“Kellan,” Shay murmured drowsily. His magic was working, slipping into her, making her succumb to exhaustion.

“Sshh. Sleep.”

And her eyes closed. Her entire body gave up the fight and was limp in his arms.

He drew in another shuddering breath and wrapped both of his arms around her tight. Then he whisked them through the woods and into his bedroom.

The lights were off. Since there was no moonlight that night, his room seemed darker than normal. Kellan saw everything clearly, as if it were day, and laid her down onto his bed gently. Then he sat beside her, gazing down at her in concern.

The messenger had broken free, taken over. What would be the ramifications? What would Shay remember? What parts of the messenger had become more linked to her, had broken her own sheltering spell that she cast as a child?

Kellan lifted up her sleeve and saw the circling tattoo had stopped. The strings that had formed a circle were now intertwined. They mixed together except one string at the bottom. It stood apart, silver in color while the others had taken on a brown tone. He knew Shay would be worried about this, but there was nothing he could do.

As he lay beside her, turned toward her, kept her tucked against him, his body sheltered hers, and he tucked a hand underneath her, claiming her. Then he rested his forehead in the crook of her neck and shoulder and allowed sleep to come over him. The demon inside was more than tired and would need more than his normal few hours of sleep.

I was running through a forest, but it was dark. There was no light to help me see, but something was after me, chasing me, breathing down my back. I felt it—it was too much. I couldn’t ignore it, so I kept going, faster and faster. I couldn’t breathe. My heart was racing in my chest. I felt it was going to explode. Each step I took, I pushed faster, harder. Every muscle was strained, and I gritted my teeth, just going farther and farther, faster and faster.

“Your kind hates my kind.”

“What?” I whipped my head back. Who was there?

The voice whispered again, going past me, “She’s his.”

I braked abruptly and spun around. The forest was large, looming above me, so powerful. I felt like it wanted to shelter me, suffocate me. It didn’t want me to breathe.

Then the voice came again. It was a whisper on the wind, now behind me. “If you break her, I will kill you.”

Then it roared, “Leave!”

My heart took off at a thunderous pace, and I reacted, jumping, turning, and sprinting away. Faster, faster, harder, harder. I had to get there. I must. If I didn’t—someone would die. Someone was going to die. I needed to stop it. Then my heart got louder and louder. Thump. Thump. Thump, thump, thump. It took over, and I couldn’t hear anything else. Trees stood in my way, and I bounded around them. Leaves and branches cut into my skin, nipping at my head, trying to blind me, pierce me. Gritting my teeth, I ignored them. I kept going. I had to. If I didn’t…THUMP, THUMP.

“I am bonded to her.”

I stopped again and bent over, panting. My heart wouldn’t stop. Then I looked up—that had been Kellan’s voice. He was bonded to someone. What did that mean? To whom?

A stream of white light burst in the sky. I looked up as it illuminated the night sky. All the trees were gone. It was only me, no one else. No forest. Just the light and me and a voice above it whispered to me, “It’s you. It’s always you.”

My eyes got wide, and the light sped downward to me. It was going to overtake me, but then my eyes shot open again, and I sat upright, gasping.

“Hey, hey.” Kellan sat up next to me with an arm around my back. He rubbed in circles, soothing. “It’s okay. It was a nightmare. It’s okay now.”

I was disoriented, hearing his voice from a distance. Everything was going around me, too fast, too soon. I couldn’t get my bearings, and I reached out, closing my hand around something strong. It was my balance. It grounded me as the room continued to spin around me.

“Wha—?” I felt my chest, how my heart wouldn’t slow down. “Kellan! My heart.”

“It’s okay. I promise.” He pressed a kiss against my forehead and rested his cheek there.

My heart started to slow, just a bit.

He lifted me up and cradled me on his chest, scooting backward until his back was against the wall. Then he rocked me back and forth, repeating his words, “It’s okay. I promise. It’s okay. I promise.”

I gasped for breath and burrowed into him, seeking more shelter. I was only aware of his fingers on my forehead, how he brushed my hair back and kept doing it over and over. I felt my heart starting to slow down. It still pounded throughout my whole body, but a few minutes later, I saw that I was in his arms. Then we were on his bed, in his room, in our home. Finally, I breathed in and out, at a normal rate, and I was able to push up from him.

“What happened? Something happened?” My eyes searched his.

Kellan frowned, but didn’t hide anything. He let me see into him, to the demon inside of him. The demon looked back at me, concerned, too. I reeled back and scrambled out of his arms. “What—your—what?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t want to hurt you. I mean that.”

“But—” I heard the whispers again. They were scratching at my consciousness. They wanted me to remember something. “She’s his.” I asked Kellan, “Who is his? What happened?”

“The messenger in you took control.” He sounded in pain.