter feet outside the window.
I sit up on the bed. My body feels stiff. My joints pop when I swing my legs over the side. My tail whips behind me, the tassel snapping back and forth.
“Looks like you’re all set,” Tiana says.
She tears the air open. A portal splits in the center of the room. On the other side I can see the forest, trees dark against the night sky.
I stand from the bed. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to help my mother stop my brother from whatever stupid shit he’s doing.” She sighs, her shoulders dropping. “I should have told my mom the moment I found out.”
Tiana steps through the portal. I leap through after her before it closes and land in a crouch on the forest floor. Dirt and leaves press under my palms. The cool night air hits my skin and my lion roars inside me.
Tiana spins around. “Oh, absolutely fucking not. You’re going back home.”
She starts to raise her hand to reopen a portal but I stand upright and close the distance between us.
“Please don’t,” I plead. “I love him too, Tiana.”
“And that’s why I’m sending your ass back.” Her eyes flash. “If something happens to you...”
I start walking through the forest. The ground is solid under my feet. My tail lifts behind me, high and alert, the tassel cutting through the air.
“You damn stubborn lioness, get your ass back here!” Tiana shouts behind me.
