100. Arran

Veyka vanished.

My heart stopped beating.

The pressure in my chest intensified, so suddenly I staggered forward. Got my dagger up just in time to protect myself, but only dealt the succubus a glancing blow.

She was gone.

Away. Not in the void for a second. She'd gone far—farther than ever before.

I was her tether.

I wrapped ever bit of my iron will, my love for my mate, around that golden thread that connected us and yanked.

Veyka crashed into me, hard enough to send us both sprawling.

"What the fuck was that?" I demanded.

She was already rolling to her feet. "If the succubus can come to our realm, there is nothing to stop me from going to theirs and dumping their kind back where they belong."

She'd gone to the succubus realm.

She'd been there once before, when she fell through the realms after our Joining. Then, we had not known what it was. But now, I could fully envision the cold, dank dark of that place. The vile smell and clawing to get inside, to reach her soul and claim it. To kill her.

And she had gone there—willingly, purposefully, taking the succubus with her. Her power had grown. She'd claimed it, just as I'd always known she could.

Pride burned hot in my chest, along with worry and a dozen other terrible, debilitating feelings—all cut off as a scream rent the air. A scream I knew. That had haunted my dreams for three hundred years.

Mother.

I was fast, but Veyka was faster. She had the void.

But I was not thinking of that as I shoved other terrestrials out of the way, clawing my way toward the sound of her shrieks. My mother would not—could not pick up a weapon. Even to defend herself. She would not be able to deflect the succubus, even for a second.

I burst through the panicked throng. My father was on the ground, not moving. My mother shrank down, away, covering her face. I threw my dagger—

Veyka caught it.

Tossed it back in my direction, grabbed the succubus, and disappeared again.