That’s when I realize exactly why they haven’t come out. “She’s channeling your father,” I murmur, looking at Regan to find him gone. I spin, turning to look at the mountain, and my eyes widen in horror.
Regan darts back toward the chaotic tunnels of tumbling rocks and pitch-black shadows. Gnash is on his heels.
“No!” I gasp and Zeke hurls himself at me, trapping me within his iron grip before I make it three steps. “It’s suicide. The entire place is caving in,” he growls. But his warning arrives too late, and the ground quakes beneath us as if agreeing with him.
Leila’s magic must have broken, or she did. The cracking is loud, and I scream as the mountain rumbles.
A raw cry tears from my throat as I hurl Zeke aside. His surprised yelp is drowned by the cataclysmic roar of the mountain. My heart bleeds for my mate, for Leila, and Gnash, who are all buried beneath the stone belly of the mountain.
Suddenly, Kelly’s words from before come to mind. “We won’t channel from you.”
My steps falter as I stop and peer back at her. “This is what you saw,” I gasp, peering up at the mountain and then my coven, my eyes dart to Zeke and Lyon, wondering how much power I can channel from them before it kills me. My mind races as seconds tick by, then I make up my mind. I have to try.
Words pour from my lips in an ancient dialect, a chant forged from desperation and grief. Power ripples around me, flowing from the coven, feeding my spell. It’s too much, far too much, like trying to contain a raging river in cupped hands.
My voice splits the wild sky, the ancient words vibrating through the violent swirl of energy I’ve called upon. This is a gamble, a desperate plea to the Fates themselves. The air crackles around me as my magic unfurls, a harsh, unyielding force that births a storm. Thunder rolls across the sky like a deafening battle cry, echoing my distress, but nothing happens.
“I broke the curse,” I scream toward the merciless sky just as thunder cracks and the rains fall, drowning the earth. “I did what you requested! I have given up everything and everyone I love for this. You will not take them from me! You will not take him. You will not take my mate!” I scream angrily.
The storm rages in response, each flash of lightning reflecting the wildfire in my eyes. Around me, my coven crumples like marionettes with severed strings, their grief-soaked wails piercing my heart. Leila’s loss sends a pang through me, at the Fate’s refusal.
“I didn’t ask for this!” My words twist into the howling wind. “I never wanted to be your oracle. I didn’t want to have to choose! But I did what you asked! I still did it.”
My hands stretch toward the writhing sky, fingers dancing amid the chaotic elements. Electricity zapping through the air, water drenching the earth, the wind bending trees, all while fire zaps from the power lines leading into the mountains surrounding this place.
Power floods into me, the raw, untamed might of the storm. It’s a vortex within me, churning, threatening to rip me apart. But I channel it, let it spiral around me, creating miniature tornadoes, electrifying the air until lightning rends the sky apart.
It strikes the earth, jolting the mountain, then jolting me. Pain explodes, a harsh, relentless blossom of agony as blood seeps from my eyes, my ears, my nose. Distantly, I hear Lyon and Zeke screaming, trying to reach me. But the winds are a savage barrier.
Lightning sears through me, a bolt of pure, incandescent pain. My knees buckle, hands slapping into the mud and rock. Still, I refuse to surrender. Chanting, defiant, furious, I summon more power. The earth responds with a violent shudder, splitting and cracking as if in agony and screaming along with me.
Rocks tumble, the earth shifts, and for a moment, the world is chaos. Then, as if compelled by some unseen force, a landslide shatters the mountain, tearing away the colossal boulders, breaking and pushing the debris covering the tunnels, crack after crack. Like a porcelain doll, the mountain shatters.
However, the power is too much, and I collapse, wails of grief wrenching from my throat. Finally, a bolt of lightning strikes the boulder covering the tunnel’s exit. The once dark maw now bathed in the dim light of the surviving torches. Theron barrels out, his eyes wide with horror and shock. Close on his heels, Regan stumbles into the open, cradling Leila’s limp body with Gnash at his heel.
Relief washes over me, sweet and dizzying, until I see Regan falter a step. Gnash whimpers in pain as he walks ahead of Regan only to collapse. Regan gasps, staggering to one knee, and my eyes widen. Regan’s ashen face, the way he crumples to his knees, how his breath comes in ragged gasps.
My heart lurches at the sight of Regan collapsing into the mud. I scramble to my feet, his name catching in my throat. “Regan!” Every other thought is lost in the deafening echo of his fall, and Leila slides down his body into the dirt, he stares down at her, breathing heavily.
“Theron?” I distantly hear James shriek, yet I don’t stop or glance in his direction. My feet hit the ground in rapid thuds, thuds that meet every beat of my heart.
No . . .
Chapter Fifty-Seven
My stomach sinks, my breath lodging in my throat as I drop to my knees beside him. Screams ring out loudly around me, yet their voices are nothing but white noise to my ears as I sink my teeth into his neck. His pulse beats beneath my tongue, each growing fainter as the life drains from him.
Zeke and Lyon are by our sides within seconds as I pull back, seeing his deathly pale skin. Gnash whimpers loudly, the sound tearing through my chest and crushing the air from my lungs. I’m pulled from my grief-induced haze by the violent force of Zeke and Lyon, who fling themselves at Regan.
Zeke’s embrace is desperate, and I can see the raw torment in his eyes as he clutches his lifeless brother. Zeke is quick to rip him from me, biting his wrist and trying to force his blood down his throat.
I am too late; I can feel it in every atom of my body. He’s gone. This curse took him from me. I didn’t break it. I condemned the man I love.
I watch helplessly as Zeke works tirelessly to revive him. My coven grabs Leila while Lyon falls to his knees, staring vacantly at Regan. I feel numb. Everything around me feels like a nightmare I’m witnessing from afar. Everything has turned to chaos, but I feel nothing.
Mountains loom overhead, cracked right open for the world to see that mother nature too can bleed. The towering peaks are obscured by the chaotic tumult of the storm that engulfs us. Each crash of thunder sounds like the sky is crying out in anguish. We stand on the craggy terrain mere moments after escaping the bunker, only now we’re faced with a different nightmare. We were so close, but not close enough.
Dark clouds roil, gathering momentum with each passing second, and the rain beats relentlessly against the earth. It’s as though the heavens weep with me, sharing my sorrow. Each lightning bolt that streaks across the horizon illuminates the tragic image before me, the glow casting shadows upon Regan’s ashen face while Zeke’s hands press to his chest, trying to force life back into him.
