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Luther drums his fingers on his knees, then stands up and walks over to me. “How long are we going to stay in here?” he says. “It’s a little dark, and a little depressing.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m staying in here until they’ve fixed Sam,” I tell him. “If you’re finding my company depressing, feel free to leave.”

Clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, Luther sighs and sits down next to me. After a stretched pause, he says, “I told you what happened to my family.”

I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath through my nostrils. “Yes, you did.”

“So, you know I mean it when I tell you that I understand loss.”

I hold the air in my lungs for a moment before releasing it, then turn to look at him. “I know,” I whisper, tucking my arm in his and finding his hand.

“We all do. All five of us.” Luther stares into the flames. “Kole lost himself when he went undercover with the League, Tanner lost his parents—even though they’re still here, Mack lost Layla, and Sam lost you.” He rubs his head with his spare hand then sighs. “Then in Thessaly’s vision, we all lost you. It was Ava, but it was you. We felt the anguish, the pain, the heartbreak.” His voice falters, and it makes me squeeze his hand. He regains his composure and says, “I know it doesn’t help, but what I’m trying to say is that we understand. You’ve coped with more than any twenty-five-year-old human should have to cope with.”

“I’m not human anymore, Luther.”

“Except, you are. Your experiences are human. You grew up believing you were human, and now you’ve been thrust into a world you don’t understand and given powers you can’t control.” He glances at me and smiles solemnly. “That’s a lot, Nova. You’re allowed to freak out about it.”

I run my hand up his arm from his wrist to his elbow, then rub his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Luther leans down and slowly presses his lips to mine. He gently bites my lower lip, then sucks it between his teeth. He cups my face with his large, strong hands, and sends his tongue to stroke mine. When he pulls away, I am flushed and breathless. “But the time for freaking out is over,” he says.

I frown at him and sit back a little.

“There isn’t time for it,” he says calmly. “The others might not want to be the ones to say it, so I’ll say it for them. This is happening. The King is preparing to rise, and you are the only one who can stop him. So, we need to park the freakout and go help the others. Right now.”

I blink at him, both shocked and not at all shocked that he’s speaking to me like this; just because he’s admitted he’s in love with me doesn’t mean he’s had a personality transplant.

Luther stands up and offers me his hand. I stare at it for a few seconds, then push myself to my feet, deliberately not accepting his help.

“Pep talk well and truly received,” I tell him, pushing back my shoulders. As we pass through the tunnel and enter the cave directly behind the falls, I add, “Luther?”

“Yeah,” he replies huskily.

“Next time, send Tanner for the emotional support, yeah? You suck at it.”

“Yeah,” he chuckles, “I know.”

33

SAM

For at least an hour, judging by how far the sun has moved in the sky, the others have been debating the best way to find and destroy the demon they think is living in my head.

I trust Tanner implicitly. I’d trust him with my life, but I’m having trouble understanding how he can have seen a demon lurking inside me when I can’t feel or sense its presence at all.

I should feel it, shouldn’t I? The way I feel the wolf part of me? I carry its energy with me all the time. It’s different for werewolves than it is for other shifters—bears, panthers, and dragons have two consciousnesses living inside one being. Us werewolves are what we are whether we’re in wolf or human form. We are one, not two, but I still feel the beast part of me. The part with heightened senses, and animal instincts.

So, I should know if something foreign was in there. I should sense that something is wrong. But I don’t; I feel normal. Hungover from the trauma of living through some of the worst moments of my life over and over again. But normal. I certainly don’t feel like I have a parasite in my brain waiting to take over and force me to kill Nova.

“That’s settled then,” Mack says firmly. “We’ll try the revealing spells. All three of them, and if they don’t work, we’ll talk to Nova about—”

“Talk to Nova about what?” Nova appeared as if from nowhere. None of us heard her approaching down the beach, but now she stands in front of us with her hands on her delightfully round hips.

Without hesitating, Kole says, “If the revealing spells don’t work, we may need to ask for your help.”

“What kind of help?” She looks at each of us in turn. As I watch her, I realize some of her fire is back, and it makes me smile. Seeing her broken and vulnerable, especially when it’s because of me, is too painful.

“We’ll explain if the spells fail,” Kole says, fixing her with a dark stare.