Karissa turned and met my eyes. “Her life is ruined. I’m so sorry.” Tears spilled over onto her cheeks.
Brett looked at me in confusion.
“You did as I asked. If you didn’t, she would be dead. I am the Alpha and I gave an order. You saved her life.”
Poor thing, she would never forgive me for this; for the responsibility of taking Sadie’s memory. There wasn’t any other way. Brett put his hand out to shake hers. “Thank you for saving her.”
“Don’t touch me,” Karissa cried and began shifting to her wolf.
“What’s going on?” Kai roared picking up on the unusual situation. It was so weird not to be able to communicate with Kai in my head, even though he was right beside me. He felt so far.
I cleared my throat and held my head high. I would not let Karissa feel bad for this. She did the right thing. I would rather be alive with no memories of my past than dead. “Karissa has a unique gift. When in human form, she wipes a person’s entire memories if she touches them.”
I braced myself for the bitchfest from Brett. He stared off into the woods for a long moment and then at Karissa’s wolf. “We will make new memories. We can do that, because of you. Thank you,” he said.
Karissa wined and rolled over to show her belly as Brett looked at me.
“She can’t use her gift in wolf form,” I told him.
Brett smiled and rubbed her belly. Just like that, in a wolf’s way all was forgiven.
I turned to survey the damage. RAIDOS had left. The building was completely engulfed in flames. Vampires’ ashes littered the ground. Sylvia was dead. My hands were shaking and suddenly Kai got in my line of sight.
“Layla’s dead,” he said. “You did it.”
He cradled my face in his strong hands and I whimpered. I had so much shame. I went rogue. I left him, my mate, my husband. How selfish.
“I’m sorry,” I said looking down, being submissive.
Then he kissed me passionately. “I know, and you’re on house arrest for the rest of your existence,” he told me.
I laughed as I leaned into him, smelling his unique scent. Home. The scent spell must have broken when Sylvia … No.
Suddenly, Sadie’s eyes flew open as she coughed deeply. Brett knelt and grabbed her face bringing it closer to his. “Thank God!” he shouted.
She looked at him confused but smiled. “Hey, you’re cute.”
We all laughed. The laugh turned into a sharp pain in my chest. Ahh. I massaged it as my female wolves crept towards me in wolf form. Alpha.
Kai frowned. “You okay?”
I felt the Devi slither inside of me. ‘Goodbye, Aurora. Thank you.’ Her voice echoed in my head. No!
I gasped as a pain shot up from my groin into my head and forced me to my knees, panting.
“Aurora!” Kai knelt with me. My wolves crept closer, whining.
“It’s happening. The Devi,” I whispered to him as my head began to throb. Wincing, I grabbed my temples.
Kai went pale. That was hard for an Indian to do.
“No. No. No. No,” he said frantically. As if saying it would make it so.
I had no more energy to fight, so I collapsed into his open arms as he slowly sat down with me draped in his lap.
As he leaned over me, shock marred his face and I reached up and felt his scruffy beard. “Do you know how much I love you? You are everything to me. My favorite part about this life,” I told him, breathlessly. It was getting hard to breathe, to think.
Kai looked defeated. He leaned over and pressed his full lips to my forehead. “I wish I had met you three hundred years ago. Infinity wouldn’t be enough time with you.”
I smiled as tears rolled down my cheeks and cried out as a sharp pain stabbed my heart. Kai stroked my face. “But you’re not going anywhere.” Alpha power oozed from his voice and saturated my body. He stared into my eyes. Challenge. My wolf stirred as he locked on my gaze, growling.
“Do you know why I assess pack rank with a staring contest?” Kai asked.
I couldn’t see anymore. A bright light had taken over my vision and called to me. I reached out to touch it. But Kai’s voice held me earthbound.
“Because being dominant isn’t always about physical strength. It’s about mental and spiritual strength as well. You have it! More than Max, more than me! You are strong and you can fight the Devi! Stay with me and fight!” he screamed, shaking my shoulders. But the light was warm and so inviting, I felt myself floating away.
Suddenly, a slice on my arm made me falter. I stopped floating and looked back at my body lying on Kai’s lap. My female wolves lay around me, whining as Kai touched his bleeding arm to mine. “Blood of my blood, Alpha,” he said and all of a sudden a rush of energy assaulted my body. I felt them, the entire pack. Portland, Mount Hood, and my girls. Emma, Trent, Diya, Max, Sadie, Kai, Isabelle, Karissa, little Avery. Over a hundred of them. All chanting Alpha, Alpha, giving me their strength.
I looked down my glowing light body, my soul, hovering just above my earthly body. Suddenly, the Devi stepped out of my soul body and floated towards the bright light. Our hands were stuck holding each other’s and as she floated higher, she took me with her. She frowned as she looked back at our hands, fingers interlaced, I tried but couldn’t shake them free. The warm and loving light was so inviting. I pulled my arm but she winced in pain. We were stuck, she was trying her best to detach but we were stuck.