“I’m sorry?” I had much less pleasant responses on the tip of my tongue, but this was Amelia’s dad.
Nathaniel took a step forward and leaned his hip on the edge of the table. “You shouldn’t be going. You’re the King of the AniMages and her mate, she is going to need you. You can’t die trying to get her out or all of this is for nothing. Without you, she can’t fulfill her destiny or the prophecy. And from what I understand, my daughter cares for you. The last thing she needs is to lose another person she cares about.”
Not once had I stopped to think about the danger to myself. Even now, as I understood what he was saying to me and knew it made sense, it didn’t matter. I straightened and looked Nathaniel in the eyes, trying to make my intentions as clear as possible. “No disrespect, sir, but I’m going in there. She needs me and we have no clue what our connection means or what it can provide her. Me being there could be essential in getting her out alive. There’s no prophecy without both of us, so I will either bring your daughter home, or I will die trying.”
I was shoving clothes into a bag, my mind in a hundred places at once, when Bethany came into the room we had shared. She leaned against the doorframe, trying to look casual, but she was fidgeting.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” She spoke softly, nothing about her question threatening or judgmental.
I stopped what I was doing and laid my palms flat on the bed, my head dropping. “No. I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing.” I turned my head and met her eyes. “But I have to. I have to get to her. The feeling that she’s in trouble keeps getting stronger. I can’t leave her there.”
It felt good to say it out loud. To drop the bravado of being a leader and acknowledged that I was scared shitless.
Bethany came over and sat on the bed, patting the blanket beside her. I sat down.
“Did you ever imagine, in the furthest, remote corners of your mind, that this is where we would be today?” She laughed, a dry, brittle laugh, making me wonder whether she was also close to breaking.
“You know you don’t have to stay here, or even come with us. You can go home to Mississippi. You can disappear. I’ll help you.” The last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt. Amelia would never forgive me, and we had become friends.
In true Bethany fashion, she punched me in the shoulder. “Shut your mouth. I’m staying. Amelia is the closest thing I’ve had to what family is supposed to be in my life.”
“I guess I don’t know much about you. What’s your story?” I asked.
She shrugged, but looked away from me. “Not much to tell really.”
I flashed a sarcastic smile. “Not possible. We all have a screwed up story to tell.”
“I’m southern. We don’t air our dirty laundry.” She smiled as she allowed a little more of her accent to show through.
“I’m a guy. You can tell me or not. I’m just saying, if you want to, I’m sitting here.” I sat silent and waited, giving her time to decide. I’d never had friends who were girls. Girls wanted to date me, girls wanted to hook up, but I hadn’t had girls who were just friends. It was easier to let my charm do the work than building relationships I knew would end as soon as I was relocated to another family in a different city.
“I am the stereotypical southern girl,” she said. “I was raised on the pageant circuit with a mom who wanted me to live out the dreams she never got to. When I was finally able to convince her I really wanted to spend my time on a horse instead of a stage, she pushed me into barrel racing, so I could still be the beauty queen in sparkles and rhinestones, while I won bigger trophies and more money. My dad loved coming on rodeo trips with us, but only so he could disappear into the stables and play back room poker games with the cowboys. I can’t tell you how many nights I ended up dragging Daddy, drunk and broke, out of a barn and back to the hotel, while Momma got schnaukered with the other moms.”
“Is that what you meant when you told me you’d dealt with worse guys than me?” I’d been curious about her comment since she’d made it, but it had never felt like it was the right time to ask.
She snorted an indignant huff of air, telling me memories she likely didn’t want were racing around her head.
“Imagine being a pretty seventeen-year-old girl, surrounded by cowboys telling you your daddy owes them money. How exactly do you think they imagined getting their payment?”
Rage spiked through me. I wanted to break their necks. I couldn’t ask the follow-up question and thankfully, she didn’t make me.
“What they didn’t realize was I took Kenpo—a form of martial arts—and the last thing they wanted was a tussle with me. I’m pretty sure one of them may never have kids after the kick he took, and the other one was too busy trying to stop the blood from his nose to keep me there. They weren’t the first or the last ones to try crap like that, but I took care of myself.”
I had a new respect for the small girl sitting next to me. “Remind me to never piss you off, blondie.” I bumped her shoulder with mine and she turned to me, grinning.
“I’ve given you fair warning. Alrighty, I do believe it’s time to go get our girl back,” she said, bumping me back and then standing.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked, the humor gone, concern in its place.
“No,” I admitted. “But who’s ever ready for anything? She needs me and nothing will keep me from her.”
Bethany nodded. “I may not have magic powers, but I’ve got your back, Aidan.”
Those words were more reassuring than she could have imagined.
Chapter 24
Over the course of the two days, the only visitor to the maternity ward, and my cell, was a female Hunter who refused to speak to me. She brought all of us food three times a day. I waited for the Queen or Rhi to show and prayed for Micah to come through the doors.
I spent hours talking with the women surrounding me. I couldn’t see the majority of them, but each one told me about their families, their backgrounds, and what they had been through. We talked of ourselves and our abilities. It was so interesting to learn what each of them had been capable of at full power and strength. Cora was able to project a shield around herself, blocking out every power she’d been exposed to. Others were able to control the elements, to mentally create weapons firing shots no one could see but still feel, and one woman was able to project replications of herself. Micah had only scratched the surface when he said every Immortal had a singular ability outside of those common to their race.
Once we got to the real truths, it became harder to listen. Cora had been pregnant six times. Three of them had been born and taken away. Nadine had miscarried twice. She had to watch as both Hunters and Julia tried to infuse the fetus in her belly with magic, only to kill it in the process. They were filled with alternating fury and grief. The losses they had endured made everything I’d ever complained about seem so small.
When the Hunters came for Cora, she already had one child, a toddler with red hair. Somehow, she was able to get the toddler to run into the forest and hide. The Hunters killed her husband before they took her. Both had shifted, trying to protect their son, and she had not been in her native AniMage form in eight years.
I sat in my cell as tears ran rivers down my face. It wasn’t just their stories, it was the emotion permeating the air around me, forcing me to feel it with them as they spoke.
I finally got to the point where I couldn’t speak or listen anymore and retreated to the back of my cell. At first, I calmly spoke to the Keeper, but I eventually got angry and tried whatever I could think of to get it to cooperate without removing my cuff. Rynna had told me the cuff should allow me to work with my Keeper for short periods of time. It had worked with Nell and the green power, but I couldn’t get it to work again.
Frustrated, I got up and paced the small cell. I intentionally let my mind wander, hoping by giving it space, we would be able to find an answer. Images and scenes flitted in and out. Aidan on the beach the night we met.
My father holding me up at eye level as I saw the flash of Hunter power that should have tipped me off to the binds placed on him. Cole pulling me into his chest while I cried and the Keeper power grew. Bethany dragging me from store to store our first weekend together in Brighton, throwing hanger after hanger of clothes over the door as she talked nonstop. The blending of the life I had set out to have and the one I finally had to accept didn’t stop. Rynna. Derreck. Charlie. Micah. My head was full of thoughts and emotions.
“You need him.” I heard someone speak and it cut into the swirling mess.
I went to the bars of the cell, craning my neck to see who it was. “What? Who is talking?” I asked.
“You need him. Your mate. You won’t be able to do what she wants unless you have him. I can feel the power inside you and it is a lock missing its key. He will unlock you.” She spoke clearly and surely.
“Well, do you know where to find this mysterious mate? Because everyone keeps talking about him, but he isn’t exactly searching me out. I’ve pretty much had it with people telling me I need some guy I’ve never met to meet my full potential.” I was exhausted, annoyed, and well aware I was taking it out on a faceless voice. The thought that Micah might be my mate was there and gone. I shoved it out as soon as it entered my mind. If he were my mate, then where in the hell was he?
She laughed a light, airy laugh that somehow brought a smile to my own face. “He is yours. He has always been yours. You only have to reach for him and he’ll be there.”
My smile faded. “What does that even mean?” I asked.
“I cannot give you answers, Keeper. I can only tell you the truth,” she responded.
I wanted to argue, but a low yowl interrupted me. I struggled to look toward the cells where Nell and the tiger were being held. I heard it again, and this time, saw the tiger push her paw through the cell bars. She continued to cry as she reached for me and I could feel her hope and desire to get to me. She believed I could help her as I had helped Nell. She was afraid she wouldn’t live long enough to birth her babies and they would die together.
I can do this. I don’t need some guy, I just need me. I can do this.
I repeated the thoughts in my head as I spoke in low tones. “I’m right here. I’m going to try to help you. I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to try.” I scooted myself as close to the wall as possible and reached my own arm through the bars. It was awkward, but I was able to twist my arm around until I could grasp her paw. As soon as we connected, her pain and fear slammed into me, taking my breath away.
The most control I’d ever had over my power had been when I was emotional, so I refused to let go of her as her emotions filled me. I dropped my walls and her memories assaulted me next. Like so many of the others, her husband had been murdered before her eyes. She had taken the chance and shifted, hoping to get herself and her unborn child to safety, but she didn’t get far before her whole body froze. I had been through Rhi’s immobilization trick before and knew how that felt. She was captive in her own body as Rhi taunted her for hours before bringing her back to Cresthaven.
Julia and the Hunters were more brutal in their techniques with the AniMages. They tried infusing power into the unborn kittens and then after they were born. They brought in charms and potions that hadn’t been used or tested in hundreds of years in an attempt to give the children power again. The tiger was barely able to sustain another litter, but she loved these children as fiercely as the first she’d borne.
As her emotions fed me, my own anger rose. It was always Rhi standing with Julia, doing her dirty work. He directed the female Hunters, smiling as they tortured these women or their children. Every part of me wanted to kill him. No, death was too nice. I wanted to drain him of his precious magic until he was nothing more than human—the very thing he loathed.
I forced myself to focus and went to my Keeper. This time, the violet cerulean orb was waiting for me. It bounced up and down, hovering in front of my palms, seeming to know it was the only one who could help me. I could feel its need to get to work. The tiger was somehow drawing my power out and I was perfectly fine with it.
“I’m going to try now. Don’t pull away,” I whispered to her, struggling to form words as I battled our mixed emotions. Within myself, I shoved both of my closed fists into the blue-tinged orb and wrenched them apart while, at the same time, pushing all of my power as hard and as fast as I could out of me and into the tiger. It drained from me and filled her. Her heartbeat was stronger, her breaths less labored. I could feel four tiny heartbeats pitter-pattering at a rapid rate. The blue orb pulled itself back together, retreating into the room it came from, and I dropped the tiger’s paw, unable to hold my grasp or even keep myself upright. She was so much bigger than the cheetah had been and it had taken more from me than I expected. I looked forward to the day when the Keeper would simply be a part of me, instead of me acting as a conduit between it and the Immortal we were trying to help or hurt. But, I had no idea whether that day would even come.
My face was cold against the concrete and I didn’t have the energy to move to where I had tossed the pillow and blanket when I woke up this morning. I scanned myself and found my tiny violet flame barely burning. It was a tea light candle instead of a fire, but it would rebuild. I just needed sleep. Unable to keep my eyes open any longer, I let it all go.
Chapter 25
We left Brighton as soon as possible and the group had been running nonstop. I had entrusted Elias to choose the AniMages who would make the trip to Washington, and there were ten of us. Ten seemed like so few knowing the Queen had an army of Hunters at her disposal, but Rynna kept assuring us we would be able to get in and get out. I wasn’t convinced it was going to be so easy, but what did I know?
She, Derreck, Nathaniel, Bethany, and the dogs left yesterday, while the sun was still up. They had food, clothes, and weapons. When I asked Derreck what a gun was going to do against a Hunter, he shrugged and told me a bullet in the head was a bullet in the head. They might heal from it, but it would slow them down. I couldn’t argue with his logic. The rest of us would run. There weren’t enough vehicles and I needed some space from being continuously surrounded.
Elias had pulled me aside and explained Will couldn’t join us. His hatred for Rhi would keep him out of the maze and make him a liability. We had talked to him together, and while nothing had ended up broken outside of a table, Will had resigned to stay with the pack in Brighton and keep them out of trouble. He would bring them to us when we were somewhere safe. Killing Hunters wasn’t the purpose of the trip and he understood what was at stake.
Dillon was the hardest for me to walk away from. He begged and pleaded to come with us. A few guys ended up having to take him into the caves and keep him there so he wouldn’t shift and follow us anyway. I couldn’t bring myself to command him to stay, which had been Will’s advice. I knew I had the power and he wouldn’t be able to disobey me, but my third foster father kept coming to mind. He would stand over me screaming until I would flinch and then beat me for moving. Just because you had power didn’t mean you had to use it.
It had taken me the first few hours to figure out how to block out the thoughts of the other AniMages. As the alpha, their thoughts were directly connected to mine while we were all shifted and I could hear them more clearly than I wanted to. Elias stuck with me, coaching me along until I was able to build a wall, keeping my thoughts private and theirs in the background. I was sure the connection would come in handy at some point, but right now, I needed space.
We were somewhere in Oregon when intense emotions filled me. Fear, hope, and anger I knew weren’t mine flooded my system and I almost tripped as I leapt over downed trees and through the forests. The smell of her filled my nostrils. Her hair had always smelled like mint. So many girls often smelled like vanilla or flowers, but as soon as the smell of mint infiltrated my nostrils, I knew it was Amelia. I kept running, pushing myself, and the pack, harder. Her emotions and her power grew big
ger and bigger, until I was afraid she would burst. Then slowly, it drained away. I was terrified something was being done to her, until finally the draining stopped. I could barely feel her in my mind. I couldn’t do anything, so I tried something Elias had only explained once. I reached out for her.
He had been trying to help me understand how to communicate with the other pack members but the theory seemed sound for Amelia as well. I pushed my own power toward her, following the wavering violet thread. My legs continued to move me forward as my wolf took over our body and I focused on what was in my mind.
She was exhausted. Her breaths were shallow and I struggled to make sure mine didn’t try to match hers. I heard her heartbeat slow and felt the moment she slid into sleep, her body forcing itself to shut down in order to conserve energy. All those times she had passed out before, it made so much sense now. Everything about her made so much sense.
I wanted to pull Amelia into my arms and save her from whatever she had gotten herself into this time, but I wasn’t there—not yet. So instead, I followed my instincts. I slowly pulled at the ball of power sitting at my core. I likened it to a large ball of string filled with crackling electric shocks. I pulled on one of the strings and brought it to the violet thread leading to Amelia. I wrapped my string around hers, winding it farther and farther from myself, until finally, it snapped, and our two threads merged. The jolt of the combined power and the sensations of her were so much stronger, but she felt so much weaker.
Her anger flared inside me as if it were my own, my blood pressure instantly rising. The insecurity and fear she shoved down and refused to acknowledge was a bitter taste in my mouth. But she had a tiny sliver of hope she held to tightly, wishing Rynna’s reinforcements would be there soon. And then there was her strength. Even as her body was weak, a never-ending river of strength connected her mind, body, and soul. It was the reserve she unknowingly tapped into again and again, and it was the reason I could never walk away from her. Strength was not something every person had. Her willingness to put everyone and everything before herself—to actively choose the opposite of what she needed and deserved—was a rare trait. I wanted to be that person for her. I wanted to give her the things she wouldn’t give herself.
Bound by Spells (Bound Series Book 2) Page 22
