No, she couldn’t think that way. Not now that the spark of hope became an inferno, lit her blood on fire and resurrected her heart.
She looked at Hartt and willed him to walk through the veil of darkness, to navigate his way back towards the light. She clutched his hand in both of hers, closed her eyes and focused, turned her gaze inwards and shut out the world as she sought the bond that linked them. She wasn’t sure if it would be there if he was in the in-between world, in the shadows that loomed between life and death, but she had to try.
She was so close to the last time she had been reborn in flames that she could still feel the shadows clinging to her, hadn’t shaken the last vestiges of her death.
Her eyes snapped open as she felt it.
The bond that tied them was fragile, stretched taut and close to snapping.
She reached into it, surrendering to her need to guide him back, to show him the path. Heat licked at her skin, her blood turning to molten lava in her veins as she focused on breaching the veil.
“Move the hell back.” Syn’s voice was already distant as Mackenzie sank into the darkness, as the shadows gathered around her.
She heard growls, felt the others move away, and focused on Hartt, growing more confident now as the connection between them seemed to get stronger. She willed him to sense her, to feel her just beyond the veil as it refused to give, merely bent like rubber wherever she pressed against it.
The only way to reach the other side was through death and she feared that if she walked that route, the connection between her and Hartt would be momentarily severed, and he would be lost.
“Come on,” she murmured, focusing harder, letting the fire dance over her skin, unafraid of burning him now.
Even phoenixes weren’t born knowing how to resurrect.
Their first death was done with a guide like this and with knowledge of how to embrace the fire, and if that knowledge failed them, the guide would help them with their own cleansing flames.
She let her fire spread, didn’t try to hold it back as she sensed the others were at a safe distance now, unlikely to be hurt if she went all-out.
Or when Hartt resurrected.
Hope shone brighter as her flames leaped to him but the scent of burning flesh didn’t come. She opened her eyes and stared at the golden flames that chased over his hand, that swirled up his arm without harming him. Beneath the fire, light began to glow under his skin.
“That’s it, Hartt. Follow the light. Follow my voice. I’m here… Just punch through the veil. I’m waiting for you.”
Amber light began to shine between the tiny black scales of his armour, slowly rolling up his arm, and she gasped as his other hand caught fire, as his feet followed suit and flames leaped and chased up his legs.
“Mac, move back now!” Syn hollered, fear tainting her voice.
Not yet.
He needed to be closer. If she left him now, he might lose his way.
“I’m waiting here, Hartt. Don’t keep me waiting. Your ki’ara needs you.”
The light glowing from the cracks in his armour suddenly swept over his chest and condensed in a blinding burst of it above his heart.
His body lifted at that point of light, arms and legs dangling as his chest arched upwards and he began to float into the air.
“Mac!” Syn yelled.
This time, Mackenzie listened to her.
She teleported, her boots touching snow just as the shockwave hit her, sent her flying forwards. She hit the icy ground face first, grunting as heat seared her bare back, instantly melting the snow.
Mackenzie twisted onto her knees, coming to face the other way.
Hartt hovered in the air, great wings of fire streaming from his back. She gasped as those flames suddenly extinguished and he dropped to his feet and fell to his knees. She raced towards him, not caring that she was nude—as naked as he was now. She skidded in the mud as she reached him, slid to a halt beside him and stared at him, part of her unable to believe what she was seeing.
He blinked at her, confusion shining in his glowing golden irises.
Mackenzie hurled herself at him and kissed him, held him tight as she willed him to respond, cursing him a million times over in her head for doing this to her, for breaking her heart and making her believe she had lost him.
He slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around her, jerkily kissed her, his actions sluggish and speaking of the fatigue and weakness she could sense in him.
On the heels of relief, came rage.
She pulled back and slapped him hard across his cheek.
“You son of a bitch.”
Chapter 32
It wasn’t quite the welcome back that Hartt had expected, but then a part of him hadn’t expected to come back.
His cheek burned, his ear on that side ringing as he stared at Mackenzie, as he struggled to piece everything together and get his senses back online and his body back under his control.
“Next time you plan on scaring me like that, warn me,” she bit out, the anger in her tone revealing her worry to him, speaking of the love that beat in her heart for him.
He managed to lift his hand and rub his cheek, grew aware of how naked he was as her gaze dropped to his body and the others came jogging over to him. He was relieved to see everyone was all right. His gaze strayed back to Mackenzie.
Everyone except his beautiful mate that was.
He didn’t miss the fact she was naked too, but was too tired to growl and flash fangs at all the males, warning them not to look at her. Thankfully, they did him the kindness of keeping their eyes on him.
He frowned as he realised there were more of them than before.
His brow furrowed as he looked at Fuery, as his friend lingered just beyond the others as they crowded around him, the pain in his eyes tearing at Hartt.
He hadn’t meant to scare Fuery or Mackenzie, had thought resurrecting would be easy but gods, it hadn’t been. For a moment there, he had thought he was going to be stuck in that shadowy world forever, going in circles until either time ceased to exist or the vile wraith he had known instinctively was Death caught him.
He turned his head and pressed his forehead to Mackenzie’s, tugged her back to him as he recalled what had happened in that strange black realm.
“I heard you,” he whispered, breathing the words against her lips. “I felt you… there. Guiding me. I would have been lost without you. I am lost without you.”
She smiled shakily. “It wasn’t only me. If Fuery hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have known about you taking my abilities through my blood… I wouldn’t have known I needed to guide you back to us.”
Hartt leaned to his right and held his other hand out to Fuery, willed him to come to him. Fuery kept his eyes on the ground as he did so, heaved a shuddering sigh and rubbed his knuckles across his cheeks below his eyes. The tears he had tried to clear away immediately darted down them again, bringing ones to Hartt’s eyes too.
Fuery finally looked at him as he neared, frowned and held his hand up, and a thick black quilt appeared in it. Hartt held back his growl as his friend placed it around Mackenzie’s shoulders first before drawing it around Hartt’s, because Fuery only meant well, wasn’t trying to steal her from him.
He opened his arm to Fuery as the male sank to his knees beside him and wrapped him in an embrace too, holding both him and Mackenzie, eternally grateful to have both of them in his life. He reached for the bonds he shared with both of them. He felt the one he had with Mackenzie and was relieved to know it could survive a phoenix death and resurrection.