Page 584 of Shadowblood Souls
Sunlight pierces through my eyelids and wakes up a dull throbbing at the base of my skull. I wince before I’ve opened my eyes, and clothing rustles nearby.
Dominic’s voice reaches me, soft and soothing. “Hey. You’re okay now.”
With a thin line of pressure, one of his tentacles slides along my arm. A waft of warm healing energy washes through my body, and the lingering pain in my head melts away.
I blink and stare up at him—at all of my guys, who are standing around the bed I’m lying on.They’reall okay and wearing matching expressions of concern.
With a lurch of my pulse, I shove myself upright. We’re surrounded by the muted beige walls and chic furnishings of a hotel room, though not one I recognize from before.
The last thing I remember before waking up is the battle. Crossbow bolts flying, cries ringing out, light blazing—Booker, Nadia…
My voice comes out raspy. “What happened? How did we get here? The other shadowbloods…”
Griffin sits down on the bed by my other side and rests his hand on my shoulder. A faint caress of calm seeps from his palm through my mind—not really changing my emotions, just helping me focus despite the sudden swell of anguish.
Jacob is gripping the oak footboard, his fingers clenched as tight as his jaw. “It was a shitstorm. After you fell, we pulled out as fast as we could. Zian grabbed you. The assholes took off down the street as soon as they had the opening. I messed up their vehicles, but we know they can steal new ones.”
He sounds almost annoyed that the rogue shadowbloods decided to prioritize staying alive over continuing the fight.
“We did get a few of them,” Zian says in a hopeful tone that clashes with the unhappy cast to his face. “We picked up three of the shadowbloods we managed to knock out—a couple of the kids and one of the criminals.”
I swallow thickly. “Some of them were more than knocked out. And the shadowkind they attacked—I saw Steel get shot, and Willow…”
Andreas nods, not even his normally animated eyes managing to offer any light. “I think six or seven of the shadowkind didn’t make it out. It’s hard to keep track when we didn’t know for sure who all was going to come out of the shadows. We lost about as many of the other shadowbloods too, in the fighting. Mostly the kids and a couple of the criminals. Tegan and Booker…”
His voice trails off raggedly. My fingers curl into the covers beneath me. “I know. I saw them.”
And the kidIkilled, whose name I didn’t even know. I’ll never get the chance to find it out.
I don’t think the shadowkind will see their deaths as a loss, though. Not when they lost so many of their own to the rampaging hybrids.
I rub my forehead, still working to piece together everything that happened. “They were carrying weapons like the hunters were using—for fighting shadowkind.”
Dominic strokes the tip of his tentacle back and forth over my wrist. “They saw the shadowkind working with us when we confronted them in Memphis. We figure they wanted to be prepared in case we came at them again.”
It makes a sick kind of sense. In the most horrible of ironies, our attempts at shaking our fellow shadowbloods out of Balthazar’s influence have pushed them into becoming the monster-murdering soldiers he wanted.
Fuck. I feel hollowed out inside, as if all my inner organs have sunk to the bottom of my belly.
“The shadowkind must be pissed,” I murmur. “They didn’t really want to help us anyway. They thought the other shadowbloods weren’t worth saving, too much of a threat.”
A tawny-haired figure wavers into view by the door beyond the foot of the bed. Rollick has his arms folded loosely over his chest, his expression serious but otherwise unreadable. “I asked my associates to leave you undisturbed while you recovered, but I think you should talk to them directly about how they’re currently feeling. It’s good to see you with us again.”
I have to resist the urge to cringe under the demon’s penetrating gaze. It was my plan that sent his people into the fray—and ended some of their normally infinite lives.
I can take responsibility for my decisions. I can face the people my mistakes hurt the most.
With a wiggle of my legs to make sure they’re in working order, I shove myself toward the side of the bed. “Let’s go do that now.”
Rollick dips his head in acknowledgment. He leads the way out the door.
It turns out we’re not just in a hotel room but a whole penthouse suite. I halt in the doorway, staring at the sprawling living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows giving a view over the surrounding city from above. The hazy light that’s creeping over the buildings and the burnt gray of the sky suggest dawn has just arrived.
“We needed the space—and not to be interrupted,” Rollick says in brisk explanation.
My gaze lands on a body-shaped form draped in a white sheet, lying on the floor beyond the sofas. I freeze in place. “Who?—”
“Booker,” Dominic says softly. “One of the shadowkind managed to grab his body and carry him here through the shadows—I guess that’s possible for a mortal once they’re dead.”
