Page 38 of Forbidden Desires

“Who the hell are you?”

Amelia screamed. That blow hadn’t just been psychic, but physical. Stacey was getting bored with the no-hands approach. She wanted Amelia’s death to be up close and personal.

“There’s not much time. You have to decide what you’re going to do.”

As Amelia opened her eyes, she became aware that her eyesight was blurry and her eyes had been compromised. Her jaw had swollen, and she could barely feel her cheeks. Stacey was standing close, taking out a switchblade.

“They need to know that I can get to them wherever they are, just like I got to you.” The ‘I’m a superior bitch’ sound of Stacey’s voice made cold chills go down Amelia’s back. The bitch was right. Not only had she gotten to Amelia, but she beat her the fuck up.

“I’m ready.”

Too many people thought they had the right to abuse her, and she was done with that shit.

“Listen carefully. Your shield doesn’t care how tired you are or what you plan to do after kicking this bitch’s ass,” the unnamed voice in her head said. It works on intent and yourbelief in yourself. There will be days you’re hanging on to it by your fingernails, but you can do it. Our mate hasn’t busted in yet because he believes in us and now, I need you to believe in us. This isn’t about willpower, it’s about intent. It doesn’t happen in the mind; it stays in the soul the biggest place of intent in the human sphere.”

Amelia couldn’t take a piss in a public bathroom without hearing someone lax lyrical about intent and how it changed their lives. She’d been tuning them out for years, but maybe it was time to listen to her inner self.

Watching Stacey as she played with her blade and grinned like a serial killer wasn’t going to get Amelia anywhere. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to spin loose. Her soul, the center of her intent, was wide open with possibilities. Why hadn’t she realized that before?

***

“I’m going to kill her!” Zylar tried to dodge his cousins and get into the room.

“You’re going to allow your mate to come into her power,” SaKura said.

“If it were your mate, Sakura what would you do for your mate, Rakha? Tell me that you’d be out here waiting to see if they lived or died. Is that how you did it when they came into their power?”

SaKura and Rakha flinched their minds, taking them back to when they almost lost their mates. Zylar took advantage of their not paying attention and dodged around them.

Sakura and Rakha ran and jumped on him as Zylar’s fingers touched the knob.

“Healers are a pain in the ass,” SaKura hissed.

All movement stopped as a cry of pain left the room. Zylar collapsed, and the cousins watched him as death stole his heartbeat.They howled in pain at the decision they forced on him.

Amelia was dead.

Chapter Twenty-one

Amelia closed her eyes. There was too much going on with Stacey playing with her switchblade and Amelia, knowing she couldn’t move to escape it. Instead, she focused on intent and her soul. Conversations with Zylar intruded on her thoughts as she made shields, and he directed her. If she had the time, she would have become the best empath in the history of empaths. That made her feel good. Sometimes you were just cut down before the prime of your life. Everything that could have been done to help save the world is cut off at the ankles, and those who could have lived because of what you would do, die. That made her sad, but it felt true in the way things do when your time is running out and lying to yourself is useless.

She felt her soul. It might be described as a shift in her metaphorical chest since she couldn’t ever remember feeling her soul in all her years. This was a momentous occasion. It was worth tuning in for. Amelia pulled her mind away from thoughts of Zylar and what they would do in the ever-after and paid attention to her soul.

A wall was being built. Please don’t ask her how she knew it was a wall and not a shield. She just knew. Not that the wall would do her any good. It was flimsy at best and a three-year-old could climb over it.

Still, it was hers, and she’d use it to the best of her ability.

“Glad you’re on board.”

Was it her or did the voice in her head sound snarky?

s’il te plaît, aide cette femme.The voice in her head said.

“Wait, did you just speak in French?”

“We learned the language in high school.”

Okay, she was going to have to give Amelia 2.0 props for that. She had taken French in high school but assumed after so many years that she had forgotten it.

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