“Eislyn!” Memnon bellows.
Snap, snap, snap.
Fuck. There are definitely enemies in Memnon’s clutches, but there are plenty of shifters trapped in the plumes of his power as well. As the bodies hit the floor, I force my power out, beating back the darkness.
Slowly it lifts, revealing a room full of bespelled supernaturals and an angry sorcerer but no Eislyn.
Memnon roars at her absence, and through our bond, I can feel more of the sorcerer’s bloodthirsty power slip its leash.
Now it’s swirling around the supernaturals above us. To my horror, I make out Kane, his face expressionless as he hangs there in Memnon’s magic. My eyes move over the trapped supernaturals until I see Irene, the Marin Pack beta, floating in the air. I even see Cara, sweet Cara, who must’ve felt compelled to come and save other shifters from a fate she escaped.
I’m the only one at this point besides Memnon himself who hasn’t been swept up in his power. And given how much magic the sorcerer is drawing on, that could change at any moment.
“Memnon!” I shout. “Please, release the captives!”
He doesn’t release them. He doesn’t even register that he’s heard me.
Snap, snap.
Two more supernaturals fall, these two old men in suits.
“Memnon!” I cry out desperately.
When he turns to me, his eyes burn like embers, and his hair has lifted up and around his face. He takes me in, though his eyes appear unseeing.
For you, mate, he says. All this is for you.
It’s not for me. You’re hurting our allies, my friends!
He stares back at me.
Snap.
Another body falls, this one a middle-aged woman in a magenta dress. So far the deaths have all been auction guests, but it’s only a matter of time before my mate kills someone truly innocent.
You wanted to stop these terrible people, he says. We are stopping them.
Memnon, please. A tear slips down my cheek as I start toward him. I’m begging you!
They cannot hurt you, my queen. I will not let them. No one will hurt you ever again. Our fates will not be repeated. He turns away from me.
Snap, snap, snap, snap—
“Est xsaya!” The ancient words rip from my throat. “Stop!” I shriek. “For me. For us. Stop before I must use my magic and stop you myself.”
My soul mate falters. Slowly, he rotates to face me.
His eyes are still glowing, and they still appear unseeing.
He studies me for a long moment.
“It didn’t work,” he finally says, taking me in. “Your command didn’t work.”
I halt in my tracks, and the two of us stare at each other across the auction hall. Above us, his magic begins to lower its hostages to the ground.
“You love me,” Memnon breathes.
I blink, and another tear rolls down my cheek. His glowing eyes flicker as he watches that tear. His gaze returns to mine, and he begins to stride across the room, his expression growing purposeful. The sorcerer’s magic pushes aside chairs and tables as he goes.
Memnon’s power finally releases the supernaturals, and the indigo magic leaves them to swirl around us like a vortex, hiding me and the sorcerer from the rest of the room.
“You love me,” Memnon repeats, daring me to deny it. His gaze still burns with his power.
Another tear slips out.
“I do.” I give him a shaky smile. “I love you.” I always have. I just managed to bury it for a while. He’s my friend, my monster, my one-time enemy and lover.
There’s no more tightly wielded control. I’m free-falling.
Memnon closes the last of the distance, his eyes dimming to their normal smoky amber, and his hair lowers to the nape of his neck. But though his magic has waned, the intensity of his expression has not.
He brushes his knuckles over my cheekbone. “Te amo in aeternum,” he says softly in Latin. His eyes search my face as though trying to commit this moment to memory.
Memnon leans in and kisses me, the stroke of his lips desperate. I reach for him, my hands cupping his face. I feel a tear drip onto my hand, and I realize he’s shaking, his whole body trembling.
“A love like ours defies everything,” he breathes against my lips. “I am yours forever.”
The Politia do eventually come, though by then, the fight itself is long over.
Initially, I expect the supernaturals in the room to point fingers at Memnon, who held them all hostage for a time. Instead, the shifters seem to focus their wrath on the auction guests, and those individuals in evening wear seem to be defensively arguing back. I don’t think any of them recall that they were held captive by a raging sorcerer.
Once it becomes clear the officers want to detain everyone in the room for hours longer, my soul mate alters a few minds so the two of us can slip away and find Sybil.
Memnon and I find her sitting on the sidewalk outside the Equinox Building, near a line of ambulances with flashing lights. Sybil’s nestled between Sawyer’s thighs, an emergency blanket covering her, and her new mate is murmuring something to her and holding her close. It’s startlingly tender.
“Sybil,” I say softly, stepping away from Memnon. I pull the suit jacket he placed on me tighter around myself, trying to keep out the chill of the evening.
My friend glances up, and a small noise escapes her lips when she sees me. Shucking off her blanket, she rises to her feet, and then the two of us are moving toward each other.
We meet somewhere in the middle, and I sweep her into a hug. My best friend immediately begins to bawl in my arms.
“I thought—thought you w-were dead,” she chokes out.
I laugh a little as a few tears trickle out of my own eyes. “You can’t kill me that easily.”
I pull back, brushing her hair away from her face so I can see her better. Her earlier wounds are gone, but there are shadows in her eyes, things that not even magic can heal.
“We survived,” I whisper.
Her face crumples, and she nods, gripping me tighter.
My hands move to her upper arms, and I give them a squeeze. “Thank you,” I say softly, “for trying to protect me for so long. You are the best damn friend there ever was.”
Sybil’s sobs only grow louder, and I pull her back in for another hug.
The two of us hold each other for several minutes.
“Sybil.” Sawyer’s voice is low, rumbly, as he approaches us. “The car is here.” He lays a hand on my friend’s shoulder and runs his thumb over a patch of skin that causes a full-body shiver to course through Sybil. “We need to get you back. It’s not safe for you to be out here before you have mastered your shifts.”
What’s this now?
Sybil looks horrified as she pulls away from me. “I would never…” But as she speaks, her body spasms a little.
Sawyer steps in a little closer, and he makes a soft rumbling sound that causes my friend to relax. “Of course you wouldn’t. I would make sure both you and your best friend were safe.”
My eyes move between the two of them, and only now do I realize that the sweet embrace Memnon and I saw between Sybil and Sawyer a moment ago might’ve been more than just simple physical contact. Sawyer might’ve been containing her in case she accidentally shifted.