“Are you going to explain anything to me?” I couldn’t believe this. He still didn’t say a word.

Then he did. Softly. “I am not your brother, no. We don’t share blood, but we are bonded.”

Finally. Answers. My eyes closed, and I felt relief flood my body. At least he was saying something honest. My voice cracked. “How long have you known?”

“All your life.”

His answer blew me away. “What?”

“It’s why I’m here. You’re the reason why I’m here. Your mother and their father aren’t either to me. I have no blood connection to the Braden name.”

“What?” My entire body reeled in shock. Then that meant… “What does this mean?”

“My father is full demon and sent me to the Bradens. He wanted me here. That’s all I know.”

He was lying. I saw it as surely and swiftly as if I had been the one who told the lie. “You just said that I’m the reason you’re here.”

“You are.”

“You aren’t making any sense. Why aren’t you making sense? What are you still hiding from me?”

He smirked. “I’m hiding a lot, but so are you.”

“No—” But I was and I knew it. The reason was because I didn’t trust him, not fully. I loved him. I had grown up with him as my brother, but I didn’t trust him. Then something shifted in me. The messenger wanted out. I felt it rallying, shaking the cage, and I gasped when it exploded inside of me. She was so strong…

My eyes switched, and I saw everything in black and white. The only colors were his eyes. They were a vibrant reddish brown and seemed to smolder in front of me. Kellan’s body was black, dark. Everything was white around us. I was white except for my own eyes. The reflection in Kellan’s eyes showed that mine were pitch-black. And I hissed, she hissed, “Demon!”

His eyes went wide. “Shay?”

Extending my hand, white light burst from it and slammed against his chest. Kellan flew backward into some trees. They bent at an angle from the force of his impact. He didn’t stay down. His head burst upright, and everything changed in him. His demon came to the forefront. His entire body was the same smoldering dark reddish brown.

He spat, “Messenger.”

“Leave her alone!” she threatened. An ominous feeling took root in my body.

He smoldered, bristling in fury before her/us. “You leave. You’re not wanted. You shouldn’t be a part of her.”

“I am. I will be. I forever shall be.” The promise of her voice shook. It rattled the ground. The trees waved back and forth, and the leaves fell to the ground from her force. It was so strong, so powerful…

“She’s his. You know this.” He started to circle, the predator.

She stood upright, never the prey. “She’s mine! I am in her. You cannot separate us.”

His eyes were fierce, promising ways of vengeance as he kept circling, slowly, so slowly.

She stared straight ahead, head high and chin lifted upward. Her shoulders were strong, so steady, and instead of watching him rounding, she ignored him. Then, as he hissed and lurched forward, she flung out an arm. Blinding light burst forth from underneath her arm, all the way down to the ground. It was a gleaming white cloak that she had adorned, and it beamed so bright, like a sun that’s too close to the human eye.

He reeled back.

“Leave!” she spoke with force. “Leave her alone, and I won’t break her. I will not force my way, but you will leave her.”

His body jerked upright, but a fluid look took over. His skin shifted easily, and it was Kellan in the forefront. His eyes snapped open, in control, but the same smoldering reddish color from the demon. “If you break her, I will kill you.”

She snorted, smiling cruelly. “As if you have the power—”

Then his hand shot out, and dark light burst from him. It shot her backward into the woods. The messenger recovered quickly, in midair, and sent another zap of her own energy. Kellan flung his hand open, caught it, and sent it back. She gaped, floating in the air, as it hit her body. No impact was felt. She absorbed it and then lifted stunned eyes back to him. Gliding to the ground, to stand before him again, she studied him. “You are not a mere hybrid.”

Kellan didn’t respond, standing there and waiting.

“Why should I not open my arms and let you be blinded by my real self? You would die, right now. Your eyes would burn into your body, and the demon would never recover. Tell me why I should not do that? Your kind hates my kind. My kind loathes yours.”

Kellan bristled in anger, but controlled it. “Because she needs me. I am bonded to her, and you know this. You’ve felt this her whole life, your whole life, and you know that if you kill me, she will be broken. You cannot survive without her.”

Hatred boiled underneath her surface, but something shifted, and she was gone.

KELLAN

Shay gasped, reeling backward. She threw her arms out, trying to regain some sort of balance. “Kellan!”

Swooping in, he caught her before she fell and swiftly lifted her up in his arms. His hand tucked her head against his chest, and he murmured, “Sleep. I’ll explain when you wake.”

“No!” She dug her hands in his shirt, her nails scraping through to his skin.

Kellan watched, unharmed. He didn’t react as she drew his blood, but smoothed out her hair from her forehead. “Sleep, Shay. It will be all right. I promise.” He ducked his head down and pressed his cheek to her forehead, drawing strength from her as well. The demon was exhausted from fighting the messenger. He could feel the turmoil inside of her and sucked in his breath, angry the messenger had even threatened to destroy everything. Shay wasn’t strong enough to handle the switch from messenger to human. Only one other human had survived a break as this messenger had done. They weren’t supposed to break free and take control over the body. They hadn’t been created for that.