Chapter 104
Volik
“Lunch was fun.” Nix bumps her shoulder into me.
“Da,” I agree as we reach Bates Hall.
“And did you hear Henry say that his, uh, wife”—Nix substitutes the word for mate since we are on campus—“wants us over this weekend?”
“Da. I will get you her number.”
“Thanks.” Nix smiles at me as I pull the door open.
She is so pretty.
I trail my fingers through her hair as she steps past me into the building.
“Oh, hi there.” Nix greets someone.
I duck my head and recognize the professor walking this way.
Holding the door open, I wait for them to exit.
“Thank you.” She dips her chin at me as she passes.
“You are welcome.” I am making an effort to be more friendly to the staff, since I want to reflect well on Nix.
“I think the paintings this week are my favorite.” Nix lifts her voice to me as I duck through the doorway. “I’m gonna be a little sad when they change them out again.”
She is nearly halfway down the hall. Near her classroom door, standing with her nose almost to the wall, admiring one of the framed paintings.
“We can get more art for the house,” I offer as I walk toward her.
Nix hums and steps to the side, admiring the next.
She tilts her head. “I don’t remember this one.”
Something buzzes over my skin.
I stop walking. And I listen.
What is…
“I think it’s painted on glass.” Nix lifts her hand.
Magic.
“Nyet!”
I am throwing my gravito forward as hands reach out of the painting and grip Nix by the shoulders.
I jump.
She’s ripped forward.
I reach out.
My fingers graze the bottom of her shoes as she is yanked into the wall.
“Nix!”
I slam my hands to the painted-over glass.
The fucking mirror.
“Nyet!”
Nix is gone.
Someone took her.
Rage. And terror. And something darker than both fills me.
“Nix.” My chest heaves.
The magic is gone.
I cannot follow.
Someone took my mate.
My gravito crashes against my bones, and the building shakes.
Someone took Nix.
I inhale.
Oranges on the edge of turning.
I exhale, and steam clouds my vision.
My palms heat against the mirror.
Oranges.
My hands start to glow like embers.
He took Nix.
My heart pounds.
The mirror melts under my touch. Glass drips off my fingers. And my vision sharpens.
I can feel the tendrils of black as they crawl away from my eyes, down my cheeks.
My gravito has never felt like this.
Ferocious.
Feral.
Sentient.
I do not attempt to rein it in.
I fill my lungs with fire, and I focus on letting it out.
My footsteps crack the tile.
My body thrums with my wild heartbeat.
Paintings fall off the wall behind me.
Screams echo from somewhere else in the building.
I hook a finger over the top button of my shirt and drag it down. The material feels too constrictive.
The piece of shit who blames my family for his mate’s death has Nix.
The inferno inside me stokes.
If he kills her…
I fight to breathe.
A pulse of gravito pushes the door open.
More screams.
My shoulder dents the doorframe.
Her scent lingers out here.
We were just here.
And then someone took her.
I open my mouth, pulling in air.
My enemy took her.
Metal scrapes over blacktop.
A bike rack slides toward me.
Trees bend toward me.
Students grip at grass as they’re dragged across the lawn toward me.
I tear at the cuffs of my sleeves.
“Volik!” Henry yells from a distance.
Morell. Has. Nix.
My jaw aches.
A window shatters.
Someone screams again.
I hold my arms wide, then slowly bring my hands in front of me, palms facing each other.
He thinks he can take from me.
The dean calls my name again.
I turn my hands until my palms are facing my chest.
We need to find her.
My power concentrates.
We need to be strong.
I pull my hands closer.
We need to fight.
I feel my power flare as I push it back inside me.
The cement spiderwebs under my feet.
“Volik! What happened?” Henry skids to a stop a few steps away.
“He. Took. Her.” My voice is thick, and I feel something wet slide down my chin.
Looking down, I watch something drip from my mouth onto my shirt. And burn a hole through the material.
It hasn’t been tested against venom.
Smoke rises from the ground as my increasing body temperature melts my shoes.
I kick them off.
“I will save her. Or I will spend my final moment on this earth scorching everything around me.” A soft orange glow seeps from my chest. “You have been a good friend, Wolf.”
The dean dips his chin.
And I jump.