Page 59 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

“Why?” My voice broke while something silent flashed behind Raven’s eyes as the betrayal carved a line between us.

“I want out. I’m done being your fucking pet.” The muscles in his arms flexed as his jaw fluttered. Hurt and pain hid behind his eyes. We’d never needed a bond to know how one another felt.

I reached out through the connection as unseen hands stroked his face. “Lies,” I whispered, sending both our eyes to gloss through the threads that bound us. He closed his eyes as his next breath stilled at my touch. Still affected, still the same man beneath this beast he’d been forced to become.

“Don’t do this to us,”I said.

“US?”His eyes flicked open—a daggered glare toward the cowboy who stood beside me. Then Raven looked my way.

Caged. Trapped, is what his eyes read. He closed his end of the bond cold, nearly sending me to blink back.

How many times had we looked at one another, feeling confined within the spaces we’d been forced to live in? The eyes of the one I trusted with the entirety of my soul had now betrayed it. A swell of tears lined my lashes, but now I finally knew.

“As soon as End’s Wrath heard an ambush was waiting at Earth’s Fall, he bucked so quickly, it was almost embarrassing for how legendary he is. I thought it would be enough to take him in, but now with the three of you…” Sheriff Dawson just laughed.

“You have a shitty way of fucking with fate. Now here you are, desperate to see how the Umbra Fae can get out of this one,” Raven spat in anger, probably because I’d come back when I wasn’t supposed to.

There were no questions or other thoughts that formed in my mind. I reached into my vest pocket, ready to throw the Eternal stone at their feet in exchange for the only one in this world who could keep my chaos at bay.

“Vessa, no!” Pa gritted out, his plea so loud, it nearly shook me.

“Fuck this stone. It means nothing to me without you.” My voice cracked with the last words as tears stung my eyes. “Nothing is worthanyof this.” I was tired of fighting. Tired of sleeping with one eye open. I remembered the quiet mornings when Pa would play cards. I was afraid to face another day of silence without him in it.

He’d given himself up for me, and I’d come back. I’d always come back to any hell for him. Damned be the ones who ever tried to take him from me.

Though the sun was setting above the trees, I felt the faint energy of the moon barely breaking sight. The center of my mark thrummed as the air around us constricted. I willed thedarkness to come, the same one that often felt like it was at my throat; now, it was wrapped tightly around theirs. Only this time, they knew where it was coming from. Black, inky swells of shadow snaked around their necks. My fingers curled into tight fists, clenching as the pain bit into my palms while their eyes bulged from their skulls. Bows and pistols fell to the ground with the sound of gasps breaking out. Pain tinged my eyes as the moonlight silver took over. I was harnessing too much of the Umbra. A crimson tear brimmed the corner of my eye. My evil was unyielding, unbending, a true power rushing through my body.

Here I was again, death chasing at their heels. But weapons were always wrongfully drawn, pointed at one another, magic or guns. There would never be any peace. They were not going to survive this, not while the very last of my blood was shackled to the ground. I was so consumed by the fear of losing him that I didn’t see Raven’s arm flying up, unaffected by my force because we were bound, a bond forced by the very man who was on his knees. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Ryder moved, but time nearly slowed.

We were not quick enough.

The cutting edge of the knife slammed into Pa’s lower back. He coughed, a slew of blood spilling down his chin and onto the ground. Raven rammed the dagger so deep, it cut clean through, tearing the front of Pa’s shirt.

A cry seared my throat, snapping all their necks at once—a blast that swept through the surrounding trees, splitting them in half. I fell to my knees as a strangled sob expelled from my throat.

Raven stood in place, watching the way Pa’s body slumped forward. I could have sworn regret flashed in his eyes, watching me break. The same person who had counted the stars with me in the early morning hours. The one who had stood by myside when night terrors consumed my dreams. But in front of me wasn’t the man I’d thought I’d known. His eyes shifted into someone I could no longer see. A numbness swept down my body, but I somehow managed to rush forward toward Pa.

Ryder went for Raven, but the traitor disappeared into a shroud of shadow, only to reappear as a raven flying off.

“End’s Wrath never told you that his death would free me. As I said, Vessa, you would always be my demise.”He spoke to me one last time before I felt the end of his bond cut clean and run cold, void like the death pool of darkness I had always given him.

I pulled Pa onto my lap, shaking him until I saw those deep-set eyes look up.

“My Vessa…my daughter, I have always known my fate. I knew this was where I’d take my last breath. It was a nightmare chasing me for so long, but after your mother died, I couldn’t run any faster to this moment. I was destined to die here to save you and give you the life you always deserved to have.”

I hung my head between my shoulders and sobbed. My gods, his words were so unveiling. For the first time, I didn’t want any of this to make sense, but it did. It really did.

“Take the Eternal stone to its resting place. There, you will find your peace.”

“There is no peace without you.” My voice was raw and ragged, begging. He had known all this time and never told me.

How could he?

“Don’t do this to me.”

“This was our last ride, Vessa. Never lose that freedom you have when you ride into the night. That’s how I will always remember you. Wild…and free. My Shadow.”

I shook my head, fighting for the tears to stop falling so I could see his face one more time. The warmth of his blood bled onto my clothes and dripped down the sides of my legs.

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