Page 60 of Soul Fated

The dagger.

My muscles tensed, and I shoved off the floor. I had to get to it before Lana. Even Bill's voice yelling at me to stop was only a buzz in the background. I didn’t care what it did to me or what had happened in that pool.

My fingers were inches away when Lana swooped to grab it. I collided with her, sending her sprawling, but she gripped the hilt in her fingers.

"Lana, look at me! Look at me!" I tightened my grip on her leg as she writhed beneath me, her eyes wild. She thrashed, her foot connecting with my chest. I grunted but held firm. "Lana!”

Her eyes flicked to mine, and there was a glimmer of recognition. Then her expression hardened, cold and detached. I knew that feeling well.

"Kael!" Bill called out. "She can't fight it!"

“No shit!” I growled as Lana twisted, catching my jaw with her boot. She was stronger than she should’ve been. I scrambled to get a hold on her, but the fabric of her pants tore as she ripped herself out of my grip.

She rose, spinning, and as she lifted her hand above her head, I caught the shift of her grip on the dagger. Lana was going to throw it.

This time, I didn’t bolt for her, I lunged for Callista. “Get down!” She turned to me with wide eyes, her lips parted in surprise.

There wasn’t time. The dagger left Lana’s hand, and I dove in front of Callista. I threw my arms around her, curling her into my chest and bracing for the blade to sink into the muscles of my back.

But it never came.

Something hard knocked into me, and Callista and I were falling.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Callista

My head was spinning. I blinked, trying to piece together what had just happened. I was sprawled on the ground with Kael caging me against the ground. The cool, damp earth pressed against my back.

Where was Lana? She was there. The dagger in her hand.

“Kael.” I struggled to push myself up onto my elbows, and he lifted his weight from my chest, still positioning himself between me and any oncoming danger.

I gasped when I saw him. Bill. His grizzled form was crumpled on the forest floor. "No —"

Kael was already moving, whirling and grabbing onto Bill’s shoulders. "Bill!" His voice cracked, and my heart wrenched in my chest.

The hilt of the dagger protruded from his chest. Directly over his heart. I searched for Lana and found her a few feet away, her face in the dirt.

What the hell had happened?

“Bill,” Kael pleaded, lifting the man’s head and shoulders into his lap.

I didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t like the birth where I could jump in and take direction. Bill’s face was ashen, his chest spasming.

A tingling sensation started at my core and spread outward, like sinking into a hot bath after a winter hike. My hand flew to my arm, feeling for my wound. But there was nothing. Just smooth, unbroken skin. My hand trembled as I ran my fingers over the spot, disbelief warring with relief. All of it was followed by a pit opening up in my stomach. If my wound was gone, that meant?—

A gurgling sound pulled my attention back to Bill. Blood pooled around him, soaking into the forest floor. Kael’s hands pressed uselessly against the wound. Lana pushed up from the ground, wiping the dirt from her cheeks.

Blood. The dagger had taken his blood. But how was it possible?

Kael pressed his hand against Bill’s cheek. “Why did you do this?” He knelt in the pooling blood, his hands trembling. “Why would you?—”

Bill’s eyes flicked to his, and he smiled. “Kael . . .” His voice was barely a whisper. “You know why.”

The forest seemed to hold its breath. The dappled sunlight filtering through the trees cast a warm, golden glow on Bill’s face, making him look like an angel.

---