“You’d better not pass out on me.” She reached for me again, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Come on, we’re almost to the Haunted Hound.”

“Sure thing,” I mumbled, but as soon as the words escaped my lips, darkness took me.

Eve

 

* * *

 

Awareness returned slowly, my vision going from black to gray to color.

A furry face stared down at me, nose twitching.

You need vodka.

“No, Ralph,” I croaked. “I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

Ralph patted my cheeks. Well, Quinn doesn’t have chocolate. Which I’m planning to take up with his supervisor.

I blinked and realized that I was lying on the bar at the Haunted Hound. No wonder Ralph had recommended vodka.

All around, my friends’ faces came into focus. Mac, Carrow, and Quinn all leaned way too close.

“The others are at the scene,” Carrow said. “Trying to sort things out.”

I groaned and sat upright, my insides still feeling like I’d been ripped apart. It was a physical pain, kind of. “How long was I out?”

“Twenty minutes since we brought you back,” Quinn said, his eyes dark with concern.

“We?”

“I couldn’t carry you on my own,” Mac explained.

“Thanks.” I looked at Quinn. “You?”

He nodded. “You were like a sack of potatoes the whole way back.”

“I’ve been called worse.” I climbed off the bar and sank onto a stool.

“You don’t feel any better, do you?” Mac asked. “Still look like warmed-up porridge.”

I grimaced. “And that’s the worst.”

Friends tell the truth.

“Thanks, Ralph.” I tried to catch my breath, but it was hard. I shouldn’t be panting. Not now. Not after resting for twenty minutes.

“I don’t have a ton of seer power,” Mac said, “but I can give it a try.”

“Do it.” I stuck my arm out toward her, hoping her magic would let her get a feel for what the hell was wrong with me.

As Mac rested her fingertips gently on my skin, I could feel the gazes of my friends. The worry radiated from them like the stink from an old gym bag, but nice. Kind of. While I appreciated that they were concerned, I wasn’t keen on them directing it at me. I’d prefer to pretend everything was normal.

My soul, however, wasn’t in the mood to pretend.

Mac rested her fingertips on my arm for the briefest second, then gasped and jerked her hand away.

I whipped toward her. “What is it?”

“Um…” She frowned. “You’re kind of…broken.”

“Broken?”

“Something inside you. Like your magic is trying to separate from your body.”

“Damn it, that’s exactly what it feels like.” I grimaced, wishing that I’d been exaggerating things in my head. “What do I do?”

“Get control of it,” Mac said. “Soon.”

Considering that I’d just thrown a ten-ton lorry across the street by accident, I could see the value in her words. And the fact that I wasn’t sure I could walk added an extra incentive.

The only problem was… “How? I don’t even know what I am.”

“We need to figure it out,” Carrow said.

I frowned, thinking of Garreth. “That’s not the only thing we need to figure out. What was he doing out in human London?”

“That’s a problem for Lachlan.”

“And me. It’s my fault we lost him.”

“Hell, no, it’s not,” Carrow said.

“It was my plan.”

“And it was a good plan. But not your fault.”

I shrugged. “Anyway, they’re connected. I know it. He works for the man who incited this change in me. He’ll have answers, or be able to lead me to them.”

Carrow frowned, then nodded. “Fine. Point taken.”

“It has to do with your past, too,” Mac said. “It must. You need to figure out what you are.”

Easier said than done.

I nodded. “I know. But first things first, I need to find a pain potion if I’m going to survive this.”

Mac swallowed hard, her eyes dark with worry. “Yeah, you need to hurry.”

I squinted at her. “What didn’t you tell me?”

She drew in an unsteady breath. “You don’t have a lot of time.”

“What do you mean?” A chill raced down my spine.

“I mean that if you don’t figure this out soon, you’re only going to get worse. Your magic will tear you apart.”

2

Lachlan

 

* * *

 

Mordaca stared at me, her sorceress eyes flashing with irritation. “You look like hell.”

“I feel like hell.” I dragged a hand through my hair, feeling my very bones ache.

She leaned against the table and folded her arms in front of her chest. Her black silk robe seemed to absorb all the light, and her ebony bouffant looked like she hadn’t just been asleep. “Hellish enough that it was worth waking me up at this godawful hour?”

“I thought you’d be awake.” It was midnight, and she was generally a night owl. I also hadn't cared. “I was desperate. Am desperate.”

“Does it have anything to do with the weird black eyes thing you’ve got going on?”

I raised a hand to the corner of my right eye. “It’s back?”

“It’s not permanent?”

“Oh, it’s permanent. But I’m doing what I can to fight it off.”

“You’re losing the fight.” She looked me up and down. “I always knew you’d fall to the curse one day. A shame.”

“Always knew?”

“Come on, Lachlan. A guy like you was eventually bound to fall for someone.”

Not someone. Her.

It had always been her, from the moment I’d seen her. It was why I’d tried to drive her off. It was why I hadn’t been with anyone since I’d met her.

Fat lot of good that restraint had done me. I’d still succumbed to the curse.

“Well? Can you make anything to hold it off?” I asked.

“Can’t Eve do that?”

“Of course. But I can’t be near her right now.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” She turned to the shelf behind her and studied the vials of ingredients. The glass bottles glittered under the light, their rainbow contents gleaming. “I can’t make anything to prevent the curse, but I can make something that buys you a bit of time. A bit of sanity.”

Thank fates. I had too much to do before I succumbed. Once the Dark Moon curse stole my loyalty and my soul, it’d be necessary for my pack to put me down. I didn’t want to curse them with that burden. Once I’d stopped the one who was after Eve, I could disappear. Put myself out of my misery.

Save them from that, at least.

I pulled the flask from my pocket and raised it. “Any chance you could increase the strength of this?”

She looked over her shoulder and raised a brow. “It’s completely stopped working?”