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I wasn’t quitesure where I was. A part of me could see the infinite nothing of the void that I plummeted through. Meanwhile, there was another part of me aware of Addie’s every moment like I was a bird on her shoulder.
It was a very strange sensation, one that I wasn’t quite sure I understood. How could I be in both places at once? It didn’t make sense. My vision was overlaid with two scenes, which would have been nauseating if one hadn’t been the void of nothing.
Pride burgeoned in my chest as Addie pulled a chair out of my kitchen and used it to get up in Hel’s face. The goddess glowered. She looked like she’d bitten into something sour—like Addie’s attitude.
When Hel warned that there was only one way for Addie to find me, my heart dropped. I couldn’t let her do it. There had to be a way to stop Addie while I was trapped here. What part of me was with her? Maybe if I understood that, then I could figure out a way to stop her…
None of this made any damn sense. I was a detective. I should have been able to put the clues together, but it was hard to see straight as I fell.
I didn’t know where Vince had gone, either. I couldn’t feel his teeth in my flank anymore. The sound of his pained snarls and whimpers had faded. It was like he no longer existed. Like he never existed.
Was that what this void was? It was the undoing of everything. Here, the past unraveled, so the future could be woven. If that was the case, then why hadn’t I unraveled? Why was I still whole and sentient?
I knew it had something to do with the part of me that was with Addie. If she came here, I might come undone once and for all. If Addie had to watch that, she might fumble and fall into the void, too. The idea of a world without her sent a spike through my consciousness. I had to find a way to stop her. If I kept her out of here, then both of us would remain whole.
“Addie,” I whispered even though I had no voice.
In the real world, she rocked to a halt. I heard the soft exhale of her breath leaving her. I could even hear the thump of her heart as hope flooded her face.
I started to ask her to stop when pain flared through my being. It bloomed like a fire across…across my thigh. My form became whole again. I had a body, and there was a monster attached to it.
Vince snarled. He must have held onto me to keep himself from being unraveled. How had I missed him?
I shook my leg in an attempt to throw him off, but the soul-torn shifter clung onto me for dear life. His teeth sank deeper into my flesh. More of my body flared back to life. Power flooded back into my limbs. My muscles tensed, allowing me to kick harder this time.
Vince’s teeth tore through skin and flesh. I hissed in pain. If I couldn’t get rid of him before Addie found me, then he would come back through with me. I had to get rid of him once and for all. I couldn’t let him stay…
Was I really willing to kill this man? I’d spent so much energy fighting against the supernatural community’s desire to kill so freely. Yet, here I was trying to kill one man to save another woman.
What did that make me?
I no longer felt worthy of Addie’s help. If I could, I’d stay here and rot with Vince. We could suffer together, two killers locked in an eternal fight. That was what I deserved, because I still didn’t want to bring him back to the world of the living.
“You’ve caused too much harm,” I told him.
Could Addie hear me on the other side? I couldn’t tell. Vince had pulled my attention to the void. I could no longer see her or whatever else was happening in the world of the living.
“I want my mate!” Vince’s voice boomed despite his wolf maw still being clamped onto my leg.
It seemed that the rules of reality no longer applied here.
“You could have asked for help finding her!” I shouted back at him. “I’m a detective! I can help!”
Unless she was already dead. Then I couldn’t give him what he wanted. I could find her body, find justice, but I wouldn’t be able to reunite them. That was beyond my means. Only Addie could help, and even then it would have been nothing more than a momentary reunion.
Was that why he hunted my…my?
Addie didn’t belong to me. What was I thinking?
“I need to be closer to Maria! Only she can make me feel whole!” Vince groaned.
A need bloomed inside me. I craved Addie. The taste of her reached my lips. I clenched my fists, furious that I couldn’t lay my hands on her soft skin. My beast snarled inside me. It filled my mind with images.
Addie beneath me.
Addie between my legs.
Addie’s throat between my teeth.
Addie’s heart on my tongue.
This time, I couldn’t fight the scream of torment that left me.
