Page 82 of Gifted Destiny

“What the fuck is going on?” Garrett demands.

I almost answer his poor greeting with an equally rude reply, but the bond reveals his fear. He’s scared shitless, and he uses anger to hide this vulnerable emotion. The vampire appears less upset, but his glowing red eyes and alarm suggest otherwise. My ghostly form must not comprehend the gravity of the situation because they’re both exhibiting uncharacteristic levels of distress.

“No clue,” I answer calmly. “Nothing has changed here.”

Bren’s mental voice calls me to the roof. Avery’s and Garrett’s simultaneous jerks of surprise indicate the request is being asked of all three of us.

I utter a half-hearted protest about guarding the book, even though I’d love to get away from this aisle. If I could feel my body, it would protest the amount of time I’ve been in one spot. I’m instructed to leave it, so the strangeness must be more important.

“Bren broke the world by having sex with Zo.” My tone is flippant, but I’m scared the words might hold some truth. Something is definitely wrong, and the mage commands more power than we understand.

Zosia has shuddered through two orgasms, which implies the pair’s naked fun is over. I’d be down with joining them if it wasn’t, but I doubt Bren would invite his brother. The alpha beast’s jealousy might have abated, but he doesn’t seem like a team player in the bedroom. He barely manages out of the bedroom.

Ideas about a foursome with everyone but Garrett are diverting, but they diminish with every bit of progress we achieve. The further we travel from the aisle, the more visible the world’s differences are. The air is stagnant, the usual ambient noises of the library’s internal workings are absent, and each second lasts a minute. My internal discomfort grows with each additional glitch in the matrix,and my companions’ panic grows.

“This is the weirdest fucking thing,” Garrett grumbles.

“What do you feel? I can sense something is off, but it’s just kind of muffled, and the air feels different.”

Garrett’s massive body shudders, but it happens in slow motion. I stare in fascination as the ripple travels down his body from his nearly bald head to his huge feet. “The air is what I noticed first. It suddenly got harder to draw in a breath. Then, I realized my heart was beating slower, and I wondered if I was having a heart attack. Each step feels like battling the current of a river. My chest is still tight.”

“I am experiencing the same anomalies. In addition, my hunger has vanished. My heart is barely beating. I feel like I’m experiencing what it’s like to be a made vampire.” Avery’s tone is filled with dread.

Their descriptions fill me with a strange gratitude that I can’t feel the same. It sounds horrid, especially out of the blue. Ha! Speaking of blue ….

The world has been swallowed by the sky. When Garrett shoves the door to the roof open, blue fog greets us. It crackles with strange electricity that makes both of my companions shiver. The strange miasma is so thick that the gargoyles are barely visible. The dome is still visible, however. Its clear expanse indicates that the central portion of the roof and the area surrounding us is unaffected. The clarity follows us when we begin to move, as if our presence clears a path. I don’t want to consider whether it will react to just me.

“What the actual fuck?” Garrett’s fear increases with every step, and the pull of the atmosphere is the only thing preventing him from sprinting toward his brother and Zosia.

I don’t blame him. We might have the bond, but seeing them and speaking to them is necessary to confirm their safety. When we round the dome and spot them, tripled relief saturates the bond.

Zo sits on a blanket with her back against the dome. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair is mussed, proving the climaxes weren’t my imagination. As if we needed further evidence, Bren is half-naked and smiling the way a giddy child does on a holiday morning.

An intrusive worry pushes forward. Perhaps we’ve all died, and this is a dream or eternal punishment – forever trapped in a possible life. At least I’m not alone this time. The thought offers so much comfort that my skin tingles in the familiar way it does before I gain solidity.

The comfort is short-lived, however, as memory assaults me. I was alone the first time I died. The horrid sensation of my body leaking blood and warmth returns with a vividness that stops my forward movement. My neck throbs and my chest aches as if the slavering wolf has just ripped my throat out a second time. I double over, frantically searching my body for various puncture wounds.

“Kodi?”

My name on Zo’s lips is raw with fear, and I look up to see her lean forward. She intends to claw toward me because she can’t crawl. I hold a hand out toward her, focusing on the only sensation that matters – the bond with her, the others, and the library – and systematically erasing every bleeding wound that Addington gave me. They don’t exist. I am here now.

“I’m okay,” I reassure the others but maintain eye contact with Zosia so that she knows I’m not lying. “It was just a memory.” I shake my head and straighten my spine. “It was so vivid. It felt like I was reliving it.”

“Time is thin here,” Bren remarks in a casual tone as I recover fully and join the others near the blanket. The image and its accompanying sensations have receded, but my intuition suggests that I’d be able to conjure it, or other memories, with frightening precision.

“Where is here exactly? What is going on?” Garrett demands.

Bren’s excitement barely wavers when confronted by his brother’s anger. The blue light appears concentrated around Zosia and the mage, reflecting off their skin and hair until they both resemble creatures from that alien movie where everyone was freakishly tall and their ponytails …. Focus, Kodi.

“Something strange has happened. Zo thinks my magical abilities – the foresight and atmospheric powers have merged.” He frowns as he tries to explain. “She calls it a time storm, but I’m not certain that’s entirely accurate. Regardless of what it’snamed, we think it can be used to our benefit. I just tried to study my visions to get more insight. While there are more possible futures, I’m still not sure how to attain them.”

“So … you stopped time with an orgasm.” My tone is flat, and the envy that accompanies it is unexpected. I thought I was cool because I gained a solid body just by thinking about sex. Bren’s sexual talent trumps mine.

While Zosia turns a pretty shade of red, the mage appears thoughtful. “It’s not exactly stopped; it’s just slower and thinner. I doubt anyone but us has noticed anything. It might not even spread beyond us.” I’ve never seen the intelligent mage so confused and happy about it. Meanwhile, the lack of answers is killing his brother.

“Why does it extend to the three of us?” the shifter asks. His show of calm isn’t fooling any of us because we can sense his fear. No information means nothing to control.

“We’re bonded,” Bren replies with a shrug. “Time considers us a unit of one.”

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