Chapter 26
Hanna
Making my way back down onto the coven’s floor, I exited the elevator and found Tabitha waiting in the doorway of her apartment. A smile was playing on her lips as she watched me, her narrowed look telling me, along with the twinkle in her eyes, that I was caught.
I just wasn’t sure what I’d been caught doing. I looked around, making sure that I was the only one on the floor.
“What did I do?” I asked, dragging out the words as I got closer, feeling very much like a naughty child who’d been seen sticking their hand in the cookie jar.
“I don’t know,” she drawled out. “What did you do?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “I haven’t done anything, I swear!”
I walked into the arms she held open, surrounding myself with her love, reminded of my grandmother.
“I know you don’t mean to, but I’m certain things have been set into motion,” she whispered to me.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded, realizing what she wanted to discuss.
Oh, she’s good.
“I think I found him,” I told her, and instead of asking who I was talking about, she patted my back.
“Yes,” she confirmed for me, making my breath catch in my throat. “I think you did.”
I pressed my face against her shoulder, taking a deep breath. The scent of herbs and magick were rich on her, and it soothed me the way it had the first time she’d hugged me. It made me realize that no matter what, I had a place that I could call my own.
“When did you first know?” she asked, rubbing her hand along my back.
I sighed, memories flooding my mind.
The day the coven moved into the Everlock Clan Building had felt alive, like the air itself was holding its breath.
Magick had hummed under my skin, soft and restless, and the scent of sage hung thick around the new apartments.
I pretended to help with a crate of candles, though I was mostly watching everyone else—new faces, new energy, new unknowns.
And then I saw him.
Savla.
He wasn’t helping with the unpacking or laughing with the others.
He stood off to the side, half-shadowed by the birch trees that were planted along the side of the building, sunlight spilling through the leaves and catching the dark waves of his hair.
His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, a sprinkle of sawdust marking his shirt.
He looked… somewhere else. Like he was listening to something no one else could hear.
There was a stillness to him that didn’t fit the chaos around us. Everyone else buzzed with motion and chatter, but Savla was carved from calm. He was quiet and untouchable. And Gods, something about that drew me in.
But in the next moment, he looked up—and caught me staring.
My breath stuttered in my chest when his eyes found mine and held, steady and unreadable. There was no smile, no acknowledgment, just that unwavering look—deep enough that I forgot what I’d been pretending to do. The noise around us blurred into nothing.
I looked away first. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. My heart was pounding, and my fingers fumbled with the nearest candle like it mattered—when it definitely didn’t.
Glancing back, he wasn’t looking at me anymore. He’d turned toward the trees again, as if I’d been nothing more than a flicker in the corner of his vision.
And after that, he’d done his best to not look at me again
“I think I knew the first time I saw him,” I told her, pulling away so she could lead me into her apartment.
I didn’t want anyone else to hear. I couldn’t afford for him to know I was talking about this. He’d pull away immediately.
Not that he hadn’t already.
“And did he notice you?” she asked, reaching out to take my hand in hers.
Another deep sigh left me.
“For a long time I thought it was one-sided,” I explained, moving us to the sofa so I could sit next to her, leaning my head against the cushioned back. “I thought... He’d never notice me.”
Her head tilted a little, letting me know she was listening.
“But then he did.”
The memories that came this time were ones that I tried to keep buried, but they always popped up at the most inopportune times.
At gatherings, he stayed in the back, eyes down, voice low when he spoke—if at all. And when he did, it was always with Zara or his clan brothers. He didn’t pay any attention to the other females.
I told myself I didn’t care, that I barely noticed. But I did. Every time his gaze slid past me, it felt deliberate. Almost careful—like he was making sure he didn’t make the same mistake twice.
Until the night Tasia’s ex-husband found me.
The sound of his boots clomping behind me as I ran still lived in my bones.
The slam of my body to the forest floor.
The sting of fingers at my throat. I remembered the smell of his sweat and rage, the shock freezing my voice before I could scream.
My memories of my kidnapping blurred together into pain and fear.
But then he was there. Savla.
Out of nowhere, he’d appeared. Protecting me. I’d heard gunshots, but I hadn’t been tracking anything.
When I finally looked up, Savla was watching me. Really watching me, the way he had that first day—but this time, there was no distance in it. No hesitation. There was only a ferocious heat, anger and fear. Something wild and raw that made my skin prickle.
And in that moment, I knew two things.
He had seen me all along. And nothing between us would ever be the same again.
“And then what happened?” Tabitha asked, her brow furrowed after I relayed the story to her. “Because from where I stand, you two didn’t socialize very much when you first met.”
I flushed at the comment, nodding in agreement.
“I... followed him,” I admitted, cringing a little at the admission, and I didn’t expect the snort of laughter from her. I should have probably been offended, but I was too sheepish for that.
“Of course you did,” she cackled. “Where did you follow him to?”
I scratched at my arm, shrugging. “We were all at one of the weekly dinners a couple months ago. And he just looked so... uncomfortable. I hated that for him, so when he left, I... well, I left too.” I peeked up at her, to see how she was taking it, but her grin was so wide, it gave me hope that I wasn’t insane after all.
“And I found his hideout,” I finished.
Her eyebrows went up, but I wasn’t about to betray his secret—our secret now.
“And you’ve just been spending time together there?” she asked, her eyebrows almost touching her hairline.
I hid my shy smile. I wasn’t usually that way.
Now that I wasn’t constantly being berated by my mother I’d had some serious growth in my self-esteem.
I now considered myself to be a pretty confident female.
But when it came to this relationship that wasn’t quite a relationship with Savla, I couldn’t stop the flutter of butterflies in my stomach and the heat in my cheeks.
It’s absolutely juvenile. And I love it.
“I don’t think he’s ready for the complete bond yet,” I hedged, “but it’s growing already. And we’re... getting there.”
I focused on the fire in Tabitha’s hearth as it crackled with that deep, contented sound only old magick made—the kind that had burned through countless winters and whispered through a dozen secrets.
Her apartment always smelled like sage and rain-soaked wood, and somehow that made my heart both settle and twist.
Tabitha studied me, her hands folded on her lap. She didn’t speak right away. She never did. She just watched me with those calm, knowing eyes until the silence stretched so thin it forced the truth out of me.
“I think I’m in trouble,” I said finally.
Her brows rose, just slightly. “The magickal kind, or the kind with a heartbeat?”
I groaned, sinking back in the chair. “The second one. Maybe both, actually.”
Tabitha smiled, the corners of her mouth curving in that maddeningly patient way. “Ah. He is the one, then.”
“Why do you think I’m right?” I asked, nibbling on my lower lip.
“You light up when you say his name,” she told me with a small smile. It was sadder than I was used to from her.
I looked down at my hands. From where our fingers had barely touched, but it was almost like he’d branded them with his skin.
“He’s… different. He’s quiet, and sometimes it’s like he’s not even here.
But when he is—” I stopped, swallowing and trying to ignore the heat rising in my chest. “It’s like everything else fades into the background.
I can’t breathe right. I can’t even think. ”
“That’s attraction,” Tabitha said gently. “Happens to the best of us.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s more than that. When he’s close, the air hums. My magick hums. I can feel it under my skin like it’s trying to reach for him.” The fine hairs on my arm and legs stood up at the mention of the way he made me feel.
Her expression softened, but her gaze sharpened with quiet recognition. “And you’re sure he might be your true mate?”
I nodded, my throat tight, even as I admitted, “I don’t know. Grandma used to say you’d feel it like a pull. Like gravity. But what if I’m just imagining it? What if I want it to be real so badly that I’m mistaking wishful thinking for something else?”
Tabitha reached out to me, her hand warm and grounding on mine. “Magick doesn’t lie, Hanna. It can be loud or subtle, but it never lies. If your power reacts to him, it’s telling you something. Whether that something is love, fate, or a warning… only time will tell.”
I looked up, meeting her eyes. “And what if I’m wrong?”
She smiled faintly, eyes crinkling.
“Then you’ll have loved bravely. There are worse mistakes to make,” she told me.
For a moment, the wind outside caught in the trees, a low sigh through the leaves. I felt it against my skin—that same hum, that same pulse I couldn’t name.
“I won’t say love,” I gasped, unable to catch my breath at the thought.
I can’t. Please, heart, don’t do this to me yet. Wait until he’s ready, too.
I thought of Savla’s hands, steady and sure even when he wouldn’t meet my gaze. Of the way his voice dropped when he said my name. Of how the world seemed sharper, brighter, when he was near. And the certainty that I’d experience a moment ago fell apart at the seams.
“But I think my magick’s already chosen,” I whispered.
Tabitha squeezed my hand once, firm and kind. “Then all that’s left, sweetheart, is to see if he’s chosen, too.”
I hadn’t expected her to suggest it so soon.
After my confession, I thought Tabitha might give me one of her gentle smiles and tell me to meditate or write my feelings in moonlight ink—something that would take weeks. Something safe.
But instead, she rose from her chair, her long hair swinging as she crossed to the old oak cabinet near the hearth.
“If you truly think your magick’s chosen,” she said, “then let’s see if it speaks.”
My stomach dropped immediately. “You mean—right now?”
Her eyes glinted with quiet amusement. “Magick doesn’t wait for our convenience, sweetheart.”
Before I could protest, she drew out a small carved bowl—obsidian black, etched with runes that seemed to shimmer in the firelight. I recognized it immediately.
The Bond Bowl.
I’d only ever seen it used twice in the past, when she’d used it to confirm the bonds for Zara and Tasia with their mates. It was usually something that needed to be done in front of the entire coven. It wasn’t something you used lightly.
“Tabitha, I—” I started, but she waved me off.
She set the bowl on the table between us.
“Relax. We’re not binding anything... yet. We’re listening,” she said with a wink.
That should have calmed me. It didn’t. She handed me a small iron blade.
“A single drop of blood,” she said. “Yours.”
My fingers felt clumsy as I nicked my fingertip, letting a bead of red fall into the dark bowl. The surface rippled, not like water but like smoke.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Then Tabitha lifted her hand and whispered a summoning charm—a low, resonant murmur that tugged at the air.
“Now,” she said softly. “Think of him. Call his name in your mind.”
I swallowed hard. My heart thudded like it wanted out, but without hesitation, my mind summoned his name. Savla.
The bowl pulsed once. Hard. Then again.
The smoke stirred, folding in on itself until it shaped into a faint outline—the shimmer of a male’s silhouette. Tall, shoulders tense, head bowed as if in thought. I gasped, putting my fingers to my lips.
Tabitha’s expression didn’t change, but her eyes were sharper than I’d ever seen them. “Interesting.”
“What does that mean?” My voice came out breathless.
And it was accurate. I couldn’t breathe. My lips were parted, but I hadn’t sucked in any air.
She didn’t answer right away. The air in the room thickened and charged. Then the surface of the bowl flickered again—this time with light. A heartbeat of silver, faint but steady.
I felt it in my chest. In my magick. It had answered me.
Tabitha’s voice was quiet when she finally spoke. “That, my dear, is resonance.”
“Resonance?”
“When two souls recognize each other,” she said, eyes flicking to mine, “even from a distance.”
I stared at the faint glow, unable to breathe. “So he’s—”
“Connected to you,” she finished. “In some way, yes. Whether it’s bond, fate, or something still forming… I can’t say quite yet. But whatever this is, it’s real.”
The light faded slowly, dissolving back into smoke. But the warmth it left behind didn’t leave me. It hummed in my veins, deep and low, resonating like an echo from his heartbeat.
Tabitha reached across the table, her hand resting briefly over mine.
“Be patient, Hanna. Bonds reveal themselves when both hearts are ready to see them.”
I nodded, but the part of me that had already known was busy celebrating that I was right. Because even now—I could feel him.
Oh shit. What do I do?