“You fucking little bitch!” Orion screamed at me and I looked up. I was no longer within the darkness, but Orion was.

Alex lay at my feet in his wolf form, his sides heaving. “Finish it, boss.”

Orion hammered his hands on the now solid wall between us. “Fucking little bitch!”

I flipped him off. “You’re repeating yourself, demon. A sign of dementia, perhaps?”

The black Veil shivered and the demons behind me screamed as they were sucked into the seventh Veil, one by one. Their bodies popping as they slid through, like mosquitos hitting a bug zapper. I waited, feeling the demons careening along the threads as they were sucked in from the world.

A vacuum of epic proportions.

Hands touched my shoulders and I knew without looking it was my mom and dad. “Rylee, a life is the final key.”

Alex sat up, shifting into his human form. “Her life, or any life?”

Elle stared at him. “Her blood started the ceremony. She was needed because she was the only one who could see the threads of the Veil and untwist them. The Blood of the Lost created the seven Veils, so it took someone of the same heritage to fix them.” She was avoiding the question. Alex stared her down.

“Any life, or just hers?”

Elle’s eyes never left his and her unwillingness to look my way freaked me out. “You are correct, wolf. Any life will do, now.”

“No, Alex. You aren’t doing this.” I shook my head and tried to back away.

He stood and held his hands out to me. “Rylee, Giselle said I was the lynch pin, and so did Lark. This is the last thing I can do to keep my family safe. To keep those I love from facing this kind of darkness ever again. I can be the lynch pin to keeping your life intact.”

I shook my head, unable to see past the sudden onslaught of tears. “Alex, you can’t. Without you there, my life won’t be intact.”

Yet, already I knew he’d set his mind on it. “I can. I do this because I love you, Rylee. You were my only friend and you believed in me when no one else did. You took me in and saved me.” He wrapped his arms around me and I sobbed into his chest, clinging to him.

“Alex.”

“No, this is the way it’s supposed to be. I can do something no one else can. I can give you back to the world. I can give you back to Marcella and Liam. To all of them. They need you more than they need me and we both know it.”

He kissed the top of my head and I clung to him harder. Not Alex, anyone but him. But that wasn’t true, either, I didn’t want to lose any of my family.

“I can’t let you do this. I am the one who is supposed to die. Not you.”

He shook me lightly, and for the first time I truly knew he was no longer submissive. “You can and you will. For Marcella, if for no one else, you will let me do this. We both know this is the right way. But you have to promise me something,” he said, pulling back from me. Tears streamed down his face too, soaking his cheeks and chest where they dripped. Damn him, he was right. For Marcella, I would let him go.

“Anything,” I whispered through the pain and the tears.

He gave me a quirky smile and for a moment I thought his tongue would loll out. “I want you to go into the desert, get one of those fucking rabbits, and roast it over an open fire for me.”

A sob escaped me, and with it, I lost my ability to speak in coherent sentences. He stepped back, glancing at Elle. “I have to touch the Veil now, don’t I?”

From the corner of my eye I saw her nod. Alex lifted my hands, kissed them both, and then gave me a wobbling smile. “Don’t tell Pamela how I felt about her. She’s lost enough.”

“I won’t,” I whispered.

He swallowed hard. “I love you, Rylee.”

“I love you, Alex.” I couldn’t stop the cry as he stepped backward and into the black Veil. A burst of light exploded outward like a supernova. We were thrown back, and I hit the ground hard, feeling it dig into me like a slab of rock. I tried to open my eyes, but wasn’t able to even blink. Voices surrounded me; first, those I’d been reunited with, and one new one that sent my heart into overdrive.

“It’s okay, baby girl. Go, we’ll be here when it’s your time,” Mom said, and she pressed a kiss against my forehead.

“Alex knew it wasn’t your time to let go. Tell Ophelia . . . tell her I loved her,” Blaz whispered in my ear.

“Tracker. Your damn wolf was right. Love is worth dying for.” Faris breathed over me and I forced my eyes open, though it took all my strength to do it. My heart leaped at the sight of him until I realized what it meant.

Faris was dead. Liam was Faris.

“No, no. I can’t lose you too!” I screamed the words and his arms slid around me, pulling me to his chest.

“Ah, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to know for sure you loved me. That it wasn’t just the wolf you wanted.”

A hiccupping sob escaped me and I’d thought I was through all the tears in my body, but I was wrong again. I held him, feeling the strength in his body as he bent his lips to mine. A kiss that was for the first time free of manipulation or lies.

Just Faris.

“Damn you for making me love you too,” I whispered.

He laughed softly. “I could say the same. But I won’t. Your love . . . I think it might have saved me from penance.”

Faris ran a finger under my eye, swiping away the tears. “Don’t cry for me, Rylee. You were a blessing and a curse, and I am grateful for both.” His blue eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “Maybe I can find my mother and sister now.”