Page 60
Nova looks back at the beach. She frowns. “He wasn’t…” Her cheeks flush as she replays the things we just did. “He drank from me but then…?” She trails off, clearly torn between running to find her foster brother and staying with Mack.
“I’ll go,” I tell her.
But she shakes her head at me. “No, I will. You’re a nurse. Mack might need you.”
She turns and runs to the beach, her ass swaying from side to side like she’s a freaking goddess. Grabbing her clothes, she puts them back on then looks at the sand, spots some wolf prints, and heads after them.
While Kole gathers the rest of our clothes, I try to assess Mack. My head is buzzing. I feel like I’ve had twenty energy drinks in a row; wired, twitchy, like everything is louder. Everyone’s emotions are louder, but they’re also easier to shut down. With a shake of my head, they’re gone. I blink and they’re back. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I have a gate that seems easy to close.
“Mack?” I put my hand on his shoulder. He’s smiling, shaking his head as he walks a circle around Snow. “Professor, are you alright?”
Mack turns to me and slaps my upper arm. “It’s Snow!” he says, laughing. “He’s here. He’s right here.”
“We know, buddy,” Luther says. “We watched him… I don’t even know what the word is… separate from you?”
“What did it look like?” Mack asks, his hand on Snow’s thick furry neck.
“Gross,” I tell him. “Really gross.”
Mack looks down at his hands. He frowns then trails a finger through the air, bringing with it a gust of wind so strong I can barely stay standing. “This is it,” he says. “Nova’s blood… it separated us so we can both help her. Before, I had to choose. Either my elemental powers or Snow’s strength. Now, we have both.”
“Has it been done before?” Kole asks, swotting away some tree roots that are slithering along the ground toward him; drawn to his supercharged earth affinity like moths to a flame.
“Never.” Mack is still staring at Snow with awe and wonder in his eyes. Snow nudges him out of the way and heads for the water. Without looking back at Mack, he wades in then starts to swim.
“Looks like he’s pleased to be free of you,” Luther chuckles.
“Looks like it.” Mack scratches his beard, which is still laced with Nova’s blood.
“Can you hear him?” I ask, tapping my head. “Feel him?”
Mack nods. “He’s still in there. I’m still inside him. But now we’re separate, too.” He pushes his fingers through his hair. “It’s—”
“A head fuck?” Luther finishes.
Mack nods. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Watching Snow lounge lazily in the water, I glance at Kole. “So, she was right. It worked.”
“It worked,” Kole repeats, following the trail of Nova’s and Sam’s footprints. “Except…”
I lower my voice. “Except what?”
“Fated mates. With Mack and Snow separate, doesn’t that make six?”
37
NOVA
“Sam?” just before the caves, his footprints turn from wolf back to human then disappear. I can’t tell if he went inside or climbed the rocks to the top of the falls, but my instinct says the latter. Instead of climbing, I unfurl my fiery wings—it’s still a freaking buzz feeling them unleash—and soar upward.
Sam is close to the edge, sitting with his knees tucked under his chin. When I land in front of him, he barely looks up.
I sit down quietly, putting the wings away. “Mack and Snow got separated.” When I eventually speak, Sam frowns and turns to look at me.
“How?”
“My blood, I guess.” I gesture to the stains on my wrist; shadows of where the others fed from me.
