I walked ahead of him, and threw, “Of course I will,” over my shoulder. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. I turned, irritated. I already knew where the conversation was going and neither of us was going to like it.
“I just told you I can feel your emotions, Amelia, and you aren’t telling me the truth,” Aidan said, glaring at me. “I’ve tried to block you out and give you privacy, but ever since we landed, I can’t keep my walls up and that means right now, when I told you to stay with me, I felt your hesitation. I felt your indifference. Why?”
I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t directly thought I would go where I had to whether he liked it or not, but it was the truth. I pulled my arm out of his grasp, frustrated, finally admitting to myself what I had to tell him.
“I have to do what I have to do, Aidan,” I said. “You can’t solve this. I’m the Elder. I’m the one who can get in that chamber. We don’t know what’s in there, but it’s me they want. If they wanted you, you would feel them, too. I won’t apologize for doing what I have to do.”
I didn’t miss the hurt in his eyes as his arm dropped and he looked at me like I’d hit him. Guilt crept in, but I couldn’t take it back now, so I turned back to the path.
“We have to keep going,” I said as I started to walk again.
“Bullshit,” he said loudly. I turned.
“Excuse me?”
He leaned in a little, over enunciating this time. “Bull. Shit. That’s what I said. This is what you do, it’s what you’ve done since the beginning. You don’t know the answers, no one does, but you find something out and make decisions that impact everyone.
“You become the martyr, decide which risks to take and then you are the first person to put yourself in danger.” Aidan crossed the short distance between us. He stood a foot in front of me and rocked back on his heels, his arms crossed over his chest. “So, I’m calling bullshit. This prophecy is about both of us. It takes both of us to stop this. You aren’t that special. We’re special. We’re a team. Without us, none of this happens. I left my pack to fend for themselves because I believe in what we’re doing together. So, you’re either going to let me do my job and protect you, even if it is just from yourself, or I’m taking you back to the plane.”
I was in a boiling rage before he even finished his little rant. “You’re going to take me back to the plane?” I screeched out. Even the integration of Cole’s power couldn’t tamp down whatever was pushing our power and emotions to new heights. I didn’t want to fight with him, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Both of our eyes lit at the same moment and the power spike from Aidan matched my own. Our power swirled in the air around us. It poked and prodded, whipping back and forth. He and I were squared off and neither of us was giving an inch.
My knees buckled as something slammed into me from behind. As I tumbled to the ground, I found myself next to Aidan, our heads inches from each other, but our bodies pointed in opposite directions. Before we could move, paws planted on either side of our faces and wet noses pressed against our cold ones.
I looked up into Charlie’s coal-black eyes and felt his warm snorts of breath huffing down at me, clearly annoyed. A low growl came from Onyx as I stared up at Charlie, his words clear in my head.
Enough. Stop this now. We are finally home. You are home. And he is right. This cannot be done by you alone. I know the power of her call, but you must stay focused.
Aidan must have gotten a similar speech because as we stood, he looked over at me sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, Aidan. I don’t understand what’s getting me so riled up, but you’re right. Neither of us can do this alone. More than that, I want it to be you beside me,” I apologized, holding out my hand. He took it and brought it to his lips, then we fell in line behind the Danes.
As we came over the hill, the first homes appeared. Or, more accurately, the burnt and broken shells of what used to be homes. Aidan took my hand as my eyes filled with tears. We followed Charlie and Onyx through the wreckage, stepping over the remains of lives forever changed by Julia and her Hunters. Not only was seeing the homes around me jarring, it was like falling back in time. While Julia’s wrath had begun only thirty years ago, the Immortals had lived separately from humans and hadn’t been so quick to adopt our modern architecture.
The homes had been made of some type of clay mixture with stone foundations. Thick chunks of wall remained on some and the wood frames of doors and windows still stood on others. Thirty years of weather had degraded the homes even further — each one a handful of broken bones no longer making the full skeleton of a village.
Charlie and Onyx picked their way through the piles of wood and decrepit belongings, turning back every so often to make sure Aidan and I continued to follow. After Charlie’s scolding, I kept my distance. Each time he looked at me, I felt like I had let him down. When Charlie and Onyx moved off of us, Aidan and I hadn’t argued anymore. Instead, we helped each other up and agreed to focus on what was in front of us, together.
Unease lumped in my stomach, a ball growing with each step we took. I felt nauseous and weak. Aidan reached for me and as soon as he wrapped my hand in his, I felt the influx of power push me closer to normal.
I gave him a grateful smile and we continued. It was roughly a mile through the village. The homes had been on the outskirts in a lower, flatter area. As we climbed uphill, we found more defined streets, what had been shops and clearly the city center. We hiked up the side of the mountain, curving around and between the buildings until finally coming to a massive gate. The stone wall around it reached into the sky, seemingly ending amidst the clouds.
The dogs stood on either side of the wooden gate and stared at us. Aidan looked at me, and asked, “Do they think we know how to get in there?”
“Apparently,” I said, cocking my head and moving closer. The wood was old and splintered, beaten by weather and wind. The large metal rings toward the center were as big as beach balls and appeared to weigh hundreds of pounds.
I turned to the dogs. “Shouldn’t this open automatically? You don’t expect us to open it ourselves, do you?”
Charlie ambled toward me, closing the short distance and sitting down. I squatted and looked into his eyes once again.
I felt him there, lingering in my mind, and wondered if we had always been able to do this.
Your abilities are amplified here. This is our home. We also have access to parts of our magic that had been unreachable until now. You do not even have to look at me to hear me. Though, I still find the ear scratches quite wonderful. So, if you would oblige, we will explain.
I laughed out loud. Charlie’s combination of formal speech and puppy ways was more than a little amusing. As his tongue lolled and he leaned into my hand, his tail thumped a rhythm onto the ground. I looked over to find Aidan doing the same for Onyx and both dogs appeared to be in heaven.
Are you both listening? he asked.
I hadn’t realized Aidan had heard him the whole time as well, but we answered yes simultaneously. While the guy drove me crazy, I couldn’t deny that he had fit himself snugly into my heart. My practical mind tried to keep him at arm’s length, but my body and power had other ideas. I wished I’d had a few more minutes to savor the beginnings of what we were becoming back in the bedroom at Uncle Derreck’s cabin, but having him here with me was more than I could have hoped for. Prophecy or not, I wasn’t alone, and I didn’t want anyone else beside me.
This time, it was Onyx who spoke. You must work together and move the gate yourselves. Between you, you have the power. Use your gifts and prove you are who we believe you to be. Prove you belong together and are meant to be here.
The two dogs trotted off behind us and sat down. Apparently, that was all the direction we were going to get. There were times I missed what the Keeper had been capable of. Now was most definitely one of them.
I turned to Aidan. “Any thoughts?”
He scratched the back of his head while l
ooking at the gate and further up the massive wall it was attached to. “It looks like we’re opening the door to the mountain itself. Where’s the rest of the castle?”
“Well, behind the gate, I’d imagine.” I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh as he scowled initially and then joined me with a chuckle of his own.
“Touché, doll,” he responded drily.
“Maybe we should try the little trick from the other night…out in the clearing?” It had only been the most intense few minutes of my life. Every one of my senses had been heightened and I felt Aidan in every cell. He had consumed me in those few minutes, just as I had completely consumed him. The power that built between us had been the stuff of legends — or, at least, it felt like it.
It was that good, was it?
I bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile. Damn it, Montgomery, you aren’t supposed to just listen in whenever you want.
Can’t help it, like Charlie said, the power is amplified here. Anything else you’d like to compliment while we’re here?
He stepped toward me, the bright blue bursting from his pupils to cover his smoky iris in a giant sunburst. Those eyes pinned me in place, and I felt heat radiate through me. I swallowed, my throat dry. I licked my lips and Aidan cocked his head, his hooded eyes narrowing. I felt my own power build to match the pitch of his. It was a buzz in the air, crackling between us.
My violet smoke thickened as the intensity grew and my need to be close to him, to touch him, overwhelmed me. Aidan was still steps away and he stood still, watching me. I wanted the distance between us gone.
Blue fire circled his hands and reached out to surround him. It swirled around his wrists and up his arms until the two segments connected, each cut with orange bursts to remind me exactly what made Aidan special.
Each of us encased in our respective magic, we took a step toward each other and held one hand up. The action was innate, my hand rising of its own accord to the same height as Aidan’s. We took another step forward, our hands inches apart.
Power ricocheted back and forth, the current flowing between us. Violet, blue, and orange bounced between our palms. Between the wolf howling in our shared mind and the Hunter strength emanating from Aidan, I couldn’t focus. I wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to feel his lips.
As we closed the final distance, Aidan lowered his head, his lips hovering just above mine. I felt his breath and needed to move only the tiniest bit to meet him. Before I could move, he whispered, “Focus, doll. Let’s open that gate.”
I didn’t take my eyes off him, but focused on the gate and the need for it to be gone. Through our shared connection, I felt Aidan mimic my efforts, and we both directed our power to our palms.
I saw the quirk of his lips as he whispered, Now, in my mind. We turned our palms out at the same moment and lightning shot toward the gate. It was a concentrated energy that swirled and mixed as it raced toward the wooden door. I was too busy closing the distance between us to see the two collide.
With my free hand, I gripped the back of his neck and felt his smiling lips as they crushed against mine. We had broken open the damn of power and now, as his tongue swept into my mouth and his hand came to my waist, I felt more from him than I ever had.
Aidan’s emotions were stronger than I’d expected. With the door between us blown wide open, I caught glimpses of his memories, his thoughts about me, and his true feelings.
Our kisses slowed and his hand moved to grasp mine as he pulled away.
“When did you know you loved me?” I asked, still lost in the intimate thoughts I’d seen. Embarrassment burned my cheeks and I looked down at my feet.
Aidan pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. “There was no one moment that I knew. It was every moment combined. From the first time you spoke to me out on that beach, to the day you absolutely failed at convincing me you were training MMA with Micah, to the nights we stayed up until sunrise asking each other a hundred questions.
“Every day you said something else that surprised me. You wanted so much from the world, but you wanted to give it so much as well. You didn’t want to be held back by your family, but you wanted to be close to them. You were fiercely protective of Bethany and equally hesitant to let me in. You were a riddle I knew I would never solve, but I wanted to spend the rest of my life trying.”
I opened my mouth to respond when Aidan exclaimed, “Holy shit!”
I whipped around to find that we hadn’t just opened the door, we had destroyed the door. It was toothpicks. Slivers of wood shattered and tossed in every direction. Charlie and Onyx had already crossed into the castle and stood waiting for us, clearly impatient.
“Ohmygod, can you believe this? Look what we did!” I took a few steps toward the open door, hardly containing my shock.
“Were you going to say something before?” Aidan asked, a sly smile telling me he knew I was.
“Oh,” I stuttered. “I…um…I’m really glad you didn’t let me go. I’m really glad you came for me and you’re here now.” I stumbled through the words I hadn’t actually intended to say. Coward, I berated myself.
Aidan looked at me, his hopeful expression slowly fading.
“Shall we?” he asked, gesturing forward.
I exhaled and mentally thanked him for not pressing the issue. I knew what I wanted to say and what he wanted to hear. After all this, he deserved to hear it. I only hoped he would stay patient as I unraveled the mystery of my own heart.
27
I nudged Amelia along as I tried to keep pace with the Danes. Her eyes were wide and her movements slow, just as they had been since we’d entered the castle. We were both astounded that so much remained.
I tried not to dwell on what happened outside. I had allowed her to see me, unfiltered and emotionally vulnerable, and yet again, she found a way around her feelings. I had stopped second-guessing my feelings for her a long time ago. I accepted whatever part of them was tied to being her mate and realized beyond the obvious physical attraction we had for each other, the way I felt couldn’t be manufactured. She was clearly still hesitant, and I wasn’t sure how many more times I could put myself out there for her to reject. Whether she knew that’s what she’d done or not, that was how it felt.
Charlie and Onyx led us past rooms filled with furniture and hallways lined with paintings and photos. No one had closed up shop, so to speak, and many of the rooms had clearly been raided. Drawers hung open, furniture shoved askew, and unidentifiable broken items littered the floor. The castle itself was cold. The chilly air from the mountain whipped through the empty hallways, making us both glad to have winter jackets.
The dogs yipped and barked at us if we took too long, and eventually, Onyx came to take up the rear so he could physically push us forward. I considered shifting to show him who was really in charge, but that would have been poor judgment on my part since the dogs clearly knew where they were going and we had no idea.
Amelia stopped in front of yet another frame. “Doll, we have to keep going. Onyx is going to take a chunk of me before long,” I said as I tried to pull her along. Amelia yanked her arm from my light grip and stepped even closer to the photograph.
“It’s my mom. With Rynna and Julia,” she said quietly.
I looked at the portrait again, this time really focusing. Rynna was the only one of the three I’d actually met, so it was easy to pick her out. She stood between the other two in a long dress with her hair in a long braid, as it typically was today. Of the other two, I knew which was Amelia’s mother based on the fact that Amelia was a carbon copy and the other woman was bright blonde. Rynna and Liana looked maybe fifteen in the picture and stood in front of a water fountain. All three were laughing, their arms around each other’s waists.
“They were all friends?” I asked.
Amelia nodded. “I think so. I wonder what happened,” she mused.
I pulled at her arm again. “We can ask Rynna when we get home.” Reluctantly, she came with me, b
ut her eyes darted back to the photograph as we walked away.
We continued up staircase after staircase. As we made our way higher into the castle, the walls weren’t just made of stone, they were stone. I looked closely as we climbed and was certain the castle was built directly into the side of the mountain.
Charlie finally diverted from the stairs and made a beeline down a hallway. It didn’t look different from any other hallway we had passed, but as we approached the last door on the right, Charlie sat down and a warning bell went off inside me. It was the first time I’d felt anything out of the ordinary since we’d landed, and that meant something.
I pulled Amelia back to the top of the stairs in a second. She swayed on her feet as I called out, “What’s going on, Charlie? Something’s off here. I can feel it.”
We must go this way. You have to trust me. I am leading you home.
“You keep saying that. You keep talking about home, but aren’t we already home? We’re in the castle,” I said. “You need to give us more information.”
Amelia stepped from my side and turned her back to the dogs. “Come on, Aidan. We have to go. We have to trust them. Why come here and follow them this whole way if we aren’t going to finish this? Whatever it is.”
This could be a trap, I growled in her mind.
If it were a trap, we wouldn’t need to walk up eight flights of stairs. And Charlie’s protected me since I’ve known him. He wouldn’t let me get hurt now.
I crossed my arms and surveyed the situation again. Charlie came back down the hall halfway, but Onyx stood next to the door, sniffing with his tail quickly swishing back and forth. Amelia was in front of me, and looked mildly impatient herself.
“What?” I asked. I knew there was something she wasn’t saying.
“I can feel it again,” she said, her gaze darting between me and the door. “It’s pulling me. It’s pulling me that way. I want to go in that door, Aidan. I need to.” She was trying to remain still, but kept shifting her weight from her right foot to her left, her fingers twisting in front of her.
Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) Page 14
