Page 33 of Shrine of Fire

Geshon moved to Barrett’s side, covering the hole with his big hands. Blood seeped through, and suddenly Geshon jerked too, his pale skin losing color as three wounds appeared on his back.

“No,” Darrin shouted. I tried to reach them, but I was rooted to the spot, unable to do anything but watch in horror.

Darrin staggered to my left, his body broken by some unseen force, and he crumpled to the ground. In unison, the three of them looked at me, identical looks of pain and horror on their faces.

“Nova, help,” Barrett gasped, reaching out for me.

I tried to move, to shout, to scream, but it was as though my body was frozen.

No, I thought, no, no, you can’t take them from me.

My alphas had all crumpled to the ground, their bodies unmoving, eyes staring lifelessly at me.

My cheeks ran with tears, even as I remained frozen to the spot.

“This is a great loss.” Someone whispered, a disembodied voice echoing through the cold mountain air. “Your pain runs deeper than any mortal ocean.”

Hella Mora appeared before me, next to the bodies of my loves.

“Stop it,” I said, recoiling from her. This had to be a nightmare. “This is a dirty trick.”

“No trick. Just a memory.” Hella Mora’s long black hair blew around her, her bony face tipping down to look at my fallen pack.

“This isn’t how they died.” I balled my hands into fists, warmth heating me from the inside even as my body ached.

“No. But you want to relive that memory even less, do you not?”

I shied away from thinking of the worst night of my life. “I don’t want to relive their deaths at all. I’m moving on.”

“Are you?” Hella Mora looked at me, her one good eye piercingly blue. “Can you forget such love?”

“Not forget,” I shook my head, guilt and shame welling up inside me. “Never.”

“You mask your pain, hide it in the needs of your body. But your heart does not forget.” She gestured at my pack. “Your heart will never forget.”

I choked back a sob.

“You work against me, but you of all people know the misery of loss.”

“You would drown us all,” I said, tears flowing freely from my eyes. Grief threatened to overwhelm me. I fought to stand up against the weight of this burden I carried around with me.

“No.” Hella Mora drifted above my pack, floating in the air. “We will make them honest, force their memories of their own losses, so they will honor ours.”

I didn’t have an answer to that. My heart beat faster in my chest, and I closed my burning eyes. I wept, covering my face in my hands.

Who was I to stand alone against that sorrow? That pain? I’d told myself pretty lies that I could distance myself from the pain of loss.

But the loss was always with me. Each breath taken without my pack was blasphemy. Each step without them by my side unbearable.

I sank to my knees and wept for the loss, the terrible loss of the loves of my life.

Waking again was torture. I slowly came to consciousness, aware the light around me was wrong. The texture of fabric on my skin was too rough. My chest hurt like I’d been stabbed, and breathing took all my effort.

“There.” A strange, soft voice said. I knew that voice but couldn’t place it. “She is coming around now.”

“About time,” Hashir said, his voice tight.

I shifted and whimpered. My limbs were too heavy to move. I reached out through the pack bonds and felt…nothing.

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