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He couldn’t keep fighting on two fronts. Ignoring the attacking vines, he pressed both palms against Luna’s chest. “Wake up and fight.” She couldn’t die. He’d only just found her. She’d opened him up in ways he hadn’t thought possible, made him feel, made him want to be more than an instrument of justice, a killing machine. Without her light, there was nothing but darkness.
Throwing back his head, he howled. The world trembled at the force of it. Beneath him, Luna stirred. Or maybe it was due to the tremors. His vision dimmed. He blinked, but the world went out of focus. He blinked again, but it continued to fade.
This was the end.
…
Luna drifted.
It wasn’t dark wherever she was, but it wasn’t light, either. It was some strange in-between, like that moment before night gave way to dawn. There was nothing around her. No mountains or trees or water. No sun or moon. No wind. And most especially, no wolf.
Where was Kade? She twisted her head from side to side, but he was nowhere to be found.Am I dead?They’d been battling Solange, and she’d done something with the pendant around her neck. Oh crap, if she’d died, he was locked in the dream realm with the mage.
Will you save him?
She stilled at the sound of the voice. Unlike the nasty whispers in her dream, this one sounded masculine.Who are you?She waited what seemed an eternity for a reply.
Will you save him?
There was only one person the voice could be talking about.What can I do?The effort it took to communicate was draining her. A light in the distance grew brighter, distracting her, calling her.
You share his blood.
Right, but would that matter if she was dead? If she was dead, why was she having a conversation with a voice in her head? Maybe it was all in her own mind, her reasoning devolving. The pretty light continued to beckon her forward. She began to float toward it.
A wolf howled in the distance. It was faint, but every cell in her body strained toward it.Thump.A wrenching pain in her chest was followed by a blast of heat.Thump.The distant light dimmed. She shot through the black void.
Luna came back into the dream realm from the void on a gasp. Kade’s limp form was slumped on top of her. Those nasty, noxious vines slithered over and around them. Thick thorns pierced his arms and torso. Tears filled her eyes at the evidence of the pain he’d suffered, the battle he’d fought. Somehow, he’d brought her back from the brink.
She ran her hands over his back, yanking out the poisonous spikes. Unlike every other time he’d been hurt, the wounds didn’t close. Blood trickled over his skin. “No. No. No. Come on, Kade. You have to heal. You’re immortal.” But even a lone wolf could be killed. That’s what he’d told her. But his body was still intact. This was wrong.
Dark tendrils wrapped around him and began to drag him away. Grabbing him around the waist, she dug her heels into the dirt and hung on. Raw determination flooded her veins, followed by a fury hot enough to ignite the world. “You can’t have him.”
The shadow arms gave a hard yank. She jerked, and they began to slide. Yelling, she slammed her heels in again. “Wake up, Kade.” She couldn’t both fight and hold on to him. Another yank and they were skidding toward the open void, the wall she’d painstakingly built demolished. “Help him, gray wolf.” The wolf that was a part of him had always been her friend, her protector. She’d never needed him more than she did now.
Blood. The voice had reminded her they shared blood. She slammed her arm against one of the sharp, spiky thorns, yelling when it punctured her skin. Blood began to flow. She threw herself to the side, taking Kade with her. His head tipped back. The wound was already closed.
Shit, his blood was running through her veins, and it was healing her. Luna smashed her wrist against another spike and yanked, ripping the vein wide open. Blood spattered over them both. Digging her toes into the dirt, she held the wound over his parted lips, letting it trickle inside.
Solange’s shadowy figure stood at the entrance of the void, looking smug and satisfied. “He drained his power to save you. Such a waste, but no matter, your blood will sustain me until I experiment on you both. Once I have your souls trapped, it will be easy for me to track down your physical bodies. One way or another, I’ll find a way to have the lone wolf’s immortality.”
Love swelled in her heart, even as it shattered with grief. He’d given everything to save her. It was because of her he was trapped and dying. Closing her eyes, she searched the depths of her soul for any sign of the gray wolf. Solange couldn’t be allowed to experiment on either of them. The other two lone wolves would never be safe. Neither would the rest of the world—paranormals or full humans. That kind of power in the mage’s hands was unthinkable.
Save us or destroy us both.
There was no answer from the wolf, the voice silent. As her foot slipped across the entrance to Solange’s realm, Luna gave Kade a mental shove, a last-ditch effort to push him out of the dream realm. Maybe it wasn’t too late for him.
His eyelids flipped open. Joy burst through her. He was alive. The vines dragged faster. He spread his arms wide and, at the last second, grabbed both sides of the opening, halting their momentum.
“You will not stop me!” Solange roared. The shadows tugged harder, lifting his body off the ground. The muscles in his arms and shoulders bunched as he dug his claw-tipped fingers into the edges of the opening.
With her arms wrapped around his torso, she pulled in the opposite direction. Every muscle in her body strained. She gritted her teeth and yelled in fury, using it to fuel her waning strength.
Her chest began to flutter and then pulse, as if something was pushing against her rib cage. A light burst from within her and poured into Kade. As the glow grew, the vines retreated, and his body fell to the ground with a hardthump.
“Not again!” Solange stalked toward them, hands raised. “I will not be denied by another lone wolf.”
Close the portal. Luna didn’t question the order, nor did she need to be told how to do it. It was all there in her mind. She linked her hand with Kade’s and allowed her love for him, for the gray wolf, to swell inside her. The real power was in their connection. Like a lighthouse beacon, calling to the lost on the stormy seas, a radiant beam exploded from her eyes, then from Kade’s.
