Fated

by Liza James

  “Does he make love to you like you’re the only air he breathes?” Another slice, this time across my upper stomach. A shallow marking that still draws blood.

  “Or does he fuck you like it’s a punishment?” Another slash through my numbed and destroyed flesh.

  “Like you’re something he should never want, something he shouldn’t indulge in?” Again, across my stomach like a brand.

  “Amelia. We need to leave.” Camden’s hard voice is barely recognizable, my ears are filled with too much pain and agony to decipher how close he is.

  “Because he doesn’t. Want you, that is. You could never be me, and he knows that,” she spits the last words as she lays a kiss against my lips, using her ability to drag a little of my life force out as a souvenir.

  “So, goodbye, little Luna. And know that I’ll take care of Elijah for you. And your sister too, because she’s just as toxic as you are.” She steps away from me as I finally lose the strength to keep my eyes locked on hers. My head falls forward and my eyes rake over my red and ruined body. I don’t hear them leave as I struggle to reach out one last time through the bond, try to break through the haze and failing ruins of what we shared together.

  I tried, Elijah.

  I’m a fucking wreck. Uncontrollably shouting at Nathanial as we race through the back streets to a forest I’m all too familiar with. I caught the smallest glimpse of where she is. It was a minuscule flash as I felt the blood bond start crumbling between us.

  I’m in so much fucking pain I can hardly breathe and Nathanial and Stella are officially losing their minds over what’s happening. Stella is sobbing in the back seat while Nathanial tries to calm both of us down. But I can’t stop yelling and searching for her in my mind. I can hardly sit still in the vehicle as my body begs to be freed so I can be near her.

  I’m losing her. I can feel her slipping away, and I haven’t even had her for twenty-four hours.

  I suspected I wouldn’t get the bond back after the supposed six hours Camden mentioned as the efficacy of the pill. He had to have used dark magic to create it and he clearly had ulterior motives that neither Nathanial nor I picked up on. I had an instinct, a nasty feeling in my gut that something was wrong. But I ignored it and let Luna get close to him. Like a fucking idiot, I put my Fated directly in the line of danger. I will destroy every single thing in my way to get back to her.

  It’s quickly becoming early morning, and the sun is rising in the distance as we finally get to the place where Luna and Stella were abandoned as children—if it was indeed them all those years ago. The location can’t be a coincidence and I have a suspicion it truly was them.

  It’s an open forest, and I see no signs of Luna anywhere. I jump out of the Jeep and rush into the woods having no idea of which direction to go, but I move anyway.

  “Stay in the Jeep, Stella,” I hear Nathanial call back as he races up next to me. He grabs my shoulders and turns me so that I’m facing him. His face is a mix of apprehension and sympathy, his eyes filled with only a sliver of the pain I’m feeling.

  A possessive growl rips from my throat but he pushes forward and into my space with a snarl of his own. “Listen to me, Elijah. You need to focus on your Fated. Search out that connection like you did in the vehicle. Take a moment to breathe and find her in your mind, in your soul. Because she’s there. She’s always there.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a small blade, anticipating that I’ll need to heal her. The acknowledgement sends new bolts of pain through my chest. He shoves me back and toward the forest as he adds, “I have to stay with Stella.”

  I nod in agreement and turn to rush into the woods ahead. I want to do this alone anyway. I do as he suggested and close my eyes for a moment, mentally reaching out into the space ahead of me. Everything is dark, it’s angry and evil with odd pockets of light that shine through in sporadic places.

  Luna.

  I beg for her in my mind as I call out her name. But I get nothing in response, just as I haven’t since she disappeared, and rage burns through my chest with the excruciating reminder.

  I push farther, deeper in my mind, into the depths of my soul and the places I haven’t visited in years. I focus on the pain, accepting it and consuming it as my own until I find the tiniest flicker of her particular sting. Her pain, her acceptance and her need to survive sparks through me and tugs me instinctively to the left.

  I have no idea where I’m going. But I shut my eyes and simply feel for her, struggling to bury myself deeper inside of our integrated souls. I move, without opening my eyes, step after step as I let our Fated connection build and draw me toward her.

  I keep moving, stepping over branches and through trees that I don’t anticipate but naturally avoid in this state. I force long breaths in and out of my lungs as I let my mind fully succumb to the agony of losing her. I groan out as the blood bond continues slowly crumbling between us.

  A constant sharp ache throbs in my chest, directly over my heart as I draw nearer to her. I refuse to open my eyes, I can’t shatter this pull to her. This is the only connection I’ve felt in the last several hours and as painful as it is, I don’t want to let go of it yet.

  I walk for several minutes, completely blind to my surroundings but visualizing through the rest of my senses. I smell the earthy blend of dirt and trees around us, feel the icy breeze that grates against my skin. I’m too hot, my body overworking itself to seek the chill I need from Luna. I can hear the birds chirping as the morning rises in the sky, as if nothing is wrong. Even though everything is.

  Finally, I feel it. The highest peak of pain that stabs my chest and radiates through my limbs. It tangles in my mind, like a toxic vine that chokes and suffocates me. I stop my movements and smell the thick scent of blood as it wafts over me. I let out a painful growl that surrenders to an agonizing cry as I force my eyes to open and am met with a vision directly from my nightmares.

  Luna hangs in front of me, her strong arms now weak and worn from holding her up against the branch of a single tree. She’s almost completely bare, her dress torn down the center while her body is covered thickly in her own blood. Her once vibrant and wild dark hair hangs limply around her shoulders and down her back, matted together in dirt while clinging to her sickly white face.

  I launch forward immediately, intending to quickly to free her from the tree and bring her into my own arms. But my feet drag and trip through the dirt as my body weakens in torture. My soul is dying with her, climbing inside of her and refusing to let her go alone.

  I immediately lay my hands on her cheeks, hissing at the frozen temperature of her skin. I brush my trembling thumbs across the stray strands of her hair, naturally trying to make to her comfortable even though I know it may not matter at this point.

  “Luna,” I whisper, my voice cracking as I reach up to untie her delicate and blue hands. “Luna,” I say again, as I free her and she falls against me, completely limp and weightless while I carry her to the ground.

  I press my ear against her lips, trying to slow my own breath as I search and beg for her own. A wave of relief crashes through me as I’m met with small, shallow gasps when our skin finally meets. Her soft lips part and her eyes make the barest of movements under her eyelids.

  “I’m here, Luna. I’m here,” I say again as I pull her small body tightly against my own. I let my eyes travel across her ragged skin, trying to determine what’s been done to her. She has multiple stab wounds, knife lacerations across her legs and back. But my eyes drift to the injuries intentionally positioned on her stomach.

  An uncontrollable rage burns through me at the word that’s been carved into her milky skin. It means I screwed up along the way and revealed our secret. It means I put her here, without giving her the knowledge to defend herself. It means I gave her to our enemy, blindly and disastrously because I fought to deny what was so clearly in front of my face.

  Fated.

  “I’m so sorry, m’aingeal,” I choke on the words against her cheek
and move to speak them over her ears and then her lips. I push through our bond and beg for it to stimulate between us. I reach for the knife in my pocket and shift Luna in my arms so that I can access my own skin.

  I quickly grip the hilt and drag the tip down the inside of my forearm with shaking hands. The cut is rough and deep, but I don’t give a fuck about it as I do the same thing to my other arm. I lean forward, laying Luna down gently on the soft ground as I tear my shirt and jeans off of my body. I use the blade to slash my flesh in several different areas, welcoming the sting and pain as my own blood spills and flows over my skin.

  Sitting back down, I pull Luna back into my arms as I lean against the tree. I close my eyes tightly, absently rocking her as I beg and plead for this to work. I feel my blood soak her skin as ours merges together in painstakingly slow increments. Hers doesn’t answer mine, instead the blood simply flows together in a disoriented mess of blood and dirt.

  “Come back to me, Luna. Come back to me,” I say as I nudge my face into the crook of her neck. I let her darkness consume me, lose myself to the smell of her sweet skin, let my heat work its way into her frozen body. I trail my hands along her arms, trying to warm her and breathe life back into her weakened state.

  I drag my fingers painfully across her carved stomach, cursing Camden for what he’s done and for Amelia’s participation in this. Because I know, without a shadow of a doubt that he’s working for her and Danner. Camden is a follower, he’s no leader. Amelia would want the Fated flushed out so that she would have no retaliation to the throne.

  Camden must have told her about my slip while we were all training. When I almost called Luna my Fated. He caught it. Christ, I hoped he didn’t, but he fucking did and now here we are. With Luna practically dead in my arms as I struggle to use everything inside of me to bring her back.

  “My Fated,” I whisper the words as I brush my lips against her jaw. “My Demon,” I say as I move to the soft skin under her ear. “My Angel,” I claim her as I breathe against her skin and softly kiss her shut eyes. “My Luna,” I declare as lay my lips against her blue ones, feel her icy breath against my own.

  “Ol boaluahe, ol allar ol cnila de g,” I let the Enochian words rolls off my tongue in an indestructible vow to her. My love, I bind my blood to you.

  I continue chanting them like a prayer, I profess and demand the words into the silent space around us. Because I can’t do this, I can’t let her go. I’ll never be able to let her go. I pull her body even tighter against mine and wrap my arms around her weakened figure so that every single inch of us is touching and connecting with one another.

  My voice becomes rough and angry as I continue claiming her as my Fated, affirming her as mine and no one else’s. I get louder, shouting the words as I feel the power between us grow incrementally bigger. It’s barely reacting, but if I can get enough of our Fated connection to respond, maybe it will consume us and heal her enough to save her life.

  I feel the soft gasp of air as Luna takes a quick breath in. She takes another, and another one. Each of them swift, rapid draws as I try to give her more of me.

  “That’s it, Luna. Breathe, just breathe m’aingeal,” I urge her to continue as I lift my hand and clasp her jaw so that our foreheads are pressed tightly together. My lips brush against hers as I breathe into her, giving her everything she can take from me. She’s devouring my scent, my breaths, the feeling of our skin pressed tightly together. Her blood slowly begins to merge with mine as my familiar call beckons to her and she finds her way home.

  “Elijah,” she whispers the words and while they’re barely audible, they explode around us and inside of me as if she’s shouted them out.

  “I’ve got you, Luna. You’re safe,” I say to her in a low, ragged voice. Her hand slowly lifts and I reach for it, pulling it up the rest of the way and anchoring her hand behind my neck. Her fingers softly move against my skin as her body begins the slow process of healing everything that’s been done to her. My own body naturally doesn’t attempt drawing from her yet, my wounds and cuts still freshly giving her everything she needs from me.

  “It’s ruined, isn’t it?” she asks, her eyes still shut while her heart begins hammering strongly in her chest. My own mimics hers, thundering loudly as our bodies continue joining together. “The blood bond.”

  Disappointment blooms around us, a joined emotion that is evident without the covenant responding. It’s true, I still don’t feel what we once shared. Her body draws from mine on a completely separate connection even though our blood reacts just the same. It’s as if it’s working and operating clearly, but we simply don’t feel the effects of it any longer. I know it’s there though. It no longer crumbles between us in agonizing division. It’s simply mute.

  “No, nothing is ruined sweet Angel. We’ll fix it.”

  That, I promise. Because I will never lose my Luna. And I will destroy anyone who gets in the way of us again.

  Luna and I stayed in that spot under the tree for over an hour while her body slowly regained the strength it needed to at least superficially heal the injuries scattered across her wounded torso and legs. Mine eventually pulled minimally from her, as she took the time to gently trail her fingers across each cut, giving back to me anything she could manage.

  Now, I refuse to let go of her. Which is why I’m laid back against the door of the jeep while Luna stays nestled tightly in my arms and between my legs. She’s wearing my shirt and my eyes linger over every inch of her. Physically, she looks healed. Her skin has taken some of its color back, the abrasions are gone with only minimal scars left behind. Eventually, they’ll disappear as well but I know it’s going to take more connection through our bodies and our bond before everything is fully restored.

  Stella can’t take her eyes off of Luna as she sits in the front passenger seat with her head resting in one of her hands. Her eyes are swollen and red, her cheeks stained from the salty tears that keep flowing down her face. Nathanial keeps glancing towards Stella, he knows Luna is safe now, but can’t seem to ignore the fiery red head sitting next to him. His hand rests on the back of her chair, and I can’t help but notice the way he remains close to her without touching.

  It reminds me of myself, before when I insisted on fighting to stay away from Luna.

  My attention falls back to her as she burrows her head deeper against my chest. I rest my heavy hand on the side of her face, savoring the connection of her body against mine. I can’t stop myself, when her head tips up and her soft pink lips angle toward me, I take her. Gently, and slowly as I memorize the feeling of her lips moving against my own. I taste her, and she willingly opens for me as I slide my tongue between her lips. My fingers tangle in the strands of her hair but I don’t grip or hold her tightly. I simply cherish the sensation of her skin against mine, of my heat melting her frost. Our Fated tie creates an intense flood of energy that gently consumes us.

  “Stop,” Stella’s voice is a quiet whisper and Luna and I both glance her way as we pull apart. Her eyes are ghostly white again and her chest rises and falls on rapid breaths. “Please.”

  “We need to figure out what’s happening with you,” Luna says, as she turns to rest her head against my shoulder. My fingers shift to twist her sweet locks around them, dark and delicious against my tattooed fingers.

  Stella watches for a moment longer, until her eyes clear and she turns around without another word. I can feel the tension surrounding her, and I’m surprised when I see Nathanial hesitantly drop his hand to the back of her neck over her hair. His thumb grazes back and forth in support of her and I notice the way her shoulders immediately relax at his touch.

  I turn my eyes back down to Luna and see as she watches the same curious interaction. It’s a discussion we will have to address sooner or later, I think it’s obvious that Stella is drawn to sexual exchanges. And Nathanial seems drawn to her especially.

  Luna and I continue subtly touching and connecting with each other. Living in the moment of fi
nally accepting what our relationship is meant to be. But my mind is racing with thoughts of what happened to her. I need to know who exactly was responsible for this.

  “Can you talk to me about last night?” I whisper against her ear as she takes a ragged sigh against my chest.

  “It was Camden and Amelia. He forced me to take the pill at the club when I left to find Stella. He and Amelia drove me out to the woods,” she pauses, collecting herself before she begins to explain what happened. She glances toward the front of the vehicle, noticing that both Nathanial and Stella are listening to her as well. “There’s a lot. About all of us. I saw people, things that happened when we were children.” Her eyes turn back to me, “Like when we were at the house, in the back yard. It happened again, quick flashes that showed me parts of our pasts.”

  “What happened at the house?” Nathanial asks, trying to catch up to speed on what she’s talking about. We hadn’t told anyone, hell I hadn’t even told Luna about the ties that run deeper than our blood bond.

  “We should start at the beginning.” I interrupt, needing to explain where all of this starts. “Because Luna needs to know about the Fated.”

  “Amelia told me. Well, at least partly. I heard Camden tell her that you and I were Fated. And then she mentioned it as well. She said a lot of things that don’t matter, but I want to know why you didn’t tell me.” Luna sits up slightly, so that her eyes can meet my own. I don’t see anger or irritation in her, but I do see the flashes of pain at the memories of whatever Amelia said.

  I lift my hands to her face and hold her still so she can hear each word I say to her, “I didn’t tell you because I wanted to keep you safe. That is the only reason. The Fated were couples of our kind who were destined to be together. They were rare, but incredibly powerful. They have been slaughtered for centuries until the Fated no longer existed. We haven’t seen a surviving Fated pair in countless years. And if any do step forward, they’re quickly killed and destroyed. That’s why I didn’t tell you, I didn’t want anyone to know.” I speak the words truthfully, enunciating each sentence.