by LJ Swallow
I squirm. "I didn't shift."
"Partially," she reminds me. "You're different."
"The night traumatised me, Maeve. I don’t like talking." I huff when her steady gaze remains on me. "The dragon’s closer to the surface, which isn’t surprising since I've only a couple of months before I'm of age." I take Maeve’s hand then trace my fingers across her healed palm. "I meant what I said. I don't want you to see me as the dragon."
"Okay."
But we both know that will happen one day, even though I can't choose to shift often thanks to what I shift into.
I only saw Vince as a dragon once. I'd seen shifters before—Vince’s friends and family—and although we stood on a mountain in the dark, I could see enough to fill me with awe. I'd imagined a giant creature, as big as a street of houses, but Vince was only three times the size of a man. Only. That’s bloody big enough. His size gave me hope I could stay hidden and not end up at the wrong end of a hunter's gun barrel.
"I think you'll be a pretty dragon," she teases. "The scales were gold this time."
"Maybe I'll be multi-coloured." We share a smile but I hate this conversation.
"About Anastasia," she begins.
"I'm happy I killed her." I blurt the words. The hatred I felt for the woman couldn't be controlled in the state I was. I didn't think. I did what I had to, and I would again to protect Maeve.
"I'm glad you didn't attack Gabriella."
"She was next on the list, but I managed to restrain myself."
"Ash. Gabriella would've killed you. Andrei barely survived and..." She trails off. "And she's more powerful than a single shifter, you know that. Gabriella won't die easily."
"You think she might be alive?" I ask in horror.
Maeve meets my eyes, unblinking. "If Tobias is alive, Gabriella could be."
I can't have this conversation with Maeve. I've avoided saying anything, but this is day three and we've no contact from him. At one point, Maeve decided she'd go back to the academy in case he was trapped, and it took both me, Jamie, and a phone call from Amelia to persuade her to stay.
In the end, Maeve agreed, because she didn't want to miss him coming to the estate.
My heart fractured a little bit more.
"I had a vision," she whispers. "I saw Tobias come here."
"When?" I frown. "You never said anything."
"Two nights ago."
Night? She had a dream. "You saw Tobias on the estate?"
"Yes. I saw him walking along the driveway towards me, in the type of vision where I experience the moment."
A lump builds in my throat. I'd dream that Vince came back in the early days after he disappeared, and I'm angry at how unfair it is that the visions are clouding her judgement. Somebody created a cursed bond that's eating away at Maeve and their selfishness infuriates me. These Winterfalls weren’t the benevolent witches people say, but I daren’t voice that opinion. They didn’t think about Maeve; they cursed her life and destroyed two people.
"You don't believe me, do you?" Maeve's eyes brim with tears. "That's exactly why I never said anything to the three of you."
“I know that you trust your visions.” I smile, hoping the vague reply works.
“But you don’t.” She stares ahead and retreats into the place she spends most of her time currently. One where she can forget the horror and hold onto a future where Tobias exists.
Chapter Seventy-Two
MAEVE
I know the guys think my vision was a dream. I'm aware they're only staying with me to watch and comfort me. The guys aren’t waiting for Tobias.
Jamie and Andrei could hardly conceal their doubt when I told them, but I don’t need them to believe what I feel in my soul.
Tobias is alive.
I refuse to accept I’m in denial and the belief shines in my heart, allowing me to function.
Jamie and Ash's chaperoning extends to night time too as the pair sleep either side of me, and I cuddle one while I lie spooned with the other. If I weren't fixated on the future I want, I'd spend more time with the guys who are present and patient with me. Andrei often grumbles there's no room for him, but he definitely wouldn't want to sleep.
Since the night beneath the academy, things have shifted between us all. Everything changed. We’re no longer kids from the academy; we’re survivors, forever bound by events. We’re still processing—Ash rarely speaks about his role and Jamie switches his focus to the future. The biggest issue that nobody mentions is the First. Did she escape? And if not, is a collapsed pit enough to hold back a primordial force? For now, we hold onto the theory that my blood triggered the fire designed to add an extra layer of ‘security’. I only hope this is true.
In my vision, Tobias arrives at night, which means as soon as the guys fall asleep I sneak away, however tempted I am to stay.
Propping myself on an elbow, I peer down at Ash. He’s lying with an arm above his head, mouth slightly parted as he breathes deeply in sleep. I turn to Jamie, whose grip on my waist loosened a few moments ago.
Also asleep.
Carefully, I peel myself away from the pair and sneak from the room. Where does Andrei go when we sleep? I half-expect to find him outside the cellar door on guard. I have my amusing suspicions—phone reception isn't great here; he could be in the attic trying desperately to find an internet connection.
I climb the stone stairs and pad through the house, along the floors now stripped of the carpets, and to the broken-tiled hallway. Glancing back in case one of the guys notices me leave, I open the doors as slowly and quietly as I can.
Rain replaced the sunshine from my time with Ash and pours from dark clouds obscuring the stars. I don't care, because there's rain in my vision of the night Tobias returns.
The water soaks me the moment I step outside; the hoodie I borrowed from Amelia doesn't offer a lot of protection. I don't care. I will walk through the rain every single night until Tobias comes back to me.
The last two nights, I wandered around until dawn, sheltering beneath a tree when the rain fell hardest, and my spirits grew heavier with each streak of colour in the dawn sky.
Tonight is the same, and although this isn't winter rain, I'm still chilled. I check my phone as I do twenty times a night. 4:44 a.m. The rain turns to drizzle, so I start another walk to the gates and back. Once, I counted my steps and then I challenged myself to walking faster each time to pass the hours. I must be the fittest I've ever been.
I stomp in puddles, watching the water roll off my black boots, and amuse myself by hopping from one to the other, before continuing my count. The rain soaks my hands, so I shove them in my pockets and switch focus from the puddles to the direction I’m walking.
A male figure stands about a hundred metres away and my chest grows so tight I swear my heart stops. He's in the dark, the clouds obscuring any possible light from the moon, and I pick up my pace. This could be Andrei, Maeve, I tell myself. The two guys are a similar build and I never saw Andrei in the house.
As my walk becomes a run, I move closer to the hooded figure, but I’m frustrated that I can't see his face. The guy doesn’t move to begin with, then walks forward before taking strides towards me.
He lifts his hands and pushes down the hood.
"Omigod!" I call and charge forward as soon as I see Tobias's face. I crash into him and in a heartbeat his arms are tightly around me. I grip him, face against his damp jacket but my body slackens.
Please don't let me be in a vision.
Tobias pulls back and wipes rain from my cheek, his cold fingers resting on my skin as he looks at me, and light flares across my shadowed world as his familiar energy flows. The rain flattens my hair, dripping down my nose as I meet his steady gaze.
I don’t have a chance to speak before Tobias’s mouth meets mine, a raindrop from his nose touching mine as he does. His lips are cool and familiar, the softness becoming firm as I press mine on his in return, clutching him to me as if he might slip through my finger
s as he does in my dream. His hand slides into my damp hair and he kisses me in a way that spins me from my nightmare and into the dream I’ve held onto.
I'm surrounded by the strength and heat of the man who I swore I’d see again when everybody else doubted me. We kiss for what feels like forever, a single moment frozen in time that nobody can take from us. Nobody will take Tobias from me again.
Night air hits my heating cheeks as I pull my mouth away, skin smarting from the rain and scruff on his face.
"Why did you take so long?" I choke out as my tears mingle with the rain.
Tobias laughs. "Hello to you, too. You're lucky I'm here at all, Maeve."
"What happened? Where've you been?"
"Looking for you." He slides hands beneath my jacket and I barely feel his cold fingers, only the heat between us burning my veins. "Thank you for waiting."
"I'd wait forever, Tobias, but I knew I wouldn't need to. I always believed you were alive." I step back and hold his hands, arms outstretched so I can see him properly. "How did you escape? Are you hurt?"
He closes his eyes and I recognise the spike of strange energy that always comes from him when he's about to say something he'd rather hide.
"Tobias?" I whisper. "What happened?"
He opens them again. "Gabriella saved my life."
Chapter Seventy-Three
MAEVE
"Why would Gabriella do that?" asks Andrei.
I sit on the floor wrapped in a towel, still in damp clothes, since I’m too eager to tell the others. I barely feel the cold; I'm still glowing inside and out from Tobias's presence. He's peeled off his jacket and sits in a wet T-shirt that stretches tight across his muscular torso, distracting after the kiss.
Andrei barely speaks, and Ash is the first to break everybody's stunned response to Tobias’s arrival. I enthused "I told you so," then immediately felt like a stupid kid. My hand is firmly in Tobias's and for the first time, he doesn't pull away.
"Good question," adds Jamie, and I catch the edge of suspicion to his tone. “Why would Gabriella help?”
"Because I had the upper-hand but not much time." Tobias’s fingers tighten around mine. "If in those few moments I’d killed Gabriella, the cavern roof would've fallen and crushed us until the fire took hold and killed me too."
"So you chose to save her life?" asks Ash.
"No. She bargained. Gabriella knew the spell to open the way out of the tunnels through the Petrescu cellars, which is closer than the main entrance and reachable at our speed." He takes a shuddery breath. “Like you, Jamie, I had to make a split-second decision.”
“She could’ve tricked you,” I whisper.
“Then I’d be dead either way.”
"This means Maeve is still in danger and the curse still stands," says Jamie in a flat voice. "Because you didn't die."
"No. The curse refers to the night in the cavern," I protest. "It's over."
"Curses don't work like that, Maeve," Jamie says. "They're attached to people, not events."
"Tobias?" I look to him, but he's staring at his damp boots. "Do you agree?" Tobias gives a small shake of his head and chips away at my happiness that everything is over.
"Which means Tobias still needs to protect you, and from Gabriella, right? You should've killed her, Tobias," exclaims Andrei.
"And died?" I ask in horror.
Andrei fixes his eyes on Tobias. "I'd die for you, Maeve."
"Don't judge," say Tobias wearily. "Gabriella told me her plans and I knew Maeve would not be safe if I died. I can still protect her."
"What plans?" asks Andrei sharply.
"Gabriella lost her Blackwood allies, but they're not her only powerful associates. This doesn't end because she failed once." He pauses. "This doesn't end until Gabriella dies."
Jamie mutters something and I shoot him a look. “The First is still down there?”
He moistens his lips. “I can’t say for sure. The pit was still open when we ran.”
“Fuck!” exclaims Andrei, smacking the back of his head on the wall.
"I worried you wouldn't survive, Andrei," he remarks and gestures at him. "I'm happy that you're all safe. Are Amelia and Matt, too?"
"Yeah." Andrei chews his lip.
They're suspicious of me.
I trust you.
I move to place my hand on Tobias’s damp leg instead and I look to Jamie, willing him to drop the suspicion.
Am I suspicious? No. But I need answers.
I don't want Tobias out of my sight in case he disappears again. Ridiculous, I know, but after days obsessing about him, I can barely believe he's here. I wait outside the door to the room he's changing in, fighting against imagining him shirtless—and more. After ten minutes of shuffling from foot to foot, I become anxious and rap on the door.
"Tobias?"
He doesn't respond and, in a panic, I push on the handle and walk into the room. Tobias stands close to the window where the early morning sun shines onto this side of the house. Paint tins are stacked around with brushes and the sheet is still nailed to the window frame. He holds one of Andrei's T-shirts bunched in his hand and is naked to the waist. My heart stutters.
"You're taking a while. Are you okay, Tobias?"
He turns and his muscles flex as he pulls on the black tee, his hair mussed when his head appears through the neck. Right now, he's as pale as the guy whose clothes he borrows.
"You know that I can't lie to you," he says softly.
My heart rate picks up, but not from seeing him half-naked. "Oh god, no," I whisper. "What’s happened? I can't stand any more."
His eyes widen. "No! No. Nothing. What I mean is, you would know if I tried to hide the truth."
"I don’t doubt you at all." I close the gap between us. Scruff covers his face, and I reach out to touch his rough jaw. He’s not quite the Tobias I know in many ways.
He touches my cheek in return, and we stand for a moment, unable to speak, but not needing to. "I didn’t bargain with Gabriella for my life—I know that’s what the others think. As soon as we reached the surface and ran from Petrescu, she caught me off guard and attacked me. I lost consciousness. When I came around, she'd gone."
"She left you?" I ask with a frown. "Why didn't Gabriella kill you?"
"I expect I'll find out," he says with a soft sadness.
"Why didn't you come straight to us?"
"Because I want people to think I died."
"I don't think you'll be able to hide that forever,” I say with a small smile.
"No, but I'm with you now. Exactly where I'm supposed to be." He steps closer and my heart flips to overdrive. This isn't the man I knew—there's no denial or rejection—as if the one I left in the cavern is hidden behind the rough guy in front of me. Tobias strokes my hair and in his eyes, I can see into the heart that Tobias once denied he has.
"I love you, Maeve. I'm sorry I took so long to find you."
"I'm sorry I left you," I whisper.
He smiles. "From where I was lying, it looked like you had no choice. Interesting to see Jamie take control like that."
"You underestimate him."
He pauses. "Indeed."
"Oh, no.” I warn. “There's no way on this earth that you'll ever invoke that man again. Professor Whitlock died, even though you survived."
My breath hitches as he winds an arm around my waist and pulls me closer, his hips against mine. We can never stand in a room without the tension that comes from the curse and his effect. There's never been an escape from the lamia and pneuma energy that pull us together, but the physical distance took longer to close. A delicious shiver runs through me as his fingertips touch my lips.
"Then my behaviour with you is no longer inappropriate."
But not as inappropriate as we want.
Tobias blinks as he catches my thoughts and drops his fingers, but I close the space between us before placing my lips on his. Have I forgotten how immediate the buzz is when our bodies meet, because the mom
ent I do everything pours back into me? Each moment of need; the snatched time together; the love and care he has for me that threatens us both.
I'm frightened he'll push me away when we both need this reconnection. Instead, his fingers slide behind my neck and he gently holds my head as he kisses me softly, but with a desire he's trying to block from showing.
Desire stoked and fuelled by the lamia energy that calls out to and traps me, but one that I always welcome, I clutch his face and kiss him deeper. As I taste Tobias, I’m back to where we were on that last night together, every nerve in my body lit up by a consuming need to feel his skin against mine. Tobias draws away and strokes my cheek with his thumb.
Here and now would never be the right time, even if things were different. I would give the world to live in one where he was simply the guy I loved and who loved me, and not part of a curse that hurts us both.
I believe I can change this.
I'm a Winterfall.
There are others out there who knew my family. Three men—and one could be my father. These people know the magic and were complicit with the family in hiding me.
Now, the supernatural world knows that I'm Maeve Winterfall.
Nobody gets to hide anything from me anymore, and I will search for my history and take back the Winterfall magic. I'll find these men and they'll tell me everything they know.
Who I am and what I can do.
How to kill Gabriella and keep my friends safe.
And how to break the curse that's destroying mine and Tobias’s lives.
Chapter Seventy-Four
ONE MONTH LATER
MAEVE
We remain at the Winterfall house and move into the newly renovated wing and Steve continues to come back and forth with his builders and I watch as the house rebuilds. I’m unsure what they all think of us, but mental magic prevents too many questions.
I wish we were fully hidden, but some in the supernatural world know where we are. Few know the full story, and fewer still have spoken to us since the academy attack. I met with Confederacy along with the others. We all refuse to meet anybody alone—we’re a group. Tobias suspects Andrei’s grandfather stepped in and instructed Confederacy to take the pressure off us which I question in my mind but don’t ask. What more can we tell the authorities? They have most of the facts and the majority of their resources are focused on tracking down those behind the shifters’ atrocities.
