Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Get us back,” I demand “She’s hurt.”
“I’m fine,” Sydney insists.
“You need stitches. No arguing.”
She opens her mouth, but Duke grabs my arm and places a hand at Sydney’s back. Moments later, we tumble through emptiness, then land in Bram’s office. Sabelle is waiting, and though I want to be the one to tend to Sydney, her injuries aren’t life threatening. And I’m too weak. As much as I hate to admit it, Bram’s sister is both talented and capable of handling Sydney.
“Go,” I murmur. “Let Sabelle patch you up. I’ll be along shortly.”
She holds up the handbag. “As long as she’s quick. I’ve got good film and the book inside.” Leveling a sharp glance at Bram, she challenges, “You’re not backing out, right?”
“The matter is too serious for the Council to remain silent. You can transcast.”
Fury detonates inside me.
Sydney rushes Sabelle out the door, excitement humming off her. I want to shout some sense into her, but the fair-haired general stands behind his desk, barking questions.
“Did anyone see Mathias teleport out?”
“Yes,” Tynan snarls. “I was just about to blast the bloody bastard when I saw the warning explosion. Unfortunately, so did he. He absconded with that glass globe his followers used to create Anarki. After that, I freed a couple of the captured soldiers and left.”
“Fuck!” Ice spits.
It’s what everyone is thinking.
“At least we blew up his facility and bloody near a thousand zombies,” Duke adds.
Including my friend. Pain stabs me in the gut, but I have to let it go. What’s done is done. War is hell. I just don’t want to suffer any more losses.
“How was he making them in the first place?” I demand. “What is that glass sphere? One of those soldiers was my friend. I had to kill him.”
Mercy tempers Bram’s battle-fierce expression for a moment. “I don’t know. A wizard can torture a human’s soul from him and replace their will with his bidding. Normally, he can convert but a few—at the cost of a great deal of energy. That glass ball his followers were wielding is a mystery to me. I’ll investigate.”
Then Bram’s mercy hardens, and he glares at me. “The bad news is, Mathias got away. We were supposed to have more time to trap him so he’d go up in flames with the building. We agreed to that plan. Why the bloody hell did you detonate the charge early?”
My temper spikes. I’m not one of the Doomsday Brethren. Bram isn’t my commanding officer.
But you agreed to help, whispers the pesky voice in my head. I had marching orders. I panicked and jettisoned the mission. Period.
“The Anarki had Sydney cornered and were about to kill her. I got her out.”
“Damn you!” Bram charges from behind his desk. “If you’d learn some bloody magic, you might have saved her without fucking everything up.”
“I did!”
“Because of your stubborn refusal to learn magic, we blew our surprise and perhaps Shock’s cover—all so you could save Sydney. The fact she’s your mate and you won’t claim her is clouding your judgment.”
Guilt flays me. I hate it, but he’s right. “I’m sorry.”
“I am, too. You’re no longer fighting with us. If your brother needs help, ring me. Otherwise, until you embrace magic, get out.”
Chapter
Fifty-Five
Istomp up the stairs. Get out? I’ll be more than bloody happy to. Bram ordering me gone doesn’t hurt in the least. That’s fury brewing in my gut. Definitely. I don’t need this group of wizards. In fact, I don’t belong tangled up in magic. I’ll take Lucan back to his house, as the healer recommended. Bram has barely lifted a finger to help me locate Anka, so I’ll continue that quest alone. I’ll grab my belongings, my brother, and go.
But what about Sydney?
She can’t return to her human life, and unless I mate with her, I have no business taking her with me. She’ll be safer with Bram and the others, especially now that Mathias has seen her face. It all makes sense except…the thought of leaving her makes me want to tear something apart with my bare hands. How the hell can I protect Sydney from a distance?
I can’t.
“Ouch! Damn it, I thought magical healing would be less painful. Did you fry my skin together?”
Sydney. At the top of the stairs, I shake my head wryly. Even when my life is shit, she amuses me. I have to figure out how to watch over her because I can’t leave her when her life is in danger. After all, the diary was stolen out from under Bram, so clearly the wizard makes mistakes.
I’ve been teetering on the razor’s edge between the magical heritage I rejected and the human world I cling to. Sydney, God love her, is diving headfirst into the very danger I’m desperate to escape. My heart aches with the knowledge that we’re reaching for different futures. The thought of mating with her, of binding ourselves together, sends equal parts longing and terror through me. She’d wither in the mundane life I’ve built in Dallas, and I’d die a thousand deaths watching her risk everything for a magical world that’s already cost me so much.