I put my palms on Amelia’s cheeks and pulled back a millimeter, pressing my forehead to hers. “We’ve made it this far. You can do it, doll. Give me a day and I’ll be back for you. Okay?”
She nodded against me. “I’ll be here. And I’ll be ready. Do you have to go now? So soon?” she asked, but by her tone, she already knew the answer, and she knew it was the right one.
“If I don’t go now, I might never go, and what use would either of us be?” I flashed a smile and for the first time, I saw a light in her eyes I hadn’t known I’d missed. “There’s a lot you need to be caught up on, but I think it would be better to do in person. I know B is dying to see you, and Charlie hasn’t left your side since we’ve been home.”
Her eyebrow rose. “B?” she asked.
“Long story. One you’ll love when she tells you. But, yeah, she’s B to me, too. You picked a good one.” I stood and held out a hand, pulling Amelia up to full height.
“I should have known she would stick around for all this,” she said, shaking her head and smiling as we walked across the clearing.
I pulled Amelia into my side. “It’s good to see you smile,” I said quietly. We walked for a few more feet, until we hit the tree line.
Amelia turned to face me, that smile still tugging at her lips as she said, “You give me a reason to smile, Montgomery. Just go while I can still let you, and bring the whole damn army back with you.”
I yanked her quickly to me for a kiss that started out as smashed lips and ended in one last tango of breath. I felt her need and it matched my own. It was the reassurance I craved. I had to know whatever she stirred in me wasn’t mine alone. Finally, I kissed her forehead and darted out into the trees.
3
The second Aidan left me and the forest faded, she was back. The Keeper stalked through my system, agitated I’d found a way to get to Aidan. I had learned there was nowhere I could hide, but my little ball of violet light looked for any nook or crevice to bury itself in.
Something had changed while I helped the women in Julia’s breeding center. The Keeper and I had a tenuous relationship before that moment, one where I could sometimes control us, but most often she rose to the surface when I needed her most. Only for the brief stint of having my mother’s cuff was I able to make some progress toward working with the Keeper. The cuff allowed me to keep the Elder entities separate and merge them into my own power. It was the first time I had felt the significance of the varying powers of our people and their specific uses.
But, as I had pulled at Cole’s power to give the Keeper more freedom to help save the women, I knew I could never take that control back. The barriers that held her were gone, and I was trapped inside myself. I was shocked she hadn’t found a way to force me awake to do her bidding, but so far, I was able to keep my body shut down as she howled at me.
The Keeper didn’t speak to me, per se. Her words were wailing echoes, causing the constraints of my physical body to be a cramped closet. She raged and screamed, her anger and determination to get to Aidan radiating through and around me. I heard her intent as clearly as words spoken in my ear. She knew he was the key. She needed him. We needed him.
She used her power, our power, to poke and prod at me. She lashed out and the scalding burn where our magic collided was another scar no one would see. She knew he couldn’t bear my pain, and she used it to bring him back.
My body was tired and my power depleted. Exhaustion beat on my door and I wasn’t sure I had much to contribute to a binding of the Keeper. I knew it had to happen, though. I couldn’t take much more.
I prayed the whimpers I bit back from the depths of my subconscious didn’t manifest themselves audibly. Coming back from the forest, my mind was clearer and my will was stronger. Being with Aidan had given me the strength I needed to face her. I had to stop running from her. I had to stop running from the reality of who I was.
4
I woke up lying across the bed, one hand bunched in the dark brown comforter and the other on Amelia’s hip. She was whimpering softly, and I suspected the Keeper was somehow punishing her for our tricks.
I sat up and stared down at Amelia. Her eyebrows were pulled together, her eyes tightly closed. I softly brushed my thumb over each brow and was relieved to see the muscles around her eyes relax.
I pushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear as I’d watched her do a hundred times. My quest to find Amelia had shown me the truth. She brought out the best in me. Simply the idea of her forced the good parts of me to the surface, dissolving my default defensive and untrusting behaviors.
The sun sliced through the window and I finally saw what should have been obvious. Her skin was pale and she was even smaller than I remembered. I ran my hands lightly over her ribs and too easily felt the bones. The dip of her waist was too pronounced and her hip bones jutted into the denim of her jeans.
“There is always a cost associated with the energy we expend. She needs to be replenished. She cannot recover from this alone.” Baleon voiced the concerns running through my mind. I turned to find him filling the doorway. His mammoth build covered in black leather, head shaved, and tattoos inked black against his brown skin, it was intimidating to see him up close. On the floor at the end of the bed, never far from Amelia, Charlie scrambled to his feet. He didn’t growl, but he eyed Baleon with what looked to be the same skepticism I had.
Baleon didn’t look away from me. He stood still and waited for the invitation to enter. I hesitated, but Amelia let out a sharp cry as she turned onto her side and curled into the fetal position.
“Whatever she needs, please, give it to her,” I said, her pain and my lack of attention to what her physical body endured gnawing at my insides. I was so focused on what the magic was doing to her spirit, I had missed the obvious.
Baleon didn’t make a sound, even as his heavy leather boots trekked over the wood floors. He stopped on Amelia’s side of the bed.
“You need to leave,” he said, his eyes on her.
“Absolutely not,” I argued. “I won’t leave her here with you alone.”
Baleon flicked his simmering orange eyes up at me, an inferno of color holding as much threat as promise. I didn’t question their validity, but I would fight to the death before I left her vulnerable. I still wasn’t entirely certain I could trust this Hunter. “I have betrayed my race and my queen. I have given up more than you can imagine, because I believe she is the one. I will not harm your mate. Leave him if you want security, but you cannot be here.” Baleon gestured to Charlie and the Dane sat at attention.
“Why?” I challenged, putting one hand on Amelia’s side, prepared to quickly pull her to me.
Baleon showed the smallest smirk before he spoke. “The power inside her is vast and unpredictable. I do not know how either of them will react to my presence, but once I begin, it is more dangerous for me to stop than continue. You cannot interfere; therefore, you cannot be here,” he finished.
I kept my eyes locked on his as I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I won’t be far. I promised to get you out of there and I will. We will come for you soon, doll.” I raised to my full height, my gaze moving from Baleon to Charlie.
“Stay, Charlie,” I commanded. He sat facing Baleon, white and black ears pricked, clearly poised to move if necessary.
“How long?” I asked.
“As long as she needs. I must circumvent the Keeper, feed her soul, and replenish her body, all without being taken hold of. I will find you, and if I cannot, he will,” he said, kneeling beside the bed and gently turning Amelia to her back. He placed one hand on her chest above her heart and the other across her brow. Then, Baleon turned to me, his impatience clear.
I clenched my fists against the howling wolf in my mind and left, pulling the door closed behind me. Striding down the hall and out the back door, I ignored the various people speaking to me. I knew exactly who I needed to find and what I needed to know.
Derreck’s massive
green barn had been converted into a makeshift dorm for the women freed from the terror experiments where Queen Julia tried to force magic back into the children being born to Immortals. The barn was meant for horses and the stalls were already in place, but, lucky for us, Derreck hadn’t gotten around to buying the horses yet. So everything was clean and it was easy to give each woman a little privacy and their own bed.
In those first few days at Derreck’s, I rarely left Amelia’s side unless Bethany or Elias forced me to take a break. Rynna had taken charge of the women, along with Dillon’s mom, Cora, and I had left it to them. One day, I came out to find a half dozen women standing in a row with piles of stuffing, sheets, and sewing supplies in front of them. Not one of them physically touched a thing, but they all stood, arms swirling while they spoke softly, and the mattresses stitched themselves together. It took me a minute to shut my gaping mouth and attempt to walk past looking unfazed. There were still women bound by the Queen’s Hunters, which was something I needed to focus on soon, but I could only handle one thing at a time.
Now, as I cut across the yard toward the barn, the sight of various women and the smattering of AniMages that arrived after Cresthaven were comforting. We directed the AniMages in Brighton to leave in small packs, making their journey less conspicuous while gathering our people in one place. The last group would arrive any day, and while I wasn’t looking forward to Melinda and Braxton rejoining the group, I wouldn’t turn them away.
As I walked down the row of stalls, small groups of pregnant women stopped talking and smiled at me. I knew some were AniMage, made obvious by their small bows, a sign of respect that still made their King uncomfortable. I wanted to shake my head and tell them I was the last person they should be bowing to, but I had to be the person they thought I was.
“Fake it till you make it,” Bethany had said to me during one of our conversations. Apparently, she’d been doing it for years, and she promised the confidence you pretended to have would finally show up at one point. So, I kept faking it, returning their gesture.
Walking down the corridor toward the last stall on the right side, where I knew I’d find Elias, I smiled at the flowers in the stalls and the small name plates on the doors. Colorful sheets were tucked around the mattresses and books were stacked in the corners. While the barn smelled of hay and dirt, it was clear the women were making it their own. After all they had been through, I was glad to see it.
When I reached Nell’s stall, the door was closed. There was an opening I could have looked through, but a sheet hung over it, so I knocked. Elias cracked the door open and seeing me, stepped through. He looked terrible. His red hair was both matted down and sticking up in multiple directions. He looked like he hadn’t showered in days, his button-down covered in dirt and sliced open in a few places. I gestured away from the stall and he nodded slowly, the movement taking him longer than it should have.
“How is she, Elias? Is it almost time?” I asked quietly, inquiring about his wife. Nell was still in her cheetah form, and would stay that way until her babies were born.
He rubbed a hand across his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then ran a hand through his hair. “By God, I hope so. She’s hurting and it doesn’t seem like things are progressing. I can’t help her while I’m shifted, so I’m staying human, but that seems to agitate her. As you can see.” He pulled at his shirt and shook his head.
“Can the other women help? Maybe you should let them be a part of this?” I had no clue if my advice bore weight, but it seemed logical.
He sighed. “I plan to. Cora is the only one Nell will let close, but she’s also trying to help with all the other women, so I try not to bother her constantly.” Elias paused, and I hurt for my friend. I knew how it felt when the person you loved was in pain while you remained helpless. It was absolutely debilitating. It was why I had come to him.
“I apologize for changing the subject, but I need your advice,” I said. He opened his eyes wide and gave his cheeks a light smack. “Alright, I’m ready. What do you need?” We both chuckled a little.
“Do you trust Baleon, the Hunter who came with Micah?” I asked.
Elias leaned back against the wall and looked at me thoughtfully. “I’ll need a little more than that to give you a good answer, Aidan.”
“I just left Amelia alone with him. I was so focused on just getting to her and getting the Keeper out, I hadn’t even thought to be worried that she wasn’t eating, or what her body had been through at Cresthaven. And now, it sounds like I’m going to need him to bind the Keeper. I have to ask a Hunter to do the very same thing that was done to me, that was done to her father…” I trailed off, my eyes focused on nothing as I silently berated myself again.
“Hey,” Elias said sharply, pulling me back to the present, “we all make choices. We make the best choices we can in the moments we’re forced to make them. Right now, that Hunter is the only hope you have of getting her back completely, that’s what you’re saying, right?”
“It is,” I responded.
“Then, it doesn’t sound like there’s a choice at all. You’ll do what needs to be done because that is your duty to us and to her.” Elias spoke with such authority, I instantly reacted, standing straighter and nodding as the words repeated in my mind.
I reached my hand out and when Elias took it, pulled him in for a half-hug. “If you need anything, come to me. I will do whatever I can for both of you.”
“I know you will, Aidan,” he said. “It’s what makes you a good King. You’ve maintained yourself well through all of this. Your father would be proud.”
His words stopped me and froze the smile on my face. No one had ever told me they were proud of me, except my case worker when I told him I got into Brighton’s community college. I pictured the balding man in his sweater vest as he shook my hand and told me he knew I was headed in the right direction. If only he knew where that decision had led me.
When I snapped back to reality, Elias was already slipping back into Nell’s room.
5
I stepped out into the sunlight, squinting as my eyes re-adjusted. I hadn’t seen Baleon or been overrun by Charlie, so I assumed things were going well. I looked toward the house and had to force myself to walk in the other direction. I didn’t get more than a few feet before Bethany was at my side and then, in my face.
“What in the ever-loving-hell are you doing letting him stay here? I know that lumbering oaf with him is a Hunter and you let them both waltz in here and make themselves at freaking home. He is—” I put one hand up and narrowed my eyes. It had the intended effect. Bethany stopped talking, slamming her mouth closed and returning a glare of her own. I hadn’t meant mine, but she surely meant hers.
“It’s my fault because I haven’t had a chance to talk to you.” Her eyebrow raised but I ignored it and gestured to a picnic table in the yard. There were people everywhere, women in small clusters, Rynna and Derreck talking by the back door, and Dillon running around, burning off his endless supply of energy.
“I know you want to hate him, B, but just hear me out. He saved Amelia. He saved me. If he hadn’t been there, none of us would have come out alive. He fought at our side and risked the wrath of one of the most demented people I have ever seen. His mother…he betrayed his own mother. Micah fights for us. And so does his Hunter.” I may have added that last bit in as much for me as for her, but I had to believe it.
I stayed silent and watched her as the words sunk in. Her face gradually relaxed and the heartache I expected replaced her anger.
“You’re sure?” she asked, leaning in and cocking her head.
“Absolutely,” I answered. “I know this for a fact. He fought alongside us and stayed down in that death trap to get the women out. He stayed behind to make sure we could get away. I haven’t even had time to thank him yet, or to find out the details. I’ve been too wrapped up in getting to Amelia and figuring out how to bind the Keeper. But I got to her, Bethany. She’s coming bac
k to us.” I needed her to focus there and the light in her eyes confirmed I hit the mark.
“What did she say? How is she? How are you bringing her back?” The questions she rifled off were accompanied by excitement clear in her posture and the high pitch of her voice.
I considered how much to share with Bethany. The words weren’t mine to give and Amelia deserved to tell her friend what she wanted to.
“She is as good as she can be and ready to get back to herself. But, I need help to bind the Keeper and I also need to get Cole out of his room. He hasn’t spoken to me since we got here and I can’t do this without him.” I dropped my head into my right hand and pulled at the roots of my hair. Cole hadn’t come out of his room and I knew he hadn’t forgiven me for what happened to his father. It wasn’t actually my fault, but he needed someone to blame and I wasn’t going to take that from him.
“I can help, he’ll listen to me,” Bethany said.
I looked up at her, confused. “Since when are you and Cole buddies?” I asked.
She shrugged and shimmied a bit to sit taller in her seat. “There are too many of you here and I needed to get away from him, so I went to Cole’s room and we’ve been talking. Mostly about nothing, because the poor guy’s daddy just died and I’m surely not gonna push him on life plans or expect him to cry on my shoulder, but we talk. And I’m the only one he will let in his room besides Onyx.”
I hadn’t realized Charlie’s brother hadn’t been around much, but clearly Onyx had his role. He seemed to be as vigilant over Cole as Charlie was over Amelia, and I appreciated that.
“Thank you for the offer, but I don’t have time for you to do your magic southern thing and convince him without him knowing you did,” I said as she smirked.
I gestured Bethany toward me and spoke quietly. “To get Amelia back, we have to bind the Keeper in the same way the Hunters have bound so many of us. And to do that, we need the Keeper to be weaker — tamed, if you will. The only person I know who can do that is Cole. I can’t even be a part of this because the Keeper can pull my power out of me. In Cresthaven, it took what I was trying to give Amelia and made itself stronger.” I stopped talking, the idea that I was the reason Amelia was being held captive in her own mind and body becoming too much.
Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) Page 2
