Page 96 of Luna Rising

“I don’t know. Malia has been alive since what the beginning of time? She’s outlived her natural life a few times over. The only other person either of us has met like that is Walter. Isn’t that, I don’t know, weird?”

Ewan nodded. “Probably, but not weird enough for me to worry about right now. Speaking of Walter, he said there are some good blood dishes on the room service menu. We should eat before we go see the others.”

The menu had all sorts of blood soups, cold and hot. I ordered an assortment and pretended to enjoy them, even though I had no appetite. Then we went next door to Walter and Colleen’s suite to meet with the others and fill them in on the phone call from Malia. Understandably, no one felt great about blindly following her instructions, but we had come to Traitor’s Hell to perform this ritual, so refusing her felt counterproductive and counterintuitive.

Tish called Ewan to let him know she and Lucca had arrived in Traitor’s Hell. Lucca refused to set foot in Walter’s hotel and agreed to meet us out front at the start of the up hours so we could all head over to the prison. Like a school field trip or something. The thought made nervous laughter bubble up in my chest.

Big black SUVs pulled up in front of the hotel when it was time to leave. The air was thick with tension and humidity. I slid my hand in Ewan’s and let the feel of his cool skin against mine relax me. I wasn’t nervous exactly, which seemed ridiculous because there were a million things that could have gone wrong. Well, at least a dozen. And yet, I didn’t worry about these potential pitfalls.

Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. That was how fate worked. I’d spent so much time fighting destiny that I could barely remember what it felt like to be at peace with my own emotions.

The last time I’d visited the prison, there had been guards everywhere, but the grounds appeared empty as our caravan rolled through the gates. An eerie feeling settled over me and zipped along my skin. I squeezed Ewan’s hand instinctively. The doors to the main building eased open as we approached and a small, slim figure in a long, red cloak stepped outside.

I knew it was Malia, though her face wasn’t familiar, like her voice. She greeted every person in our group by name, including Elder Verdes, who seemed very surprised and a tad alarmed that she knew him.

“Where’s Mat?” Ewan asked, making a show of looking around.

“Inside with the others.” Malia swept her arm in a wide arc. “Join us.”

Ewan squeezed my hand as I exchanged glances with Winter, who was still pretty upset about Lena. Our group followed Malia inside the prison, through a maze of corridors and down several flights of stairs to a dank subterranean hallway with runes carved into the walls. A magic current ran along every surface and pulsed beneath my feet like a giant beating heart.

Those not doomed to be endlessly reborn shot each other uneasy glances. Even Walter looked like he deeply regretted coming along on this adventure. But for those of us who had competed in more than one rodeo, the situation was eerily familiar. For the first time in days, the memory glitches started.

Caught off guard, I cried out and staggered into Ewan, disoriented. Waves of nausea rolled over me and I experienced a zapping sensation in my brain. I wasn’t the only one suddenly in distress, either. Drake slammed her hands over her ears, and Tish whimpered as Lucca steadied her.

“Your sister-wolf calls to you,” Malia sang, her voice echoing in the narrowing tunnel. “Do you feel her power?”

I felt something stabbing me behind the eyeballs. Squeezing my lids shut only made it worse.

Malia stopped in front of a door and placed her palm flat on the surface until the runes decorating the stone slab started to glow. The air shimmered, and a portal appeared in the center of the door. Through the golden light, I saw the ritual room.

“I am afraid only the eternals and protectors move on from here. The rest of you may wait in the tunnel,” Malia announced.

One by one, we stepped through to the ritual room, with Malia coming through last and sealing us in.

Mat stood in the center of the room, directly beneath an opening in the ceiling. The space reminded me of the ritual room where I had rejected Enzo in Mat’s vampire city. Silver light poured down from above and bathed the eternal king, making him appear ethereal. He wore a crown made of twisted black metal and ruby thorns and a black fur cloak.

Enzo and Hayden were on opposite sides of the ritual space, both turning to watch us enter. Ewan gripped my hand tighter and gave the other men a smug smile and bent to kiss my cheek. I felt a little flutter in my belly that had nothing to do with nerves and everything to do with the thrill of knowing Ewan thought I was a prize worth gloating over.

“Take your places,” Malia called like she was directing a high school play instead of running a complicated ritual. “Hurry. Diana, you take the north point. Zosia, next to Zeno. Stavros, my king, please join Matthieu. Nicasia and Ambrose, I’ll need you two on opposite sides.”

Ewan’s gaze followed me as I went to my designated spot. I had expected to feel hatred for Enzo coming through the bond, but Ewan almost seemed indifferent. He didn’t like the guy, yet he also didn’t resent my previous mate the way I resented Angelica. Though, I supposed, Stavros and Zeno didn’t have hard feelings for another the same way Illiana and I had, so maybe it was more about that than jealousy.

Once we were all where Malia wanted us, a portal opened on the opposite side of the room from where we’d entered. Four people stepped through, starting with quite possibly the last eternal protector I would have expected to find—Christos. I had seen him while in the Cursed Realm and given him my blood after some king stripped his wolf.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out, unable to hide my shock.

“Matthieu came to get me. He said it was time,” Christos said with a lopsided grin. “And you stole my boyfriend, so I had to come find him.” His tone was light and teasing, and I really hoped I wouldn’t have to be the one to tell him about Webber being a member of the fanged set these days.

Reggie came through the portal next. She looked pale and thinner than the last time I’d seen her, which was only a few days before. Her face seemed to be permanently stuck in a scowl. Her terrifying vampire-child sister Madeline was beside her, grinning from ear to ear.

Last but not least, Demi waltzed inside the ritual room wearing a white lace gown and fur cloak. She joined Mat and Ewan in the center of the room, and I was starting to wonder if this was really just an elaborate trick of Mat’s to ensure he had guests at his bonding ceremony.

Malia cleared her throat and began to chant in old faerie, raising her hands toward the light streaming down from above. After a few minutes, Hayden, Winter, and Mat joined her. Nothing happened at first. In fact, nothing really seemed to happen at all for a very long time. The underwhelming pause was protracted, and the mortals in the ritual room grew fidgety and uncomfortable from standing for so long.

The silver light from above switched to gold and then red, and then darkness settled over the room before the cycle started over again. Five times the circle completed before I started to notice the faint outline of the runes on the walls. After ten cycles, the runes began to glow. Twenty-five cycles, and the stone walls thinned, becoming almost transparent. After forty cycles, the cracks developed and at forty-three, the ritual room crumpled around us to reveal a neon forest.

I would have found the situation alarming if I hadn’t been through it before. Twice. First when I became a wolf, and then again when I bonded with Winter. Even though I didn’t need to breathe, I suddenly felt like I couldn’t. This wasn’t right. Nothing about it was right.

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