Of Flame and Promise (17 page)

He crashes against the granite counter with a grunt as my arm jerks wildly and the burn increases tenfold.

My vision fades in and out and my body thrashes, the erratic movements of my limb sending me to smack hard against the wall. I collapse, my arm beating itself against the floor with enough force to splinter and punch through the wood. I’m not thinking. I can’t. Everything hurts.

No. Everything
burns
.

“Cut it off!” I scream.

Shayna reaches for a knife, elongating it with her power and manipulating it into a deadly sword. She lifts the blade above my spastic arm, her expression torn. By now I’m sobbing and all but clawing at my face. “
Please,
Shayna,” I beg. “Cut it off!”

“I can’t,” Shayna chokes out. “I can’t do this.”

“Pin it,” Celia yells. “Pin it to the floor!”

With a flick of her wrists Shayna changes the sword’s position and brings the point down toward my raging hand. I barely feel the prick before the room erupts in a ghostly light and Shayna goes flying.

Emme screams as Shayna collides with the far wall. Aric and Celia are scrambling forward, but all my thoughts are lost in my torture. I’m retching from how hard I’m crying and the anguish crawling from my arm and into my chest.

Just as the burn reaches my heart and I begin to lose consciousness, a pale yellow light surrounds me. Slowly, very slowly, the heat charring my insides is replaced with a soothing chill I welcome like a draw of fresh air.

My body shudders as the coolness spreads like a cascade of water from a gentle spring. With each sensation of cold, my pain eases and my cries dwindle. It takes a long time for the ache to lessen, and even longer for my vision to clear. But eventually it does.

Not that I like what I see.

Blood cakes the side of Shayna’s face. She winces as the bone along her eye socket pops out and her eyebrow knits close. Bile churns my gut. Somehow, I indented her skull. If Koda hadn’t passed her his werewolf essence, I would have killed her. There’s no doubt, based on the amount of blood coating her skin and what her body had to do to heal her.

I cover my mouth. “Oh my God,” I gasp.

“It’s okay, T,” she says, as if I can’t see the pain tightening her small pixie face. “It’s okay.”

No. Not at all, sweetie.

Aric leans forward. Being all
were,
and one of pure blood, his inner beast has healed him faster than Shayna’s. That doesn’t mean I haven’t made rubble out of his jaw, or that I haven’t hurt him.

Or that I won’t do it again.

I had no control over my arm. None. Nor do I believe I have it now.

Aric realizes as much. I don’t miss how he keeps Celia behind him, appearing to shield her and their child from whatever way I’ll lash out next. “What happened?” he asks, his voice riddled with anger, and maybe something more.

“I don’t know,” I respond, my voice trembling and my body strangely weak. “I felt pain and it-it just went wild.”

“Your arm?” It’s a question, but he’s not really asking.

I nod as Emme’s healing light recedes and her hands withdraw from my shoulders. Her face is unusually pale. She swallows hard, struggling to speak. “It’s her fire,” she says, barely above a whisper. She looks at Aric. “It’s eating her alive….”

Love stories you’ll never forget

By authors you’ll always remember

eOriginal Romance from Random House

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