in all four directions. Jonas offered her the knife, hand trembling only slightly as he watched her grasp the blade with an open palm. The cut was shallow, bled but a few fat, burgundy drops against Mary-Lou’s pale flesh. “Now,” Sasha whispered and Mary-Lou began, voice low and steady as she called to the one that was to offer her salvation.
“Gloria,” she said, “Gloria,” and the night darkened.
“Gloria,” she repeated, swaying as light buzzed, burned against her skin. The last time, the one that mattered, was a strangled cry of the woman’s name – the last of its vowels eaten away by silver-tinted blackness.
Glo..ri..a.
Something – someone smiled. Mary-Lou lost herself in beauty, in the warmth of a soft embrace.
Jonas watched Mary-Lou, his entire being focused on his mate’s shivering body. His hands were fisted at his sides, muscles tense with worry as Mary-Lou trembled in a pool of transparent light. What was happening? How was he to know if all was as it should be, if something was wrong?
He should have prepared better for this. He should have pressed Rowfer into staying, into helping him help her . There was no excuse for his negligence; nothing on this earth should have kept Jonas from putting Mary-Lou’s well-being first and foremost.
Certainly not Wiley Turbo.
Jonas shook off memories tainted by Wiley’s malicious idiocy, unwilling to spend any more time on someone as undeserving of his attention as the corrupt Wolf. Wiley had his chance to change, to bow his head in the face of justice and face retribution. He had let it pass. Jonas had no further obligation to the arrogant man, and would not fail his mate further by thinking of him while something beyond their understanding played havoc on Mary-Lou’s mind.
“Do you think she is alright?” Cara whispered. The fox’s face was a patchwork of black and white, her skin glinting bone-white where her features did not spill inky shadows. Jonas evaded sharp hazel eyes, unwilling to burden the girl with his worries.
“Yes,” he said instead, because it was what she wanted to hear – because it was what he wanted to be true. Cara nodded, lips thinning. She dropped her gaze from Jonas, from Mary-Lou’s insensate figure.
Jonas closed his eyes. This – this was unbearable. When will it all end?
“Jonas,” Sasha’s voice cut through the quiet desperation of the moment. Anger edged the man’s tone, weighted the air around him with darkness that had nothing to do with the absence of light.
Jonas knew what – whom – his eyes would find before he raised his gaze.
“Wiley.”
It was not to end yet.
Wiley took in the spectacle before him, disgusted amusement stretching his lips in a sharp grin. How perfect – the human was a witch, too. Her death will be sweet indeed.
Scaling the building had left Wiley a bit winded – a bit high on adrenaline and the pure, directionless lust that the full moon inspired in their kind. Wiley’s eyes glistened red, the shadows within them edged with silver. How fortunate, indeed, to have it all end tonight.
“Wiley.”
The Wolf shifted his bloody gaze from the woman, from where it belonged, to Jonas. The Lion Shifter stood but a few steps from him: His shoulders squared and his chin rose up, muscled hands tipped with claws where they trembled at his sides. Something in Wiley ached to see the man he had once called brother regard him with hate, with anger so potent it dimmed his eyes. How his mother would cry, his sister suffer, had they lived to see it all turn out like this.
Wiley shook his head. There was no time for reminiscence, and none ever more for regret. He could not live a life split between two – had already chosen the wolf, chosen life and law over the weakness that was his human side. Jonas had chosen differently; whether he lived or died was no longer Wiley’s – no longer the Wolf’s problem.
“I told you,” the Wolf smiled, wide and open and purposefully
“Gloria,” she said, “Gloria,” and the night darkened.
“Gloria,” she repeated, swaying as light buzzed, burned against her skin. The last time, the one that mattered, was a strangled cry of the woman’s name – the last of its vowels eaten away by silver-tinted blackness.
Glo..ri..a.
Something – someone smiled. Mary-Lou lost herself in beauty, in the warmth of a soft embrace.
Jonas watched Mary-Lou, his entire being focused on his mate’s shivering body. His hands were fisted at his sides, muscles tense with worry as Mary-Lou trembled in a pool of transparent light. What was happening? How was he to know if all was as it should be, if something was wrong?
He should have prepared better for this. He should have pressed Rowfer into staying, into helping him help her . There was no excuse for his negligence; nothing on this earth should have kept Jonas from putting Mary-Lou’s well-being first and foremost.
Certainly not Wiley Turbo.
Jonas shook off memories tainted by Wiley’s malicious idiocy, unwilling to spend any more time on someone as undeserving of his attention as the corrupt Wolf. Wiley had his chance to change, to bow his head in the face of justice and face retribution. He had let it pass. Jonas had no further obligation to the arrogant man, and would not fail his mate further by thinking of him while something beyond their understanding played havoc on Mary-Lou’s mind.
“Do you think she is alright?” Cara whispered. The fox’s face was a patchwork of black and white, her skin glinting bone-white where her features did not spill inky shadows. Jonas evaded sharp hazel eyes, unwilling to burden the girl with his worries.
“Yes,” he said instead, because it was what she wanted to hear – because it was what he wanted to be true. Cara nodded, lips thinning. She dropped her gaze from Jonas, from Mary-Lou’s insensate figure.
Jonas closed his eyes. This – this was unbearable. When will it all end?
“Jonas,” Sasha’s voice cut through the quiet desperation of the moment. Anger edged the man’s tone, weighted the air around him with darkness that had nothing to do with the absence of light.
Jonas knew what – whom – his eyes would find before he raised his gaze.
“Wiley.”
It was not to end yet.
Wiley took in the spectacle before him, disgusted amusement stretching his lips in a sharp grin. How perfect – the human was a witch, too. Her death will be sweet indeed.
Scaling the building had left Wiley a bit winded – a bit high on adrenaline and the pure, directionless lust that the full moon inspired in their kind. Wiley’s eyes glistened red, the shadows within them edged with silver. How fortunate, indeed, to have it all end tonight.
“Wiley.”
The Wolf shifted his bloody gaze from the woman, from where it belonged, to Jonas. The Lion Shifter stood but a few steps from him: His shoulders squared and his chin rose up, muscled hands tipped with claws where they trembled at his sides. Something in Wiley ached to see the man he had once called brother regard him with hate, with anger so potent it dimmed his eyes. How his mother would cry, his sister suffer, had they lived to see it all turn out like this.
Wiley shook his head. There was no time for reminiscence, and none ever more for regret. He could not live a life split between two – had already chosen the wolf, chosen life and law over the weakness that was his human side. Jonas had chosen differently; whether he lived or died was no longer Wiley’s – no longer the Wolf’s problem.
“I told you,” the Wolf smiled, wide and open and purposefully
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