we’d claimed as our own. As I walked toward her, I desperately thought of what I could say to get through to her. I knew the old Anna was in there somewhere. What would it take to draw her out? Give her the strength she needed to come back to us?
Winning the war against the Morrigan would save our world, but at the cost of losing Anna? Surely, the universe couldn’t be that cruel.
I opened the door to a dark room, the curtains closed to keep out the warm afternoon sun. I stepped in and shut the door behind me, frowning at how dark and oppressive it seemed in here. This was the opposite of where Anna should be right now. She needed to be in the sun, feel the fresh breeze on her face, connect with blossoming flowers, and lounge under the bright green forest of spring.
“Anna,” I said cautiously. “I was hoping I could talk to you.”
I sat on the bed next to her and stroked her bright blond hair away from her face. When Anna had come back from her quest to find the gods, her magic had been much stronger, but she’d also changed physically. She was somehow more than she’d been before. Her skin was luminous, her complexion flawless, her hair shiny and bright, and her eyes had shifted from a beautiful green to something more ethereal. One glance at her, and you knew she wasn’t human. But with the amount of power that now radiated from her, no one could ever mistake her as such.
Anna blinked slowly, then turned her gaze toward me, but wasn’t focused on me. It seemed like her attention was elsewhere.
“How are you feeling?” I asked softly.
There was a flash of emotion in her eyes. “Lost,” she whispered.
“I’m here with you,” I said urgently. The look in her eyes was scaring me. I’d changed along with her and felt the rush of magic as it rushed through our bonds. Yet that had only been a faint echo of what she’d gone through.
Anna gave me a weak smile, but her heart wasn’t in it.
“You’re never alone, not when you have six mates,” I teased her, trying to get more of a smile.
Anna closed her eyes again, and I sensed I was losing her. She was drifting away from me again. I needed something to pull her back to me. The attack had woken her up last time, and that was the most present I’d seen her since she’d received her new powers. Maybe she needed a mission, something to fight for?
“Your mother’s still in Summer,” I reminded her gently. “And now that you’re a goddess…”
A spark of light shone in her eyes, and her face finally showed emotion.
“I can get my mother and my sister,” Anna said as she slowly rose to her feet.
“Yes!” I encouraged her. “We can sit down with Austin, make a plan-”
“No,” Anna said with a wave of her hand. “That won’t be necessary.”
Dread pooled in my stomach as she purposefully strode off.
“I need Cody,” Anna said decisively. “He’s already been to Winter several times, and he knows how the fae are.”
“Uh, Anna,” I said nervously as I jogged after her.
Anna didn’t slow, and she flew down the stairs more quickly than I could keep up with.
“Cody!” she projected through the pack bond. That one word contained not just the emotion of her need for him, but also a pulse of magic.
I staggered as it hit me, but still I pressed forward. I started her on this quest, and I’d see her through it. Her actions seemed haphazard and reckless right now, but Cody would help me make her see that we needed a coordinated effort to succeed.
Chapter 24
Anna
“Cody!”
I imbued my call with magic, summoning my mate to me.
Memories flooded my mind. Cody and I in Winter, the two of us in our wolf forms as we terrified the castle inhabitants. Cody’s body wrapped around mine as he held me safe in a foreign world.
As flashes of the past hit me, little pieces of things I’d forgotten started to fall back into place. I remembered his warmth, his scent. I felt the comfort he gave me and the security he offered. I froze when emotion started to bleed into my thoughts and closed my eyes to savor them. The fear of never going home, my love and affection for him, the pain of missing my other mates. Things were slowly coming back to me.