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Ivan stood tall and began walking back in the direction from  which he came, now confident he would be able to handle any spectre  that leaped out at him while he was walking.

He stopped as another snap in the branches startled him, and then  the familiar moans of the dead hovered in the air.

Ivan’s body chilled with gooseflesh, but like before, no face appeared before him and no hands reached out to grab him.

The sound came from behind him. From the place he was leaving.

I should escape now while I can
. It was better to go if there was truly a cluster of spirits gathering just beyond those trees. If they all sensed Ivan’s presence, then all the animal blood in the world would not give him the strength to resist them.

Despite this, he was drawn to the noises they made. He was curious to see what it was that they were grouped around. Ivan had never known ghosts to stay in such large groups before, and from the sounds of the zombielike moaning, there were a dozen of them at least.

As silent as a caterpillar on a leaf, Ivan inched his way forward.  He made no noise among the branches as he pushed them out of the way to better see into the clearing.

He gasped and nearly released the branches he was holding out of the way at the sight.

Eric was on the ground, lying on his back, his eyes shut and body facing the black sky. Every spirit surrounded him and stared down at his prone body, as though confused as to what could be the problem.

He must have come out here and the lot of them attacked him

when his guard was down.

Ivan could not believe it, nor could he allow whatever abuse they

had heaped onto him to continue. A ghost could not possess another

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ghost, but they could cause harm to each other, and that was  apparently what had happened.

Ivan stepped out of the bushes, the branches and leaves rattling  together as he released them.

Every gray face turned toward the noise. They were all dark, and  the sockets where the eyes should have been were entirely black, as  though shadows blocked them from view.

The eyes were the windows to the soul and all that.

His fear of them wracked through his body, but his fear for Eric  was stronger. He charged the spirits with an enraged war cry.

In what looked to be more shock than fear, they stepped out of his  way, allowing him to pass. None of the spirits attempted to keep him  from Eric. None seemed all that interested in the spirit that lay on the  ground like a wounded animal.

Suddenly, he was in the center of their circle, and they were all  still giving him that silent stare.

Ivan knelt down and grabbed Eric around the shoulders, and he  shook him with every ounce of vampire strength that he had.

“Eric! Wake up!”

His body moved and shook as Ivan tried desperately to wake him,  but he had no idea if this sort of clumsy technique would even work  on a spirit. Could Eric feel his hands? The way he was desperately  shaking him?

Yes, he had to. Eric was always able to feel Ivan’s presence. That  was how they’d found each other. He would feel this, too. He
 
would
 
wake up!

He had to. The spirits had long since lost all of their shock and  were now moaning collectively as they shuffled forward, their pale  fingers reaching out to Ivan.

He would not leave without Eric!

“Wake up! Eric! Please, wake up!”

Finally there was a small noise coming from out of Eric’s throat.

His eyes fluttered open, and he frowned at the sight of Ivan’s face.

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“You…”

Ivan was already gripping his hands and struggling to haul the other man to his feet. For a spirit, he was remarkably heavy. “Eric!  We need to leave!”

Eric’s half-lidded, confused eyes widened as he looked around the area they were in and took note of the many approaching spirits.

“What the—?”

He wasted no other words, but neither did he grab Ivan’s hand and run off with him. He shifted into his wolf form, the transformation

fluid and fast. The animal opened its jaws and roared at the lot of

them.

More than half of the spirits cowered at the noise and stepped back, but still there were others that continued coming.

Ivan had only ever seen Eric attack other spirits once before, and that was when he had come and chased them out of his bedchamber

when he was still living with his brothers. He’d never actually

witnessed Eric’s wolf in battle.

It was frightening and beautiful. The wolf bent its head, the hair along its neck and back standing straight, looking like long, pointed needles. He growled and barked, spittle escaping the long mouth, and when the spirits continued to walk forward, Eric lunged.

For some strange reason, he almost expected the wolf to pass straight through them. Perhaps it was because Eric looked so alive while the other spirits were obviously dead.

No, he was as solid against him as he was whenever he touched  Ivan. His teeth bit down on the neck of one of the spirits, it cried out as though in pain and the body exploded in sparkling lights as he tore straight through.

The ghosts lost all interest in Ivan as they began targeting Eric now. Eric lunged at others and spun around quickly as some of the ghosts tried to climb on top of him to hold him down.

He had to help. He couldn’t let Eric fight them alone.

For the first time in his life, Ivan attacked one of the ghosts first,

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although he did it while the spirit’s back was turned on him and  approaching Eric.

It was a male spirit, smaller than he was and perhaps just a young  teenager at the time of death, so his attack was simple. He grabbed it  by the throat and pulled back as it tried to charge at Eric.

It shrieked and flailed in Ivan’s arms, and not for the first time, he

was surprised at how solid the spirit felt when he touched it.

The boy stopped struggling, and then the head turned in a onehundred-and-eighty-degree half circle, as though the bones were made  of putty, if there were any bones at all beneath that pale skin.

The boy snarled at him, thrusting his hands out and pushing Ivan

away.

He flew up high and came down hard against one of the thicker  pines. Stars dotted his line of vision, and when his eyes cleared and he  looked up, the ghost of the boy was standing above him, staring down  at him.

Then it reached for him, those black eyes soft and needy, the same look every spirit had when it wanted to take control of his body.

Ivan would not be possessed ever again!

He screamed at the ghost. More of a war cry, the same as he’d used when he ran for Eric in the middle of their clearing.

The ghost’s black mouth dropped open in shock as the boy stepped back as Ivan rose to his feet. He advanced on the ghost as the spirit backed away from him, and he didn’t stop.

Every ounce of helpless rage he’d ever felt, all the pent-up anger and frustration, came boiling to the surface as he marched toward the spirit. For once, the ghost of a potential attacker looked fearful of him, rather than the other way around.

He charged at the spirit, his fists clenched and his fangs ready, prepared to tear into the boy for daring to even think he could take command of Ivan’s body.

The boy vanished before Ivan could sink his claws into his flesh, or whatever it was spirits had that made it so that Ivan could touch

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them.

He stood there in shock for a second, staring at the space where the boy had once stood, and Ivan did not sense the cold presence of him any longer. The spirit had retreated. He could hardly believe he’d done it. He’d frightened away a ghost entirely on his own. He’d done it on his own.

He smiled to himself. Then he looked over, remembering that Eric was still fighting off the many other spirits that had been attacking him.

Only he was no longer doing that. He’d chased away the attacking spectres, as he always did, and now he was simply standing there, still in wolf form, staring at Ivan.

Ivan smiled at him. “I did it.”

Eric shifted back into his human shape, naked and beautiful. His smile was proud and genuine. “You did.”

Ivan ran to him and threw his arms around Eric’s large shoulders.  Eric was almost too surprised to catch him, but Ivan was more interested in kissing every inch of Eric’s face, stopping at his lips.

His body thrummed with the pleasure of victory. There had been so many of those spirits only a moment ago, and now he and Eric were safely together. They were gone, and Ivan and Eric were still here.

Eric pulled back from the kiss, staring down into Ivan’s eyes.  “What are you doing here?”

“I can ask you the same thing,” Ivan said, kissing Eric again.

Eric would not be put off. He groaned as he pulled his mouth away, as though it pained him to interrupt what Ivan was attempting to do. “No, really. How did you get out here? I don’t think we’re even on pack territory.”

“We’re not,” Ivan admitted. “I came searching for you after what had happened. I was just about to turn back when I came upon those spirits, and you were lying on the ground, right there.” Ivan nodded to the spot, shivering as the thought of Eric lying there, for the first time

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actually looking dead to him, flashed through his mind.

“How did you come to be out here?” Ivan asked. “You said to me  yourself that you cannot leave the pack land.”

“I can’t, not unless you’re there with me.”

“Do you remember what happened?”

Eric shook his head. “I was hunting. Trying to, anyway. The  animals sense me when I want them to, but I still can’t grab onto them  when I get close. I remember I was chasing a buck, and I knew I was  coming close to the edge of the land, then nothing.”

Eric looked down into Ivan’s eyes. “Maybe those ghosts all snuck  up on me.”

Ivan pulled Eric closer to him, until they were completely chest to  chest, and he rested his cheek on Eric’s shoulder. Perhaps that was  what had happened, and when Ivan came for him, Eric was able to  wake up from whatever the attack had been and finally defend  himself.

He could not bear the thought of being without this man, ever again. “Please do not go.”

He felt Eric’s arms stiffen around him, and he knew he was in for

another fight.

Ivan looked up at him, at the pain in Eric’s eyes, and he held onto

the other man tighter, keeping the spirit of the man he loved close.

“Ivan, I—”

“Do not start with me that nonsense that you would prefer I live a  normal life. I am a vampire and a medium. There is nothing about that  which resembles normalcy.”

“I attacked you,” Eric said. “I took possession of your body and  can’t even figure out how I did it. Opal said it was because I’m  restless to move on, and I’m taking it out on you.”

Ivan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Are you  restless? Are you restless and eager to be away from me?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then do not leave me here by myself!” Ivan yelled. “You are the

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only good thing that has happened to me in my entire life. You are the  only reason I am alive today. If you do not want to leave, then do not  leave. You can take possession of my body any time you wish if that  is what it will take to have you stay.”

“Shh, Ivan, stop. You’re going to make yourself sick,” Eric said,  pulling Ivan back into his arms. They both held each other as though  it might be the last time they ever did.

“You came to me for a reason,” Ivan said, not finished speaking  his thoughts. “You are not like the other spirits for a reason, too. If  you wish to leave because I do not make you happy, then go. Please  do not leave because you think you have to.”

Ivan couldn’t believe he just said that, and his heart stopped as he  waited for Eric to tell him that, yes, Ivan wasn’t making him happy,  and that he was done with protecting him from every single spirit that  came within a ten-mile radius of him.

Eric sighed, and Ivan felt the distinct press of those soft lips in his hair. “It’s not that. I want to stay. You’re here, and so is my brother and my pack. All my friends.”

Eric put his hands on Ivan’s shoulders and pushed him back enough so that he could look into his eyes. Ivan shivered with the dark expression he found there.

“If I stay, if I stop looking for a way to the next life, if there even is one waiting for me at this point, then you need to do something for me.”