23
ADDIE
My house was crawling with life for the first time in what had to be years. Laid out on the couch with an arm over my eyes to block out the fading light of the day that made my skull throb, I listened to the soft sounds of Maddox, Ness, Ryder, and Cerri in my kitchen.
They whispered amongst themselves. Well, most of them did. Maddox stayed quiet. He said nothing, just listened. When Ryder tried to convince Maddox to join his pack, Maddox still kept quiet. The wolf wasn’t going to crack any time soon.
I wondered what was going on inside his head. A lot had happened today. Now, the crew had come together to shove food into both Maddox and me. He’d given them just enough to explain what had happened, but he didn’t give them everything.
When I woke at Luca’s estate, I asked Maddox what’d happened to Connor and Catriona. He’d been suspiciously quiet. The new shifter hid something from me, which made the truth all too clear.
The two wolves had given up their remaining life force to bring me back to life.
My death had been quick and simple, and not at all what I’d expected. From what I’d seen before, spirits leave the body and get a brief opportunity to pass on. For me, there’d been no portal. I’d seen nothing but darkness.
I’d floated in a vast void with nothing and no one around me for…miles? It was hard to tell distance when there was justnothing. For a moment, it was peaceful. It was everything I’d been searching for all along. Then the loneliness sank in. My heart ached for someone I’d left behind.
One might think that I missed my best friends. Ness, Vi, and Cerri had been beside me for so long. I owed them so much. There was no way that I could die without repaying them for all the love they’d showed me.
However, it was Maddox who dragged me back. I couldn’t leave without telling him something.
Yet, when I tried to recall what I’d wanted to tell him, I couldn’t remember at all. Where there should have been a thought, I found nothing. A blank space stretched across my mind and left me more frustrated than this killer hot on my heels.
“How are you feeling?” Maddox whispered into my ear.
I startled, throwing my hands in the air. In the process, I accidentally smacked him in the face. Appalled, I stared in wide-eyed fear. Maddox closed his eyes, dragged in a long-suffering breath—similar to a long-suffering sigh, but backwards—and opened his eyes to glare at me. The glare quickly softened, though.
I was grateful because a throb rocked the inside of my skull from my sudden movement. Groaning, I clutched the sides of my head.
Maddox pulled me into his arms. The circle of his embrace was surprisingly quiet. I leaned into him and felt tension flow out of my tight body. He ran a hand up and down my back. Though I wanted to stay there with him forever, I knew we had other things to do.
Ness’s familiar stomp approached. She set two oversized bowls down onto the coffee table between us. The smell of miso and chicken saturated the air and made my stomach grumble. There was only one thing better than chicken soup, and that was chicken ramen.
She gave us enough time to happily slurp at our noodles and gulp down the broth before asking us any questions.
“Alvin,” she said, finally.
The tension crept back up my spine and spread between my shoulders. I set my bowl down and cleared my throat.
“Alvin,” I said.
Ness’s jaw tightened. She looked away, but I could see the darkness gathering over her eyes. Outside, thunder rumbled in warning. I reached out and took her hand to pull her attention back to me.
“I won’t let anyone raise him again. I promise.”
Ness jerked back. “Are you sure you can promise that?”
I absolutely wasn’t, but that didn’t stop me from making the promise again. Even if Alvin defied me over and over, I would find a way to keep him in the earth forever. I didn’t care if that meant pouring all my energy into another cage buried deeper in the earth.
Alvin would be gone once and for all if I had anything to say about it.
He’d hurt people from beyond the grave. Ness knew as much because her attention shifted to Maddox. She looked him up and down like he might morph into Alvin at any moment. Once again, I yanked her hand to make her look at me.
“Maddox is Alvin’s victim, too. Don’t blame him for what he can’t change.” All those years of bargaining with ghosts, helping them through their trauma, and guiding them into the next world was paying off.
Ness nodded and ran a hand over her curly hair. Ryder stepped up alongside her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“What’s the issue?” Vi said, appearing behind everyone. “You can’t die so long as that bastard walks this earth. Death made sure of that.”