CHAPTER 50
Mark had been sure that he’d witnessed all of Riley’s power before, but as the tingle on his skin increased to pinpricks of pain, he was certain Riley was so much more powerful than he was willing to show.
It felt like a teleportation spell should, but also not.
His stomach flipped so much, he was sure he would throw up if he could.
But he’d left that body behind, in Caster’s arms.
He’d seen himself fall right before he was swallowed by darkness. But this darkness did not contain the toxicity of Ethel’s power. It was simply the absence of light. They travelled through it, or rather it carried them along, but Mark got the sense he could resist its pull if he chose to.
Yes, you can. You’re the only one who can. Pierce’s voice startled him, but in the intense darkness, he couldn’t see much.
What do you mean?
This is your power, Magicae Lupus. You needed the powerful one’s help. But if you learn to control it, you can travel here of your own volition whenever you want.
Mark didn’t trust Pierce, didn’t think he ever would. But the truth of his words was apparent in the way he felt one with the darkness. But… Why does it feel different from last time?
You mean when you came to rescue your vampire mate?
Mark nodded, certain Pierce would interpret his expression with little difficulty.
That was not this. That darkness was an extension of the other demon. It was his body. Your mate was lucky enough to escape it. Most do not.
A shift in the even movement of his body through the darkness startled him, and he was jerked forward.
He reached for his companion, seeking the animal’s reassurance.
The wolf responded by resurging and, for the second time in the space of a few hours, Mark had the sense of being a single entity.
No werewolf was a single entity. Their distinct power lay in the duality of the human and the wolf.
But you are not just any wolf, are you? He was about to question how easily Pierce could read his mind when his body jerked forward again. Light appeared to his left, and he turned to it. It was small, a sliver, almost a tear.
Yes, that is it. Shall we wake the powerful one?
Again, confusion followed Pierce’s words, but when Mark turned in the direction of his essence, all he saw, all the tiny sliver of light illuminated, was the yellow smoke swaying in a non-existent breeze.
He frowned, a million questions battling for his attention, but all coalescing into a gasp when Riley appeared behind Pierce.
The witch nodded at him. That’s the tear.
What do I do? He wasn’t sure who he asked.
The sliver of light, the tear in the Underworld’s darkness, called to him.
Its hum was a memory he dreaded to revisit.
Caster’s description of it had been scary enough, but it had done nothing to prepare him for the real thing.
He’d heard it, memorized its signature rhythm during that trip into his memories when Zeke had attacked him, when his resistance created this tear.
Yes. You’re the one who created it. So you’re the only one who can close it.
I don’t know how. He looked at the disembodied Pierce.
That’s why we’re here.
Riley’s immense power surrounded him again, and in the second it took for him to gasp, it somehow pulled his wolf to the fore.
Mark had the unsettling experience of looking into his wolf’s amber gaze, somehow together in the mind space they shared.
The animal planted its feet and roared. The sound lacked the signature howl of his kind.
It was the sound of a different animal. It echoed through his mind, and followed a path from that shared space both sides of him occupied to spill out of his open mouth.
He opened his eyes to see the tear stitch together as the sound tore out of him.
Buoyed by the strength his wolf supplied and the power Riley’s spell granted, Mark called on all his strength, allowing the unfamiliar roar to fill every cell.
The tear closed all the way, the light it had let through swallowed up by the darkness surrounding them.
When that light was just a speck in the endless darkness, Mark’s roar died down, his wolf retreated, and he became a single entity again.
The hum of the Underworld’s call was gone, and foreign pride swelled in his heart. The pride gave rise to something else there, a new piece of himself he hadn’t known was present. A power he could now feel as tangible as his wolf was.
The more you use that power, the stronger it will get.
But why would the Goddess grant him a power such as this? Mark didn’t see any good that could come from travelling to the Underworld whenever he wanted.
It is all about balance.
His questions seeking clarification from Pierce took a back seat to the power drawing him through the darkness once again.
The sliver of light gone, he couldn’t see Riley, but his power was unmistakable as it carried them to the safety of the world of the living.
Balance or not, the Underworld was not a place he wished to remain in longer than was necessary.
The return journey through the darkness took only a few seconds, and he gasped for air the moment his essence returned to his corporeal form, grasping Caster’s arm for support.
He looked for Riley, thankful to see him return to his body.
But Pierce did not reappear. Even the sense of him that seemed to follow them around from the moment they’d summoned him was gone.