“Your power is an abomination, an affront against Mother Nature. You are lucky that I am even stooping this low. I should send someone to strip you of your arcana. However, I am in a mood to be kind. Ask your question and I will overlook your atrocious arcana for tonight.”
I expected my heart to leap into my throat. Instead, that cold wrath rose again. Death swirled around me. There was so much of it, but it wasn’t overwhelming this time. Instead, it felt like an extension of my own hand.
A hand that I wanted to wrap around Amaranth’s throat.
Why did she have to be so damn condescending?
After I explained our situation, Amaranth guffawed. The sound made my core clench. My arcana snapped, like skeletal fingers slapping the floor in anger.
“So, the monstrosity made a monstrosity. That will teach you to raise things better left dead. Don’t go meddling with the natural order of things again, Adeline. However, should your beau wake, I would very much like to know what becomes of him.”
My lip curled. “I didn’t raise the monster! Alvin is someone else’s weapon right now.”
“So?” she asked, flippant. “It matters little to me. You’re still capable of the same horrors. Take this as a learning opportunity. Don’t make the same mistakes as your assailant.”
Furious, I hung up. I’d gotten nothing out of this call. I couldn’t believe someone with so much influence and respect could be so crass. This wasn’t a science experiment. It wasn’t karma coming back to bite me in the ass for my own hubris.
Tears welled in my eyes as I looked to Maddox, growing paler and paler by the moment. His gold hair had dulled to a pale silver. Blue stained his lips. I lifted myself up to check his breath. Warm air spilled over my outstretched hand when I placed it near his mouth. I didn’t dare touch his skin for fear of finding it cold and dead.
The gray cat brushed up against me. It leaned its body into me as Ryder stepped into the room.
“How’s he doing?” Ryder asked.
I buried my hand in the cat’s messy fur and kept my gaze on Maddox. “He’s alive.”
Cautiously, I let my arcana cradle him. Through it, I could feel his strong hold onto the world of the living. Maddox wasn’t ready to go yet. Despite his ghastly appearance, Maddox refused to give in.
“What I want to know is how this person found out about Alvin,” Ryder said.
I swallowed. There were many ways. The killer had been stalking me for a while, I guessed. If that was the case, then they would know about Ness—at least, to a certain degree. Her connection to Alvin wasn’t immediately obvious, but it didn’t take a whole lot of brain power to put two and two together once she and Ryder rose to the top of the Pack.
“They likely used their arcana like a metal detector, but instead of looking for metal, they went looking for Alvin’s body. After that, they would have full control of it.”
“Why didn’t you tell any of us that you could do this?” Ryder growled.
Maddox’s lip curled. My breath hitched. I leaned forward, thinking that he was about to wake. His fingers twitched. That was it, though. Maddox didn’t wake from this deathly unconsciousness, much to my dismay.
“Ness knows.” My heart sank.
This was what I’d been trying to avoid. The metaphorical witch hunt would begin soon. My friends would lose trust in me. Once they learned how my arcana worked, that I needed a sacrifice to raise the dead, then they would never be able to look at me the same. And when they learned that I couldn’t control it, they would cast me out.
They would treat me the same way that Amaranth had.
I appreciated Ness hiding the truth for me. It’d bought me a little bit of time. I would miss her…and the others. They’d been great friends. I didn’t blame them for wanting nothing to do with me. They had to put themselves first. It would be for the best.
“Of course, my mate knows and didn’t say anything. The four of you are thicker than thieves. You would all take a bullet for one another.”
I wanted to argue that he was wrong, but he’d proven himself right in one breath. Ness had kept my arcana a secret. She’d backed me up without me even asking. And Cerri knew, to a certain extent. We’d used the opposite natures of our arcanas to rip a curse in half before.
Then there was Vi, who had a direct line to the divine. She knew something was up with me, but she never asked.
My friends weren’t going to turn their backs on me. They saw me for me and stood beside me.
Shit, I was going to tear up again. The gray cat meowed, a raspy sound that drew my attention away from this conversation. The creature pawed at Maddox, who was finally beginning to stir.
He convulsed, his muscles spasming in waves. Ryder cried out. Maddox’s first shift had begun.
I turned to Ryder in a panic. “Help me carry him out of here!”