50. FORTY-FIVE

FORTY-FIVE

Alister

Magicalenergybuzzedas my fangs seeped from my gums, and I splattered the blood out of every human in the pristinely white hallway.

My mother’s nose scrunched up as she stepped over one of the bodies. “I’m impressed by your power as always, but it’s a little gross.”

“Are you still following?” I asked, and a small breath at the back of my neck made me shiver as Wren kept her incorporeal form. “She’s here.”

We stopped in front of a large metal door with an insane amount of locks on it. Thankfully, my sweet ruby wasn’t bothered by locks in her form.

“I can feel the energy of the relic, so we cannot go any further,” my mother said.

“What about while she’s in her incorporeal form?” I’d asked the question a thousand times, but I’d ask it again.

“Alister, it shouldn’t affect her,” my mother reminded me, and I exhaled a shaky breath.

“You’re right. Sweet ruby, be careful.”

She flickered in front of me, glancing down the blood painted halls with dead humans and a few specimen that were no longer moving.

I dipped my head and captured her lips with mine, cutting her bottom lip open with my fang and sucking as her sweet blood filled my mouth. “Don’t put yourself in any danger that you don’t need to be in. No unnecessary risks,” I growled.

She nodded before her eyes flicked open. “I love you,” she murmured. And then she was gone.

“I love you too.”

A shiver went down my spine as the bond disappeared, and I knew she had to be in that room with the relic.

Fear stabbed my gut. I hated the thought of my mate putting herself in that kind of risk all because of my however-many-greats grandfather.

“There’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

I tilted my head at my mother who held a guilt stricken expression.

“What didn’t you tell me? It wasn’t about Wren, was it?” I hissed, showing my fangs.

She nodded.

“What about her?” I glared at her, jerking my thumb in the direction of the door. “If she’s in danger, I will break that door down. I don’t give a fuck about my magic or yours.”

“You won’t have the chance to break the door down, Alister. That relic would have your magical energy sucked before you could. You faced that thing once before, but that’s because it hadn’t fed on magical energy in a long time. You would stand no longer than a second in front of it.”

“And yet, that’s what we want my mate to do. No,” I rasped. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Our great great grandfather will try to protect the relic,” she admitted, stepping back a couple of steps. “Even though that’s not what he wants to do.”

“Don’t fucking tell me he’s in there with her.” Anger churned in my gut as she nodded.

“He can’t touch her when she’s incorporeal, though.”

“No, he can’t. But he knows she’s coming. He didn’t tell me that he would try to protect it until after I told him our plan already.” Her purple eyes widened as tears slipped down her cheeks.

I growled, prowling forward. “Why wasn’t I told of this? Why didn’t Blair and Kian see him?”

She shook her head. “They did see her winning, and we need to put our trust in your mate.”

“I do trust her,” I snapped. “It’s you I don’t trust! Why would you tell him our plan?”

She gripped her arm tightly as she shifted on her feet. “I’m sorry, Alister.”

“How do you kill a necromancer with no magical energy or soul?”

“To be fair, he was never part of the necromancer coven. He became a necromancer because he had the power of necromancy, but he was born to a different coven. He was never as morbid as the others, but he also wasn’t as pure as Kian,” she admitted, telling me shit I didn’t care to know.

The doors down the hall slammed open as more humans rushed in.

“This isn’t over,” I snapped at her and gripped the locket around my neck.

I loved my mother, but I loved Wren more than anything in this world, and if anything happened to her, I would destroy anyone who caused it.