KYLE POV
I couldn’t afford to break.
Not now. Not with all of them watching me. Not with the stench of corrupted magic clawing at the air and the sight of that cursed house pulsing like a wound that wouldn’t close.
Keegan was barely holding it together. Gunter had gone quiet—too quiet. And even Aurora, who usually radiated fire and fury, stood still as stone beside me, her magic humming under her skin like a warning. They were looking to Kendrick for direction. But they were looking to me for steadiness.
And I couldn’t fall apart.
Even if my chest was a warzone. Even if my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Because she was in there.
Kat.
And Kingsley.
My kitten. My brother. My family.
Taken. Trapped. Maybe tortured. Maybe worse. And still—I didn’t know if they were even still alive.
B
