Chapter 58
FIFTY-EIGHT
RYLAND
“ R y, are you okay? Answer me, dammit! Are you okay?” My father shook my shoulders, and I forced myself to look away from the hundreds of dust mounds scattered through the lawn.
Dad’s wild eyes studied me, taking stock of the scratch on my cheek and the blood on my hip. But what was one more scar in the grand scheme of things?
“I’m fine,” I told him, allowing my gaze to travel over his haggard form.
He looked like shit. Blood gushed from a wound on his head, and dozens of bruises marred his neck, as if someone had tried to choke him.
But he was alive and breathing, which was more than could be said about hundreds of others.
“What the hell happened?” Dad asked, echoing my own thoughts.
One second, I battled a grotesque creature with husks, horns, and papery yellow skin. The next, the monster was nothing but dust at my feet. Monsters everywhere had crumbled before my very eyes.
“Z must’ve done something. She must’ve stopped Aaliyah.” I fucking knew she could do it.
My mate was capable of anything—even defeating the devil herself.
Where was she?
Where were my brothers?
Worry for them eclipsed my relief at seeing my father unharmed. I stepped away and scanned the battlefield, praying that none of the bodies I saw on the ground weren’t anyone I knew. I didn’t think I could survive that.
Father must’ve seen the fear on my face—or maybe he knew me well enough to know that I couldn’t calm down until I ensured they were okay—because he gave my shoulder a squeeze.
“Go. Find them. I’ll take care of things here.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice.
In a blink, I allowed the shadows to engulf me, carrying me away. Everywhere I looked, I saw piles and piles of dust. Confused soldiers stood above them, frowns on their faces and their bloody weapons held at the ready, as if they half believed this was a trick. I couldn’t blame them.
Amongst the dust were bodies that I knew belonged to our warriors. As soon as I found Z and the others, we would need to make arrangements for all those who had fallen. They deserved to be honored and remembered for their sacrifices. We wouldn’t be like our fathers who used people as stepping stones to get ahead. Every nightmare and human who’d fought for us had a name, a story, and people who loved them.
A heavy weight settled in my chest at seeing the destruction firsthand.
So much death…
A roar scattered my thoughts, and I immediately shifted in the direction of the familiar sound.
Lupe.
I skirted the corner of the building, still obscured by the shadows, and arrived at an immense clearing.
Dozens and dozens of shifters attacked each other.
I sucked in a sharp, startled breath, unable to believe what I saw. I half wondered if this was another one of Aaliyah’s illusions. Maybe I hit my head and was seeing things. But no. I blinked, and the scene didn’t change.
I watched, horrified, as a tiger leapt at a horse, his fangs bared. The horse shifter whinnied and attempted to run away, but he was too slow. The large cat soon brought him down. Two wolves snarled at each other in the middle of the clearing, the larger one dancing forward before stealthily rolling away, just barely avoiding the bite of the second one.
A familiar vampire stood near the outskirts, her face pale.
“Mali!” I hurried forward and materialized beside her.
She jumped but didn’t pull her gaze away from the beast I knew was Atta, fighting what appeared to be a lion.
“What the fuck is going on?”
But even as I asked that question, I knew.
It was the same thing that had happened to me in the forest with Aaliyah, when I allowed my pride to overtake common sense.
Since the shifters hadn’t yet completed their trial, wrath consumed them. I could practically taste their anger in the air, a living, breathing entity.
Fear lacerated my chest, and I studied the clearing with newfound intensity, searching until I spotted a familiar bear.
Lupe.
He roared and swatted at the nearest tree, where an unfamiliar cat shifter perched on the branch, snarling.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“We have to stop this,” I told Mali, and she gave me a look that clearly stated, “No shit.”
Lupe would never forgive himself if he hurt someone else, especially now that the battle was over.
“I’m going to regret this,” I murmured, and then allowed the shadows to converge around me once more, carrying me away from Mali and towards Lupe.
I materialized behind him instantly, and the beast spun towards me, teeth bared.
My chest compressed, my ribs too tiny to contain my heart and lungs. I stared into the eyes of a predator who didn’t just want to play with me, but kill me. His amber eyes were like shards of ice, sharp enough to do irreparable damage, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. To stop him.
“Lupe!” I snapped. “This isn’t you. You need to?—”
Lupe roared and swiped at my face with his claws. I just barely ducked in time to avoid getting my entire head cut off. Fuck.
“Lupe, resist! I know you’re capable of resisting. You did it before. You can do it again. Don’t let that bitch win.”
Briefly, I wondered how this was even possible, considering Aaliyah was dead. But…was she? What the fuck was happening over there? I needed to snap Lupe out of this, and quickly. I was more determined than ever to get back to my mate.
Lupe lowered his head like a battering ram and charged at me. I called on the shadows and demanded they pull me into the air, out of harm’s reach.
The bear shifter slammed into the side of the capitol building and staggered back, his eyes dazed.
Prickles ran across my skin.
Goddammit, Lupe.
Now isn’t the time to lose your shit.
“LUPE! SNAP OUT OF IT!” I dropped to my feet behind the shifter and took a tentative step closer.
He felt like a live wire. One wrong move, and electricity would strike me. I had to be careful.
“Z needs you. Do you remember Z? Your mate? She needs us, dammit. And I can’t go to her until you snap out of this. So calm the fuck down, let go of your rage, and return to me. Can you do that? I swear to fuck I’ll stab you.”
I wouldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that.
Lupe cocked his big, furry head to the side and blinked at me. There wasn’t coherency in his gaze, not really, but he no longer looked out of his mind with wrath.
“Think of Z. Come on, Lupe. Snap out of this.”
Lupe continued to stare at me, his flinty gaze striking a chord of fear in me. What would we do if he never snapped out of this? If we lost him to his beast once again?
I would do whatever it took to ensure that didn’t happen.
No matter the consequences.