“It depends on what is at the end.”
“Exactly. You would change your own fate, depending on your desired outcome. It wouldn't matter what effects your choice had on others. If everyone had that ability, imagine what havoc that would cause. If one sought power, money, control, what would make their desired outcomes any less real than yours? The world would be unbalanced.”
“But you have that power.”
“No, child, I don't. I can guide, but I can't intervene.”
“But you intervened when you kicked me away from the Table and, now, I don't have my powers!” My cheeks heated. Uriel had known, exiling me from him, the Table, and the Seven’s cause to reunite shifters and rebuild the soulbonds. “You knew I would be bonded.”
“I had a feeling, but your choices were your own. Everything that happens is because of your freedom of choice.”
“And my power?”
“You cannot lose something that is a part of your soul.” He pointed to his heart. “Your power or fragments of it are still your own. How you get the pieces back is up to you.” Uriel pointed to the outer wall. A white circle formed. Pieces of light chased each other in an endless race. “It's time, my child.”
“So, that's it? No apology for destroying my dreams?” I stepped to the circle, my inner child coming out to stomp her foot in a slight pout.
“Child, I gave you your dreams. I never destroyed them.”
With that, I stepped through the portal and landed back in the middle of Connor's living room. I picked up each sapphire and placed it carefully in my bag. If I thought Uriel would help me regain my power, I was sorely mistaken.
He spoke as though magic wasn't an all-inclusive item. Fragments or pieces, he said. If I followed his logic, then magic was like water. Each drop filled a glass until the glass was full. If a few drops spilled out, then the glass could still be full. At this point, I had trouble determining if my glass was half full, half empty, or shattered on the floor.
What would pull pieces of magic from me? Connor and I bonded last night, but that wouldn't have extracted power. It should have enhanced it.
A vision of me fighting the black char in an octagon flashed in my mind. The power of the char twirled around me and entwined its tendrils inside me. I thought it had been separating my soul from my wolf's, but what if it was extracting my power one evil tendril at a time? Had it grabbed hold of my power and consumed it? If so, to whom had it gone?
Mitch? No, he wasn’t that smart. He could shift and control some magic, but to extract my power required someone seasoned in the art of dark magic and Mitch wasn't seasoned. Luna? She had encouraged me to extract the char from Connor. His body was rejecting the magic, unable to fight off the poison. Gabriel? Definitely. He had the power and the connections. But was Luna working with him?
The blackness could have targeted me all along. Connor's extraction, my wolf's release, my house burning down—they had just been distractions. The ashes of my house held my memories of the life I had built from an early age.
Son of a bitch! I fisted my hands and stormed from the house.
Ashes to ashes.
This evil voice taunted me with the swirl of love that encompassed me when I thought of my home, my safe place. It was mine. I helped build it. I decorated it. What little life I had was kept in that house.
Dust to dust.
I hopped into my beast—my black truck—and revved the engine. I would show that bastard what dust and ashes could do when they belonged to this witch, shifter, half-breed.
The truck's tires spun as I turned the corner, racing the extra mile or so to what was left of my house. My heart pounded and tingles of fear crept through my body, but I squashed them. I would not fear Gabriel. He could take my home, but he couldn't take my heart.
Uriel's hand resting on his heart flashed through my mind. Maybe the old man had helped me.
I slammed the gear shift into park and climbed from the truck. My cowgirl boots crushed the ash as I stepped through the ruins. The cold breeze sent a shiver down my spine. Damn, I forgot my coat. But the chill of the air did little to cool the heat spreading to my face as Gabriel emerged from the ashes of my home.
“Ashes to ashes.” His voice carried over the ringing in my ears.
The sane part of me told me to run. Quickly. In the other direction. The crazy part of me stepped forward and glared at the man in front of me.
His dark hair stood in spikes, and his eyes were a deep violet with red specks.
The intrusion came fast and hard. My mind recoiled as barriers were invaded. The dark power surged. I fell to my knees. I grabbed at my head, trying to force the barriers back up, but Gabriel's voice whispered in my brain.
“Down,” he commanded. He forced each nerve signal and muscle to bend to his will.
I fought to gain control. Even standing had sweat pouring down my forehead. I wobbled forward. You will not control me. You will not overpower me. You will not use my own power against me.
I forced up a mental barrier. His control faltered. I could beat him.
“You'll have to do better than that to keep me down.”
My power sparked, then sizzled out.
Gabriel grabbed my shoulder and squeezed, singeing my shirt with his touch and burning my flesh. I screamed, but couldn't jerk free of his hold.
“The trouble is, you didn't bring backup.” Gabrielle forced me forward.
“Fuck you!”
“No, thank you.” He eyed my soulbond. “You're infected.”
As if that said it all, Gabriel chanted a few words and
