Page 31 of Hunted By Darkness

My expression must’ve given me away because Ryker stretched his arms and hopped from one foot to the other with a happy whoop. “But I like it! It’s a new adventure, and now I stand a real chance at wooing our girl here.”

Wooing me?

“You stand no chance,” Tometi rebuked firmly.

“Says you.”

Ryker didn’t seem bothered by anything Tometi said. I got the sense that it was a normal thing for these two to trade verbal blows without ever letting it harm their relationship. Or maybe because they’d never had a choice but to make it work. Still, I’d heard it enough over the months to expect these phantom forms wouldn’t change any of that.

Turning my head, I noticed Silas was no longer in the room. Panic took hold of my chest, and as if he’d read my fear, Ryker took a knee in front of me and reached out, his exuberant grin fading to something much kinder and softer.

Shock struck me as his hand lifted mine. The second he touched me, he wasn’t translucent anymore. Every color of him sharpened and solidified, much like the touch of his hand, and his warmth fed into mine like he was a living and breathing person.

His eyes went wide before shooting over to where Tometi stood. The bear of a man glared at us as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Deciding something, the giant phantom stomped over and offered his oversized palm to me. He didn’t just take my hand like Ryker had. Because he never would. Tometi was himself no matter what form he took. No matter how large and intimidating he might seem, Tometi would always be the gentlest giant I’d ever met.

He waited with a quiet stare, hand outstretched. My brow stitched together as I reached out and took it. His fingers closed around my much-smaller hand, awe twisting his expression anew. Same as Ryker, Tometi was no longer see-through. He stood over me like any other man, a solid body I could touch.

“Holy fuck,” Ryker whispered in mirrored awe. “We can touch you.” His eyes cut up to Tometi. “And now we’re…solid? It feels different than it has up to this point, like I’m alive or something. I’m not sure how to describe it.”

He didn’t need to. I sensed the change, too, without understanding why or how. Then again, very little made sense since I’d unlocked my power.

I chalked it up to the Soul Collector effect. That was what Lev called anything that went over our heads since escaping Rilas that night, when I’d put his soul back in his body. We didn’t understand how it worked, only that it did, and sometimes that was all a person needed. At least, that was what Lev thought. I, on the other hand, would like to figure this one out.

“But how?” Tometi asked next.

A lot had occurred over the last few weeks, but especially since we’d gone to collect the book. Salvator was back. His two animal souls were no longer inside him; they were roaming free, and now I could touch them and make them less phantom for some reason. What was happening? Was this really a dream or something else?

“Silas…” I murmured, shooting to my feet. Maybe he’d know something, or at least confirm whether or not I was the only one who could see them.

But the two men holding my hands didn’t let go. They kept me from leaving, their hands tightening around mine.

Ryker got to his feet as well and dragged his hand not holding mine through his shaggy locks, his blue eyes on the door. “He’s been downstairs since you fell asleep.”

“Downstairs? Why?”

Tometi answered in place of Ryker. “Because he doesn’t trust Salvator.”

That sounded like him. I didn’t think he’d let up for a minute even after giving Bear Claw permission to stay—permission I never needed. Hearing he’d snuck off to keep an eye on the shifter wasn’t a surprise, but it made it less likely that this was a dream.

It didn’t feel like one.

When Ryker moved closer and lifted my hand, I finally realized I was still holding onto two men who shouldn’t exist, not like this. I took my hands back with a snap. And as soon as my touch fell away, their bodies became translucent again.

Interesting.

Peering down at my hands, I sought answers in them I wouldn’t find. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

“Afraid not,” Ryker huffed, shifting as if it bothered him to be on two legs instead of four. “I can’t really tell you what happened, or why, but one minute we’re in that grumpy asshole’s head, and the next we were walking around in these…forms.”

Nothing in Grandmother’s book mentioned anything like this. As a Soul Collector, we could hear and help souls, and our connection with the After was powerful, but we couldn’t touch them. Not at least until now. Grandmother never said anything about it, and I was confident I hadn’t seen mention of it in her journal. But then again, she’d said every Soul Collector had their own unique abilities. Was this one of mine, or was this because of what happened with Salvator?

I stared at the two men, not sure how to proceed. If they were walking around and Silas was awake, did that mean he couldn’t see them? Looking to test the theory, I headed for the door.

Ryker’s voice stopped me before I made it into the corridor. “Where are you going, pretty girl?”

I pivoted, both afraid and desperate to know. “Come downstairs, and you’ll see for yourself.”

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