26. Isla
Chapter 26
Isla
THURSDAY
I woke up to find Echo gone. My heart dropped when I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere. Did he really just leave me alone after all of that? Anger and pain warred within me, and I had to force myself to take a deep breath to make sure I didn’t lose it.
The rut was over.
Slowly, I sat up, discovering every sore muscle and bruise with a new groan of pain.
Movement out of the corner of my eye made me freeze. The first thing I noticed was that Echo was dressed. With an uncertain expression on his face, he walked over to me, his tense body clad in sweats and a t-shirt.
“I thought you left,” I said, unable to hold my tongue.
Echo winced. “I woke up and checked you over. When I realized you were alive, I needed a few minutes to get myself together, then I thought we could use some clothes, especially since?—”
“We’ve been naked and fucking for days?” I asked jokingly. Concern immediately hit me when he looked down at the ground and nodded. Was he avoiding looking at me? “Echo?”
“Why don’t you get dressed? I’ll— I’ll just be over in the room.” He shoved the clothes at me, his body jolting when my fingers brushed his, then ran away. There was no other way to describe his hasty retreat.
‘That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting,’ Cassius commented.
‘I thought he’d try to close himself off, but this level of… fear I didn’t see coming,’ I mused, looking over the sweats and loose t-shirt he’d snagged for me. It wasn’t my usual outfit selection, but I needed comfort more than I needed to look good.
He had also tucked some personal items in the bundle, thank fuck. I was never so happy to brush my teeth. I made quick work of freshening up with that and the deodorant included with the rest.
‘He’s afraid.’
‘Of what?’ I asked Cas.
‘Of you, beastie. ’ His voice was so soft that I might not have registered his answer if I hadn’t been paying attention.
‘Me?’
‘He said that he’d killed previous partners in a rut, yet you’re alive.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Tread carefully, Isla.’
‘Are we going to talk about you appearing at the end?’
‘Right now, that’s not as important as talking to him, beastie. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘That doesn’t mean you’ll actually answer me though,’ I grumbled, but I let it go. Cassius was right. Talking to my friend wasn’t something that could be put off.
Straightening my shirt, I carefully walked between the plants that had exploded during our time here. Echo was curled up on the bed. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on inside him. Was he waiting on me or dreading our inevitable conversation? It was probably a mixture of the two given the spooked look on his face when I opened the door to join him.
I sat down close by, though I kept enough distance between us to hopefully help him feel safe and comfortable. I laid back and turned my head to stare at my friend with whom I had spent the last few days surviving his rut.
“Hi,” I breathed, infusing my voice with warmth that made his fearful expression crack.
“Hi.” He laughed roughly then squeezed his eyes shut. “Are you okay? I didn’t… I didn’t hurt you?”
“The bruises will fade, Echo. There’s nothing broken or anything like that,” I responded truthfully. “Though I’ve never had sex so many times for days in a row, so I think I’ll be walking funny for more than just a day.”
Echo snorted, but when he opened his eyes, they were bright with the sheen of tears. The splash of blue in his right eye was extra clear as one fell down his cheek.
“I thought I’d killed you, but then I felt you breathe, and…. You have scrapes and bruises on your face,” he murmured, his thoughts a bit scattered.
I searched his expression, puzzled by the comment about my face, while he laid there quietly.
“Echo… Do you not remember what happened?”
“Parts.” He licked his lips and curled up tighter. “I remember us together and the feel of you. The taste of you and the way you cried out my name. It’s only vignettes of time that stand out. The rest is just bottomless hunger and darkness.”
“That’s all you recall?” I pushed.
“I remember you saying you were done and me hitting you, then chasing you down and fucking you again.” He bit his lip, worry shining bright in his gaze.
“Aizel warned me not to fight you,” I tried to explain, rushing to reassure him about what had happened. “You said that you’d killed previous partners during a rut, fucking them until they were dead in the attempt to fill yourself up. You kept saying I wasn’t letting you in, that you couldn’t feed.”
“What happened?”
“I pushed you.” I laughed ruefully. “And it worked. You hunted me down because I told you to. Challenged you, even. You’re a predator. I figured some passive person who was afraid you’d tear their throat out wasn’t going to satisfy your urges.”
Echo blinked slowly, probably trying to follow my logic, then he swallowed hard. There was a wobbly set to his mouth that had me thinking he was trying to gather the courage to say something else. I laid there patiently, waiting until he was ready to keep talking.
“And hitting you?”
“Well,” I hedged, hoping I’d come up with a way to explain that, “I don’t really have the best way of pushing people sometimes.”
‘ Sometimes?’ Cassius drawled.
“So I slapped you?”
“I told you I was done. You kept telling me that you couldn’t feed, so I brushed you off and said to find someone else to feed off of.” I chewed my bottom lip as I broke eye contact and stared up at the ceiling. “You weren’t a fan of that idea.”
Echo didn’t react. Hell, I didn’t even think I heard him breathe for a bit. Finally, he exhaled with a long, shaky breath, and a trembling hand brushed against mine. I turned my hand and threaded my fingers through his, looking for comfort.
We let silence fill the space between us until I shifted around, trying to get comfortable.
“What day is it?”
Echo cleared his throat. “Thursday.”
“There’s no way it’s only been a week. My vagina disagrees immensely.”
“It’s been technically just over a week.” Echo cleared his throat, trying to keep his laughter in check until I looked over to grin at him. “I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think you’d be like this afterward.”
“Meaning alive?” I couldn’t help but quip.
‘Really?’ Cassius asked incredulously.
“Yes.” The light in his eyes dimmed a bit. “You’re actually talking to me, not just hitting me or running away. Ruts bring out the worst in us.”
“I don’t know enough about ruts to make a comment on that,” I replied and squeezed his hand tightly. “But I’m sorry, my comment wasn’t the best.”
He shrugged. “Still true though, but thanks.”
“What now?” I asked cautiously, putting the ball firmly in his court. Just because I was the focus of his rut didn’t mean that he had feelings for me. I refused to read into everything and assume emotions that might not be there.
“We have to get back to classes. Figure out what we missed—” he started.
“That’s not what I meant.” I sighed and pulled my hand away from his so I could sit up. He couldn’t be serious, not after everything we’d just done together. There was no way that Echo thought I was talking about classes.
“Isla…” He tried to reach for me, but I was already almost to the door.
Pain made my chest tight. The only thing I could think was that I was a fucking idiot. I couldn’t do this again. I wasn’t going to pry feelings out of someone or put in work for people who wouldn’t do the bare minimum.
“I need to see what time it is and get my stuff,” I said, keeping my voice even as I opened the door, refusing to look back. “You have a point. I’ve already missed a week of lessons, and I don’t want to miss any more. I’ll see you at the dorm.”
Running was a very nice way to describe what I did. I rushed from the greenhouse, not giving a shit about the people who turned to stare as I hurried across the quad to get to my dorm.
Thankfully, Aizel and Zhara weren’t there when I arrived. A quick shower was mandatory after a week-long sex session, then I grabbed everything for the classes I had today and shoved them into a bag. Just as I was about to leave, a magickal hum filled the air, so I snagged the note from Demir and shoved it in my pocket before leaving.
Echo wasn’t there. He didn’t run after me. Disappointment settled in my stomach, but I refused to waste tears on him. Anger flowed over me, blocking out the lingering pain. I hoped no one pissed me off today because I could tell I only needed one small thing to make me snap.
First things first, I went to the dining hall. I hadn’t eaten in days, and I could feel it.
Everyone was oddly silent, but I was too focused on my own shit to wonder why. Buying a burrito and iced tea, I glanced around to check the time and sighed when I realized I had missed Herbology. Guess my first class was going to be Forbidden Magick.
I slipped outside and sat down under a tree, practically inhaling my food in just a few minutes. No one approached me, and I counted myself lucky because there wasn’t one part of me that wanted to talk about what had happened.
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the tree, wishing I had been able to charge my phone before leaving my room.
“Isla?!”
My eyes snapped open. Bricriu was standing just a few feet from me. His lips were parted in shock, and he took one step towards me, then another.
“Isla?” he repeated himself. “Your face… Are you okay?”
I swallowed hard, reaching up to run my fingers over the scrapes and bruises I had purposefully avoided looking at thus far. His worry grew when he came closer. He was in his human form, wearing those stupid yet awesome steampunk-looking glasses. Tears stung my eyes, and I hated every moment my chest got tighter.
There was no way I was having a breakdown right now, not with Bones, but everything about the past week was starting to hit me. I couldn’t have stopped the sob from escaping if I had wanted to.
Instantly, Bones was there, but when he reached for me, I slammed back into the tree, groaning when pain radiated down my back.
“Shit,” he hissed. He reached out, gently picking me up and pulling me away from the tree.
My breathing sped up as tears slipped down my cheeks. The world was getting fuzzy around the edges, my panic making it impossible to talk.
“Isla, you need to calm down and slow your breathing. You’re going to pass out,” Bones ordered, shaking me the slightest bit.
“You’re not– You look wrong . Let me go!” I gasped out, trying to remember how to breathe. My mind was racing, trying to blend together the two versions of Bones that I knew. For some reason, this mask, the illusion magick he used, was making my skin crawl.
Eyes wide, I focused on him, hoping he might understand my spiraling thoughts. Whatever he saw there made him start to curse again. He bitched about the tree and picked up my bag before walking out to the open.
Coolness surrounded me. Magick brushed up against me, distracting me from my burgeoning panic attack. It felt like a cool mist, delicate and chilly, and it covered my entire body before it disappeared. The arms around me shifted, the skin there becoming more translucent and fainter, followed by the hollow clanking sound of bone against bone.
When I chanced to look at Bones again, he was in full fae form. Pale violet eyes searched my face as he cradled me to his chest. Whispers broke out around us, but I didn’t care about anyone else right now. I hiccuped, desperately trying to stop crying, but it was no use. Throwing my arms around his neck, I tucked my face between a skull and his neck.
“Please get me out of here.”
Without words, he stole me away from the quad full of onlookers.
I didn’t bother to ask where he was taking me. I didn’t give a shit as long as it was away. Part of me understood why Echo wasn’t ready to talk about us after the rut, but I thought I was fucking entitled to some kind of talk after a week of my body being at his disposal.
“Here,” Bones murmured. “Can I put you down?”
Shifting away from him, I took a look at our surroundings. We were outside an old stone building, much like the rest of the campus, but this one was crumbling. It reminded me of the old European castle ruins I’d seen pictures of online. Plants grew in the crevices between the stones that remained standing.
“Okay,” I rasped, my voice scratchy from crying.
He slowly put me down on my feet and held onto me until he was sure I wouldn’t fall over. Without another word, he took my hand, looking at my face to make sure it was okay, before leading me into the building.
Ducking through an especially short doorway, my jaw dropped. The inside looked like one of those old human chapels with stained windows, but these depicted different supernaturals. The windows were so dirty that I couldn’t make out exactly what they were trying to show.
“What is this place?” I asked, carefully stepping over rubble.
“My home.”
“A ruin?” I blurted out, then winced. “Shit, that was rude. I’m sorry.”
Bones chuckled darkly. “You’re fine, and yes, a ruin. Not many people want to live with someone like me.”
“I’d rather have this than a bunch of ignorant supes,” I replied scathingly, following Bones until we reached a huge open space. A nest of pillows and blankets was set up in the corner.
“No one will bother you here, Isla.” Bones waved his hand to indicate the building.
I whispered thank you and looked around at the stained glass. I was happy to have an escape, but words were failing me.
“Do you need a healer?” I jerked around to face Bones, who was watching me carefully.
“What?”
“I’ve heard ruts can be… intense.” Bones tilted his head, eyeing me with a cautious stare.
“No. No, I’m fine. My face will be fine in a few days. Just… After was… It didn’t go how I thought it would. Wait, how did you know about the rut?”
“There was another student that went missing while you were… gone. One of your friends reported that you were with an incubus who was in a rut.”
“What happened? With the student, I mean.” I latched onto the new topic, desperate to think about anything else.
“They’re dead. Body was found on top of the Herbology greenhouse. They haven’t been able to identify the victim.”
“And let me guess, the school has said nothing about it,” I commented sarcastically. Bones didn’t say anything, and I sighed. “It's just weird.”
“What is?” he asked, settling down into his nest of blankets and pillows.
I stared at it, wishing I felt comfortable enough to make myself at home beside him. It did look super comfortable.
“The missing students.”
“What makes it weird? We don’t know anything about them.”
“We never will if they don’t tell us who’s missing,” I replied. Rubbing my hands over my upper arms, I shivered.
“You can sit down if you want.” Bones gestured to the pile of blankets, a spark of challenge in his pale purple eyes.
I hurried over before he could rescind the offer, carefully stepping over his legs to sit down. The blankets were so soft that I couldn’t help but run my hands over them. It was probably some type of fur, but I had no idea what kind of creature this could have come from.
Bones shifted beside me, getting comfortable, and a waft of citrus, oakmoss, and the light scent of vanilla hit me. I was breathing him in before I could register what I was doing. His scent reminded me of winter nights at home, snuggled in after a cold day outside while relaxing by the burning yule log.
My awareness of Bones intensified until I swore I could hear his heart beating in his chest. What was going on with me?!
‘Beastie.’ Cassius’ voice was hoarse, strained. ‘I’m shielding.’
‘Shielding?’ I asked, but the block had already slammed into place between us.
Long fingers brushed my face, their tremble unmistakable, as he carefully yet firmly urged me to face him. I did, and his gaze searched my face. Fear and shock made his lips part in an almost pained gasp.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice sounding loud in the hush that had fallen around us.
“Tell me no. Please, gods, tell me no,” Bones rasped, leaning toward me. That was when I saw it. Magick. There were tendrils of our magicks sparking around us. Why can I see this? What’s happening?
‘Cassius?!’
Silence.
Then Bones’ lips brushed mine, and the world exploded.