Eternal Bond : (The Cursed Series, Book 3)

by Kara Leigh Miller

  The news about the Rose Coven being temporarily immobilized had made its way through the magical community. Though no one knew it was Isach specifically who had done it, there was speculation it was a member of the Zoya Coven, and so they were rallying now, trying to figure out what was going on. It was only a matter of time before they found out about me.

  I couldn’t believe they hadn’t already, but I was starting to welcome the day they did learn the truth. At least then I could put an end to all of this once and for all. I was tired of running and hiding and fighting and lying. I just wanted it to be over.

  “Can you come over today?” Whitney asked.

  I gave her an incredulous look. “To your house? Where Trent lives?” I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  My anger had started to dissipate, and I was teetering on the edge of finally having to face the pain tearing through me. Being in his house would be like jumping off the cliff.

  “Isach has called a meeting,” she whispered as we stopped near my locker. “And he’s insisting you be there.”

  “Since when does Isach call meetings? And why are you all listening to him?” I dialed the combination and popped open my locker.

  “Since things are getting dangerous.” Whitney glanced around nervously. “We don’t know who’s a Zoya and who isn’t. We have no idea what they know or why they’re here. But even if they have no clue about you, they do know about the Halsteads.”

  I sighed. She was right. Regardless of my involvement, there was a centuries old feud between the Zoya and Halsteads, and I had a sinking feeling things were going to get nasty between them. And no matter what was going on between me and Trent, I didn’t want him to get hurt.

  “Fine, I’ll be there,” I said.

  My nerves were on edge all day, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Neither Trent nor Jax spoke to me, but they both watched me. Trent with sad eyes filled with concern. Jax with longing and concern and uncertainty.

  I hadn’t spoken to Jax since I found out I was bonded to him, mostly because I had no idea what to say. I wasn’t mad at him—it wasn’t his fault. But I couldn’t trust myself near him, either, so it was simply easier to avoid him.

  By the time the final bell of the day rang, I was a ball of dread. Whitney met me at my locker, probably because she was worried I’d bail, and escorted me to her car. The ride to her house was silent, my mind racing.

  What could Isach possibly need all of us for? Had any of them stopped to consider he was a very powerful witch who could do just about anything he wanted? What if he decided to do something awful to Trent and his family and then kill me?

  “Ready?” Whitney parked in front the house.

  I took a deep breath. “Nope.”

  Then, I opened the door and got out. When I walked inside, five pairs of eyes turned toward me. Trent and Sean sat in armchairs—when had they gotten those? Wyatt and Jax sat on the couch. And Isach paced in front of the fireplace.

  “It’s about time,” Isach said.

  “Yeah, well, not all of us have magic powers to get us places super fast,” I snapped.

  Jax covered his laugh with a cough.

  “What’s going on, Isach? Why did you demand we all meet?” Sean asked, always the peacekeeper.

  “I need your help,” Isach said. He’d stopped pacing and now stood still, arms by his sides.

  “You need our help?” I asked, shocked. Then I laughed. “I’m sorry, but what is it you think we can do to help you?” I walked farther into the room and perched on the arm of the couch, the side near Wyatt; no way was I putting myself anywhere near Jax.

  “You can lie. All of you.” Isach glanced around the room, his gaze resting on each of us in turn.

  “Chloe can’t,” Jax said. “She’s terrible at it.”

  “Shut up, Jax,” I snapped. I was in no mood for his jokes.

  “Okay, you’re going to have to explain a little better than that,” Sean said, his tone level. He leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs. “Start at the beginning.”

  “This is going to take a while.” Whitney smacked her brother’s leg. “Scoot over.” When he did, she flopped down on the couch.

  “There are laws within the magical community,” Isach said and immediately resumed pacing. “And the one we follow above all else is that we don’t move against another coven. Ever.”

  “Wait, but you helped us against Ivy’s coven,” Sean said.

  “I know, and I broke the law.” Isach dragged his hand through his hair.

  “Then why did you do it?” I asked. “Why not just leave us there?”

  Trent’s head snapped up, and he stared at me, wide eyed. It was the first time he’d looked at me since I’d arrived. Was he mad that I’d suggested Isach shouldn’t have rescued us, or because I’d said us—implying me and Jax?

  “You know why,” Trent said.

  “Oh, right.” I nodded. “You promised I wouldn’t break the curse.”

  Trent flinched.

  Good. I wanted him to know how I felt. He had no right to make that promise for me, because right now, that stupid promise was the only thing standing in the way of breaking the bond I had with Jax. Maybe. I had no idea what would happen if Jax changed me.

  Nerves and anger battled inside me, and I stood. The need to do something—anything—ate at me. “Well, last I knew, none of us had gone back on that promise,” I said.

  “I know, but that’s the least of my problems right now.” Isach blew out a breath. “I thought I had covered our tracks, but apparently, I didn’t. My coven knows something happened to the Rose Coven, and they know it was a witch, but they don’t know it was me.”

  “You never told your coven about Chloe.” Jax didn’t phrase it as a question, and a chill went through me.

  “No.” Isach shook his head. “I figured if you all kept your word, there would be no reason to tell my coven. The curse was still in place, and no one but us would ever know. Life could go on as normal.”

  “Why?” I crossed my arms. “Why wouldn’t you tell your coven?”

  It made no sense. The Zoya had spent their lives ensuring the curse against the Halsteads was never broken; they delighted in the pain it caused Trent and his family.

  “Because I’m tired of being caught in the middle of all this,” Isach said.

  I marched up to him, and Trent stood. Even from across the room I could feel the tension radiating off him; he was prepared to swoop in and save me if things went wrong.

  Standing toe to toe with Isach, I asked, “Does this have anything to do with Abby?”

  Isach’s expression softened the tiniest bit.

  “What does Abby have to do with this?” Wyatt asked. “She doesn’t even know about us.”

  I ignored him and kept my gaze trained on Isach. “Does it?” I insisted.

  “Yes,” he bit out between clenched teeth. “But now’s really not the time to talk about that.” His tone held the hint of a threat.

  “You stay away from her,” I warned. “Or I’ll tell your coven what you’ve done and who I am.”

  “Chloe!” Whitney gasped.

  “That’s enough,” Trent snapped.

  And before I could tell him to shut up, too, I was suddenly standing in his bedroom.

  He stood in front of the door, blocking my only exit. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

  “Well, I was talking to Isach.” I crossed my arms and glared at him, willing all the anger I’d felt over the past week to stay with me a little longer.

  But just being in this room—his room—was chipping away at my resolve. Everything smelled like him, reminding me of the nights I’d spent here, of all the promises we’d made to each other. My breaths became shallow and ragged.

  “You were provoking him,” Trent said.

  I shrugged. “So?”

  “You’re not taking this seriously enough. He’s trying to warn us that if his coven finds out about you, they’ll kill you.�
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  “So?” I said again. “It’s not like we all don’t know I’m going to die eventually. Who cares if that’s today, tomorrow, or ten years from now?”

  “I care!” he shouted and pointed at his chest.

  I took a hesitant step back, and Trent took a step forward. There was no fear of harm, just fear that if he got too close, if he touched me, the tenuous dam holding back my tears would burst.

  “Right. That’s why you dumped me. Because you care so much,” I said.

  “I will always care about you, Chloe. You do know that, don’t you?” His tone had dropped, and he sounded genuinely hurt that I thought he no longer cared.

  Honestly, I had no idea if he did or didn’t, and it really didn’t matter. But I couldn’t ignore the voice in the back of my mind that kept screaming at me—if he really cared, he wouldn’t have given up and walked away.

  “That doesn’t change the facts, Trent. I am going to die. You’re not. And it’s not even like I’ll get to have any semblance of a life with you, because once again, you took that choice away from me.” I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from crying.

  “I’m sorry.” He stopped directly in front of me, lifted his hands as if he wanted to touch me, and then dropped them back to his sides. “I just want you to be safe.”

  “Then we better get back out there and hear what else Isach has to say.” I stepped around Trent, and he didn’t try to stop me.

  When I returned to the living room, everyone was exactly where they’d been before. None of them looked at me, and I knew they’d heard every word Trent and I had said.

  “So, what lies do we need to tell now?” I asked Isach, exhaustion weighing on my shoulders. Would the lying ever stop?

  “I’m going to come clean to my coven, tell them I was the one who moved against the Rose Coven. I’ll tell them I got information that Ivy had found a spell that would weaken and eventually break the curse, so I stopped her,” Isach said. Clearly, he’d given this a lot of thought.

  “All right, so what do we need to do?” Sean asked.

  “Keep your mouths shut. Don’t let anyone find out about Chloe.”

  “Didn’t plan on it,” Trent said. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. Whereas before he wouldn’t even look at me, now he couldn’t seem to stop.

  “Yeah, I figured,” Isach said and turned his attention to Sean. “If you hear anything about Ivy or her coven, I need to know immediately.”

  “Of course.” Sean nodded.

  “Why are you turning yourself in?” I asked, eyes narrowed. “Why not just play stupid?”

  “All magic leaves behind a mark, a trace of the witch who cast the spell. Eventually, my coven will be able to figure out it was me. It’s better if I admit it now.” Isach paced again.

  I’d never seen him so agitated. “What will happen to you? Will you be punished?”

  Isach shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I shook my head, unease coiling in my gut. “This still doesn’t make any sense. Why are you doing this for them?” I pointed at Trent and his family. “They’re supposed to be your mortal enemies. And me?” I raised my brow. “You tried to kill me, and now you’re going out of your way to protect me? What are you up to, Isach?”

  “Nothing.” He held his hands up in a show of surrender. “I swear. I’m just tired of all this, okay?”

  I still didn’t believe him, but he obviously wasn’t going to give me any real answers right now, so I’d just have to talk to him later, without everyone watching us.

  “Won’t your coven just go to Ivy and ask her? What will stop her from telling them about Chloe?” Whitney asked.

  “I’m too valuable to Ivy,” I said, squeezing myself onto the couch between her and the arm. “She still wants me to break the curse. She won’t do or say anything that will give the Zoya any more power than they already have.”

  Leaning back, I momentarily closed my eyes, trying to make sense of everything. I had no idea if Isach’s plan would work, but he must be confident enough in it to suggest it, which meant… My heart rate picked up.

  If he was going to tell his coven that he stopped Ivy because she had a spell that could weaken the curse, then that detail had to be true. There must be spells that could undo magic. Maybe there was a spell Ivy could do to remove the eternal bond I had with Jax.

  I abruptly sat up. “I need to go.” Standing, I looked down at Whitney. “Can you take me home?”

  “Uh, yeah, of course.” She stood.

  I had no idea how to get ahold of Ivy, but I bet Whitney did, and I was going to get her to help me. If I could get rid of the bond, I could get Trent back, and right now, that’s what I wanted more than anything else.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:

  ISO: A Witch

  AS SOON AS WHITNEY AND I were in the car, I blurted out my plan to find Ivy and ask her to remove the eternal bond. “But I need your help because I have no idea how to find her,” I said on a rush of breath.

  “It’s not a bad idea,” Whitney said slowly. “But it’ll never work. Macaih said there was no way to break the bond.”

  “There’s no way he can possibly know that.” I crossed my arms and slouched in the seat. “And what can it hurt to try?”

  “You want to willingly go back to the woman who held you prisoner, who starved Jax and forced you to have to make the choice to let him feed on you? She’s the reason you’re in this mess, Chloe. It’s dumb to ask her for help.”

  I scowled. “But I can give her what she wants. She breaks the bond, and I break the curse. We both get what we want.”

  Whitney whipped her head around to stare at me. “You want to break the curse?”

  Shrugging, I averted my gaze and picked at my fingernails. “I want Trent,” I whispered.

  She pulled into my driveway, slammed the car into park, and then lunged over the center console to give me a hug. The gesture broke me, and my tears flowed freely.

  “Oh, sweetie, I know this is hard, but giving up your life isn’t the way to get him back,” she said.

  “Then what is? Because I can’t do this, Whitney. It hurts too much.”

  Whitney remained silent and continued to hug me as I cried. Eventually, I pulled away and wiped my eyes.

  She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I don’t know if this will help or not, but Trent is really beating himself up over this. He wants to be with you as much as you want to be with him, but he feels like he can’t trust you. He’s terrified the eternal bond you have with Jax is stronger than the love you have for him.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not.”

  “But he doesn’t know that, and telling him isn’t enough. You have to prove it.”

  “How?” I whined.

  How could I prove something like that? Wasn’t the fact I was trying everything I could to get the bond removed enough? My shoulders sagged with defeat. I glanced out the windshield to see Aunt Beth peering out the front window.

  “I gotta go.” I gave Whitney another quick hug. “Thank you. For everything.”

  “It’s going to be okay. Things will work out.” She smiled.

  If only I had her optimism. I climbed out of her car and headed inside.

  “What’s wrong?” Aunt Beth asked as soon as she saw me.

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “You’ve been crying.”

  “Oh.” I wiped at my eyes. “Yeah, I was talking to Whitney about my mom.” I smiled sadly. “It still hurts.”

  With a sigh, Aunt Beth hugged me. Everyone was hugging me lately. Good thing I was getting used to it.

  When she released me, she said, “There will come a day when you can talk about her and not cry.”

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  Then I went up to my room, locked my door, and went straight for my laptop. If Whitney wouldn’t help me find Ivy, I’d find her on my own. There had to be a way.

  I searched for “Ivy Rose,” but nothing came up. Not that I really expected it to considering T
rent had told me everyone had taken the last name Rose after Samara had been murdered, and I had no idea what Ivy’s real last name was.

  Clearing the results, I searched for “Rose Coven.” Again, nothing came up. I groaned and rested my forehead on the desk. What was I thinking? That witches would have websites and social media pages? Ugh. I’m an idiot.

  I had to find her, though, so I couldn’t give up. Wracking my brain, I tried to remember anything about her or the place she’d held me captive, any small detail that might help me find her. But what little I knew was useless.

  Frustration clawed at me. If I couldn’t find her, maybe I could find any witch—it didn’t have to be Ivy. Renewed, I searched for “witch covens in Keene Valley.” The first result was a website for how to contact a local coven. I clicked on it and was brought to a page that gave tips on how to find a local coven or wiccan group. That wasn’t exactly helpful.

  Why wasn’t there some sort of witch registry? Maybe I should list a personal ad online: ISO a witch to reverse a vampire bond.

  Yeah, that’ll work.

  I rolled my eyes. I had to face it—I wasn’t going to be able to find Ivy or any other witch on my own. Whitney wouldn’t help me, and I doubted Trent would, either. Of course… I blew out a breath and stood. I did know one other witch.

  Isach.

  He’d practically begged for our help today so he could cover his tracks. And he’d confirmed what Whitney had told me—he had some feelings for Abby. All that meant I had bargaining power. He was a heck of a lot more powerful than Ivy, too, so if anyone could break the eternal bond, it was him.

  I shook the nerves from my hands. Involving Abby was out of the question, but he didn’t need to know that. As long as he thought I’d help him with Abby, that was enough. It was risky, though, and I didn’t exactly trust him, but I was desperate. That solved it—tomorrow, I would talk to Isach.

  “Chloe?” Abby knocked on my door. “Hey, are you okay in there?”

  I unlocked the door and opened it. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”