Chapter Twenty-One
Spellbound Hearts
Bellamy
I’ve always wondered why it needed to be a dark magic witch to seal the barrier, and just what would happen if one of us weren’t around?
For a town that treats us like a pariah, they sure rely on us when it comes to keeping them safe.
An odd oxymoron if you ask me. What would happen if the one and only dark twin wasn’t born on the seventh generation?
The last words of the spell leave my lips as the barrier hums in appreciation.
I’ve always considered it a sort of living sentient object, as it reacts to my touch and whispered words.
Most residents won’t even see the barrier, as if it doesn’t exist to them.
It’s nothing but an open area in their eyes.
But for me, I see the shimmer, the pale white translucent object between us and the outside world.
My fingers stroke along it as strobing light flickers away from my hand. The rainbow of colors that flows from where my hand touches is always mesmerizing in its beauty.
“There you go beauty. Another year of protecting us and another year of our friendship. Thank you for being vigilant and true.”
“Talking to the barrier again, I see.” Elora’s humorous words come from behind me.
Twisting around, I watch as she steps out of the shadows of the tall oak trees. I can see the worry etched in the corners of her eyes. She’s had another vision, but this one has left her far more shaken than the previous ones. Whatever it is, it won’t be good.
“The barrier listens, and it doesn’t judge.” I squint my eyes at her, and she smiles hesitantly in return. Definitely not good, whatever she’s seen.
“Bellamy,” she says cautiously.
I hold my hand up, stopping her before she can even start her rant about me not taking fate seriously. I get it; she’s seen something, and it’s bothering her.
“Don’t.” I turn, hoping to flee another one of her impending doom visions.
I know she’s scared, fuck so am I, but I want a sister who holds me through my tough moments.
Not the sister who haggles me about not following in fate’s predetermined steps.
“Don’t lecture me, El, not tonight. You know, you really know how hard tonight is on me.
Not only mentally but also emotionally and magically.
You know my walls are down, not because I want them to be, but because I don’t have the strength to hold them up any longer. ”
She sniffles as tears fall. “Bells, I’m not trying to add to your burden. I wish that premonitions weren’t a wall between us. That I could look at you and not see your death. But, neither of us had a choice in the life we were handed. Please…I beg of you to hear me out…it’s about Miles.”
I stop mid-step, whirling around to face her. My heart races as I scan her fear-stricken face as the tears stream down. “What about him?”
“He’s…” She covers her face as she sobs, her pain radiating off of her. I can feel it in my soul. “Bellamy, I saw it. The curse doesn’t end with you or even begin with you.”
“What do you mean?” I say as my anger rises, fear ripping its way through me.
“The curse never took the witch or wizard first. No, it takes their mate first. Then as punishment, you have to live for longer until it finally claims you.”
My hands shake as I move towards her. “Are you saying…”
She nods her head frantically. “Bells, if you don’t break the curse, Miles will die. I’ve seen it. He doesn’t just die; it’s horrific what happens to him.”
She squints her eyes hard, clutching the side of her head, as she shakes back and forth. “Stop, I don’t want to see it anymore. Stop showing me.” Her withered cry pierces the air. “I’m trying to show her, Weaver, I’ll make her see, I promise.”
I grasp her shoulders, trying to stop her. “Elora,” I shout over her frantic rattling. She doesn’t stop, just keeps begging The Weaver to stop. Her head snaps back, her eyes pure white.
Slowly, as if she’s not even herself anymore, she drops her head down, those solid white eyes staring at me. “It’s time for you to see the truth.”
Her hands snap out and grab each side of my face. Before I have a chance to say anything, I’m thrust into a vision. I feel us hit the ground,the only thing grounding me at the moment.
I see Miles, smiling his big, bright smile as he helps this elderly woman with a knowing glint to her eyes.
I watch as he teaches young wolves how to transform.
Like a kaleidoscope of memories, I watch this in flashes.
These are all the moments I assume led him here.
Him sitting over a map of the country with tons of notes sketched across it. He was looking for something.
I see years and years of him scouring the map in search of something.
I can feel his loneliness, his need to figure out what is calling him away from everything he’s known.
He didn’t know what it was, just that it was out there, and he needed to find it.
His yearning was an almost physical entity sitting with him each day.
It flashes forward to recently, when he finally figured out where to go; his elation is flowing through him.
Images flash of his coming here, moving into the guest cabin, and the moments right before he opened the door.
He knew the second his eyes locked on mine that I was his mate, but he saw the fear, felt the trepidation, and chose not to say anything.
He knew even then that I wasn’t ready for fate discussions.
He laughed through every hex, loving that it meant I was thinking about him, and even looking forward to what I would do that day. Through it all, he stayed true to himself while he patiently waited for me.
As if someone hit the fast-forward button, it’s a few years from now. I never gave in to him, but he still shows up every single day. Still patiently waits for me, living contentedly in at least being near me.
One day while he’s out running in the mountains, hunters spot this beautiful amber-colored wolf, and shoot him. He doesn’t have a chance to run away, or save himself.
Sobs rack through my body as I watch him, bleeding into the snow, but the only thing he is thinking about isn’t himself…no, it’s me as I smile at him from over a book I’m reading. Even till his last breath, he still loves me even though I never gave him the same love.
I watch in horror as the two hunters cheer and high-five each other as they walk over to his beautiful wolf’s form lying still in the snow.
“Fuck yeah man, look at that coat. It’s going to fetch some serious coin in the market.”
“No!” I shout at them. “Don’t you dare fucking touch him!” They can’t hear me. But it doesn’t stop me from reaching for them. From pounding on their backs as they squat down over his body. Nor when one of them flicks open his knife and makes the first cut. I scream and scream.
My power surges out of me, ripping me out of the vision. Like an explosion, purple and black fog pours out of my body, covering everything around me as I lean back on my legs, screaming into the universe.
“It was one thing for you to take me, I was willing to accept my fate,” I shout to the darkening sky. My power surges even harder as the images flash behind my eyes. His beautiful coat matted in blood.
Stuck between the visions and reality, I can’t determine what is real and what isn’t real. I can hear someone shouting, but it’s not coming through to me.
“I knew from a young age that my life was never going to include children, husband, and laughter! I gave my life up for my fate!”
The purple and black fog is covering everything around me, like a snow globe of my own demise.
I can’t stop it, I want to destroy everything.
Fate can’t have him. They can take me, I’ll gladly go!
But you can’t take the sweetest man I’ve ever known.
You can’t take the only person who’s shown up for me day after day.
Elora’s scream rips through the air, her body convulsing as The Weaver keeps his hold on her.
My magic wraps around her, holding her as much as The Weaver is.
Her scream is endless, rattling everything, even the roots of The Whispering Pines.
The barrier is rattling, frantically strobing in a ray of rainbow lights.
As if it’s trying to contain my power, as much as hold me together. But I can’t be held, can’t be contained. Not anymore.
The vision burns behind my eyes, Miles’ blood staining the snow, the hunters’ laughter cutting through the night. My magic answers in kind, flooding the clearing in a storm of black and purple fog, searching for the one person it’s determined to protect.
Like a living creature clawing at the world around me, I can feel it seeking him. I can feel it crawling across the ground, checking each nook, around each tree. There’re animals shrieking, but it’s not looking for them. No, there is only one person it’s looking for, and nothing will stop it.
“I’ll pay the price!” I roar into the sky.
“Take me, curse me, kill me—” My throat burns, the tears streaming down my face.
“Not him. You can’t have him! The world deserves a person like him; he lights up everyone’s world.
Don’t take a sweet, beautiful soul because of me. I’m willingly giving myself to you!”
The ground trembles beneath us. Both Elora and I are stuck staring at the sky as our powers push against each other.
The trees bow away from us, unable to stand against the surge.The barrier shrieks as cracks splinter through its glow.
I’m unable to contain myself any longer.
My magic isn’t under my control; it’s a beast of its own.
Unraveling, devouring, and destroying anything in the way of my goal.
But—through the chaos—one voice rings strong. Desperate, breaking through the storm surging around us. He came. I can feel my magic caress him, accept him.
“Bellamy!”
Miles