AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His voice trails off raggedly. My fingers curl into the covers beneath me. “I know. I saw them.”
And the kidIkilled, whose name I didn’t even know. I’ll never get the chance to find it out.
I don’t think the shadowkind will see their deaths as a loss, though. Not when they lost so many of their own to the rampaging hybrids.
I rub my forehead, still working to piece together everything that happened. “They were carrying weapons like the hunters were using—for fighting shadowkind.”
Dominic strokes the tip of his tentacle back and forth over my wrist. “They saw the shadowkind working with us when we confronted them in Memphis. We figure they wanted to be prepared in case we came at them again.”
It makes a sick kind of sense. In the most horrible of ironies, our attempts at shaking our fellow shadowbloods out of Balthazar’s influence have pushed them into becoming the monster-murdering soldiers he wanted.
Fuck. I feel hollowed out inside, as if all my inner organs have sunk to the bottom of my belly.
“The shadowkind must be pissed,” I murmur. “They didn’t really want to help us anyway. They thought the other shadowbloods weren’t worth saving, too much of a threat.”
A tawny-haired figure wavers into view by the door beyond the foot of the bed. Rollick has his arms folded loosely over his chest, his expression serious but otherwise unreadable. “I asked my associates to leave you undisturbed while you recovered, but I think you should talk to them directly about how they’re currently feeling. It’s good to see you with us again.”
I have to resist the urge to cringe under the demon’s penetrating gaze. It was my plan that sent his people into the fray—and ended some of their normally infinite lives.
I can take responsibility for my decisions. I can face the people my mistakes hurt the most.
With a wiggle of my legs to make sure they’re in working order, I shove myself toward the side of the bed. “Let’s go do that now.”
Rollick dips his head in acknowledgment. He leads the way out the door.
It turns out we’re not just in a hotel room but a whole penthouse suite. I halt in the doorway, staring at the sprawling living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows giving a view over the surrounding city from above. The hazy light that’s creeping over the buildings and the burnt gray of the sky suggest dawn has just arrived.
“We needed the space—and not to be interrupted,” Rollick says in brisk explanation.
My gaze lands on a body-shaped form draped in a white sheet, lying on the floor beyond the sofas. I freeze in place. “Who—”
“Booker,” Dominic says softly. “One of the shadowkind managed to grab his body and carry him here through the shadows—I guess that’s possible for a mortal once they’re dead.”
Rollick nods. “She saw how upset you were by his death. She thought you’d want to give him a proper burial rather than leaving him to your crazed counterparts or whoever else would have found him.”
“Yeah.” My arms come up to hug myself. I can’t see Booker through the sheet, but the image of his sagging face after the crossbow bolt hit him is emblazoned in my memory.
The rogues killed him—a shadowblood just like them, simply because he was trying to get through to Nadia in the most peaceful possible way.
I don’t like considering what that says about them and how far gone they are.
I turn to Rollick. “Will you be able to help us with that? We don’t have the money or the contacts to arrange any kind of regular burial.”
The demon offers a small sympathetic smile. “We’ll sort it out.”
He motions for us to follow him to one of the other bedrooms off the common room. As we walk over, several shadowkind materialize to trail after us.
Among them, Shanty sweeps her deep blue hair back over her shoulders, her features pinched with what looks like grief. Fang lumbers forward, his muscular prowl making my limbs tense with the memory of his bear form tearing into Tegan.
Crag brings up the rear with a steady stride that reassures me that the injury I saw him take didn’t do any permanent damage. Even so, his harsh face with its rocky jaw looks even grimmer than usual.
The room we step into holds two queen beds. One appears to be empty. Sorsha lies on the other, her head tipped back against the pillow, but she pushes herself into a sitting position at our entrance.
And promptly sways as if she can’t find her balance. Beside her, Snap catches her shoulder with a noise of concern, his bright green eyes wide with worry. Across from him, Thorn looms taller as if he can intimidate whatever’s bothering the phoenix into submission.
My heartbeat stutters. I dart forward to the foot of the bed. “Are you all right? What happened?”
Sorsha rubs her temple and offers me a crooked smile. “Those friends of yours have quite the assortment of powers. One of them hit me with something that seems to have rattled my brain around. If I move at all quickly, I get very dizzy.”
