I hear the brothers’ heartbeats one by one, layered rhythms echoing through stone. I feel the pulse of the mountain beneath the clubhouse, the echo of spells lingering in the walls, the faint scar left behind by fae magic like frostbite against reality.
Pain rips through me again, sharper this time, as if my bones are being reforged from the inside.
I arch against Raze’s chest, fingers clawing into his arms, not to push him away but to anchor myself as the transformation climbs higher, deeper, stripping away the last fragile threads of mortality.
Violet light erupts around us, shadowed gold sigils spinning in widening circles, obsidian sparks scattering resembling embers across the floor.
My heart stops.
For one suspended, terrifying beat, there is nothing.
Then it starts again.
Stronger.
Slower.
Infinite.
Magic roars through me fully now, no longer fragments or accidents, but inheritance realized. The witch’s bloodline sings in my veins, every cell humming with power that had waited generations to awaken. The agony shifts, becoming somethingalmost holy, a pressure that threatens to split me apart even as it fills every empty space inside my chest.
I can feel the forest beyond the walls breathing with me.
I can feel the ley lines bending toward me like they recognize their own.
And beneath it all, steady and unbreakable, is Raze.
His presence threads through the chaos like an anchor, fire and frost pressing against my back, his arms tightening as if he can hold me together by sheer will alone.
The magic crests.
Violet light flashes blindingly bright.
Gold sigils collapse inward.
The obsidian glow sinks beneath my skin, mirroring a brand sealing shut.
And suddenly, the pain breaks.
It doesn’t vanish.
It transforms.
What remains is power, vast and endless, coiling through my veins like something that has always belonged there. I inhale sharply, lungs filling with air that tastes alive, and when I open my eyes, the world is different.
Clearer.
Louder.
Real.
Not mortal.
Not fragile.
Mine.
Fire and ice spiral through both of us now, our magic intertwining in patterns that speak of balance, partnership, and two forces that should annihilate each other but instead create something neither could achieve alone. I feel his power like a second heartbeat, steady and fierce, and absolutelyminein ways that transcend possession or claim.