Page 61 of Immortal Burden

“Yes.”

He breathed in deeply. “Fuck,” he muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.

“I’m sorry, Ry.”

He waved his hand, dismissing my apology.

He began pacing the room, muttering to himself for a long time, clearly struggling to absorb my admission.

I waited patiently for him to absorb it—or at least to begin to.

Stopping abruptly, he eyed me quizzically. “I don’t get it. He said that the Covenant is formed from the strongest of each species. What difference would it have made if we’d stayed together?”

“There are a handful of others who can match your power, Ry. But, because you already had a connection to me, he chose you. I thought I could take that away and spare you. So far, he’s standing firm on it. Worse than that, he’s actually stepped up his game and started to put things into motion.”

“He created this whole thing? He made it sound like it was unavoidable destiny.”

“He does have a God-complex, so he might’ve actually believed that. But no, destiny has nothing to do with it. He’s trying to put together an invincible force to stand against Draco, melding the best of the best together as one.”

“Strongest of each species?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Aside from those residing in another realm, it doesn’t cover all species here. What about werewolves?”

My gut twisted.

“It’s a theory,” I answered evasively. I couldn’t tell him about Jaxon until I knew for sure.

Thankfully, Ryker was preoccupied with another train of thought, asking, “Who’s gonna wield all of our combined power?”

I shifted my weight uneasily, hating that the very question I’d been trying not to think about was now out there requiring a definitive answer. It made it so much more real. “Me,” I told him. “I’m the only one strong enough to contain that much power.”

He started in surprise. “Absorbing it is bad enough, Mia. But to actually use it, you’d have to—”

“Open myself up wholly.”

“You’d have no barrier to the darkness if you did that.” He winced. “It’s your greatest fear.”

“Why do you think I’ve been trying to avoid all of this? I thought we had more time, but Draco is here now.”

He came to me and took my hands in his. “We’ll figure out a way to stop this. Maybe we can find a loophole to Cornelius being forbidden from killing another Immortal, then all of this will be moot. He won’t need us.”

I squeezed his hands, telling him softly, “I don’t think anything can stop this now.”

“How about me not having my magic? Without that, the Covenant won’t be complete.”

“You’ve already endured the torture for long enough. Going any longer could destroy you.”

“It could save you.”

A large shadow came over the room and we both spun to see my father standing in the doorway.

“How very chivalrous, especially for a notorious cad,” he fired at Ryker. “It seems you do truly love my daughter after all.”

Why had that ever been in doubt with him? I’d never spoken ill of Ryker, I’d always talked him up and defended him. But, no matter what, my father’s dislike of Ryker had never wavered.

“Return his magic to him,” I ordered.

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