Her words hurt. She knew how to use them as weapons, hitting at my soft, vulnerable belly. But there was one truth she couldn’t take from me: Shadow Beast was my true mate, and he had not rejected our bond. He’d fought for it.

We both had and I was no longer that poor pathetic pup from Torma.

“You can’t take me down like that,” I said softly. “A few months ago, it would have worked, but I’m not the same being as I was then. I did best your mind control, and I will best you again now.”

I’d been building power in my center, every ounce I had, in preparation for the attack that she was about to send my way. Only she once again went for my vulnerabilities and continued to use her power against my friends. The tethers she held to them, the ones they couldn’t break, were killing them. At least the ones who were easily killable, and the others would soon have their energy stripped away until there was nothing left.

I tried to stop her, sending out my power in a bid to break those tethers as I’d done for myself. But it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t take her on alone, and my small attempts were just delaying the inevitable. Dannie was powered by a stone that could build and destroy worlds. Its power was near never-ending. Our attempt to best her had always been a long shot, and dammit, we’d given it all we had.

“You know you can’t win.”

She saw it in my face, and I schooled my expression, unwilling to admit defeat yet. I had to hold on to hope, for it was the strongest motivator that there was.

“It will not hurt, and you’ll all be together,” Dannie told me softly, and there was a warmth under my touch finally. She still felt something, even if it was crushed beneath the ice in her soul. “Don’t fight any longer.”

This approach worked differently to her last attack because this time it was true. My family was hurting. They were broken and bloody and burning alive. I couldn’t allow that to keep happening, and if I couldn’t beat her or save them, what was our other option?

Never stop fighting her, Sunshine.

His voice was in my head, his love and strength surrounding me, and I squeezed my eyes closed for a beat knowing that Shadow was right. Fuck. I did not lie down and die on command under a bully hurting me. I’d never done that, and I wasn’t about to start today. Torma had unknowingly been preparing me for this fight, and I would not waste their training.

Streams of light and fire burst from me, but unlike my last attack, which focused on brute force, this time, I went for a different strategy. Distract, deflect, and detain.