Void(103)

“You can start with me,” Braxton went on. “Then your mother. I want the Shifter Paragon’s power. You can bestow your mother with Quade’s elemental power,” he instructed.

“No!” I screamed, and my pleas mixed in with Reed’s who’d been bent to the side as a vampire hovered his fangs at his neck. I pulled against Banner to get to him, but couldn’t get away. His grip on me was too strong.

“You do what I say, or your friend dies now. You don’t have any other options here, Miss Cainson. You should be grateful,” Judge Braxton seethed before motioning around the room. “I’m giving you an opportunity to finally be accepted. To be welcomed by the council, to be respected. All it requires is for you to do as you’re told.”

Do as I’m told.

I was always doing as I was fucking told.

I already saw the writing on the wall. The council would force me to take and take and take, to steal until it killed me, until hundreds, maybe thousands of supers were drained, and the council was amassed with terrifying power. I couldn’t let that happen.

Down the line, the supers held hostage began to stir awake. Gritt’s head snapped up, his vibrant green eyes locking onto me. His whole body shook as a snarl ripped out of him, his body straining against the chains he was bound in. I could tell he was straining to shift, but he couldn’t. Something was stopping his power from working.

Turning to my mother, I addressed her first. “Is this what you really want? To steal power from Quade? You’ve always treated him like a son, and he’s always respected you,” I said incredulously. I knew she wanted her powers back. I’d always known that. But this...to get it back at the expense of Quade...I hadn’t expected that she could be capable of that.

“Honey, I can take my seat on the council again,” she said, hope bleeding from her eyes. “You can come home. We can be a family again.” Her words hit me just like she wanted them to.

On the inside, my heart broke. On the outside, I reinforced my walls.

“And you’d be happy?” I asked. “If I did this for you, you’d forgive me?”

She nodded quickly, a piece of her pale blonde hair falling out of its updo. “Yes, of course. All will be as it was, and we can go back to the way things used to be.”

The thing was, I couldn’t ever be who I used to be, because I’d changed. Grown. And part of the reason for that was the four paragons behind me.

I took a shaky breath. “Okay,” I whispered, but what I really meant was goodbye.

“Good,” Braxton said, stepping between my mother and me. When I noticed his hand come down to her waist, my lip curled in disgust. I should’ve known.

“I’m glad you’ve come around, Miss Cainson,” Judge Braxton said. “But remember, you so much as breathe wrong, Banner will neutralize you, and your human friend will be without a throat.”

My dark eyes rose up to meet his. “I don’t need the added threats. I know what’s at stake.”

Braxton studied me for a moment before looking over my shoulder to Banner. He nodded, and the neutralizer let go of his hold that was on my arm. Since he’d taken my amulet, my Void immediately started slinking off my skin like darkened steam. It was sluggish at first, from whatever magical drug had been in my system, but soon, I had a better handle on it. The other council members in the room were practically buzzing with excitement. Greed for power was like an opiate in the room, and they were all getting high off each other’s hopeful fumes.

My eyes fluttered back to Reed and the vampires holding him. His face was pale and terrified, his reddish hair matted to his forehead with sweat. He pleaded with me silently, and I gave him a small nod to reassure him.

I cleared my throat and looked back at Judge Braxton. “If you want me to do this, I need to touch you both. I have more control that way,” I said. I’d gained so much control that touching wasn’t even necessary, but I wanted to be closer to my paragons, and this was the only way. If my plan failed, then this would be the last time I’d see them, because Braxton would either kill me or imprison me.

The judge adjusted his tie. “Fine. Let’s go,” he said before holding out his hand to me. I took it with a wince, paling at the feel of his bony hands and tight, cold grip.

We made our way to the paragons, and I felt my eyes mist over with unshed tears at the sight of them. Quade and Render were still passed out, but Hyde was watching us, that crazed smile still on his face, except he wasn’t looking at me. He was watching Banner. The maniacal, murderous look on his face was only for the neutralizer.

When we stopped in front of Gritt, I forced my gaze up to meet him in the eye. It took everything in me not to react to the expression on his face. “Don’t do this, Dev. Don’t take my animals from me.”

I winced at the plea in his gruff tone, my eyes tracing over his handsome, feral face and the split lip where someone had hit him. I wanted to reach up and trace my finger over the hard line of his jaw, but I was all too aware of the eyes watching me. “I’m so sorry.”

“Dev…”

“You hurt me,” I choked out as tears filled my red-lined eyes. I didn’t have to fake the emotion. I was heartbroken and terrified, and I knew that no matter how this played out, none of us would ever be the same. My powers curled up within me, churning with my inner turmoil. “You didn’t want me, remember? You didn’t care.”