A force I'd never felt before.
Stay with me, I begged silently, unsure if he could even hear me anymore. The connection we shared felt empty on the other end, but I couldn't give up.
I couldn't let him go.
Hold on for just a little while longer, I tried again, screaming the demand in my head, hoping he'd somehow hear me from wherever he was.
My feet took me to stand right before Rayner, who was somehow pinned to his spot, wide eyes staring at me in complete horror. I glanced down and realized his legs were buried in the earth, vines wrapping around his ankles to secure him into place.
Grammy warned me to wait, but we'd run out of time. The image of my Counter's body—my mate—lying on the ground behind me sent my mind into an uncontrolled, feral mode.
There would be no waiting.
Just destroying.
I’m going to make this right, I promised as warm tears coated my face. My heart beckoned for his to hear me. To send out some sort of signal that my worst nightmare hadn’t come true.
What is a Quarter without their Counter?I never wanted to find out.
Rayner scrambled for words as I watched him, my stare unwavering despite the crumbling of my heart in my chest.
He did this. He took him away from me.
And while I wanted his death to be swift and powerful, I also wanted him to suffer the unimaginable pain that I now had to live with. I wanted to remind him of every life he’d taken, and incite the same amount of agony onto him as he had done to his victims.
My gifts may be dulled without Kyle, but I was willing to try.
“Blaire,” his familiar voice murmured behind me. It was so quiet, yet all-consuming, infiltrating all my senses at once.
I turned around, mentally willing the vines to tighten around Rayner so he couldn’t get away.
“You’re better than this. Better than him,” his ghostly form promised.
I fell to my knees before him, too aware of what this meant for us.
“No, no, no!” I cried out.
Kyle’s face crumpled as awareness hit. His translucent body kneeled beside me dejectedly. He tried to wrap his arms around my shoulders, but they misted right through me, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
He looked over at his physical form in complete horror. “I tried. It was so damn hard, but I tried,” he mumbled, mostly to himself.
“Please come back to me,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. I held my hands out toward his lifeless physical body. “There’s still time. Just come back, please.”
“Listen to me. This isn’t the end, Blaire. We have lifetimes to go. Wherever we go, whatever happens next, I’ll always find you. I love you so much.”
He was saying goodbye.
I sobbed into the thin veil between us. “Stop. Don't talk like this. Just come back to me.”
I didn’t know if Rayner could see Kyle. I didn’t care, either. He wouldn’t live to speak about this to anyone, anyway.
“Blaire!” Grammy’s voice called out from somewhere far away. I didn’t lift my head to find her. I didn’t call out to tell her where I was.
I just stared at Kyle through swollen, wet eyes, remembering all the stolen moments we shared. Mourning the ones we’d never get. I’d only just gotten him to myself. How was I going to survive an entire lifetime without him?
“Blaire, what’s going on?” Grammy was closer now. The earth rustled somewhere behind me, but I still didn’t bother to turn.
They were too late.