Page 72 of The Night Hunting

Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded. Then I lifted a hand. “There’s one more thing. Paimon told me Dot numbed the bond’s magic too.” I looked at Shane and he was fuming. “They thought I would break free if I could feel the bond.”

“We’ll break that one too,” Almae said.

The witches chanted something I couldn’t understand, their voices low, but strong. Magic sparked from the white line and rose into the air like small white fireflies.

The hair on my arms rose and the magic enveloped me. I gasped as it reached inside me. It started as an odd sensation, but as it reached my head, it expanded, and it hurt.

I closed my eyes and groaned.

“What’s going on?” I heard Shane asking.

“Stay back,” Killian warned him. “Trust them.”

The magic rummaged through my mind, like a bird flying through a thick forest, fast and sharp and true. It poked and prodded, making me dizzy. A sudden pang cut through my skull—they found it. The spell. Broken and faint, but still there. Both magics warred for space, for control, for my sanity.

I fell to my knees and gasped for air as the pain increased.

“Raika!”

“It’s almost done,” someone said, their voice strained.

Another thread of magic wrapped around my heart and prodded at the strings that pulled me to Shane. They swirled around them, cleaning them up.

A second later, the spell exploded, sending pain irradiating everywhere. I think I blacked out for a moment, because when I blinked, I was on the floor, and everyone was over me.

Shane put his arms under my back and helped me sit up. “Are you okay?”

I closed my eyes and let it all quiet down for a moment. There was no pain; there were no magical war in my mind. “I think—” I gasped as the memories flooded my mind and I suddenly remembered everything.

“What is it?” Shane asked, his voice pained.

“I …” I stared at him, tears in my eyes. “I remember.”

He let out a long sigh of relief.

Thea smiled at me. “I’m glad it worked.” She ushered everyone out of the room. “Let’s give them a moment. They will find us later when they are ready.”

“That will be tomorrow,” Killian muttered.

“Or next week,” Lavinia added.

As they walked out and left us alone, I smiled at Shane. But I couldn’t stop all the emotions and memories swimming in my mind. It was like I was seeing a replay of all the big moments of my life, feeling it all again in fast succession, and I couldn’t stop it.

Minsi’s tenth birthday, her kidnapping, being with Shane in that fissure, the bond snapping, the demons attacking, my mother dying, the pack burning, Shane leaving …

And more recently, when Nortrix brought Paimon to the pack lands, the dragon woke up and attacked us, and Roman taking my hand and pulling me to the side with the pretense of saving our lives. But he had hand delivered me to Paimon.

“My dear daughter,” he had said. “Everything will be all right.”

And then I blacked out and woke up in his house—no, Ivy’s house—and they told me lies on top of lies, and I believed them all.

I pressed my hands to my face, wishing I could erase the last two weeks from my mind forever.

“Hey.” Shane wrapped his hands around my wrists and pulled my arms down. “Don’t hide from me.”

“I can’t believe I forgot you.” My voice broke.

“But you didn’t. Not really. When I was there with you, you knew who I was.” A tear escaped and Shane wiped it away with his thumb. “Even if you didn’t remember me, you knew who I was in here.” He pressed his finger on my chest, right where my heart was.

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