Page 92 of Cold Sacrifice

She went still immediately, and I didn’t know if it was because Richard had regrouped and was able to reassert himself as alpha of the spirit world, or if it was because Jolene was weaker.

Either way, I knew we had to work fast, because Jolene was magic. She was bad, bad magic, created by Axton and Kaloni, and that shit didn’t just die, no matter how deeply it was buried.

The blade heated my arm and seemed to revive the pain the ice had hidden. The wind lessened, the coldness retreated, and then, there was only pain.

But it couldn’t stop me, not now. Not this close to the end. Oh, it tried. The pain built to intolerable levels as I dug and searched and bled, but it could not stop me.

And finally, I found the remaining piece of magic. I shoved it against the tip of the bloody stake, and I felt the stake sucking it away.

It was done.

At least that part.

I staggered back and came up against Jared’s body, once again warm, clothed only in a pair of pants that someone had tossed him. I only realized who that someone was when my glance caught and hooked on Aaron, standing at the doorway, a satchel in his hand.

Joe stood with him, watching me with a savage look in his eyes, and I wondered if the night had subtly changed something inside him.

The way it had me.

Beside him was someone I hadn’t seen since I’d fought Gavin Voss in the woods. Nicole, my angel. She wasn’t exactly a guardian, until it came to protecting me against another angel. She was there to catch me when I died, to carry me away to the land of the angels, so I could fight with them. She would make sure no one else got to me first and took me to a place I didn’t belong. Hell, maybe.

If I was part demon, that only made sense. And in that way, she was my guardian angel.

And maybe then, when she took me to the angels, Lucas would finally forgive her for whatever it was she’d done to him and their people.

My mother, uncharacteristically silent, took Rick’s arm and leaned against him as they watched to see if it was truly over. My mother hated my pain, and it was kicking her ass to have to watch. But she wouldn’t leave.

“Burn it,” Richard said. “Burn it now, Kait.”

I took the stake from Trinity but didn’t put away my blade. I’d still need it. Blood ran down my arm, and the wound was gaping and raw and throbbing with pain, but no longer magical pain. And when I got to the fire, I would heal it.

The night had activated something inside me, and I was feeling the difference. I wasn’t sure of what, exactly, but I knew I had awakened what I would choose to see as a gift. I was constantly changing, growing, and exploring, going through my life the way I believed my life should be lived. I would embrace it all, and I would not allow anyone to put me into a mold they themselves had created.

Not the demons, the angels, the wolves, or the humans.

Especially not the fucking humans. Though I would always protect them, I was not going to put them on a pedestal above the supernaturals. Not anymore.

And with that thought, I slid the stake and the blade into my belt and held out my hand to Rick. He came to me, his movements cautious because of his damage, and took my hand. I gave Jared my injured arm, and he took it gently, holding it with one hand as he laced the fingers of his other hand with mine.

With my pack, my people, and my loves, I went out to the fire.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I believed they all knew something different was coming, because everyone was so grim and silent. I didn’t take my time, because Richard still held Jolene, and that was a strain on him, no matter how strong he had become or how weak she was.

The fire was blazing, and for a few seconds, as I walked toward it, my body so spent that both Jared and Rick had to help me across the ground, I was awed by the beauty of the flames. They danced and crackled in the darkness, yellow and red and blue, casting shadows across the ground and beckoning me gently on.

Behind the fire, the moon watched me, and as always, I was drawn to her, pulled by her, and awed by her magical beauty. The fire didn’t dilute the moon’s effect on me. It added to the perfection, the power.

I extracted myself from my alpha and my detective, and both watched me soberly as I pulled free the blade and the stake and walked on to the fire alone.

I didn’t hesitate once I reached the fire. I cast the stake into the flames, glad beyond words to be rid of it. But there was still the matter of the awful wound on my arm, and despite everything, I still felt a tiny lingering glow of Axton and Kaloni’s magic in that wound. It was only a speck, but with time, it would grow.

And there were two ways I could destroy it. I could cut off my arm, or…

Without another thought, I held my demon blade in the hand of my injured arm, and I plunged both into the fire.

I dimly heard my mother’s scream and Joe’s roar, but no one came to stop me. I knew Jared would hold them back. Jared believed in me completely. If I stuck my arm into the fire, then he knew it was something that in the end would make me better.