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But Kana had a way of convincing each one of us to do what she wanted, and I wouldn’t even hold it against her.
Vento hadn’t even been gone an hour when a new kind of pain kicked in.
I turned my face to the sky and howled pitifully as my skin began to shred away from my body like an invisible tormentor was flaying me alive. My blood stained the snow bright red, and my muscles fell away from my bones like ropes. Then those bones cracked and splintered into pieces while my very brain seemed to melt between my eyes.
The magic was colder than ice, more frozen than anything I’d felt in the lake or the gobbelin cave. It numbed me, then it knit me together again like the practice of pouring gold between the pieces of a broken bowl. My bones had veins of ice now, and my muscles were braided with crystals. My skin had melded with snowflakes, and my fur had turned a solid silvery white.
And when Vento returned with several winter rabbits, he had to crane his neck to meet my eyes.
I looked down at him, swishing my new white, plumy tail. I had to be six feet tall, and that was on all fours.
“Was it worth the pain?” he asked, grinning up at me in wonder.
It will be, I promised him through the wolf speak,if this means Kana is alive.
“Just think of all the gobbelins you can take on. Shit. I might need to get a vampire girlfriend,” Vento said, laughing and tossing a rabbit up to me. I caught it in mid-air and swallowed it down whole, my jaws twice as large as before.
Will I go insane?I asked, remembering the old alpha’s stories of why werewolves had been forbidden in the first place. Vento’s smile disappeared.
“I don’t really know what will happen, pup. But I guarantee you one thing - if your mind starts to go and you threaten thatwoman, there will be no shortage of vampires lining up to take you out.”
I’ll never hurt her again, I vowed, and the truth of it was stronger than the ice magic that had sealed my body together again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
KASSIAN
It was before sunrise when a quiet knock sounded on the door to Kana’s room.
Rush, Cade, and I had gathered here even though she was gone. We’d been here the whole night, not sleeping and barely speaking, either. I knew Kana had taken Rush asaima, and all three of us had felt the bond rip apart inside of us when fucking Luca shredded her body.
No matter what Kana had said to me in the pit before she’d climbed into his arms, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold off trying to kill him. She’d fucking martyred herself to save him, exactly like she’d always talked about not doing, and in my eyes, he wasn’t worth it.
So when I opened the door and saw Vento standing there, a fierce growl instantly escaped my throat.
“He’s not with me,” the alpha wolf said quickly, ducking past my arm. “But I’m not staying long, either. I sent Luca back to the city, and I’ll follow him as soon as I tell you what happened.”
“We don’t blame him. We know that Kana took over his mind and forced him to fulfill the contract,” Rush said, his nature a lot more understanding than mine.
I was gritting my teeth against shouting at the wolf as I locked the door - he could have fucking prevented this, or at least battled with Kana for Luca’s will. Some protector of Khione he’d turned out to be.
“Khione lives,” he said, turning to me as if he was reading my mind. Of course, it was likely written all over my face.
“She’s a fucking Goddess. We want to know about Kana,” Cade snapped, and Vento nodded.
“She lives. They are one now.”
“What’s your proof, wolf?” Rush asked, and I could tell from how he was sitting that he would still attack Vento right along with me, given the right provocation.
“Luca. Luca’s my proof. Search my mind,” he added, turning to me with a wary look, likely knowing how much that could hurt him. “Luca took theaimabond with Kana. And in the mountains, after... He transformed into a werewolf. She lives,” he repeated.
I stalked closer to him, not needing to put my hands on his temples to see his thoughts, but really enjoying the intimidation factor of it. He sucked in a shaky breath as I spread my ice magic through his mind, scanning through his thoughts. He showed me Luca’s new form - silvery white and twice the size he used to be. I felt the conviction that Vento had, that this was undeniable proof of Kana being alive.
Turning and pacing the room, I connected with Rush’s questioning eyes. I shrugged “He has proof, if we care to believe wolf lore.”
I wanted to - fuck me, but I wanted to believe it. But I’d never seen a werewolf. How was I supposed to know if the change was only possible when their vampire mates were alive?
“So, if Kana dies, he loses that werewolf form?” I clarified, glaring at Vento.
