impenetrability, my body ached like a bad tooth, each muscle throbbing like I hadn’t used it in forever. God, this shit sucks.
Joshua yelped, nearly falling in his attempt to get up, and I scrambled to catch him. His eyes were wide in shock as he stared at me, and a blush crept over my cheeks. “You put the link back in place.”
I shrugged. “It was the fastest way to check on all of you.” Even now I could feel the nagging sensation of their pain echoing down to me, increasing my own aches. I was not going to turn Ryder down for a healing, that was for sure.
Thank you, Killian whispered in my mind, and I inclined my head when his green eyes met mine. Already, I felt more in control with our connection back up, knowing my brothers’ minds were only a brush away from my own, that if anything happened I could be there in seconds to protect them. The knowledge had eased something inside me, making my Gargoyle nearly purr in contentment. What the fuck was that?
Even as the thought crossed my mind, a sound had us all snarling as we whirled. The coffee table was upended, half shattered in the debris, and we could all hear the shuffling behind it. Hiro’s eyes were cold and hard as he supported Ryder, tugging him to his feet. Ice blades appeared in Theo’s grasp in an instant, and I could sense Killian and Joshua tensing, readying themselves to face whatever was coming for us. If that thing had more than one bomb or could use whatever the hell that power had been, we were all fucked, but not one of my brothers was backing down, all turning to protect the others against whatever this new threat to our family was.
The rustle came again, and vines shot from Hiro’s hands, wrapping around the table and yanking it free to expose our executioner. The small form rolled over, letting out a little cry before shuffling again, and my knees went out from under me as six minds all went into shock at once when red and gold feathers unfurled themselves to reveal dark, steady eyes.
The word tore from me with a gasp, completely out of my control as I stared in shock, all of it echoed across my mental bond as my brothers’ voices joined my own. “Nix?”
Twenty-Seven
Nix
Pain. So much pain.
That thought, that sensation, had been my constant companion for long enough now it was hard to think even though it was easing.
There’d been a blast of light at first, the need for it calling to me, but I knew there was something else calling me as well. A promise, a bond, that had wrapped around me, tugging me back the way I had come, and I turned away into the dark, into agony. If I had known what my choice was, would I have been strong enough to make it?
At first I hadn’t known anything but pain, destroying me piece by piece until there was nothing left and then starting over again. Some part of me knew we’d experienced pain before, searing, agonizing pain, but this was different. There was no respite in this, each wave more intense than the last, past the point that I could comprehend, and all I could do was will myself to scream, to cry, to do something to release some of the torment, but I couldn’t. There was no body to do those things for me, no body to lose consciousness and offer me even a moment’s relief. In those brief seconds when agony hadn’t seared through me, burning me, eviscerating me, pulverizing me into the finest ash, I’d been left with the emotional pain, which was better and yet so much worse.
Even that had been hard to comprehend at first as flickers caught my attention, calling me away from the dark, from the pain. I’d clung to those moments, needing the relief, only to have another type of torture burn through me when I realized the light wasn’t respite. I hadn’t had a name for the sensations in the beginning. Hadn’t recognized sight or sound. Hadn’t understood this new kind of pain that was flaying me further. I’d shoved myself away, only to bring myself back, dancing between the twin torments that were all that remained of me.
Then voices penetrated that fog. Visions unfolded before my eyes. They were brief, mere snapshots of time, but I clung to them, wrapping myself around them,