Chapter thirty
All day, Amaya’s thoughts had been consumed with her mother leaving.
Levi had let her vent, even while he advocated for Anita.
In a way, she understood her mate just a little more.
She wanted to hold her mother hostage so that she could never leave the compound.
It was the one way she was sure Anita would be safe.
But she and her mother were similar enough for Amaya to know that Anita would only allow it but for so long.
Not since she was a teenager and spending weekends with Tracy at their family’s compound had Amaya been separated from her mother.
She was already getting separation anxiety and Anita had just left the house last night.
She sighed and waved off Bronx’s concerned look. “I’m fine. Just moping,” she told him.
He nodded and led her from the Archive. She couldn’t wait to get home. She missed her mate. Raven had brought up her working nights and Amaya was giving serious thought to it. Only mated for a few weeks and she already hated being on a different sleeping schedule from Levi.
Amaya frowned when they reached the Atrium. Her cousin was pacing the space, her face relaxing the moment she spotted Amaya. For a moment, déjà vu hit her, and she feared what kind of news her cousin was bringing to her. It was like Paul all over again. Did Tracy also have bad news?
“Amaya,” Tracy breathed out, pulling her into a tight hug.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mom wants to see you,” was Tracy’s answer.
Amaya frowned. “Why didn’t she just come with you?”
Tracy gave her a guilty look before looking away. “The elders are calling for you to come to the compound.”
She snorted. “The elders can’t make me do shit. I haven’t been a part of that compound in my life.”
Tracy clasped her hands. “Please, Amaya.”
Her gaze traced her cousin’s face and she saw the concern along with a hint of fear. What had they threatened Tracy with to get her to pass along their message?
“Fine.” She sighed. “Bronx, we’ll need to stop at my family’s compound.”
He nodded and pulled out his phone. Amaya knew he was checking in with Sebastian to tell him of the change of plans. She reached out to her mate, wanting him to hear it from her directly.
‘King.’
He answered her immediately, a warm tide filling her mind. ‘Yes, baby doll?’
‘I’m headed to my family’s compound. The elders want to see me.’
‘I’ll meet you there.’
‘I can handle it,’ she promised him. ‘You’ve had me working on my defensive magic. Trust me, I’ll be okay.’
He was silent for a few moments before he conceded. ‘Make sure Bronx is with you at all times.’
‘I won’t play with my safety, baby.’ That reassured him and he withdrew from her mind. She turned her attention back to her cousin. “Did you drive?”
Tracy shook her head and Amaya nodded. Bronx led them to the SUV and the ride to the outskirts of town was quiet. Not even the low murmur of the radio could break the tension. By the time they reached the front gates of the family compound, Amaya’s leg was bouncing in nervousness.
The first thing she saw when the gates opened was the profusion of flowers of various colors in no particular order. There was no path, no rhyme or reason to the garden, just scents and colors scattered across the front and sides of the main house.
Chawi power came in so many different forms, but for her family, channeling chaos was their main magic.
It manifested in different ways, the flowers just one aspect of how they released the chaotic power.
The car pulled into the circular driveway and her aunt and uncles were waiting for her in the front.
Amaya smiled. She looked back at Tracy and her cousin gave her a guilty look. This was feeling like an intervention and her smile dropped as irritation filled her. She got out of the car and greeted her family.
Tracy’s mother hugged her. She looked so much like Anita that Amaya held her tight a moment longer than necessary.
“I’m so happy to see you’re safe,” Angelica said.
“I told grandfather that I was okay,” Amaya said, frowning.
Angelica looked surprised. “Paul has been spinning stories.”
Amaya sighed. “What do the elders want?”
“To put eyes on you, mostly,” her uncle Michael told her, giving her an awkward pat on the shoulder.
She nodded and followed them inside. The foyer was massive, the walls wood-panels like it was stuck in the seventies.
She was led into the main family dining room where the elders were seated.
It was her grandfather and his three remaining siblings.
Well into their eighties and nineties, these were the oldest in their family, the ones in charge of the way their compounds were run.
The ones mostly responsible for the screaming Amaya could feel in the walls.
Two floors up in the attic, they kept the women who had been betrayed by their own magic locked away.
‘For their own safety,’ they would say. It was her mother’s worst nightmare and the reason Anita begged Amaya to never turn to their family for help.
She would never allow them to lock away her mother.
“You wanted to see me.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Her grandfather’s gaze raked over her neck before coming back to Amaya’s eyes. “You’ve been at the Bayi compound for months.”
“And no worse for wear as you can see,” Amaya reported dryly.
His eyes hardened at her sarcastic reply. Amaya could never control her mouth, and now that she was mated to Levi, she could swear it was worse.
“A mating between the Bayi and Chawi is forbidden,” her great aunt intoned.
“That ship has sailed,” Amaya announced to them.
Her aunt gasped behind her.
“Amaya,” her uncle Michael chided.
She ignored them both and kept her gaze on the elders. “I’m mated to King Levi and there is nothing that can be done about it,” she challenged them.
“Even as you stand there smug, we’ve sent men after your mother.” The malevolent smile her grandfather leveled at her did nothing but piss her off.
She smiled because they didn’t understand the trouble they would invite if they invaded her mate’s compound. Sending the information directly to Levi over their link, his answering fury bolstered Amaya. Her body tensed as she prepared her body and magic for whatever the elders were cooking up.
“You will remain here,” Bradford insisted.
“I don’t think so,” she told them.
Infusing her magic into her sight, Amaya could track the chaos magic swirling around her family members.
Their own power signatures were wrapped within the cloud of the magic.
Anita had once likened it to seeing cosmic dust and Amaya agreed.
While the mist of power around her grandfather was a light gray, around her great aunt, it was darker, hints of turquoise and purple throughout to show the strength of her power.
Exactly like the cosmic source of their chaos magic.
Misogyny was the only reason her great-aunt wasn’t in charge of their compound, even though she had more power than her brothers.
The women in their family carried more chaos magic, but that very same strength turned into their weakness when the power turned on them.
Her great-aunt had escaped her fate simply because she had not been forced to work with the Akachi stones.
Her great-aunt slapped her hand against the table. “If you won’t exercise self-control, then you will be locked up here where you can no longer put this family in danger.”
“There is no danger from my mating. If anything, the danger is right in this house. Should I tell the women in this family that you’ve been allowing them to go mad instead of letting them find their balance with a Bayi mate?”
“What?” Angelica asked, stepping forward.
Amaya turned to the group that was gathering to see her put down.
“Mating with King Levi has balanced my power and is keeping the chaos from overtaking my mind. My mother, who was unable to form complete thoughts last month, has met her mate, and just his presence in her life has helped her make almost a full recovery.”
“Is this true?” Tracy asked, staring at their grandfather.
Grumblings started throughout the crowd.
“Silence!” Bradford shouted. “That is impossible, Amaya, and I will not allow you to spread those types of lies.”
“The only ones lying are seated here, looking down their noses at me. Tell them how you sacrifice the women to gain power. You willingly send them to work in the sacred garden, knowing the outcome.”
“Take her to the attic,” her great-aunt ordered.
Bronx drew his gun. “Touch her and see what happens.”
“My mate will come for me,” Amaya warned them.
Her grandfather smiled. “There are ways in which we can sever the connection between the two of you.”
“I would love to see you try.” She drew her magic around her, waiting on them to make a move.
In preparation for her departure, Anita had sat her down over several days and taught her how to better use her power in defense of herself. Between Levi and her mother, Amaya was confident.
Bradford nodded behind her and three Chawi men attacked Bronx.
He didn’t hesitate to fire and the gunshot sent the room into pandemonium.
Screams sounded and someone grabbed at Amaya in the chaos.
Power surged in her and she funneled it at the hands touching her.
Using the skills she’d been practicing, she focused on the mist of their power surrounding them and dispersed it, until not even a speck flowed around them.
Their body dropped to the floor unconscious.
The spell wouldn’t last long, but they needn’t know it.
Bronx let off another shot and it cleared the space around them.