by Bella Devine
I didn't care. I wanted to make Gabriel suffer like my mother.
I struggled against Liam.
My mother's screams sliced me to pieces and I couldn't handle the pain. I wanted the truth. I wanted to know. "Is my mother alive?"
Gabriel cued the fire and the flames began to encircle us, eating up our oxygen. My labored breathing did little to extinguish my fury. Liam tightened his grip, pulling me against his chest. His muscles bulged with the effort to keep me stationary.
Eyes bright with purpose, Aylin ran toward the fire and chanted. The flames slowly died.
Gabriel never answered me. I forced a mental connection with him, trying to reach his mind. Trying to focus on my mother. His resistance was strong and his mental blocks refused to fall.
"You bastard! What have you done?" I shouted, while still struggling against Liam's hold.
This time, instead of struggling, I called to Liam's bond. The lights between our moons intertwined and quickened. I used our conjoined power to surge into Gabriel's mind. His mental walls crashed down like falling bricks. Flashes of Cassiel — much older version than I remembered — appeared. She lived!
A piercing headache slashed through my connection with Gabriel. I fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands. Liam dropped to the ground with me.
"God damn it, Bryn, let go!"
But I wanted to see more. I wanted to find my mother.
I heard a deafening scuffle, the sound of bone meeting flesh. Liam's hands encompassed me as I tried to fight past the pain.
"Stop whatever you're doing!" Connor shouted as another crunch echoed in the distance.
The pain vanished. The connection lost, I lifted my head.
Gabriel shot Connor with several fireballs. He stumbled and fell, his face contorted in pain. His shirt fried to pieces.
Liam ran to Connor.
Gabriel aimed another burst at them.
"No!" I quickly extinguished the flames.
The circle of heat diminished and I knew Aylin must be getting close to putting out that fire.
Still, Gabriel continued to play with us.
A burst of white light broke through his fiery barrier and a flamboyant, ancient lady with a beehive nest for hair stood between us and Gabriel. Her head bobbled as she faced him. "Young man, I insist that you stop this right now! Forfeit your fight against the half-breeds. This is your only warning."
He laughed. "Old lady, I think you need to go home before you get hurt."
"You claim your rebellion is to protect the lines of the purebreds, but by God, son, that isn't right. We have the right to love who we're gonna love." Nadia clamped her hand to her heart. Conviction in every word.
I eyed the fireball that Gabriel tossed carelessly from one hand to the other and struggled to my feet. "Nadia, you should go home. I don't want you fighting our battle."
Her eyes swept over my face, down my body and stopped at my wrist. She bowed her head to me. "Power looks good on you. Vena amoris."
Gabriel's eyes flared and he flung the flames at Nadia. She snapped her fingers and they disappeared.
Chanting, she danced in a circle. Her body swayed. Her bracelets jangled. She moved to her own silent music. Little flames covered the ground, but her steps extinguished every one, leaving only black soot on the ground.
"Who the fuck are you?" Gabriel raised his foot to step forward, but when Nadia laughed, he placed it back down.
"Nobody of importance. Now, I'm giving you a similar choice to the one you offered Bryn just a few moments ago."
"This can't be possible." Gabriel took several steps back. His ashen face paled even more. "You're a seer with powers?"
I gaped. Was that how Nadia had known about his ultimatum? Was that how she knew to send me to the forest?
Of course, my dear.
Her telepathic response accompanied another realization. By God, she had sent me to Liam.
"You can't be a seer with powers. I killed them all!" Gabriel interrupted my thoughts.
Nadia shrugged. Her three-inch ear hoops shook. "Well, you missed one."
He eyed her wrist. Her imprint was no longer faded. It had the slightest orange hue and, like the harvest moon, was full and beginning to shine.
"Impossible!" Gabriel shouted.
"Listen, young man." She pointed her finger at him as if lecturing a four year old. "Your choice is to go to a secluded island somewhere and forget about your rebellion, forget about us, about Cassiel, about Bryn. Forget us all. Or I will revoke my promise to my Coven as the Augur, and I will kill you."
"You can't do that." Gabriel's voice shook. "I need Cassiel."
"No, you want her. You don't need her. Her power drives the sadist in you. "
Aylin, Connor, and Liam stood transfixed. Unwilling to let Nadia risk her purity for me or my cause, I stepped forward.
"I needed my mother!" Tears streamed down my face. "No, I still need her." I searched my soul for a glimmer of a connection, and when I felt a slight tug, I yanked, pulling her to me as I had done earlier with Liam.
With all my power, I sent my strength to her and prayed that she sought me out as well. That she would recognize my magical calling and come to me. My body shook, but I didn't stop.
"Child, stop."
How could Nadia say such a thing? Didn't she want me to reunite with my mother? Did she know this whole time that my mother was alive and suffering?
Mother's screams echoed through my head. I tried to sooth her. To call out to her. The pain in her voice drove me to my knees. My stomach churned and my body recoiled. I would not fail her.
A funnel cloud spun before me. Wind blew my hair, chilled my breath. It rotated faster and faster until the air popped. Our connection broke like a taut rubber band.
"Oh, won't this be sweet!" Excitement heightened Gabriel's voice.
My confusion increased. Then I saw Mother standing among us in a ragged robe that hung over her shoulders. Her body sagged and she stumbled forward.
"Bryn," she rasped.
"Mom!" I ran forward in disbelief. Is she real?
"Well, we can't have this now, can we?" Gabriel conjured a double-edged sword and impaled Cassiel through the stomach.
"No!" I screamed, surging forward.
Cassiel clutched her belly and sank to the ground. Blood poured through her fingers, coating the dingy robe.
Defeated, I fell down beside her. Crying for the mother I had now lost twice.
Chapter Thirteen
Liam
My heart ripped in two. The pumping thundered in my ears and pounded in my chest. I splayed my hand over my breast to protect my heart. The agony of my soul mate, crumpled on the ground beside her injured mother, weakened my soul.
Bryn's sorrow swept through me like a fire. Her pain was my pain. I staggered under the crushing weight of this emotional avalanche.
I wanted to murder Gabriel, but the bastard laughed and vanished.
No smoke. No flames. Just poof!
Even in her injured state, Cassiel's angelic face was at peace and resembled Bryn's. That dark hair and those alluring eyes. They would haunt me.
Trying to gauge how I could help, I placed a hand on Bryn's shoulder. I had never felt so vulnerable.
She held her mother's hand and, with the other, gripped mine. Our connection calmed me.
"Bryn, I'm so sorry." The words felt hollow. Lifeless. Even to my own ears.
"I should be able to heal her!" She placed both her hands over the open wound. The light of our connection twined and circled, but were never absorbed into Cassiel's injury.
"Fuck!" Bryn pounded her fist on the ground. "Why isn't this working?"
She bowed her head, praying under her breath, and pressed her glowing hands harder into Cassiel's wound. Blood soaked her delicate hands, but the wound refused to heal. The magic circled around, but never penetrated.
"No, child, you can't." Nadia smiled and threw her arms in the air with a flourish. Her lips moved, murmuri
ng words I couldn't hear.
Confused, I tilted my head.
"Bryn." I shook her shoulder and tried to get her attention. When she didn't look up, I just blurted out, "Look at Nadia."
Bryn swiped a sleeve over her eyes and watched. "Nadia, what're doing?"
She tsked. "Child, I told you not to call Cassiel forward. But did you listen? No. So now, I'm going to call in a promise. One I made many years ago."
Not sure what she meant, I stepped between her and Bryn. My back straightened. "Nadia, I don't think it's the right time to play the blame game. Can you help Cassiel or not?"
"No, I can't. That's why I'm calling forth Uriel." She chanted and stomped her foot. "Uriel, you little wizard, you come hither now or so help me, I'll remove your ass from the Table of Seven."
"Uriel?"
I faltered at Bryn's poisonous tone. Uriel was as close to holy as any man could be. He had helped Aylin and my pack survive the chaos after the rebellion. Without him, I wouldn't be the alpha I was today. But Bryn spat his name as if it were foul and acrid trash.
Her face flush, Bryn struggled to her feet, and I held her close to my side to prevent her from interfering. The air before us shifted, became lighter as Nadia summoned Uriel. Bryn's rage poured through me like water over a dam. I struggled to find balance between what I knew and what Bryn felt.
A man with white flowing hair and a long beard appeared. Uriel was much older than the man I remembered. The one who had helped to refine Aylin's talent. But he was still serene. A man of poise and power.
I stepped forward to shake his hand, but Bryn held me back. Her downturned mouth and tense jaw line prominent on her tear-stained face. I wiped a fresh tear from her cheek and kissed her softly. "It'll be okay. Uriel is one of the good guys."
She jerked back, raised a fist, and faced Uriel. "Mother told you this would happen. She warned you."
I stepped between them. "Bryn, honey, Uriel is not the enemy here."
"He could've stopped everything. Me being orphaned. My mother's alleged murdered ten years ago. And now. Mother needs help, Liam!"
The sadness in Bryn's eyes tore me apart. She pounded her fists against my chest. I wrapped her in a tight hug, refusing to let her slip away from me.
Right now, the pain for her mother consumed her. I wanted to be her knight. The man who swooped in and saved the day. Took away her pain.
"Uriel, please tell me you can save her," I pleaded, my strong voice heavy with emotion.
"I'm forbidden to intervene with fate." He turned toward Nadia. "And you, your highness, know this. So, why did you call me here?" In spite of his words, his eyes said he did want to help.
"Because, Uriel, Cassiel has accepted a spot at the Table of Seven." Nadia beamed.
Cassiel accepted a position with the Elders? My eyes widened. The petite woman on the ground lacked the same glow as Uriel or even Nadia. But the elders couldn't be killed easily. Their magical makeup was stronger than most — almost indestructible.
"What? She can't. She is dying." His stunned expression echoed my own.
Bryn gasped at Uriel's matter-of-fact pronouncement.
"Not for long. Once she has completed the ceremony, she will share our power." Nadia bent over Cassiel's frail frame and checked for a pulse. "We don't have much time."
"You can't just initiate her into an Elder position."
I bristled at Uriel's resistance to help Cassiel. "Just hear her out, Uriel."
Nadia's magic swarmed through her sure hands and enveloped Cassiel. "You see, before Cassiel met Gabriel, she worked as a white witch for a well-established coven. Although their conventions were a bit archaic" — Nadia glanced at Bryn, who was trying hard to hold back the tears, " — she loved them and was good. So good she caught our attention and we offered her a position at the table, but by that time, Gabriel already had her in his vise."
Nadia withdrew a small knife with a bright red handle. I didn't recognize the aged symbols, but the crusted carvings glowed with her touch. Carefully, she sliced a thin incision down her palm.
"When I offered her the position based on the Elders’ wishes, Cassiel refused. She had just discovered she was pregnant and ended things with Gabriel. So, she and I made a promise."
Nadia sliced a small incision along Cassiel's left palm. "She promised to serve as an Elder if I agreed to protect her daughter in the event of her untimely death or disappearance. Ariel, her highness at the time, God rest her soul, instructed me to complete the initiation at all costs. So, I agreed."
"That was ten years ago, Nadia," Uriel said.
"Oh, but there is no time limit on a blood oath."Nadia handed the knife to him. "Your turn."
He hesitated, glaring at her. "Fine."With a huff, he cut his palm.
Nadia clasped Cassiel's hand and let their blood mix. "Cassiel, with the Ritual Knife of Seven, I accept you into our table."
Uriel repeated the process. "Cassiel, with the Ritual Knife of Seven, I accept you into our table."
Cassiel sputtered and tried to rise, but Nadia held her down. "Blood is life. Blood is death. Blood is bonding. With this bond you are now a part of us and we of you. With this bond you are now part of the Table of Seven."
Cassiel gasped. Her eyes flew open. Nadia and Uriel released her hands, and she floated above the ground, glowing like Uriel and Nadia. The three of them together were magnificent. My imprint burned from the power that encompassed them.
Nadia hugged Bryn. "My loving child, your mother is saved, but we must go to our realm. She is now one of us and cannot walk on this earth unless she's on a mission of the Seven."
"But...but..." Bryn staggered.
I wrapped my hand around her waist and pulled her closer. Uriel and Nadia clasped hands with Cassiel and the trio began to fade.
"No!" Bryn tore free of my grasp and raced forward.
But it was too late. The three figures had vanished. Bryn fell to the ground, weeping for the loss of her mother. Yet again she was orphaned.
I knelt beside her and wiped the tears from her face. "I'll protect you. Always."
"I can't believe I lost her again! I don't want to be alone anymore."
I placed my hand under her chin and raised her face. "Never. You're mine now. We're family and you'll never be alone again."
***
Bryn
Liam and I walked into his cabin. Aylin and Connor had stayed behind to handle the wreckage of the vehicles.
A part of my soul was shattered. I had lost my mother again. Not physically. Not to death, but to power.
The Table of Seven was the most powerful and sacred of all covens. They made and enforced our laws. And now, Mother was one of them.
Power is like a weapon, she used to always say. It can be used to protect and it can be used to harm. Choose your position carefully and cautiously.
She had vowed never to succumb to power. Yet, according to Nadia, she had chosen this path long ago. The crazy witch had lied to me for years.
"I can't believe my mother and Nadia were friends." I chortled at the absurdity — they were polar opposites. "Mother was a by-the-book type of person. She loved wearing white for its purity. And then there's the eccentric Nadia."
Liam pulled me closer, a smile breaking out on his handsome face. He caressed the imprint on my left wrist, and my body hummed with the need to be his. No, I was his. Forever.
"I'm glad they are friends. Without their promises to each other, we would have never met."He sat on the couch and pulled me into his lap.
I was too exhausted to fight. Gratefully accepting his comfort, I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Nadia is a good person." I spoke the truth, but was hurt that she had played me. Hid her knowledge of my mother and her position at the table.
"I'm sure she is." Liam rubbed his hand up and down my arm.
My face was mere inches from his. I needed to feel our connection. Our bond. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. My lips softly touched his, but th
en I poured my soul into our kiss.
"Hmm... you know, you are good too." Liam brushed a piece of hair behind my ear.
"I just hope to stay that way. This power is potent. When I was facing Gabriel, it was like I was flying high and couldn't get enough. I called for more and more."
"You'll learn to master it so it doesn't control you." He grabbed my chin and returned my kiss with one of his own. His heat matched mine. "I won't let it control you."
