Chapter 29 – Farrah
The day fades to night.
My nerves are like a lightning storm within my body. The nausea is no longer there, but aches remain. My chest, my stomach, my head. The pain is a constant throbbing, and I managed to escape it for a few hours with sleep.
It’s now five minutes to midnight, and I’ve been awake for an hour. I try calling out to Locheran again, but I’m met back with silence. Whatever block the witch has put on my thoughts is still too strong for me to push through.
I sit on the bed, twisting my hands in my lap.
My thoughts are all over the place. Does Locheran hate me?
I left him a note. A NOTE. I told him I loved him and now I’ve been kidnapped.
If he doesn’t hate me, he's certainly pissed. Have they given up looking for me? What if they think I’ve betrayed them to join my family? Is someone taking care of Potato?
My frantic thoughts are interrupted by the sound of shouting. Heavy footsteps run above me. There’s a long pause. At least five minutes pass before a boom rocks the ceiling. Some dust falls down into the room, and I cough after inhaling some of it.
I stand and walk to the window. It’s too high for me to see through the cracks of the boards covering it.
More booms erupt, rocking the first floor. I cower, worried the entire thing is going to cave down on top of me.
There’s a battle raging above me.
My friends are here.
Will they save me or end my life?
Farrah?
I gasp and clutch my chest.
Locheran? I’m here. I’m alive. My brother took me—
I know, little mouse. I’m coming to find you. Keep talking to me so I can better track you.
I nod, my throat aching as I try to hold back my tears.
I met a woman. She seemed to be a prisoner like me. My father said she’s the daughter of the witch helping them. You have to find her too. Save her.
I will make sure someone gets her, Locheran assures me. We’re close to finding you. Keep talking, baby.
The tears I’ve been holding back start to fall. Finally this nightmare can end.
But before I can continue mind-speaking to my mate, another explosion rumbles overhead, this time raining debris on top of me. I fall to the ground, and my legs become trapped by a pile of wood.
What is it with my family and explosions? Unless it’s the monsters setting off the blasts.
Farrah! Are you okay?
Yes. But I’m trapped.
Seconds later, my mate crashes through the room’s locked door. His wings are spread out, fangs bared, and claws up, ready to fight.
He’s a fucking warrior god.
“Mouse!” he says and rushes to the corner where I’m stuck on the ground. He rips away pieces of wood, one by one, using his hands, wings, and tail.
It’s fucking hot.
“Farrah, now’s not the time,” he growls, clearly hearing my horny thoughts.
Apparently, not even a literal war can stop them.
“It’s the bond. We’ve been apart for too long,” he explains.
Okay, that makes sense.
“What’s happening out there?” I ask.
“The witches and supes are battling the hunters.”
“Out on the street? In the open?”
“Yes. There was a shield in place to keep the fight hidden from humans, but it was shot down. Hopefully the witches were able to construct a new one since then. I don’t know. I didn’t stay long enough to find out.”
He holds out his hand, and I take it, allowing him to pull me up from the ground. After brushing off dust and dirt, he grabs my face and slams his lips to mine. I open my mouth for him. The kiss is claiming, encompassing. It’s full of relief that we’re finally back in each other’s arms.
I almost forget where we are for a moment before Locheran pulls away.
“We need to get out of here,” he says and leads me out the door.
We walk down a long hallway, passing a few bodies that are passed out and hunched against the walls. I hope they’re just passed out. I know how important it was that the hunters were caught, not killed.
I stop when we get to a flight of stairs, forcing Locheran to jerk back as I tighten my hold on his hand. “Did you find the woman? She has curly red hair.”
“I sent Thorne to find her. Don’t worry.”
He tugs my hand, and we ascend the stairs. Once we’ve safely made it outside behind the building, I plant my feet into the ground and peel myself from his hold.
“What? What is it? Is something wrong?” Locheran asks, trying to grab my hand. I step back and he frowns.
“I have to ask you…”
“Anything,” he says and moves to me. He takes both of my hands in his, and this time I don’t try to pull away.
“My brother, Ethan…”
Pressure builds behind my eyes at the mention of my little brother. Locheran’s entire body freezes, as still as a statue, as if expecting my next words.
“My father said… he said… it was you. You killed him. A claw to his throat.”
He steps even closer, pulling our embraced hands to his chest.
“That didn’t happen.”
“So you didn’t kill him?”
“I couldn’t save him.”
I can’t stop the sob from leaving my mouth.
My grief battles with my morals. Ethan was a monster hunter.
He actively harmed, and likely killed, innocent lives.
But he was still my brother. I raised him when my mother died.
I loved him because he’s the only one who treated me like I wasn’t the outcast of the family.
“I promise I didn’t kill him, Farrah.”
I shake my head, tears falling down my cheeks. “I don’t understand.”
He sighs and closes his eyes, as if remembering that night months ago.
“I’m not sure what your father told you.
Ethan ran to the roof, and I followed. He went to the edge and looked down.
He was considering jumping, but it was too far.
He would have died. Once he realized that, he turned around and lifted his arms in surrender.
“He looked regretful. I felt his regret. I didn’t understand how I could sense that emotion from him, maybe it was because of my connection to you.
Anyway, Ethan was standing on the wall’s barrier, seconds from stepping down, when a gun fired.
He was hit in the shoulder, and the impact caused him to lose his balance.
He started to fall but grabbed onto the cement ledge just in time.
I knew I had to save him. I rushed over and reached out for him, but more shots were fired.
They missed me, but not your brother. Ethan was hit in the head.
The bullets were wooden. It wasn’t us, Farrah. ”
I shake my head again, refusing to believe this. “My father… No. He wouldn’t. He…”
My father lied. I shouldn’t be shocked by his betrayal.
I rip my hands from Locheran and slam them into his chest. Not expecting the move, he stumbles back.
“Why didn’t you tell me this? All this time, why?”
He glances around, making sure the area is secure. The faint sound of fighting reaches us. A few screams and clanks of metal. Not the raging battle from minutes earlier. The fight is nearly over.
“I should have told you. I’m sorry I didn’t.
To be honest, a lot of hunters were killed that night.
And when you told us about your family, we were newly mated.
I wasn’t thinking right. I didn’t put two and two together until after Rorik read your mind.
But we were still overwhelmed with the need to solidify the mating bond.
I also knew you were dealing with a lot of emotions with your family, and I didn’t want to add one more thing. I was going to wait until after—”
“You had no right to make that decision for me.”
I fist my hands and pound them on his chest. The tears flow down my cheeks in an endless river.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
I shove at Locheran once more before turning away from him.
“You’re angry. I understand. Tell me what you need?” Locheran says.
I whip around, my arms at my side as I open and close my hands.
“I need to… ugh! I want to punch something.”
“You want to fight?” he asks.
“Yes!”
I stalk toward him, and he stands stone still.
“Fight me, then. Let it all out. You’ve been teasing me for months. I’m ready.”
While I’m angry with my mate for withholding this information from me, a part of me understands.
A part of me is relieved that he didn’t tell me because he’s right.
I was too overwhelmed with the mating bond connection.
With my family literally trying to kill all my friends.
If Locheran would have told me about Ethan, it might have been the final straw.
So, my anger isn’t entirely with him. It’s with… everything.
“It doesn’t matter where your anger lies. Fight. Me.”
It’s been decades since I trained to be a hunter. I took classes throughout my adult life in hopes that I’d never forget.
Now… my instinct is taking over.
I kick out my leg, landing my foot in Locheran’s stomach.
“I’m angry at this life I was born into,” I growl.
Crouching, I swing my leg and swipe at Locheran’s ankles, taking him to the ground. He rolls over onto his back, and I straddle him.
He smirks, the fucker, his agitated tail whipping back and forth beside him and his wings fluttering underneath him.
I pin his wrists above his head. Something I shouldn’t be able to do. This monster is too large, too strong, yet he lets me overpower him.
“This is really fucking hot, Mouse.”
“Shut up! I’m not done kicking your ass.”
“Yeah?” he jerks his hips, grinding his hardening cock into my pussy. I close my eyes, biting my lip to hide the moan.
Suddenly, he rolls us over, pinning me underneath him.
Goddamn it.
“Tell me what else you’re angry about.”
I growl, attempting to release my arms from his hold. It’s impossible.
“I hate the lying. The violence. The deaths.”
Locheran hasn’t trapped my legs, so I slam my bent knee into his side while the other leg hooks around his waist allowing me to shove him to the side.
He scrambles onto his hands and knees.
“Touché,” he says with a chuckle.
He’s enjoying this.
I walk toward him, closing the few feet between us, and grab his horns. He inhales sharply, a zap of lust shocking us both, but I ignore it and knee him in the face.
“Fuck!”
He falls back to the ground on his back. Blood drips from his nose and a cut that slices through his upper lip. The wounds are shallow, and he’s already healing.
I put my foot on his chest. I don’t have a weapon to point at him. A sword would have been nice to hold to his neck in a sexy ‘enemies to lovers’ type of way that I’ve read in fantasy books.
Plus, it’s clear Locheran is letting me win this fight.
Because he loves me. Because he knew how much I needed this.
Even though he failed to tell me about Ethan, I can’t fault him for that. I can’t imagine having to confess to your fated mate that you weren’t able to save a loved one.
“What else, Farrah?”
I don’t know how long I’ve been standing here, foot on Locheran’s chest. But I’m crying now. My face and shirt are soaked with tears.
“I hate that I let my father put doubt in my head. That he almost convinced me you killed Ethan, even if it would have been for self-defense… I was angry with you. I…”
I remove my foot and turn away, hiding my shame. Locheran is at my back within seconds. He wraps his large arms around me and kisses the top of my head.
“You’re allowed to feel all of this, Farrah. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now.”
I turn around to bury my face in his chest. “I hoped meeting with my father would have allowed me to explain… to show him that I’m in love with a monster who’s not a monster at all. I thought he’d understand.”
I shake my head.
“Being a hunter is a curse,” Locheran says, failing to react to me saying I love him. I know he heard me say it, but he’s still trying to pull me down from the ledge. “He never would have understood.”
“If that’s true, there has to be a way to break it.”
“Being a hunter is not a curse,” a low voice says from behind Locheran. “It’s a right of passage.”
I gasp and release Locheran from my embrace, tugging him to move him away from my father.
But it's too late.
Locheran humphs and grabs his side.
“A. War. Spear,” he says, his words short and full of pain.
He falls to the ground.
“No!”