Chapter 7 │ The Bridge

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Present

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Present.

The wind howled.

Silent snowflakes fell from a black sky overhead. Kane's breath hung in the windy air. He found himself staring out over a white expanse that seemed to stretch forever.

Then, in the distance, he saw a familiar golden shimmer.

His gaze swept his surroundings. The intricate, esoteric stonework of the bridge was crumbling and cracked. No souls were shuffling past to find solace on the other side.

It was quiet. Eerily.

He staggered to his feet. Looking down, he saw that he was in his leather jacket. He'd left it discarded in that corridor of mirrors, no longer ruined with blood. He wasn't in pain, and the fire in his veins had abated.

He was in limbo.

Reid killed him.

That bastard.

Despite the shiver of apprehension from the stretching silence and the gentle snow pattering his form, he smiled. Reid could have taken his vulnerability and done what they both knew the idiot wanted above all else—the reason for the companion bond in the first place—for them to be joined eternally.

The idiot chose the option that he knew Kane wanted. Kane would never have chosen to be a vampire. He would rather have died, but he would have done it for Reid. And Reid must have felt that.

Shit. The moron was probably freaking out, questioning if he was going to return. He had to because Reid wouldn't survive carrying that guilt if he didn't.

Even though he's dead, he's damn grateful, and if he gets out of here, he might feel beyond indebted to the moron if it wasn't Reid's fault that he ended up in the entire situation, to begin with.

Kane hadn't forgotten about that shit. He owed Reid more than a few pinches. Maybe afterward, the idiot would finally get it through his head that sacrificing himself repeatedly wasn't an option. Kane understood why Reid did it—to protect that baby and get revenge for his mother's death. But without Reid, there was no point in fighting.

The world could burn if it meant Reid would be safe.

Moving away from the golden shimmer, he began a slow trudge through the untouched snow that reached his ankles. He felt the cold seeping through his boots and socks, numbing his toes.

Focusing, he could see the purplish glint of the barrier he'd almost fallen into during his fight with the beast. Warily, he kept his peripheral gaze on the nearly invisible wall he passed. He had never dared to enter it because he always thought of it as the void between life and death. He wasn't interested in exploring whatever lay beyond.

There was no shadowy doorway he could run towards. The last time, when that beast had been devouring souls, he'd barely made it to the portal that would take him back to his body.

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