Page 127 of A Bond So Deadly

Blake leans forward and gives the shadow queen an unhinged smile. “Yeah, we do. That’s for fucking with my bestie and all the realms.”

Queen Krosia staggers backward, her gaze sliding to me. “How?” she screeches.

I give her a small smile as my shadows retreat from where I’d helped to free Blake. “You were so focused on me, but you forgot I’m not the only powerful female here,” I answer. “Some of us just needed a helping hand.”

Blake winks at me, her golden eyes glowing.

Blood spills from where the dagger sits in Queen Krosia’s chest, and I feel the shadow queen’s magic snap as the oracle breaks free. The moment it does, my shadows restrain the shadow queen like she’d done to me, and my power reaches inside her.

“Knew you had it in you, girl,” Elgen’s rasping voice sounds in my mind as the oracle emerges from Queen Krosia’s body, forming a ghostly hooded shape. The oracle’s ancient power flows into me, amplifying what I have and making me cry out.

It’s too much, and the power starts to overwhelm me.

“Steady child,” Tarlaz says. “You can’t control it. All you can do is direct it. You have all the power of the shadow realm at your fingertips amplified. Rely on your mates. They’ll help you withstand it.”

I wince against the pressure in my skull. At the burn of the shadows against my skin, that sensation of ice and fire as the power flows through my system. Breathing heavily, I relax, letting the power wash through me. Parts of it flows out to my mates, and they growl as they climb to their feet, standing like four protective guardians on the ground below me.

“You’ve done good,” Thane rumbles, his face scrunched with concentration, and tears spring to my eyes because it’s so good to hear his voice. “We’ve got you, mate.”

I nod.

“Alina?” I rasp.

“Still here,” she says, though her voice sounds distant in my ears.

Using all my effort, I direct the power out across the ash-covered land. It races through the forests, extinguishing the fires, and obliterating Queen Krosia’s darkness. And when the land has stopped burning, my feet settle on the ground, shadows writhing over my body.

“Any chance we can do the honors, sunshine?” Raith rumbles in my head as he stands in a half-shifted form and glares at where Queen Krosia is still restrained in shadows.

Knox’s gaze is dark and haunted, and I nod, because I know they need this.

The brothers band together, and power flows from me into them, a single black stream that slams into Queen Krosia. She screams as it hits her with full force. It strips her back. Takes everything that she thought was hers. Takes the gifts she took for granted. The shadow tattoos disappear from her skin, and she scrabbles in the ashes like she’s hoping to find her magic again.

But our power doesn’t stop, and I don’t think my mates are in control anymore. No, this is the shadow realm using us to get justice. Power continues flowing from me into my mates, then into Queen Krosia, taking everything she has until she collapses, and death takes her.

Now that everyone is free, Blake’s mates and the others stand as the prophecy whispers through the air again, floating on the breeze.

The shadow warriors start singing along, and the zenali, demons, angels, and water monsters all hum as well, because everyone on this battlefield knows just how close we came to losing it all.

I send out the power to the far reaches of the realm. To every place that Queen Krosia’s magic touched, and I help to heal, restore, and drive her influence away. The dark clouds above start to clear, but then I feel it.

The compulsion to go further.

To expand my reach.

To let the power wash across the realms.

With this power, I could help more people. Couldn’t I? I shake my head, struggling against the wild, chaotic power that’s overtaking me. It’s like it wants to reach out and explore all the realms in existence.

“Let go, my love, it’s over,” Knox’s voice sounds in my mind, and I’m vaguely aware of my mates around me.

“I-I’m not sure if I can,” I say, because now that I’ve let it in fully, I don’t know how to make the power stop.

“Focus, bonded,” Emorie says soothingly in my mind as she stands close.

“You can do this,” Galen adds and his hand takes mine.

My mates surround me, and together, we slow the flow of power. I can’t stop it completely. I’m tied to the shadow realm now. Tied to the beating heart of this land. But we slow the power to a trickle, and I gasp as the pressure subsides.