Page 96 of Mated Exile

I agree. But how?

This is curse magic. I recognize that from Delilah's attempt to control John deLance, and the chill to it inside my mind. I search through all the bits of research I've done into the curse, the things William Glass left behind, as well as some of the information Delilah passed on about spellcraft.

There may be a way,I tell Kieran.The vampire is using Delilah's connection to us to get inside our heads and control our bodies. If we somehow wake her up with that connection, maybe we can help her push him out.

Kieran mulls on this for a moment.How, though? I can't sense her at all. It's like there's nothing inside my mind.

I'm not sure. I think we'd have to go into the depths of that darkness.I shudder just thinking about it.I don't know that we'd even be guaranteed to come out the other side. Curse magic is... dark. It's death on steroids. We could lose our minds.

We're getting closer to the Mating Circle now. Delilah digs her heels into the ground, and Demetri slashes his claws across the back of her neck for the little rebellion, forcing her forward. My lips peel back from my teeth, even as the curse magic keeps my body from surging forward to dig my fangs into the vampire's back.

You might lose your mind trying it, but I won't,Kieran says abruptly, the sudden confidence in his voice jerking my head around towards him.I've lived with a curse inside my chest for years now. Tara's death corrupted the mate bond inside me, and it hasn't been able to take over. I'll let the magic inside my mind, force my way through for Delilah, and find her in the darkness.

I caution him,I'm not even sure it'll work. You could lose everything. Mind, spirit—all of it.

So be it.He blinks, and jerks his chin towards Roarke.If I don't come back, let him know he's an idiot for blaming himself, okay? And love Delilah for me. Someone ought to.

I'm about to tell him not to go in alone when I feel it.

Kieran opens his mind completely, lets the connection between him and Delilah pour into his body, and the darkness pours in alongside it, taking over.

In the physical world, his body goes down, limply falling to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut.

I'm forced away from our connection, thrown back into the darkness. And this time, instead of quiet nothingness, it's full of sound.

Endless, earth-shattering screams.

All of them Kieran's voice, echoing through a thousand black corners, full of impossible pain.

He'll do anything to save her.Anything.

I just hope that he survives trying.

Forty

Delilah

Iam inside someone else's mind.

Not in the way I was at the bar with Finn, when I brushed up against others' thoughts. This is also nothing like the light, tenuous connection I feel when I'm in wolf form among the pack, and we send thoughts back and forth to each other, like a phone call in our minds.

No, this time I'mtrulyinside someone's mind.

I see everything all at once: memories, thoughts, fears, pain, desires, dreams, and nightmares. It overwhelms me so much that I scream, and the sound of it startles something in me awake. The mind I'm with screams too.

Kieran. I'm in Kieran's mind, and so is he. We're trapped in our bodies. His is lying down on the floor, vampires prodding and kicking him. They have a conversation over his head, debating if he'd be worth eating or not, until a sharp voice tells them not to. A halt to the onward march is called while they go back to figure out what's going on.

Meanwhile, my body stands stock still. I'm staring ahead at the Mating Circle. My heart beats and my lungs inhale, but every movement is full of pain. The blood that flows through my veins moves sluggishly, like it's full of gravel. My eyes blink, but that's all I can do with them.

I catalogue all of that in a millisecond while still inside Kieran's mind. He's screaming in pain, becauseI'mscreaming in pain, and then—then, we are flung through time and space, through sound and light, into a moment in the past.

It's so visceral and real.

I'm standing in the Mating Circle. The stones are beneath my feet. For a moment I think this isthatmemory, and all I know is that I don't want to see it from another point of view.

Then things shift, and I'm staring at a young woman with dark hair wearing a long, flowing dress. She has a crown of holly and flowers in her hair, symbolizing the fact that she has an intended, has had one for the past four years, and will be consummating her relationship for the first time.

The heat of the pack's flame brushes against our skin, and the moonlight lines our bodies in silver-white light. There's giddiness in my chest, but also trepidation and despair. This moment has come for me, but it isn'tright,and I feel helpless to change it.

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