He steps in close enough to rain Alpha down on me but still says nothing. Instead, he threads one hand underneath my hair and presses it to the back of my neck, his other smoothing flat on the small of my back. The contact soothes my soul even though my shirt is muffling the spark of his touch.
I wait as long as I possibly can before asking, “What just happened?”
“The Shadows come through the Veil. It’s Killian’s way in and out. If you pull Shadows into this realm, you risk pulling things from the other side over here with them – and you risk dragging yourself back through the Veil when the Shadows retreat.”
“I sent those trees through the Veil?”
“Trees? Whole trees? That’s what you used them on?”
I nod because trees seem like a big deal – so I won’t mention that there were four of them.
“Killian usually moves or removes weapons. Small things like knives or arrows. He took something bigger out once, once. How big were these trees?” he asks, tugging something from my hair.
I lean back – it’s a leaf, and I’m pretty sure it’s not the only one.
“Going-to-crush-us size,” I say.
“Of course, they were,” he says, his gravelly tone slipping closer to Thane’s.
“Of course?” I ask.
“Because you never do small – always big. You’re very good at big.”
“What happened?” I ask, getting to the bottom of the stairs to find Kitten in Pax’s arms – stress and fear drawn along both their foreheads.
“She used the Shadows,” Pax says.
“Fuck.”
Kitten looks at me with wide eyes. Apparently, a sharp curse from my lips worries her.
Pax pushes her back to arms’ length, leaking Alpha dominance that forces her gaze to meet his. “You can’t use the Shadows. They’re too dangerous.”
“I didn’t mean to,” she says, and by the sound of her even tone, I’d say she can’t see how frightened he is.
Or how hard my heart is pounding.
“Never touch the Shadows,” Pax and Thane growl in unison, and their Alpha power strikes out so ferociously that I’m forced to stagger backward, and for several long heartbeats, I struggle just to inhale.
She shakes her head, a cross between defiance and clearing a thought.
Disbelief consumes me. She’s resisting his order. Without effort, maybe without even knowing it, she’s becoming his equal.
“You are forbidden,” Pax and Thane order.
I grip the door frame, using it to support me through the fresh blast of his power. He’s not directing it too well, either because of the bubble or his emotions – I’m unsure. It’s bloody uncomfortable, but there’s not a hope I’m walking away.
“I hear you,” she says, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “But it wasn’t intentional in the first place.”
“Forbidden,” Pax and Thane repeat.
“I can try,” Kitten whispers, still not submitting.
He clenches and unclenches his fist. A tinge of his Alpha desire to control is in the air, but his desire to protect her is far more pungent.
He turns towards me. “We need a Power Blocking Potion.”
I almost choke on my shock. She’s resisting – and he’s letting her?
Jessamy was sweet. Short and gentle. She barely mustered a growl. She was his mate – but she was never his beta and nothing that I know of equals an Alpha.
I add researching Alpha hierarchy to my list. It might be more complicated than I assumed. Maybe there are things Pax hadn’t shared, things I brushed over because it wasn’t important at the time.
“What? Wait,” Kitten cuts into my thoughts, proving that she’s oblivious to half of what’s going on around her. Maybe it’s partly to do with the worn-out sag to her posture and whatever series of events filled her hair with leaves and dirt. “I’ve spent days trying to use your powers – now you want to block them and throw all that hard work down the pit?”
Pax moves towards me.
One, two, three – three steps – and she staggers forwards.
“Was that your bubble?” I ask.
Pax turns sharply at the same time as he demands, “Pace it out.”
She leans back, and it’s clear she’s pressed against the solid wall.
“That’s it,” she says, her lip quivering a little.
I pace towards her. Press my palm to her stomach and give her a little push.
“Count them,” I ask softly.
“Three, two, one,” she whispers.
“Why?” I demand. “She had five a few hours ago. We should have had days to work this out.”
I turn in a circle, running my fingers roughly through my hair. Tugging a little too hard on the snags at the end. Days. My heart’s racing, and I take the stairs just as quickly. I needed days, not hours. Anything could steal those last few steps.
What are we doing wrong? Is it something we’re doing or something she’s doing…
“She used your Shadows?” I demand.
Everyone is looking at me like I’m maybe overreacting, but I can’t let go of this train of thought. I don’t even wait for them to answer – rushing up the stairs to the attic, and my charts on the table. My finger taps next to the scrawled numbers, doing the math.
It’s missing bits, information I didn’t think was important, like the steps she lost on the ride here. So I add those bits as I think.
She used power in the Lackshir markets, maybe that wasn’t the only time – I just missed the signs. She Allured me when we arrived, Allured the mortal mage, Allured Pax, Allured and Chaosed Seth, Aeons-knows-what she did to Rose… I add each one… each day… each lining up with steps…
Somehow our power is tangling with the potion, draining it in the worst kind of way. She uses our power – she loses steps. The connection hits me hard.
It’s not a mathematical – one step, two, who knows? Half-steps? Quarters? Damn Silvari magic hates to conform. But it’s still here, an obvious correlation and the only possible reason.
And she
