Chapter 22 Luka
LUKA
“Now you can call me, you fucking prick?” Luka seethed, answering the phone after the third ring.
“Good to talk to you, too,” Theon replied, and Luka could hear the godsdamn smile in his voice.
“You are an ass. Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks, Theon.”
“I know,” his friend said, turning serious. “I was…trying to stay out of things. I know you and Tessa weren’t on good terms when I left, but I was hoping the two of you would figure it out. On your own. You needed to learn to exist without me, and I needed to try to do the same.”
“And you didn’t think that something possibly went wrong—that things didn’t go as planned—when I kept calling?” Luka growled. “Oh, wait. How could you when you didn’t have your phone on? Fuck, Theon!”
With nothing else to do, he hurled black flames off the balcony of his room, wishing he had something to throw or hit. He would go to the training room after he finished this phone call. Or flying. No, not flying. He wanted to destroy something.
“Did you get that out of your system?” Theon asked dryly.
“No, you dick,” Luka retorted. “For weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. How to find you. What to do with Tessa. She’s been… She didn’t speak to anyone for days, Theon. Not a single word. Do you have any idea how godsdamn unnerving that is?”
“I am well versed in Tessa not speaking to me, yes.”
“And then she destroyed the Pantheon.”
“I heard.”
“After she summoned a fucking goddess!” Luka continued.
“She summoned a goddess, Theon. Not just any goddess. Serafina.” He was pacing now, long strides back and forth on that small, hidden balcony.
“Destroyed the Pantheon and the mirror, so we couldn’t leave like you said.
And where could we go? Not back to Tristyn’s penthouse.
Not to the Underground. No. Our only option was my cave.
There are too many fucking people here, Theon.
They keep touching my things. I’m missing a small bowl. ”
A snort of laughter came down the line, and Luka wanted to throw the phone over the balcony. Or throw it to the ground and stomp on it.
“This is not funny, jackass,” he growled, his dragon as irritated as he was.
Irritation he’d been dealing with since he woke up to that letter.
“My brother is here. My father. One wants nothing to do with me, and the other is trying. Cienna comes and goes. Gia’s been gone for days now. And Tristyn left after Tess—”
“After Tessa left,” Theon finished for him.
Luka stilled, turning to look out over the mountains spread before him. “You found her then I take it.”
“Of course I fucking found her, Luka,” he retorted sharply. “Did you even try?”
“We’ve been formulating a plan,” he answered tightly. “We know seraphs took her—”
“To the Celeste Estate,” Theon ground out.
“What?”
“You heard me. They took her to her godsdamn Estate.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re desperate to keep control of her, and what better way than taking her to the place where all her nightmares started?”
Well, fuck.
He pushed his hair back before swiping a hand down his face. “But you have her now?”
“Not fully,” Theon said, his tone one Luka knew all too well. “We have to wait until the Ladies get here next week to approve me taking the Arius Lord seat.”
“But Valter’s not dead.”
“There’s lots to fill you in on,” he answered. “But all I need to know from you right now is what you’re planning to do. She told me she left. That she wasn’t holding you to anything.”
Luka said nothing, his grip on the phone tightening. Some part of him was jealous that she’d gone straight to Theon. It had always been the other way around. Theon driving her away, and her coming to him. He supposed this was his fault, but she’d pushed him to this point.
“Luka?” Theon said, his tone getting shorter. “What do you plan to do?”
“I don’t know, all right?” he snapped. “She said she was going to leave, and—”
“And what? You thought I wouldn’t follow her if she left this realm alone? The only reason I was able to let her go to begin with was because I knew you would be with her, Luka,” he retorted.
“She knew where my father was for months and didn’t say a fucking word, Theon!” Luka yelled into the phone. “How the fuck do you expect me to move past that?”
Silence greeted him, stretching on for a full minute before Theon finally spoke again.
“She was doing what everyone in Devram does, Luka. She was doing exactly what we’d taught her. She trusted no one—”
“She trusted me,” Luka cut in. “I was the one she was pulling into her dreams. I was the one she was making concessions for. And yet she couldn’t tell me this?”
“Did you ever ask her why?”
“Of course I did,” Luka retorted, but when only silence greeted him once again, he let himself really think about it. She’d tried. She’d tried to explain and apologize, but he wouldn’t hear it. And since then…
Since then he’d made it clear where he stood, and she’d done nothing but accept the boundaries he’d drawn.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do here,” Theon finally said.
“You’re my family. My brother. The one person I trust without question.
We have things to do, and I can’t do them without you.
But she’s not going anywhere. Take the time you need.
Figure your shit out, but when you come to find us, you best have your mind made up one way or the other.
Don’t make her wonder, and don’t give her hope if there isn’t any. ”
“Anything else?” Luka gritted out.
“Yeah. I fucking miss your broody ass,” he retorted.
And the line went dead.
Luka stared at his phone, the Firewings logo staring back at him from the home screen.
He was no closer to knowing what he was going to do than he was when he’d found that letter.
But that wasn’t entirely true either. She’d said she was going to leave, and then what would he do?
She would leave the realm, and the choice would be made for him.
It was the coward’s way out. He was well aware, and the Fates had fucked him over anyway.
If he wanted to stay with Theon, as his Guardian and family, she would be there.
Theon had made that perfectly clear, and he was right.
He needed to decide and have that conversation with Tessa, so there wasn’t any misunderstandings or confusion about where they stood. Then they could both move forward.
Sighing, he slid his phone into his pocket and made his way out to the main living area. He paused when he found Razik and Eliza at the counter eating sandwiches. Razik glanced at him before resuming his meal without a word.
Luka didn’t speak either, continuing to the kitchen and grabbing the supplies still laid out to make a sandwich of his own.
Eliza cleared her throat, setting down her food. “Do we have a plan yet?”
“Well, I know where she is, so I guess that’s a start,” Luka muttered, spreading mayo and mustard on some bread.
“Okay, well—”
“Can I ask you something?” Luka interrupted.
Eliza blinked in surprise, wiping her fingers on a napkin. “What is it?”
“Razik said you didn’t want the bond right away,” he started.
“She told the Shifter Beta in our world to come to my room when we stayed there. Tried to offer me up on a silver platter,” Razik said, taking another bite of his food.
“I did not!” Eliza cried in outrage. “That is not what happened that day, and you know it.”
“Did you not tell Arianna my room could be in her wing?” he challenged.
“That is not the same as telling her to come calling for a fuck,” Eliza argued.
“Who said anything about fucking? Although, since that’s where your mind went, it proves what I said was correct.”
“It proves shit, Razik Greybane,” she retorted, smoke drifting from her palms where they were now flat on the countertop.
And Luka saw it then. The smallest twitch of his brother’s lips. Eliza saw it too, her eyes narrowing.
“She is very possessive,” Razik continued in a mock whisper, reaching for an apple, but Eliza’s hand shot out, snatching it up before he could. Then she whipped the fruit at him, hitting him in the temple. The male was unfazed, picking up his water glass instead. “And extremely violent.”
“Oh my gods,” Eliza gritted out.
“Anyway,” Luka interjected, gaze bouncing back and forth between the two of them as she seethed and Razik continued to eat his food. “You tried to reject it at first, right?”
“Yes,” Eliza gritted out.
“Why?”
She looked down at her plate, pulling her hands into her shirt sleeves and fisting her fingers around the ends. “I had my own misgivings and past to deal with. It wasn’t him. At least not entirely.”
“Every bond will have its own trials.”
They all turned at the voice, finding Xan in the doorway at the base of the steps.
The last Luka had known, he’d been outside getting some air.
The collar was still stark against his skin, a constant reminder of how much they were failing.
Although Xan, oddly enough, didn’t seem phased or anxious about it.
“Now you’re eavesdropping?” Razik muttered.
“Raz,” Eliza hissed, nudging him with her knee.
“Not eavesdropping,” Xan replied, coming deeper into the space. “Just returning to the inside. You are all talking in the open. It stands to reason you will be overheard in public spaces.”
This time it was Eliza trying to hide her smirk while Razik narrowed his eyes on his father.
“All I am offering is that you cannot compare your potential bond to theirs, Luka,” Xan continued, ignoring his son’s obvious displeasure with his presence.
“Each pairing is unique, and up to the two of you. No one can make the choice for you. No one can guide you. It’s your own path, with or without her. ”
“Are you speaking from experience?” Luka asked, not even thinking about the question. He was just so lost to his own inner turmoil that he’d spoken without thought. It took him a few minutes to notice the sudden silence that had fallen among them.