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Leon yelled, fear coating his voice, his body shaking unstoppably as he writhed on the ground.
I pulled my hair to free myself from the gargoyle, but it wasn’t budging. A cold rush ran through me.
Faye called out her enchantment, but nothing happened. She slammed the ground with her fists in frustration while Leon grabbed her hand, holding it to his chest. He had to know his end was coming.
Dust floated in the surrounding air, and I stared down at the gargoyle on his back, legs dissolving into particles. The hair connected to the gargoyle’s heart already darkened into a gray color like stone. And it spread upward me. Would I turn into a stone monster or disintegrate along with the creature?
“No. No. No!” I screamed as cracks formed in the gargoyle’s features. It was vanishing, and Leon and I were about to take his place!
“Elliana!” Gage shouted, hobbling toward me, his shoulder ripping apart, blood coating his shoulders and shirt.
Was my fate sealed? “Gage!” My voice rippled and shrieked.
His face paled when he reached me, his gaze swinging from me to the hair, to Faye praying over her lover, whose legs had already turned to stone. She screeched in agony and ran her hands over her lover’s chest, her touch flaring with a blue magic. But nothing made a difference. Part of the spell had originated with the first creation of a gargoyle, so Faye couldn’t change the curse. Now, it backfired and had taken Leon.
“I’ll get you out of this,” Gage said, but his hand trembled against my shoulder.
“I’ve always loved you,” I mumbled.
“Don’t.” He searched the ground. “Where the fuck’s a knife when you need one?”
“Listen,” I called out, tears blurring my vision, watching the gray crawling up my strands, closing in on me. “I was stupid to push you away and never let myself be with you.”
Gage grasped my hands, his face inches from me. “I’ve going to save you. Don’t you fucking leave me.” His words hiccupped, and tears ran down my cheeks. Behind him, there was movement. Reed sprinted toward us while Kahlo fought an army of shifters. But at once, Gage shuddered uncontrollably, and he staggered backward, his limbs stretching, cracking.
“Gage!” I dove after him, but he’d stumbled too far, making gurgling sounds that terrified me.
Armed with a blade, Reed rushed to my side.
“Something’s wrong with Gage!” I yelled.
“And you’re in danger. Get on your knees.” I did as he said, and he gently cradled the back of my head on his thighs. “Shit, Elliana.” Determination pumped through his expression as he used the blade to hack at the lock connecting me to the gargoyle. The action pulled my hair, but he kept sawing.
My mind started to fail, refusing to kick into action when all I pictured was my death.
I watched with horror as the gray crept along my hair, ready to consume me. For killing a gargoyle, the price must be paid, and for that person to replace the stone creature. That person was me and Leon.
“I can’t cut it,” Reed hissed. “Lie flat on your back.”
I followed his instructions because I had no other idea how we’d fight this. Reed knelt next to my head and slammed the long end of the blade down on my steely hair. An electric spark shuddered through my head, and I screamed.
My gaze landed on Leon embracing Faye, kissing her as the stone rushed up his arms and into her. Spreading across her back, her head, locking them into an eternal kiss.Shit!
Reed kept hammering unrelenting while I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood, riding the agony, my eyes shut, crying out each time a jolt rocked thorough me.
A soft hand touched my cheek, and I flinched. “It’s okay,” Reed said. “Open your eyes. I’ve cut it all off.”
His smile coaxed me to stand up. He took my hand and lifted me to my feet with ease. I looked behind me to a mountain of my cut hair. My breaths raced, and I touched my head, finding every strand had been chopped off and what remained hung to my neck. My long hair was gone. I sucked in a shaky breath.
“Oh, hell, you did it?” I leaped into Reed’s arms, crying and laughing. “Faye’s death must have broken my curse.” I felt pity for her but was also glad she was gone. No matter what happened now, we’d saved Reed’s sister, his pride, and the other kidnapped shifters.
Reed hugged me, kissing my face and neck. “You’re free.”
But in the distance, Kahlo was rushing toward us in his tiger form. An array of shifters writhed on the ground, the blue rings around their necks fading until non-existent.
I broke from Reed’s arms. “The pride is free!”
Where was Gage? I scanned the grounds and saw no sign of him. My stomach churned with an uneasy sensation until Reed groaned from behind me. My heart slammed into my ribcage, and I swung around to find my cut hair curling around his legs like snakes capturing their prey. It moved on its own. I rushed toward him, both of us ripping at the hair, but there too much of it. It curled around his chest, and his panicked breaths had despair swallowing me.
