Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

16

He didn't bother to stop me when I pushed past him to get out of the tiny bathroom. Another sign that confirmed his guilt. Thomas knew something about my father.

I may have already believed as much, but the certainty still scooped out a part of my heart and devoured it like ice-cream on a hot day. A little corner of my brain still hoped that he didn't know it all. That maybe he was ignorant of the depths of the torture that the men in white coats were inflicting on Jonathan when he was already weak, suffering and defenceless.
But he was James Device's best friend. Hell, they'd been closer than that at one point, and my sense of betrayal over what was happening to Jonathan when he was supposed to be under vampire care blossomed with suspicions over the status of their relationship now.

Had I been a dupe from the beginning?

Again?

I didn't think I could take it if Thomas had been stringing me along like Stephen had. Emily's partner in their security firm had been undercover, pretending to be my boyfriend for four years as a way to keep close surveillance on my life.

Slamming the bathroom door closed with Thomas still inside, I had to swallow the bile that rose in my throat at the idea that it had happened again.

Evan and Lucas were sat watching the news. Both men glanced up but then did a double take when they saw what must have been an ugly grimace on my face. I slumped onto the bed crawling under the covers and then pulling them over my head.

All I really wanted to do was run away, but there was no chance of that. This was house arrest and I was stuck here until the trial in a day and a half.

The bed creaked as Evan sat next to the lump that I'd become under the bed clothes. He put a comforting hand on my shoulder, and the warmth of the contact brought the tiniest fizzle of relief.

I heard it when the bathroom door opened again, but I didn't care what Thomas thought. I wasn't going to face him again, not when I was certain he'd been using me, relying on my vanity and naivety to spin the story of our fated relationship.

"I think it's time you went." Lucas's low tones rumbled from across the room where he'd gone to intercept Thomas.

"This isn't over, Alice." The flinty edge to his voice pierced through my duvet shield directly into my heart, making my body curl in on itself even more.

"It is," Lucas said. "Don't talk to her again. She needs to concentrate on the trial now. Everything else can wait."

"You don't speak for her, wolf."

"Yes I do, and if you care for her at all, you'll leave her with those she trusts."

I couldn't stop the sob that wracked my body at those words. The expanse of emptiness inside me was painful. Thomas's love had filled me up so well that without it I hardly knew who I was anymore.

I could feel the tension in the room increase as Thomas debated his next move. The competing impulses of the bonds that I'd formed since learning about the paranormal world made my body burn now that my magic was trying to seep back into them.

Evan's hand on my shoulder helped me to focus on the pack bond. I poured all the emerging energy into the warmth of our connection. As it strengthened, my magic sought out Lucas too.

I imagined how it would look if I wasn't buried in the bed like a duvet mountain. Silver particles joining together to form tendrils that would wrap around my pack-mates, warming them, protecting them from other magic.

I felt the moment that Lucas accepted the silver energy. There was no surprise in the connection. As my Alpha he would have known the second that the intention had formed in my brain. Still, the feeling of his approval was warm and smooth and filled in a little of the gaping hole at my centre.

My life-forced pushed out further, seeking Emily, the other member of our pack. It was drawn to her through the bond that the four of us shared. When it reached her, there was a moment of resistance.

I knew Emily well enough to understand that the feeling of any foreign magic would immediately set her on edge, but it only took a moment before she let it in, recognising the pack bond that flowed through my silver magic like electricity through power lines.

As the four of us connected the bond strengthened immeasurably, my magic bolstering it, tying us together. The emotions of the three of them flowed into me, and between the confusion and questions, I felt their love and acceptance.

I sent those positive vibes back to them with everything that I had, and the bond glowed in my mind, overwhelming the connection I had with Thomas, pushing it back as my heart and mind recognised it for the weak thing that it was.

I heard a scuffle by the door.

"Alice," his voice came out as a gasp.
I shut myself off from the throbs of pain that tried to infiltrate my energy. He wasn't my concern anymore.

"Go," Lucas said.

And this time there was no argument.

She's gone and done it! But was shutting Thomas out the right thing to do?