I found myself drifting off. Floating in a hazy void. It was both rexing and terrifying at the same time. Rexing as the view was beautiful in its own way. The haze was a mixture of every color, reminding me of various nebus as seen by telescopes around and above the old world. My only issue with the view was the ck of anything else. There were no pnets, no sources of light, just the gaseous haze. There wasn’t even a way for me to tell just how long I floated there.

  In what could have been a year or a mere second, something pushed against my shoulder. Whatever it was caused me to go flying through the void. At first, I feared what I might bash into given the ck of an ability to really see all that far. That fear swiftly diminished to annoyance as I realized there was nothing for me to smash into.

  Another time ter, whatever had shoved me through the space returned. It gripped my shoulder and started to shake me. Not relenting until I managed to force my eyes open, returning from the void to the real world. Standing above me, hands on my shoulder, was the one guy I never wanted to see again. Well, one of them.

  Xander stood there, a slight frown lining his face as he watched me. It almost looked as though the guy was worried about me. Which couldn’t be right. Not after what he had said. Not after my pointing out the hypocrisy of his words. Seeing him, here, standing over me looking as though he cared, hurt my heart more than anyone else had managed to do throughout my entire life. Even more than those few girlfriends I had convinced to give me a chance broke up with me.

  The sight of him reminded me of just how fast things could change. How, even if you thought you knew someone, they could be hiding a whole side from you that you would not see unless they showed you. I felt the sting of tears that pricked at the corners of my eyes as I stared back at him. Meeting him eye to eye.

  Neither of us spoke. Both of us were silent as we each waited to see if the other would break first. I had a feeling that we could be here all day and neither of us would break – we were both too stuborn. I sighed and moved to stand. He offered a hand to help but I pointedly ignored it. I didn’t need his help. Sure, I had needed it before, but I didn’t need it now. Even if I was wrong and I did need it, I wouldn’t accept his help as doing so would likely acknowledge whatever stupid thoughts he had about my kind.

  Given that he was quite a bit stronger than me, I expected some sort of resistance when I tried to push past him. To my surprise, however, he moved to the side almost the moment I touched his shoulder. It may have even been before I could touch him. As though he had been avoiding my touch.

  Mentally, I shook whatever lingering emotions I had for the guy out of my head as I made for the door. Or at least where the door should be. I couldn’t see it through the massive crowd that filled the space. Most of the injuries looked like they were burns but that wasn’t right. Burns would just heal, wouldn’t they?

  Then again, how would I know? It wasn’t like I had burned myself since gaining the ability to use fire. In fact, it was almost as though both the fire I used and regur fmes refused to burn me.

  As if they were being shoved away or moved on their own, the crowd seemed to part around me. Not a single person got within a foot of me as I made my way toward the destination. A destination that soon loomed in front of me. A destination that was no longer blocked by a shield.

  As I passed through, I found my eyes scanning the hallway. While the lights were now on, the rest of the pce was just as damaged as before. Hell, it looked even worse now that I could get a clear look at it. Small chunks of the ceiling seemed to be missing. Likely having fallen given the piles of the building that were gooped on the floor below the missing chunk. Just what could have caused this kind of damage? It sure as hell wasn’t some form of fire, magical or otherwise. Such fmes would never have gotten hot enough to turn solid stone into a molten mess.

  Xander’s voice was calm as he answered my unasked question. “After three of the councilors were killed, the rest activated the tower's st-ditch defense. Every hallway and unsealed room was burned by a bomb of unknown origins.”

  “What do you mean unknown origins?” I asked, unable to help myself.

  I could hear the slight smile in his voice, likely from the fact that he managed to get me to talk, as he answered. “All I know is that it was a spell bomb that one of the council members found early on. One that used the user's life force to burn everything and everyone inside its range.”

  Wait, life force? How was that different from mana? Also, did that mean the castor died and came back or did they die a permanent death? Actually, I didn’t want to know. It wasn’t like I was going to stick around here for much longer anyway. Speaking of which, where the fuck was I? Surely they wouldn’t pce the hospital far from the entrance. Then again, if this pce was ever attacked they would want somewhere to send their wounded that was safe. Somewhere they could fall back to if need be.

  The moment I turned and found my second dead end, I let out a growl and finally bit out the question. “Where is the nearest exit?”

  Thankfully, he didn’t verbally answer. Instead, he turned around and gestured for me to follow him. He didn’t even lead me fifty feet down the hall before opening a nondescript door. A pilr sat on the other side, blocking my view of the room beyond. A room that I vaguely recognized as soon as I managed to get around said pilr. It was the entryway for the tower and it was in ruins.

  A few of the fillers were lying on their sides while others were visibly thinner at the top. They reminded me of what one would expect of ice cream being left out in the sun for hours. Not that the people going into and out of the pce seemed to care. Each person moved as though they had a purpose, a destination, and nothing was going to stop them. Even the guards that were watching over the pce were moving around, assessing the damage while searching for something. Given what we had all been fighting, they were likely looking for those horrific creatures.

  Which brought forth a question that I almost didn’t want to ask yet knew I had to. “Did any of those things make it out of the building?” If they had then the city was probably lost. While they had been confined here, limited in areas they could move and hide, that would not be true outside. Especially if they could dig into the soil and hide until something or someone disturbed them. At that point, it might be easier to move the front lines back and let the demons take the city. Let them deal with the creatures.

  “They made it into the hallway leading here just as the council members were being evacuated.” Of course the higher-ups in the government were being evacuated while the rest of us were fighting for our lives. “From what I understand, the ones not killed by the creatures managed to hide in the nearby room just as the spell was triggered by one of those bitten.”

  Wait, how was a council member able to trigger such a spell if they were trying to escape? Surely they wouldn’t keep such a spell near the entryway? It would be too easy for someone to kill everyone and everything if they managed to get to it. “How?”

  While my question was vague, he understood what I was asking. “Councilman Yeaver used his teleport ability to enter the sealed room.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Xander, concerned as to how he would know all this. “How…”

  “Do I know what happened?” He finished my question for me, as though he knew I was bound to ask the question. “The same way I attacked the creatures, even those that were trying to hide. My shadows.” He didn’t continue, leaving it to me to try and figure out what he meant.

  Unfortunately for him, I didn’t care. Sure it was a curious ability, but it didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t like I would be able to use the same magic. So I moved on. “Well, thanks. I am going to head out now.”

  I don’t know what I expected or hoped he would do. He could have stayed, letting me go off on my own or he could have decided to follow me, silent as the dead. Instead, he grabbed my arm, stopping me before I could get all that far. “Kyren… Alex.” His use of my name caught me off guard. He took advantage of this to pull me toward him.

  Within a fraction of a second, I found myself pulled into his embrace. Both of his arms were locked around me, preventing me from escaping, mostly. Not that I would. Not yet anyway. Not while I knew that he was going to likely find me and confront me at some point. So I might as well make sure it was in a public pce. What was more public than the entry hall for the city center? If he did try something I could either scream for help from the guards or shift into my fox form and make a getaway. Hell, I would probably do both.

  “Kyren,” His chest softly vibrated as he spoke. “We need to talk.”

  I didn’t respond. Just because he wanted us to talk didn’t mean I had to respond. Without my participation, he was likely to dig himself a deeper hole. Still, I was going to give him the chance in the off chance that he managed to dig himself out.

  “You don’t have to answer, but at least listen.” What did he think I was going to do? Ignore him completely? What would be the point of that? “I know my words earlier hurt you but I didn’t mean them the way you think I did.” I didn’t mean to let out an exasperated huff but how else could one interpret what he had said about Liam? “There are quite a few things you don’t know about Liam. Things I would have told you if I knew you were going to be forced to meet him.”

  Like the fact that he was a bastard that seemed to want to fuck anyone? Hell, I was surprised he didn’t take advantage of my heat. So at least he had that going for him.

  “Ever since his ex-wife rejected him, he has been going from woman to woman. Hell, given how fast he started, I am pretty sure he was cheating on her for a while. Still, he never returns to the same woman more than once. He uses them and then discards them like old used tissues. Honestly, I don’t know how he hasn’t been taken down by someone else in the shifter community. Not when, from what I understand, the shifters all revere their mates. Then again, maybe he knows he doesn’t have one.” I feel Xander’s arms lift and fall as he shrugs. “Who knows.”

  My voice is soft and a bit hesitant as I ask a question. “Why do you care about him?”

  “I don’t.” His voice was just as soft. “He could go rot in hell or fuck every woman that would let him. What I care about is you and how he was treating you, would have treated you. You deserve someone who will make you happy. Someone who will worship the ground you walk on. While I know that might now be me, that doesn’t mean I won't watch out for you.”

  His words were soft but so full of conviction that they caught me off guard. I pulled away enough so that I could tilt my head back to look into his face. Our noses were practically touching as I looked into his eyes. They were full of grief, happiness, and a flurry of other seemingly conflicting emotions.

  As I let out the breath I had been holding in, I gave in to the inevitable. “I forgive you.” His eyes lit up only to gain a bit of weariness as I narrowed my eyes at him as something occurred to me. “Why are you only now telling me this? You could have forced me to listen to you back when I was in the hospital room so why wait?”

  Xander suddenly looked sheepish as the words stumbled out of his mouth. “Even if I had tried, I didn’t know if you would be willing to listen to what I had to say.” I continued to look at him, waiting for whatever else he had to say. “And watching you dive into a swarm of biological horrors was scary, especially considering that there was nothing I could do. Throughout your entire battle, I had to watch as you were nearly bitten or killed dozens of times only to tell death to fuck off.”

  His words and the slight awe and fear in his voice made me want to kiss the guy. Like that was going to happen. With a swift application of mana from my colr, I shifted into a fox, dropping out of his grip. The move must have caught him by surprise because he didn’t make any move to stop me as I ran out of the building. Diving between legs and crowds in an effort to obscure his sight of me. While he had expined himself and I had forgiven him, that did not mean I wouldn’t still go through with my pn to leave. At least for a little bit.

  Too bad I forgot to ask him where the guild hall was. Then again, it shouldn’t be all that far from the center of the city, right? Right? Maybe I should just stop and ask someone. Nah. At least, not until I explore the city a little bit.