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“Where are you going?” I shouted in frustration. “What is happening? Who is behind this?”
I was the descendant of a god and a monster. If anyone could figure this out, it would be me. I refused to let my husband be taken by this strange phenomenon.
Strange phenomenon.
That’s what the news called it when Fenrir ate the top of a mountain. Though I couldn’t feel Fenrir feeding, that didn’t mean that this wasn’t just that. Fenrir was out of sight, but there was a chance that he was somewhere nearby. That’s what the tracking spell said.
Why Maddox, though? Why Maddox and not me? I was the one who could put Fenrir back into his cage. He should have been targeting me.
I lifted my gaze. The world around me was drained of color. When I’d stomped my foot, it hadn’t made a sound. Maddox’s growl hadn’t been out of fear for himself. Had he been the one disappearing, he would have been far calmer about it.
“Well, shit,” I said once I realized what was happening.
“Addie?” Maddox’s voice cracked. “I can barely hear you. I promise, I’m going to find you. We’re bound to each other. No matter where you go, I will get back to you. I—Ipromise. Nothing can separate us.”
His words steadied me. I could feel his soul beside me. He wrapped me in his spectral arms and held me tight, which settled my wild heart.
I would not be defeated so easily.
“Oh, hell no,” was all I said before I reached deep into my arcana.
I wasn’t about to let Fenrir devour me. If that happened, I wouldn’t be the only one to go. Maddox’s soul was inside me. He went down with me, and that was not an option in my book.
I grabbed onto the fate threads floating in the air. Fenrir had severed plenty of them while feeding across the landscape. In my hands, the fate threads became delicate little chains. I wrapped them around my being to anchor myself to the world of the living.
Determination wasn’t enough, though. The chains began to corrode. They did, however, give me enough time to tell Maddox what was happening.
Maddox
My beastraged.My hands went through Addie’s form. I couldn’t touch her or smell her. Even parts of my human mind started to lose grip on her, like she’d never existed at all. My beast clung onto the memory of her. She and the beast were interwoven. There could not be one without the other, and so the wolf inside me kept a part of her alive in my memory.
I didn’t want to remember her. I wanted to hold my wife and keep her safe from all threats. This threat remained invisible. I could lash out and swipe at the empty air all I wanted. It wouldn’t do anything for her.
The ghostly visage of Addie before me flattened her brow and pursed her lips. She flung out a hand that I took. A cold sensation swept across my palm and raced up my arm. I clung onto her like her life depended on it—when I knew thatmylife depended on it.
If I lost her, I would lose the battle to the monster deep within me. All this time, I’d been able to ignore the evil potential in my core. One look at Addie, and it all disappeared. I could be anyone and anything I wanted when she was around.
Without her, I would lose all compassion. Already, a cruel growl rumbled deep inside me. A monster lurked just under the surface of my own personality.
“I can’t lose you,” I whispered.
It was the truth. I couldn’t lose her because there was a thread that tethered us to one another. However, I feared that thread could be destroyed if Fenrir devoured her. We had no way of knowing if that was happening. Hel had done strange things before. For all we knew, this could be Hel’s doing.
No matter who was responsible, I would hunt them down and make sure they paid dearly for their actions. I would become the hell in hellhound. They would know no peace. If I had to, I would tear apart entire worlds just to show them how much they had taken from me.
Laughter rumbled on the wind. I didn’t turn to see who it was. I didn’t have to because that laugh had become annoyingly familiar.
“Fenrir,” I said, a growl low in my voice. I kept my eyes trained on Addie’s determined face while I spoke to the world-destroying wolf man. “If you continue, I will become the biggest thorn in your side. I will not kill you. I will make sure that you and I live forever so that your suffering never ends.”
Addie lifted a brow. It didn’t matter if she could still hear me. She would have done the same for me, and I knew it. Nothing would ever keep us apart. Not in life, and certainly not in death.
Her gaze slipped past me. She narrowed her glare at Fenrir, but she couldn’t do anything while trying to hold onto her own existence. I had to fight him on my own. Could I do it while holding onto my wife?
Absolutely.
All this time, I’d done my best to stick to my own morals. I sought justice for all, but I saw it through a human lens. Right now, I didn’t want justice. I wanted pain and torment. I wanted Fenrir to know how my beast felt watching Addie fade away.
Fenrir laughed at me again. He put a hand on my shoulder. I barely had a moment to dig in my heels before he ripped me away from Addie. The feeling of her hand in mine remained while I flew through the air.
