She growled in my mind. We are wolfborn. Pain is part of who we are.
It’s nothing to us. Channel it, master it, like when we shift.
I tried to master it, but I couldn’t. It hurt too damned much.
Kahanov laughed again. “I’ve tasted your blood, and now I can sense
where you are. Your shadows won’t hide you anymore, little wolf.”
The fire surrounding his hand went out, but the fire in my veins only
worsened.
I lay gasping and choking as his magic incinerated me from the inside
out. I had no idea how to fight this. His magic was living flames in my
veins…
My breath caught. My aunt had taught me how to deal with fire. Could it
work?
I steeled my mind and summoned my magic. The darkness trickled
through me like ice water, slowly extinguishing the blaze within, just as I’d
extinguished candles a thousand times before. Though the pain wasn’t all
gone, my mind flickered with a momentary sliver of clarity, and my vision
cleared.
Fuck.
Kahanov was almost on top of me—creeping silently forward with the
knife out, guided by my moans and by the pull of my blood. But why sneak?
It hit me like a flash.
He doesn’t know I can see in the dark. He thought I was just hiding with
my magic.
That was an opening. Hope pounding in my chest, I let my cries of pain
lure him in like a siren’s song.
Looming over my whimpering body, he raised his hand and rammed the
Soul Knife down. His fist slammed into my chest…but it was empty because
I’d summoned the blade to mine.
With a swift stroke, I drove the Soul Knife home, and Kahanov let out a
blood-curdling shriek. I jerked it back to strike again, but the blade caught—