I peered up at the mirror again and found the girl was no longer there.
She was gone.
“Never look away from the mirror,” my father had told me. “For your mate will disappear as quickly as she came.”
And I had accidentally broken that rule.
“No…”
I reached out to touch the mirror’s surface before pulling my hand back, recalling another rule about never touching the sacred artifact.
“Please no. Show her to me!”
I got to my feet and peered at the craggy vista, desperate and alone.
I had this one chance to see her, to know who she was and where I could find her…
And I had blown it.
Then I felt the pulse in my chest.
The throb of golden light was still alive.
More than that, it pulled at me, tugging me toward the far side of the mountain’s peak.
No, not toward the mountain’s edge…
I peered up at the sky.
Toward the heavens.
That was where she was.
Out there among the infinite glittering stars.
My eyes settled back on the mirror.
A figure stood staring back at me.
My reflection.
I was momentarily surprised by my gaunt cheeks and haggard appearance.
My thick brown hair poked out from under my cap and my eyes shone with the same intensity.
Except…
There was something wrong.
Something was off.
I peered closer at my “reflection” and took a step back.
My reflection didn’t move.
Instead, a smile curled his lips and darkness swept over his eyes.
His eyes.
Golden and bright, mimicking my own, but there was a dangerous darkness in them.
It wasn’t my reflection at all.
It was Iav, my Shadow.
He turned and, buffeted by the dark rising winds and distant spires of his own Wailing Mountain—this one in his Shadow Realm, he began his slow journey back down the slope.
His goal was easy enough to ascertain.
It was the same as my own.
Except his was for a dark and sinister purpose.
I had to reach the girl first.
I had to protect her from the demon in the mirror.
From my Shadow.
I tossed the muffler over my shoulder and turned to head into the baying wind that howled and screamed and coursed over my body.
It might have destroyed me if it wasn’t for the memory of the girl lying in her bed and the certainty of what would happen to her if I failed.
I couldn’t fail her.
I had to protect her.
I entered that wall of shimmering white that shoved so hard against me I almost lost my feet.
I headed back down the mountain toward my destiny.
Toward my fated mate.
Toward the girl.
I fortified my resolve to fight for her with every sinew and ounce of strength in my body.
I would not lose her.
I would rather die first.
And so I followed that pulsing ball of light in the center of my chest.
It led me across the galaxy to this planet, to a city called San Francisco on the west coast of a country known as the United States.
That same throbbing light drew me to this club.
To that table.
To the girl who sat with her friends, laughing and joking.
The girl looked even more beautiful now than she had in the mirror.
She wound the strands of her shoulder-length blonde hair around her finger and idly kicked her legs.
Her friends giggled and prodded her in the ribs.
Her attention was taken with something across the room.
And it wasn’t me.
She hadn’t seen me yet.
The girl smiled and it lit up her entire face.
She fiddled with her ear and glanced at the tabletop shyly before flicking her eyes back up at her point of interest on the other side of the room.
At the bar.
My heart stopped and the blood fell from my face.
The figure that held her attention, the figure that she was taken with, was an exact duplicate of me.
My dark twin.
Iav.
My Shadow.
I spun around so neither my Shadow nor the girl could see my face.
She didn’t need to be confused by seeing both of us there right now.
And if the Shadow saw me…
The scene would quickly descend into chaos.
Shadows were not known for their calm temperament.
He’d succeeded in reaching her first.
But he hadn’t planted his seed in her yet.
That was the point of no return, when there was no way I could save her.
I had time.
I hoped I had the patience not to act too quickly.
For now, I would watch.
Observe.
The sight of him crossing the room with their drinks turned my stomach.
It was painful, almost unbearable.
The sensation was heightened when my fated mate’s friends left them alone.
The girl accepted her drink and took a sip from it.
She shut her eyes and a smile curled her lips.
She looked over at my Shadow, a new sense of hunger overtaking her expression.
It wasn’t the look someone could develop within a short period of time.
I knew Iav couldn’t have reached her much faster than I had.
He couldn’t have cultivated that kind of craving from her in such a short expanse of time.
He must have drugged her drink.
The Shadow were capable of doing such things if it meant they got what they wanted.
When my Shadow touched her hand, I could have slit his throat.
Fat lot of good that would do, I thought.
My Shadow was as easy to kill as I was.
Then there would be a full-scale panic and everyone would scream and run.
The human species was developed enough to have enforcers to keep the peace.
Were they strong enough to take me or Iav down?
I didn’t know.
I leaned against the bar, grinding my teeth into non-existence.
When the girl didn’t complain about my Shadow touching her hand, he shifted position and laid his hand on her leg.
The girl turned toward him, encouraging him.
He must have given her a heavy dose for her to react that way.
It was more than I could bear.
I turned away and ordered something strong from the bartender.
I handed over a wad of notes and watched the bartender’s eyes boggle at the sight of it.
Too much or too little?
I didn’t care.
“Do you want your change?” the bartender said.
I waved him away and a grin spread across his face.
I nursed my drink and kept a close eye on the table of sin across the room.
A pair of
