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It was time to get rid of the darkness once and for all, to fight for the light, to fight for what was right.
18
KINLEY
Iwasn’t awake, but I wasn’t asleep. I lay in the darkness, and because there was nothing to look at, my mind took over. I saw the cabin in my mind’s eye, the way the walls succumbed to the flames that consumed it. I heard the crackle and roar of the fire and the screech of the monsters as the shifters all around me fought.
I gritted my teeth. Covering my ears didn’t stop the sounds—it was all in my mind. Getting away from a nightmare when it wasn’t a dream—but instead a reality—was impossible.
I rolled onto my back and saw again how the dark creature climbed through my window. I shifted into rabbit form, my body responding in reality to what I saw in my mind’s eye, and the creature came up to me. I’d bounded around it, jumping back and forth, staying out of reach. I’d shifted every time I was behind it, fighting, stabbing, doing whatever I could before shifting again.
I shifted into human form when I saw the way I’d grabbed the monster’s face.
The magic had drained right out of the creature, the demon hybrid screaming as it died, and only the vampire part was left. It had stared at me with fear in its eyes, and it hadn’t even been a vampire anymore. It had just been human.
Killing the human had been easy with my power as a shifter, even though I’d been human.
The sickening crack of his spine when it had snapped still echoed in my mind, and I hated it, but killing was becoming easier. Was that something I should have been worried about? I’d hated killing the panther, but he’d tried to kill me. I’d hated killing all those monsters, but if I hadn’t killed them, they would have killed me. It had always been self-defense.
That was how it was in the shifter world. I’d seen the others kill, too.
It wasn’t something I would ever get used to, and I hoped this wouldn’t be my life if I ever got out of my current situation.
I frowned and sat up, staring into the darkness around me.
Something had changed since Braxton and I formed a mate bond.I hadn’t been able to kill a monster on my own before the bond. The first time I’d fought a monster, it hadn’t been easy, and the creature had kept its power. Braxton had been the one to jump in and kill it for me. I’d only injured it, and looking back now, I didn’t know if I would have been able to kill the monster had Braxton not come along.
When I’d killed the monster who’d become human, that had been all me. There hadn’t been help from Braxton.
I’d taken the monster’s powers away, and I’d done it all on my own.
How was that possible? It was an ability I hadn’t had before, but that had definitely happened.
Power like yours could be an asset,I heard Cal’s voice in my head.
Did he know what I could do? He’d only heard from those who’d survived what I could do, and no creature had seen me do that.
It was an ace up my sleeve. As long as I had a secret weapon, maybe I could use it.
I was suddenly hit by a vision. It happened so fast, I fell backward so that I was on the cold concrete again.
Instead of the darkness in the room I was in, I was in a room filled with light. Plush furniture, carpets, and a beautifully decorated interior. Sun streamed in through the windows.
“Harold, I don’t know how to deal with her,” a woman said. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a face that looked a lot like mine… but also not at all like mine. “She’s in danger, and we can’t protect her.”
“I know,” Harold said to her, wrapping him in her arms. “She’s in danger as long as she’s withus.”
“Maybe we should tell the alpha.”
“No,” the man said, shaking his head. “We can’t tell him. Who knows what he’ll do? He’s already so paranoid.” When she started crying, Harold’s face softened, and he pulled the woman into his arms. “It’s going to be okay, Marina.”
Marina buried her face against Harold’s shoulder and cried.
“How can you say that? There hasn’t been a rabbit shifter in centuries, and her magic is so unpredictable. Who knows what she will be able to do? How can we protect her if we don’t even know what her power holds?”
“We’ll just have to take her to the human world.”
“What?!” Marina cried out. “You mean…”
