Page 79 of Taken By Touch and Torment

We hung on for dear life. Our heads tilted toward each other as the city zoomed past us in the periphery.

“I wasn’t! But they were just so sexy! I had a hard time saying no!”

The wolf underneath me grunted. My laughter was covered up by the wind. I laughed so hard that I cried, my tears dropping from my cheeks into the blanket of gray fur.

Rosalind turned away, maybe to give me privacy to go into hysterics without her concerned gaze. I lifted my head up and watched as our wolves deftly moved through alleys and side streets. On occasion, we’d spot a perplexed vampire or two, but none thus far had cared enough to pick a fight.

“Scar, dim yourself!” Rosalind said. “Just in case!”

That was another thing Rosalind had taught me. Being in control of my powers meant that I could also consciously make myself less alluring, shutting off my broadcast instead of pushing it outward.

I was caught between feeling like I was soaring and falling. I couldn’t feel completely free. Not until I was in Nyx. And even then, I wasn’t sure I’d ever truly feel safe again.

That thought dug itself into my worn and battered heart. What if I never felt like myself again? Or like my body belonged to me?

I couldn’t focus on any of that. I had to stay present. I could wallow when I was across the border.

That was when I heard it—the screech of a firebird. Our wolves didn’t stop.

We took a sharp turn, and my brutalized thighs clamped down hard to keep myself from flying off the side of my wolf.

Hatham’s biggest green space stretched out before us—a park with a garden and cemetery. From our vantage point, I could already hear the din of conflict in the distance, flares of magick shooting up into the sky between tall buildings.

It looked like the ceasefire was going well.

I scanned the skies, but it was cloudy, and I didn’t hear another sound. There were likely firebird stables nearby.

We were achingly close to Talomon. We were charging past dark fountains, statues of Lillian, and barren trees. I glanced over at Rosalind, and my heart ached when I recognized the sheer terror in her warm brown eyes.

Talomon was the border district under turned control that separated Hatham from the heart of Aristelle—Lumina, Nyx, and River, the districts that were home to most mortals and turned.

At the sight of a blue flare in the distance, our wolves redirected themselves toward it.

We reached a large square where we slowed. The cobblestone was cracked, blackened, and ripped up from the streets. Rubble was everywhere. Buildings had collapsed or were significantly rundown. The street was wide enough to serve as a firebird landing strip. A desecrated Lillian stood in the center, her right arm and head missing.

I took the opportunity to pull my already half-on wig the rest of the way off, loosening my real hair from its pins and ties.

Two grand streets forked on either side of Lillian. The flare had come from the right, in between two rows of tall, white buildings whose once-beautiful exterior ornaments were half-crumbled. My wolf jumped over a lion’s head and gargoyle that had fallen.

A horde of vampires were currently brawling far in the distance. A hazy magickal ward flickered behind them with translucent red energy.

My heart slammed against my ribs. How many were turned and how many were born? Was this planned, or were we in trouble?

I didn’t have time to dwell on these valid concerns, because a firebird suddenly appeared from behind the buildings to our left. Its talons were sharp, its fiery eyes warlike.

All the air left my lungs at once.

Rosalind met my eyes, her face ten shades paler than her usual pallor.

Durian and Brennan. They were the riders heading straight for us.

A violent wind slammed into us, and our wolves growled in response as they forged ahead. I looked forward, my heart stuttering when I saw a dark cyclone churning, far lower than any naturally occurring clouds.

My neck seared heat, like an invisible collar.

As the shadows circled, the earth rumbled, and power was thick as blood in the air.

An ear-splitting explosion sent the brawling vampires scattering, some of them thrown an unforgiving distance by the growing cyclone. The field of darkness enveloped all movement, obscuring Talomon from sight.

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