“This is a trap.” I growled low.
A slight nod of agreement. “Yes.”
Unable to resist, I swept back the dark strands of her hair to cup her face, running my thumb over her cheek. “Together. We do this together, little umbra.”
Her hands shook as they reached up and covered my own. “Together.” She said resolutely before looking up at the hovering shadows. “Take us to where we need to go.”
The shadows descended, spiraling in a black funnel while their whispers grew to pulsating hisses, repeating one word over and over again.
Take…take…take…take…take.
I shivered at the feel of their infinite darkness, there was no end with the shadows, to be taken by them fully was to live a life as an empty shell.
Then it all stopped.
The shadows fell away like a slow falling curtain and I blinked rapidly against the sunlight that highlighted my newest horror.
Jarquinn, the master healer and the fae that was like a second father to me, hung suspended in the middle of the room, his normal ancient blue eyes were saturated red, his mouth gaped open in a silent scream, and his limbs were contorted unnaturally around him.
Possessed. He was being possessed by the Sanguine.
And in front of the healer, barely able to contain my shock, my father stood defensively guarding the other half of my heart—our daughter, our veryawakedaughter.
When her small cherub face looked up at me with gorgeous swirling eyes of gold and emerald, I almost collapsed to my knees.
Nothing prepared me for this. This moment. Time stopped as we stared at one another despite the chaos in the room. Father and daughter…
“Riella.” Remnant breathed behind me, stepping cautiously towards her.
“Remnant!” She cried out, her arms reaching out to my soulmate with terror in her eyes, before she collapsed with a sob into Remnant’s arms.
Our eyes met over our child's dark hair and Remnant nodded with what she saw in mine.
Stepping cautiously forward, I stood next to my father who had not bothered to turn around, having sensed our bond the moment I stepped through the shadows.
“Father. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Son.” My father rumbled without taking his focus off the horrific figure of the master healer in front of us. “I didn’t expect to be here. The shadows called to me, the next thing I knew, I was here.”
I grunted and palmed my swords, my claws tapping against the metal, watching the healer. My heart was sinking into the pit of my stomach. “What do we know?”
My father snarled, his eyes never leaving the possessed healer. “It’s the Sanguine possessing him. There has been no movement, no words but I’ve seen the likes of it during the blood wars many times. There may not be a way for him to come back from this.”
His suspicion was verified when a fierce series of roars and vicious clawing of a leopard slamming at the door broke the morbidsilence. Quinn had succumbed to bloodlust, already sensing his father was losing his fight and dying through their bond.
“Fuck.” I sighed, swallowing down my own grief and closing my eyes against the keening cries of the shifter on the other side of the door. Yet Jarquinn’s wards, the ones I demanded to keep everyone out, still held strong.
Opening my eyes again, I glanced back towards Remnant, staring at the way Riella was wrapped in shadows of black armor. Her swirling gold emerald gaze studied me curiously in her fear and I knew then she had heard every word I spoke to her while she slept.
Dragging my gaze back up to Remnant, I saw her slowly backing both of them up to the open window. Pain constricted in my chest and I gritted my teeth, staring at Remnant’s eyes full of tears.
I nodded my understanding.
Remnant would save Riella above all else. Our daughter’s safety was what mattered the most right now, but that didn’t stop the complete devastation I now felt at being separated from the two things I loved most in this world.
“I love you. Both of you.”I threaded the words deep into my soulmate bond and the connection I felt to my little cub.
“If this is your sorry excuse for a goodbye, don’t bother shifter, I’ll tell you I love you when we walk out of this goddess damn mess together just like you said we would. Together.”Remnant’s voice blasted in my head.
