by Cecy Robson
It’s then Aric bounds down the steps, his eyes glassy from lack of sleep and his five o’clock shadow now a full-out beard thanks to his preference to satisfy Celia’s needs instead shave. His face lights up when he sees Celia―kind of like she did at the sight of bacon.
“Yeah, poor bastard,” I mutter.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says to Celia, bending to kiss her lips.
She smiles against his mouth. “Hey, wolf,” she answers, stroking his beard lightly.
Emme inches away when Celia’s stare suggests the need for something more than breakfast. Aric, being Aric, returns that look with equal force. I start to laugh, not because of Celia and Aric, but because of Emme’s response. She’s glancing around at the food like she knows it’s going to end up splattered across Celia and Aric’s soon-to-be naked bodies.
My laugh lodges in my throat when my right arm jerks as if shocked. Shayna lowers her fork. “You okay, T?” she asks.
I shove my arm under the table. “Fine,” I say. I reach for glass of juice with my opposite hand, trying to stay calm. Celia and Emme didn’t notice my twitch, and I don’t think Aric did either, but something about me lures his attention away from Celia.
He cocks his head, his nose flaring as if his alpha wolf has latched onto something. “Taran, what’s wrong?” he asks.
Celia’s and Emme’s attention drifts my way. Shayna rises, fear crinkling her brow.
“I’m tired,” I say dismissively, feeling my pulse start to race. I push my chair out. “I should head back to bed. I didn’t sleep much―”
All at once, and without warning, pain burns its way across my affected limb, curling me forward in agony. My arm whips out, sending the table and all its contents soaring with freakish speed. Plates shatter on the floor as the table imbeds with a loud bang into the wall―directly where Celia sat seconds before.
I lift my head as the burn recedes, searching for her―panicked I harmed her. Tears of relief and residual pain slide down my face when I see Aric lower her to floor, far away from me. She and our sisters stare back at me stunned. But Aric? Holy shit, he’s pissed.
“Taran, what are you doing?” he growls.
I shake my head, knowing he’s angry I almost hurt Celia. “I’m not doing anything . . .”
The burn returns and so does its torment. This time, I can’t bite back my screams. I stumble forward. Aric races to me. I don’t see him. I only feel his body and hear the crunch of bone when my arm flails and connects with his jaw.
He crashes against our granite counter with a grunt as my arm jerks wildly and the burn increases tenfold.
My vision fades in and out and my body thrashes, the erratic movements of my limb sending me to smack hard against the wall. I collapse, my arm beating itself against the floor with enough force to splinter and punch through the wood. I’m not thinking. I can’t. Everything hurts.
No. Everything burns.
“Cut it off!” I scream.
Shayna reaches for a knife, elongating it with her power and manipulating it into a deadly sword. She lifts the blade above my spastic arm, her expression torn. By now I’m sobbing, and all but clawing at my face.
“Please, Shayna,” I beg. “Cut it off!”
“I can’t,” Shayna chokes out. “I can’t do this.”
“Pin it,” Celia yells. “Pin it to the floor!”
With a flick of her wrists Shayna changes the sword’s position and brings the point down toward my raging hand. I barely feel the prick before the room erupts in a ghostly light and Shayna goes flying.
Emme screams as Shayna collides into the far wall. Aric and Celia are scrambling forward, but all thoughts are lost in my torture. I’m retching with how hard I’m crying and from the anguish crawling from my arm and into my chest.
Just as the burn reaches my heart, and I begin to lose consciousness, a pale yellow light surrounds me. Slowly, very slowly, the heat charring my insides is replaced with a soothing chill I welcome like a draw of fresh air.
My body shudders as the coolness spreads like a cascade of water from a gentle spring. With each sensation of cold, my pain eases and my cries dwindle. It takes a long time for the ache to lessen, and even longer for my vision to clear. But eventually it does.
Not that I like what I see.
Blood cakes the side of Shayna’s face. She winces as the bone along her eye socket pops out and her eyebrow knits close. Bile churns my gut. If Koda hadn’t passed her his werewolf essence, I would have killed her. There’s no doubt based on the amount of blood coating her skin, and what her body had to do to heal her indented skull.
I cover my mouth. “Oh, my God,” I gasp.
“It’s okay, T,” she says, as if I can’t see the pain tightening her small pixie face. “It’s okay.”
No. Not at all, sweetie.
Aric leans forward. Being all were, and that of pure blood, his inner beast had healed him faster than Shayna. That didn’t mean I hadn’t made rubble out of his jaw, or that I hadn’t hurt him . . . Or that I won’t do it again.
I had no control over my arm. None. Nor do I believe I have it now.
Aric realizes as much. I don’t miss how he keeps Celia behind him, appearing to shield her and their child from whatever way I’ll lash out next.
“What happened?” he asks, his voice riddled with anger, and maybe something more.
“I don’t know,” I respond, my voice trembling and my body strangely weak. “I felt pain and it-it just went wild.”
“Your arm?” It’s a question, but he’s not really asking.
I nod as Emme’s healing light recedes and her hands withdraw from my shoulders. Her face is unusually pale. She swallows hard, struggling to speak. “It’s her fire,” she says, barely above a whisper. She looks at Aric. “It’s eating her alive . . .”
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Epilogue
Dedication
Acknowledgements
By Cecy Robson
About Cecy Robson
Excerpts from Upcoming Titles
Let Me
Feel Me
Crave Me
Of Flame and Light