Void(104)

I watched Gritt’s eyes widen as he stared at me. The last time we saw each other, I’d asked for space. I said I couldn’t handle all four paragons being suddenly mated to me. But I wished now that I’d stayed. “Please understand, Gritt. I might have a chance at a normal life if I do what they say,” I whispered softly, forcing believability into my tone.

For a moment, I wondered if he saw through me. I wondered if he knew the protectiveness I felt for the men in front of me, the fierce, determined need to rip the chains from their bodies and save them. I hoped Gritt sensed that through our bond. I hoped that he recognized my true intention and played along. We stared at one another for a good few seconds, an impatient Judge Braxton at my side.

Finally, Gritt spat at my feet. “You’re an unworthy mate,” he sneered before licking his bloodied lip in disdain. My heart dropped. He wasn’t acting. He didn’t sense my truth. He thought I really would strip him of his animals, just like I’d done to his brother.

I knew how it looked to him. I knew that he saw me as the enemy, the person doing exactly what I swore to never do. I tried to tell him with my eyes that I was on his side, but I couldn’t, because he wouldn’t even look at me.

“You’re a fool for bonding with a Void,” Judge Braxton cut in with a roll of his eyes before turning his attention back to me. “Do it. I want all of his animals.”

“Fine,” I said, my tone lifeless and even.

The judge beamed, not doubting for even a moment. Why would he fear a bite from a dog who’d always eaten out of his hand?

“You might feel weak for a moment.” I lied to the scrawny judge.

“Just do it. I’m ready.”

Raising my hands, I pressed a finger to his wrist, while cupping my hand around Gritt’s arm. Then I lashed my Void out like a whip, and a crack rang through the air. Council members made little noises of surprise, but I ignored every single one of them. With the most control I’d ever had in my life, I directed my Void like a conductor directs his symphony. We were completely in tune with each other, our will in perfect harmony.

Smoke wrapped around Judge Braxton and brushed up against Gritt. As soon as I had it where I wanted it, I focused on my intent. Emilia had been right. It was just like breathing. It had taken me nearly a decade, but I’d finally stopped fearing my own power. Because Emilia had been right about that too—I wasn’t just a Void. And it was time they all learned that.

I watched as Gritt’s eyes widened in confusion while my smoke billowed with black. I’d fed from him enough times that he knew exactly what it felt like, and this was not it. But what he didn’t know was that, as my mate, I couldn’t hurt him—couldn’t drain him. It was physically impossible. He was my fated match, meant to sustain me and understand a piece of me that only he could—that wild, snarling part of me that wanted to tear apart my enemies.

“It’s happening! I can feel the Void!” Judge Braxton exclaimed. My eyes moved over him, noting his excited face and clenched teeth. My power sucked in his necromancer abilities embarrassingly quickly. He thought he was powerful, but he was nothing to my paragons. My paragons, who were all awake now and staring at me with wide eyes. When Gritt realized that I wasn’t taking power from him at all, his lip tilted up.

Render flashed his fangs and strained against the chains holding him in place. Gritt hunched over, mimicking the pain that Braxton was experiencing for our captivated audience, then he roared and jerked against his bindings. Little by little, I took all of Judge Braxton’s powers while slowly creeping my smoke out to Banner.

When he saw my smoke coming for him, he threw up his neutralizing shield. “Her smoke should be blue, remember?” he yelled in panic.

But he was too late to warn Braxton. The judge’s knees gave out, and he fell against the ground with a hard thud. Council members started shouting, and I shoved my power out, filling the entire room with swirling, seething clouds, trapping them in my darkness.

At the same time, my smoke finally sucked the last of the magical curse that was bound to the chains that held Gritt before moving on to the others. Council members were panicked, trying to get to the exits, but I made sure that there was so much smoke that they were blinded by it. Shouts bounced off the walls, and some of them tried to use their powers, but I was already drinking from them, weakening every single one.

Behind me, Judge Braxton tried to stand up, but before he could get back to his feet, Gritt finally broke free of his chains with a roar and shifted into his lion. In the blink of an eye, he launched himself at the judge, mauling him with his bared teeth. I winced as blood splattered across my cheek, but I didn’t have time to stop. My mother was screaming at the vampires holding Reed to do something. But my Void lashed out and fed from them, draining them dry with one punishing gulp. They collapsed in a heap, sending Reed toppling onto the ground beside them.

“Run!” I screamed at my best friend before turning and starting to suck the power from the chains that held the rest of my paragons. I pushed out power to Render at the same time, funneling it into my vampire mate. With my power to bolster his, and the weakened chains, he immediately broke free.

My Void was a mass of destruction, and soon, the shouts of the other council members started to grow fainter as they succumbed. My legs began to tremble, and sweat poured down my face and back. It was too much. I was expending way more energy and power than ever before, but I knew I wasn’t done yet. My smoke fed on them like a plague of locusts.