Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
It simply is.
I didn’t understand before.
I thought the ether was another plane where supernatural beings fought their wars, where the echoes of their power clashed and rippled through existence. I believed it was a battlefield, a realm of shadows and light, of forces beyond my comprehension waging endless conflict.
Or a place where love blooms, as it did between Rogan and me. In the green meadow where we were free to be who we were, love how we pleased, without the judgment of both our peoples.
But I was wrong.
The ether is not a place at all—it is the space between, the breath of reality itself, a force that permeates all things. It is neither war nor peace, neither creation nor destruction, neither love nor hate, but the pulse that binds them. It is the unspoken memory of the universe, the fabric through which time weaves its stories, the undercurrent pulling at the edges of existence.
And now, standing here, feeling it coil around me, whispering, shifting, waiting—I understand what Alara meant.
The ether is not where battles are fought.
The either is not where love is forged.
It is where everything is remembered.
For the first time, I sense it—really sense it. The pulse beneath reality, the way it bends and shifts, the whispers of a thousand voices layered over one another, remnants of those who came before, those who were lost to it. The ether does not simply exist around me. It remembers me.
And I begin to understand.
I am no longer simply moving through it.
I am becoming part of it.
My child is becoming part of it.
The path to my destiny begins here.
I close my eyes, breathe deeply.
And when I open them, I see her. The she-wolf.
Her coat is darker than Rogan’s, black as the void between the stars of the night sky. But her eyes—they are nearly golden, and they burn with something more than instinct, more than hunger.
She stands motionless, those amber eyes fixed on me.
A shiver ripples through me.
She knows me.
Not just in this moment, but beyond it—beyond time, beyond memory.
And I sense the demon within her. The evil. The air around her is thick with it, suffocating, charged with something ancient and unspeakable. It seeps from her like venom.
She doesn’t move, but I feel her presence pressing against me, weighing me, judging me.
Does she see what I am? What I will become? What my child will become?
The wind shifts, rustling the trees, and in the silence between heartbeats, I understand.
I’m not meant to run from her.
But I’m also not meant to chase her.
If it’s a battle she wants, she must come to me.
Only then can I face my destiny.
I suck in a breath, gather the energy that Alara taught me to harness.
I’m here, Eris.
Bring it, you demon bitch.
58
Eris’s eyes narrow, and a soft growl rumbles in her throat. The wind picks up, whipping my hair back from my face. I gather my strength and focus on the energy pulsing beneath my skin.
Then the wolf lunges.
She’s fast—faster than any creature I’ve fought. The world slows down as she leaps through the air toward me, teeth bared and golden eyes ablaze.
But I’m ready.
With a swift movement of my hand, I’m able to slow her aggression.
The power starts in my chest—a low, humming vibration, like the strike of a tuning fork against my ribs. The air around me thickens, charged with my invisible force.
My pulse slows, speeds, slows again, caught between two rhythms—the steady twist of my human emotions and the dark pull of my vampire half. They war for dominance, twisting together, coiling deep in my core. They fight for power until they blend together as one.
Then the fire ignites.
A current of power crawls through my veins, spreading, reaching. My skin tightens, stretches. My fingers tingle, cold at the tips, hot as lava at the palms. The magic winds through me, wrapping around my bones, threading through my muscles, pulling at everything I am.
My fangs ache, my vision sharpens, the ether tilts—brighter, darker, all at once. The air smells different, thick with energy—like copper and tin and gold and silver.
And then—release.
Magic spills from my hands and arches through the space around me, bending reality to my will. For one perfect moment, I am untouchable.
I conjure a barrier between us—an invisible wall shimmering with power. Eris collides with it and is thrown back onto the ground. Her golden eyes widen but then narrow again in rage and determination. She howls, the sound reverberating across the ether.
I raise my hand again, but the magic is weaker this time.
I used too much too quickly.
Damn.
This time when Eris lunges, she sweeps through my barrier and lands on me, tackling me to the hard ground.
Pain explodes in my side as her weight slams into me, her growls echoing in my ears, teeth flashing close to my throat. My pulse hammers, a stark reminder of both my mortality and her demonic force.