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Even knowing that Rose is probably her sister, Ellie chose to stay back on Motuwai Island under the protection of Evander’s sister and the rest of his pack, and I can’t blame her for that decision.
“Hey,” I say quietly to Rose, tilting her chin up with my hand. The magic enveloping us feels like static crawling over my skin, but I ignore it. “I love you, and I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait for our future together.”
Her eyes are filled with tears. “A life with you is all I want.”
There’s an awful ripping sound, and Lylia screams. The world around us seems to fall away, or open up. I can’t explain it, but I grip onto Rose tightly, seeing my panic reflected in her eyes. All at once I can see too many things; Rose is here but she’s alsothere,underas she said, lying on the ground, her blonde hair spread around her and sightless blue eyes that stare up into nothing, her body surrounded by mushrooms and their glowing tendrils that seem to be feeding from her very flesh.
The magic is no longer an uncomfortable static but an all-consuming roar, burning my skin, filling my head, disorientating and ominous, and it tastes like death. Rose is slipping out of my grasp, falling through the open hole in the air as the werewolves around us chant and scream and the air is filled with a haze of green and gold.
I cling on to her wrists and she howls in terror as dark blue claws reach through the hole and snatch at her ankles.
We’re going to tear her apart.
“No!”
Hands that glow gold join mine, gripping her arms. I’m flanked on either side by Evander and Seth, their growls in my ears as together wepull. I’ve never been so desperate in my life, so panicked, my muscles aching with the strain. Rose’s cries tear at my heart, but then something changes in her. Her eyes flash gold, then green, her antlers grow, her body losing the glow, the translucence, the ghostliness. She is flesh and blood, pale skin and blonde hair, her pulse racing beneath my fingers.
She’salive.
I’m lyingon my back in the grass, and for a moment everything is so quiet, so still; a chilling calm after a huge storm. I know that in the days that follow I’ll be able to process this better. The way Rose tore free from that realm with a final triumphant cry, falling atop me as the hole in the fabric of space and time closed behind her, shutting out that world of death.
I’ll be able to think about the way Evander stood, staring at his hands as if they weren’t his own, as if he didn’t understand what he’d just done.
I’ll be able to think about the haunted look on Seth’s face, as if he’d seen a ghost.
Imighteven be able to remember the hushed words spoken by the werewolves — the witches who talked about howthis changes everything.
But for now all I can do is hold my Rose tight in my arms, her face pressed to my neck and my nose buried in her hair. She smells like a summer’s day, sweet and floral and perfect, and her breath is hot against my skin.
When she lifts her tear-stained face, smiling weakly, her lips and cheeks blotched red from crying, I kiss her slowly, reverently, tasting the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her mouth and tongue. She’shere, with me, and I’m never letting her go.
Rose
Hours passin a blur of questions and talk that would surely overwhelm me if not for Zak’s constant presence. He is a shield at my side, unafraid to bark back at the werewolves when they pester me too much.
“She’s already said that she doesn’t know anything. How many times do you have to hear it? I’m beginning to get really fucking tired of this bullshit. And she’snotgoing to the First Realm with you. I don’t care what you think — she doesn’t owe you that. She just got here, for fuck’s sake.”
“She needs to be monitored.”
“Then monitor her from here.” His voice is sterner than I’ve ever heard it before, having lost his usual friendly charm at some point in the last half hour. I lean into him further, and he re-tucks my woollen blanket higher around my shoulders.
“I agree.” Evander’s resolute tone cuts through the unsettled murmurs of his mother’s people. I hadn’t understood why he seemed so invested in my welfare until it was revealed to me that his wife’s father may very well be my own.
I keep thinking about Papa and wondering what he knew.
There’s further argument, but it’s so very difficult to pay attention. Warm arms scoop me up, and Zak’s scent — wonderfully spicy and masculine andperfect— surrounds me as he holds me in his arms. “We’re going back with Evander,” he says. With my head against his chest, his voice seems to rumble through me. “I’m not letting her go.”
I hear the wordscarandtoo late for a helicopterandvacationhouse out west in Titirangi, but I am in and out of sleep, waking only when Zak asks me to stand for a moment. “Sorry babe, but I can’t get us both through the car door.”
It’s cold and there are other hands at my back. I recognise Evander’s voice asking, “You’ve got her?”
“Yeah.” I’m lifted again, back into Zak’s arms. “I’m just gonna hold her, okay? Just don’t crash or pass by a cop.”
“Avoiding cops at this time of night might be impossible, but the windows are tinted enough,” Evander replies, and I can hear the humour in his voice, even if I don’t understand what he’s saying. “We’ll be fine.”
There’s another person in the front of the car. A werewolf, I think. She turns, her gold eyes reflecting light, but I don’t recognise her. “It’s me, Lylia,” she says with a small smile. “I’m in glamour.” It makes no sense, but nothing makes sense right now except the strong arms that tighten around me.
I fall asleep under the glow of street lamps that are both familiar and foreign all at once, the heartbeat of my love steady against my ear.
