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The relief only lasted a second, the other two shades doubling down on their torture as I forced myself back to my feet with Kota’s help.
Slowly, I pried my eyes open, and Kota backed up as my power engulfed me, burning prettily over my skin, covering me from head to toe.
I was a walking bonfire, the magickal purple flames shooting into the air and crackling around me. I felt alive in a way I had never felt before. It was like I’d tapped into a power source I didn’t even realize existed, almost as if the town was energizing me and powering me up.
The shades strengthened their efforts while my men shifted and slashed at them, dodging the scalding orange blood that spilled across the town, running in tiny rivers down the cracks in the pavement and filling little crevices like small ponds.
Had enough?the shade Syler was fighting, who seemed to be the ringleader, gibed.Surrender.
The laugh I released was mocking and dry. “I’ll never surrender.”
Suit yourself.The shade Syler was fighting dematerialized, the wispy, inky smoke shooting straight for me.
“Lorn! Watch out!”
The shade plunged straight through my body. The sensation was what I imagined invasive surgery would feel like while awake, with hands poking and prodding around your insides, tugging and pulling on things that should never be touched.
Suddenly, I was right back in that room with the vampires, lost in a drugged haze as they molested me. The shade replayed every touch, every moan. I felt their disgusting hands on my body as they touched me without permission, except this time, it was just a memory. A dark memory I wanted to forget.
“Replace it,” Kota called, his voice strained as he fought the smoke, unable to get a solid blow in while the shade swirled around me, diving through me once again. “Replace the lie or the nightmare in your mind, Lorn. Cover it with something good.”
I stood, frozen in place, my magick blazing as those invisible hands tugged at my nipples and dipped to cup my sex. Bile stung the back of my throat.
Sullied. Unclean.
The shade tormented me, diving through my body again, sustaining the damage from my magick every time, though it weakened with each pass. This time, however, it shifted back to its more corporeal form and raked its claws down my back. Blood soaked into my torn shirt.
Now my master will have what he desires most.The shade’s jubilance was short-lived.
Big mistake, I ridiculed around the nightmare still playing like a bad movie through my mind.
Syler, who was lying in wait, barreled toward the shade in his bear form, knocking it away from me. Axel and Chayton joined him, intensifying the battle.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and then Kota was releasing a yelp as he stepped into my magickal fire.
His hands cupped my face, stroking over the contours. “Replace the nightmare with something good, Lorn. What about when we went painting in the woods? You read your smutty book and asked me a million personal questions, slowly breaking me down while I painted. Or Axel? He took you to the beach. Do you remember the sand between your toes? The joy of getting into the ocean for the first time?” He dug for memory after memory, and slowly, the nightmare behind my eyes eased, pulling back like the ocean at low tide.
A shaky breath rattled from my lips, and I reached for Kota’s wrists, holding onto them for dear life. The fire left my fingers where I touched him. His entire body radiated with a red aura, and I peered past Kota to see Chayton with his hands extended, holding a protective barrier around Kota that allowed him to reach me without being harmed by my magick.
“Thank you.” My voice shook, and then I turned back to Kota. “Thank you,” I murmured again, tears clogging my throat. My surly mate looked almost as haunted as I felt.
“You scared the shit out of me.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.
“I’m okay, thanks to you. I mean I’m not okay, but I’m okay, you know?” I had no idea if he understood. It was going to take me some time to heal from the raw emotions that had been exposed, and I needed a scalding hot shower to try and wash the phantom touches off my skin, but contrary to the struggles of my past, I was stronger now than I’d ever been before, and right now we had a job to do.
Another screech pierced the air as Jolon and Dason finished off their shade, the body disintegrating into a pile of ash on the pavement.
Syler and Axel were coordinating their attack on the last remaining shade, and I called out hoarsely to stop them.
“Leave that one alive,” I ordered. Giving Kota one last appreciative glance, I left him and stormed toward the weakening shade.
My magick surged into my hand when I called for it, and it whipped out, flying past my mates to wrap around the shade. I let another rope fly from my other hand, holding the raging shade as my prisoner.
“Who are you working for?” I demanded, ignoring that my voice sounded like I’d sang car karaoke one too many songs in a row. The raspy quality just made me sound more dangerous, so I rolled with it.
Never tell, the shade sneered.
My restraints tightened.
