Chapter 67
The demon raised his hands in a surrender that Mark didn’t believe for a second. “I am not here to harm you.” He pointed at Caster, who had since stopped his whispered chant and was too quiet for comfort. “He needs you to get him out, now.”
Riley stood his ground. “You move, and I will destroy you.”
Their new companion laughed, the many voices he’d concealed so easily returning to fill the space. “I don’t doubt that you will try. But you are running out of time. It won’t be long before you start to hear the call yourself.”
Mark gripped Caster’s hand tighter, the dull ache his claws caused rising above his rage and fear. He remained on his knees, unwilling to leave Caster, but ready to spring to action. “What call?”
The demon smiled, and Mark gasped. That smile, the same animalistic baring of teeth, invaded his nightmares every night. He sprang to his feet, ripping his hand from Caster’s grip. “You…”
The demon tilted its head. “Whatever you are accusing me of cannot be accurate.” He pointed at Caster. “He’s slipping away.”
Riley moved to Caster’s side, and Mark abandoned his need for answers, the need to save Caster from an enemy they couldn’t yet see overriding all others.
“He’s right. Caster first and then answers,” Riley said.
Mark nodded, his full attention on Caster. The threat he sensed from the demon was real, and both sides of him were alive to it, his wolf growling its mistrust.
“Take his hand.” Riley didn’t wait for him to comply, whispering the same chant in that foreign language as his power engulfed them.
Caster looked at him, the haze in his gaze replaced by recognition, before Riley’s power propelled them past the light in the room and into the darkness that would lead them home.
The same force that had ripped him out of his body and into the darkness pushed him back into it, dragging his wolf behind the barrier that separated them.
He took a second to take stock of himself, both sides of himself.
His wolf whined but retreated to its comfort, present but subdued for the moment.
He caught Riley’s momentary stumble, the way Ben and Edie rushed to his side, and the disappointment on Ben’s face when he waved them away. Caster was his only concern, though, and fear immeasurable in its extent chased away the hope he’d brought with him. Was he still stuck?
He turned to Riley, ready to beg him to send him back, but the powerful witch smiled at him. “He’s back. It will just take time for his body to recognize it.”
Hope bloomed, and he matched Riley’s smile. “How long before…”
“Soon. But it’s up to him.”
The Queen reached for his hand, and he accepted her support, but the demon they’d left behind threatened to derail his newfound hope. He glanced at Riley, and the witch shook his head.
Don’t worry them, not until we know more.
Mark gave him a small nod. What if he comes here?
He can’t, or he would have by now.
Mark accepted Riley’s explanation. He still held back from the complete trust his wolf seemed to have granted the powerful witch, but this was not the time to assess his wolf’s acceptance of someone so powerful.
He would hold back the joy threatening to explode out of him until he could see Caster’s eyes again, until he could hear his voice.