I hated interacting with the ghouls, because they felt all wrong. He was pale, wearing a black shrouded cape, with hair as white as snow. He waived his hand, and it felt like every wraith in the clearing was frozen in place.
“Heard someone called for me?” The ghoul smirked. His eyes glowed white as he prowled toward the wraiths, like the grim reaper coming to collect their souls. In a way, I assumed he was.
I shifted back, thankful when Damien threw a pair of clothes at me. I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten them from, but I didn’t really care. Quickly pulling on the jeans and shoving my feet into the boots, I dressed quickly, knowing I couldn’t do anything else in wolf form.
We’d pushed them back into a circle, but now, they all were suspended, frozen in air—intime.
“What’s he doing?” Zain asked as we watched the ghoul’s eyes flare each time he approached a wraith, before it disappeared in a cloud of dust.
“Eating their souls,” I deadpanned, pulling on the jacket. He was absorbing them, and I didn’t want to think about the process any more than that.
“Jesus. And I thought things were bleak in the demon realm,” Damien said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Blood demons seem like walk in the park now, eh, brother?”
Zain elbowed Damien. The two seemed close, though it was obvious Damien loved to get a rise out of his older brother.
A scream pierced through the forest, and I whipped around, trying to identify the source. Even the ghoul’s head turned, glow fading from his eyes from absorbing the last wraith.
“I thought we got them all,” I said, frowning. We’d spent most of the night driving them all together into the clearing and picking them all off, one by one. It was really a miracle they hadn’t eaten right through the barrier with the amount we’d found.
It would have only taken another day or two, by my calculations, before Pleasant Grove would have been swarming with them.
“There must be another close by.” The ghoul’s eyes shifted back to their normal shade of unsettling black. “I’m Cassius, by the way,” the ghoul said, extending his hand towards us. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. We’re a little short-staffed rightnow.” I didn’t know quite how ghouls were born—or made—but I could only assume their job was one most mortals wouldn’t want to sign up for.
“I thought we had it handled,” I said, shaking my head.
A piercing pain hit my skull, and I winced, pressing my hand to my head.
Barrett.Her voice called out to me in panic, and I felt my heart lurch in my chest. “Where’s Eryne?” I asked them all, eyes wide. “Something’s happened.”
“Last I saw her, she was at the house,” Damien said. “All the girls promised to stay together.”
I shook my head. “She’s not there.” The mate bond confirmed that.
Damien looked away for a moment. “Willow confirmed that she left this morning after Ezra showed up. None of them realized she was gone until after.”
“Fuck,” I cursed.
“Your mate?” Zain asked.
I nodded my head. “We haven’t even completed the bond yet. I can feel her, but it’s faint. Foggy.” If only I had told her yesterday. If only I’d finished the mating already. I groaned. “This is all my fault.”
“It’s not,” Damien reassured me.
Zain ran his hands through his jet black hair. “Something similar happened with my wife—my mate—not long after we’d been together. My father kidnapped her.” He shook his head, like he was trying to rid himself of the memory. “Use the bond—whatever is there—to find her.”
Shutting my eyes, I focused on her. Wherever she was felt cold and damp, and though I couldn’t reach her on the other end of the bond, I could feel that she was still breathing. “She’s still alive,” I said, rubbing at the spot above my heart. We all knew what the end of that statement was. No one seemed willing to sayit out loud, however. “And she’s shivering.” There was only one place I could think of where she could have been.
“The cave,” we concluded, all at once.
There must have been one that stayed behind to guard the nest.
One that had somehow found my mate.
And from the pit at the bottom of my stomach, I had a bad feeling I knew what we’d find there.
“Let’s go,” I said, ready to shift back into wolf form to run there.
Zain shook his head, and a portal opened in a patch of darkness. “Come on. This is quicker. And she’ll need you in that form.”
