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23
ADDIE
“Who is Maria?” I asked, hoping that I could stall some more.
For what? I didn’t know, but I just wanted time at this point.
I could summon something from the earth, but Vince would send the bones tumbling back down again. His presence cut through everyone’s arcana like butter, and it was one of the most frustrating things I’d ever experienced.
This wasn’t how I wanted to die, angry and annoyed.
Shit, I didn’t want to die at all. Maddox was still out there. I wanted to be with him while he figured out how to handle his beast. I wanted to see him thrive and be there by his side the whole time so that he knew he wasn’t alone. It was what he’d done for me, even if he didn’t know it.
I still had to return that favor.
Vince’s demeanor softened ever so slightly. “Maria?”
“Yes. Maria! Who is she? Is she your mate? I can help you find her.”
His lips rippled from the tremble of tears to the wrench of agony then, finally, parting in a howl of pain. I fumbled back as quickly as I could. Turning, I lurched into a sprint.
Where was I going? Fuck if I knew. This was a head start, and that was all. Vince would catch up to me soon.
The world rippled in front of me. I came to a halt and rocked back, arms windmilling. The world split like a tear. Two figures came tumbling out. One, a familiar man with confusion stretching his face wide. The other was a white wolf that slammed into my chest and sent me crashing to the ground.
Maddox licked my whole face before lifting his head and setting his sights on someone behind me. Maddox lowered himself and growled. His body covered mine protectively.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hel stepping forward. She, too, stared Vince down.
“What the hell is happ—” Ryder’s voice trailed off. “Vincent?”
“Kill him,” Hel demanded. “Stop him from tearing any more fate threads, so the worlds can finally start to heal.”
I wrapped my arms around Maddox and clung tight to his fur. I couldn’t let him kill Vincent. If Ryder was here, then maybe he could help me. We could keep Maddox out of this once and for all.
But there was no stopping Maddox. The moment Vince moved a muscle, Maddox leapt out of my grasp. I couldn’t hold my wolf shifter back.
Ryder came up and offered me a hand to lift me off the ground. His gaze never left the fight. The sound of growls and gnashing teeth filled the air behind me. My arcana surged uselessly.
It answered my sense of urgency, but what was I supposed to do with it? I cast a sidelong glare at Hel, who refused to be helpful. Did all the gods stand around while mortals did all the heavy lifting? It sure seemed like it.
As soon as I was safe, Ryder pushed past me. His hand rippled with scales that turned into long dragon talons. He waited for an opening. When Maddox jumped away from Vince, Ryder struck.
Expect the partial shift wasn’t stable around Vince’s aura. I felt the twang of snapping threads and watched Ryder’s talons turn back into fingers that raked across Vince’s skin ineffectually. Sure, Ryder left some nasty marks with his fingernails, but it was nothing compared to what he’d could have done.
Vince threw a wrench in everyone’s plans.
Was there a limit? Could I overpower Vince’s aura with enough of my own arcana?
Now wasn’t the time to try. Instead, I focused my power and sent it into Maddox. My arcana turned him into the bone-plated wolf once more. He grew larger, his tail stretching into a bone flail that he could use to hit Vince.
That was nothing, though. It was only a drop in the vast, unexplored ocean of my arcana.
I spared a moment to marvel that my friends and I, all very powerful misfits, had come together. For what reason, I wasn’t sure. Now wasn’t the time to think about the way that fate had bound us together, for better or worse. We were intertwined, our other bonds getting pulled into this weave that created a story larger than ourselves.
Ryder jumped back and gathered himself while I dug deeper into my arcana. Hands cupped towards the sky, I felt ice ripple from the tips of my fingers all the way down my arms. Death was so cold. It was the nothingness that threatened to take us all, the void that had claimed Jaden weeks ago, that had claimed the people that Vince had killed recently.
Iwasthat nothingness.
