Page 28 of Wrath

“What happened?”

They all rushed towards her at once.

Z stared down at herself and frowned. Her fingers tentatively moved to her neck, caressing the skin there.

Her unblemished skin.

What the fuck?

Come to think of it, I was no longer covered in sweat, dirt, or debris. I felt as I had when I was first transported into the trial. The pain in my shoulders had all but diminished.

“I’m fine,” Z said softly, more to herself than to any of them. Confusion drew her brows together before she forced her features to relax. She turned towards Devlin, who was closest, and placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry that we worried you guys.”

“Probably was weird as fuck to see,” I agreed, thinking back. “One second, we were there, and the next, poof. And then to have us magically appear a few hours later…”

I shook my head and released a mirthless chuckle.

Devlin’s brows dipped. “What are you talking about?”

Z and I exchanged another look. “The Trial of Lilith. Don’t you remember?”

“Of course we remember,” Ryland hissed. He sounded more agitated than I’d ever heard him in my life. My unease ratcheted up a dozen notches. “You guys just fucking vanished without a trace.”

“We knew it had to be the first Trial of Lilith.” An unnamed emotion roughened Lupe’s voice. “But…”

“But then days passed, and you still hadn’t returned,” Dair finished gravely.

He lowered his gaze to his lap.

Z released a strangled, high-pitched noise. “Days?”

Devlin’s lips pressed together into a firm line. “You two have been gone for just over a week.”

“Eight days, seven hours, and forty-six minutes to be exact,” Jax intoned quietly from the back of the group.

His dazed eyes rested on something just above Z’s head.

Z swallowed, the color leaching from her face, turning it a ghostly shade of white. “Oh…fuck.”

TEN

Z

“Everybody out.” Shadows coalesced around Ryland’s broad form as he pushed through my mates, his ice-blue eyes never leaving my own.

In his gaze, I could see a myriad of emotions, all of them capable of burrowing under my skin and creating a home there. Desperation, fear, pain, and a relief so potent I felt weak in the knees just looking at him.

“Ryland…” Devlin began, scrubbing at the scruff on his jawline.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever seen him with this much stubble, let alone a beard. It made him look harsher. Angrier.

“Everybody. Out,” Ryland repeated in a tone I’d never heard before.

The dark strands caressing his body flickered in the candlelight.

“Now isn’t the time—” Lupe tried, but Ryland shot the shifter a glare so full of vitriol that he immediately snapped his mouthshut. His jaw gritted so tightly, I was surprised he didn’t break a bone, the bear shifter said, “One hour. But we need to talk.”

He shifted his gaze to me, running them up and down my body as if he were afraid he would never see me again, before he turned towards the tent flap. The others seemed reluctant to leave me—and I’d be the first to admit I didn’t want them to go—but one by one, they trickled out of the tent.

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