I had to hope that James and the twins could save Anna while the rest of the team fought for their lives.
Chapter 19
Anna
I strode through the forest, toward the distress of my mates. Three of them called to me from this direction. Strength and determination bled through our bonds, but I could feel the underlying fear. Not for themselves, but for me. They were willing to run into danger to spare me pain. Willing to sacrifice their lives for mine. It was the strength of their emotion that had drawn me back here.
Moonlight shone down on the dark ocean waves as I broke through the forest cover and onto the beach. The sand was cold under my bare feet, but the sensation was odd. I knew what I should be feeling, but I wasn’t experiencing it for myself. I was here, but also somewhere beyond.
Gunfire rang out all around me, and the shout of one of my mates burst through the noise. I held up one hand, and everything froze around me. Bullets were suspended in midair, men’s mouths paused in the middle of their curses, rifles stuck in firing position.
I glided among the chaos, flicking aside bullets that were in my way. I could feel the life that pulsed in every man, creature, and plant in the area. All of it belonged to me.
I paused in front of a frozen human, examining his features. His face was twisted in hate, and his eyes shown with the promise of violence. The flicker of life inside of him was faint compared with the strong flame of my mates. Human life faded quickly, the tiny bit of magic inside of them not lasting more than a century at most.
This man wouldn’t last the night.
I beckoned toward him, calling his essence toward me. A brief tug later, his life was mine, and his empty body fell to the ground. I watched silently as it hit the sand with a dull thud.
Something was missing. I knew I should be feeling something. Something essential. But there was nothing but vast emptiness inside of me. The scene unfolding in front of me was just a tiny pinprick of light when I was surrounded by the sun. It was difficult to stay focused on just this one man and block out the loud roar of everything else happening simultaneously throughout the world.
Enough.
I closed my eyes and pulled the life from every man standing on the beach with the exception of my mates. Those small specs of power joined the ocean of magic that I held within this confining body. It had been easier when I had been everywhere and nowhere at once.
I felt a faint flicker of what I thought might be affection deep within my heart. My mates needed me, and I’d never ignore their call. I was part of them, and they were a part of me. My essence flowed into each one of them, a portion of my power housed deep within their souls. We were forever bound together, my mates and I.
I released the scene in front of me, and both bullets and bodies fell to the ground.
“Anna?” a voice called out to me.
I turned to look at the man who called to me. He was tall, with dark hair and a darkness inside of him.
James.
The name came suddenly to me, and I tried it out on my lips.
“James,” I said softly.
My voice sounded foreign, like it came from someone that I’d never met.
“Anna,” James responded warily. His body was tense with caution as two other men came out of the shadows. Two more of my mates.
I hummed in satisfaction, but there was still more to be done.
“Come,” I ordered as I turned back to the house. “We’re needed.”
Chapter 20
Jason
I stepped out from behind my cover, raising my rifle as I approached Anna. She looked like my Anna, but she felt wrong.
Her eyes were cold and emotionless, instead of bright with laughter or curiosity. She moved with a gracefulness that could only be supernatural. Gone was the pep in her step and the occasional clumsiness when she was too distracted by her own thoughts to pay attention to the world beneath her feet.
“Stay back,” James cautioned us through the bond.
Anna had just dropped all twenty humans on the beach with barely a thought. I understood James’ caution, because that was something that our Anna would never do. She was kind to a fault, and it would have broken her heart to be the