Chapter 48 The Bonds
M y eyes flicker to Kacey who is scrambling backwards on the ground.
Ezekial and Kane have already created a barricade in front of her, protecting her from the hidden threat we could all feel.
As the thick smoke begins to part, a shadowy being starts to form.
The shattered glass crunches under footsteps and the heat in the room intensifies.
Kacey’s loud gasp rings in my ears.
It’s a man. No, not just a man.
From the way Kacey’s ghostly beings suddenly create another barrier around her, all large creatures in the shapes of humanoid predators, I know this man is a threat. The fact he’s stood on glass, in the middle of the gigantic cage previously holding a powerful beast, is the only other clue I need.
“He’s a shifter,” Kacey whispers.
Through the dissipating smoke, piercing amber eyes latch onto her, then he steps through it.
My power flares in warning, forming around me in protective coils as I rush towards Kacey. In my urgency to reach her, I skid along the ground on my knees, quickly closing the distance.
Only when I’m close enough to see her trembling hands, do I cast my eyes back to Kane and Ezekial who remain in the same spot, several feet ahead, waiting for the shifter to meet them.
“Kacey, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” My coils race all over her, searching for anything but finding nothing.
Her body begins to tremble and I watch her terrified eyes seek out the man behind me. “He’s… He’s…”
“It’s OK.” My tendrils flatten against her skin, layering her in a thin coating as I try to take in her terror. Her fear is consuming, pulverising her body, making hear heart thud dangerously hard. Her breathing shudders as she takes in jagged gasps. “We’re here, you’re safe, I’ve got you.”
“Please, you must understand that I need you to move.” When he speaks, Kacey's entire body locks up.
Her trembling halts for a moment, then doubles—triples.
Her knees knock as she pulls them up and into her shaking chest. My tendrils remain latched onto her as they try to feed but, her fear is so intense, it multiples with each piece I remove .
The shifter’s voice is hoarse, raspy, like after coughing for far too long. But there’s a strength to it, a depth which rumbles the air and increases the temperature again. Beads of sweat form on Kacey’s forehead as I hastily wipe mine away.
“I must get to her.” All the reassurance I’d pumped into Kacey is immediately squashed by the shifter’s words.
She begins crawling backwards again, hands and feet frantically dragging herself away from the shifter, and me, until her back slams into the wall. Her terrified gaze continues to stare past me as I turn to see the shifter.
He’s staring directly at Kacey, the same way he always did, even in his new form, and the intensity flickering in those amber eyes only amplifies her fear.
Can’t he see how afraid she is? Doesn’t he understand?
“She’s having a panic attack, ” I tell the others as I watch the shifter. “I’m trying to calm her but I can’t touch her. You need to tell him to back off. Now .”
They hear me, but the only indication that they listened and understood is their auras bursting to outline their forms and their complete lack of movement.
They won’t allow the shifter anywhere near her, or me, and I try to feed that surety into Kacey.
“And you must understand, we will not allow that,” Ezekial responds, his calm words trying to placate the shifter and I feel his own coils slowly fill the room.
I squat on the balls of my feet and glance over my shoulder as the shifter’s amber eyes finally flicker to Ezekial.
They watch one another for a moment before he speaks again. “You think I would hurt her?” The shock reverberating in the shifter’s voice echoes around the room. “I would never… I could never…” His eyes land on me. “Jasmine understands.”
At the use of my name, all the men’s powers flare into their prominent auras, surrounding them in waves of power.
Their movements are so sudden I can’t keep up.
Now, Sai is directly beside Ezekial, Kane is slightly in front, and Julien is so close to the shifter my tendrils halt over Kacey’s skin with concern. But Julien’s towering height, even more impressive when a dragon is having to stare up at him, and the way the shifter seems to step back with uncertainty, eases my worry. He’s using his compulsion.
Even though I can’t decipher their words, as I watch Julien speak in a low murmur, I can still feel .
The shifter’s feelings abruptly singe me with their potentness. I gasp, clasping my chest and scrunching the fabric there. The thought, even the barest suggestion of causing Kacey harm has such a visceral reaction for the shifter that it almost makes me gag.
He would never hurt her.
I make that thought clear in their minds as I push the sickness away, when Kacey’s soft utterances catch my attention.
“No,” Kacey whispers.
I turn to her with a frown as she continues to repeat that single word. She’s shaking her head, thick hair curtaining her face, then her palms are pushing into her ears, as she repeats the word over and over and over in a haunting tone.
“This isn’t working, she can hardly breathe!” I say loud enough for everyone to hear, watching as Kacey clutches her knees to make herself as small as possible.
“But she’s my—”
“NO!” Kacey’s scream is harmonised by the ghostly roars which erupt around us.
I stare at the creatures as they continue to hiss, snarl and growl, claws, fangs and paws braced and prepared whilst the horrific sound continues.
Then she’s whispering, “He can’t be, he can’t be. I can’t have… I can’t... This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening… I...”
“She’s my mate.”
All sounds stop.
Kacey stops speaking.
Stops shaking.
Then silent tears begin to fall. Her irises turn pale, almost translucent, as she stares into nothing.
I turn to seek out the shifter, he’s no closer to us, if anything he’s moved further away, but his power has amplified and his feelings… the intensity physically knocks me. I gasp as I take them in and see his eyes fill with horror.
He’s terrified.
But it’s more than that, more than just terror as he stares at Kacey’s ghostly form. There’s a deep, bone-churning yearning, a longing I can’t even express as my eyes begin to water with the purity of it.
“She’s my bond.” His words cause a shudder to ripple through Kacey.
I focus all my energy on her, on soothing her fear, regulating her breathing so she can steady her heart currently pummelling against her ribcage. She doesn’t make a single sound as I continue to soothe her.
I hear someone move and I turn to see Kane as he steps towards the shifter. His shadows cling to him like a flowing cloak and seep out along the ground like mist, filling it with his darkness and forcing the temperature plummet.
“And now you understand why we will not let you near her, ” he says.
The shifter’s gaze flickers to Kane’s. I watch his terrified stare narrow in confusion then I see the shifter’s large shoulders droop and his sad eyes seek out mine.
His reaction turns my stomach to lead.
“Sai, take them both.”
“Time to go,” Sai murmurs as he suddenly appears, hooking an arm around my stomach whilst his crackling tendrils reach for Kacey.
Then we’re in Ezekial’s office.
Kacey’s back on the ground, rocking in her tight ball against the office wall and I’m right there with her. Crouched to her level, hands hovering, so desperate to touch her and remove her terror, but all I can do is stare helplessly at her.
“What did he mean, the shifter?” I quietly ask Sai whilst still monitoring Kacey, urging my power to tightly wrap around her and slowly ease her terror. I can’t just rip it away, it’s so large and consuming it could lead her to madness if I did. “She isn’t a shifter, she can’t be his—”
“We’ll explain when everything’s… calmed down.”
“He’s my bond,” Kacey cries the words, they’re so quiet I wouldn’t have caught them if I wasn’t leaning towards her so closely. “He’s… he’s in my head… I can’t.”
I suddenly feel cold.
“What do you mean he’s in your head, Kacey?” My heart pounds as I wait for her response. Her head slowly lifts from her knees and her glassy, blue eyes peer into mine.
My gaze dances all over her pale face as my power pulses to ease her even more, to coerce her to answer, compel her to explain something I knew, deep down, I didn’t want an answer to.
“I can… hear him.”
My hands fall to my sides.
My heart thuds.
Then Kacey points to her head. “In here. I can hear him in here.”
The lead in my stomach intensifies. I feel weightless. Nausea overwhelms my senses.
“Red—”
“Explain, now.” I stare up at Sai as he stands beside me, desperately trying to remain calm even when my heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear my own thoughts, all I can hear is the blood rushing in my ears.
Sai’s eyes suddenly lower, searching the floor, and the thick, sticky emotion of regret and guilt seeps from him, clings to the air which I inhale.
The lead in my stomach morphs into a hollow pit.
“I thought… you said… you said this wasn’t…” I can’t breathe, my eyes race over the wooden floor, my coils wrapping around me and desperately flaying my skin in attempt to soothe me. “This isn’t real. This isn’t happening. I’m not a shifter, I can’t...”
Sai slowly crouches beside me. I feel his power reach out just as he tries to touch me but I instantly recoil from him.
I fall back against the wall, beside Kacey, and quickly pull my knees up to distance myself as much as possible.
Sai’s hand lingers in the space between us, I feel his panic rush over me, his eyes wide as he studies my vacant expression. “Red, please. Let us explain, this isn’t how—”
“Get away from me.” I don’t drop my gaze, I keep my voice level even with my heart thudding painfully in my chest.
Sai just stares at me, his markings barely pulse and he seems to lack all colour as I grit my teeth.
“Get. Away. From. Me.”
My coils pulse outwards so quickly and violently, he has no choice but to move, his own power instinctively protecting him and forcing him to retreat.
How is this happening?
How the fuck is this happening?
I can’t be? They can’t be?
How long have they known? How long have they kept me in the dark?
How could I be so fucking naive?
I close my eyes. I try to shake away the words.
The room vibrates when the others enter but I keep my eyes closed.
They know something is wrong. I feel their emotions like licks of flames and I block them out almost as violently.
The air crackles and hums with their private words.
And my fury, my rage, continues to build in the silence.
Someone tries to speak but I shake my head, cutting off their words. I refuse to acknowledge them.
My emotions continue to grow without reprieve, quickly reaching a crescendo I can’t contain without causing significant damage.
The realm is upon us instantly and I drag everyone with me.
Soothing cold lathers me, eases the burning rage and allows all sounds to simply melt .
Here, my panic quells somewhat and so does Kacey’s. She already told me she was a being of the dark and it seemed the realm welcomed her like a lost friend, helping her catch her breaths which were previously choppy.
I take a deep breath, the icy air soothing the ache in my chest and feeding me strength. Empowered by the realm, I slowly stand and open my eyes.
I stare ahead at the four men before me and they stare back.
“Jasmine—”
“Don’t.” For once, Kane listens to me. His black gaze bores into me and his lips pull into a tight line. “Don’t say anything. Don’t do anything. Don’t come near me. Any of you.” I glance at them all, before turning my back on them.
I peer down at Kacey, she’s still trembling slightly but now her breathing has steadied. “Kacey, are you OK here?”
She takes another shuddering breath, inhaling the realm’s cool air and the calmness it brings, and then her eyes open again, peering up and into mine as I use the realm’s darkness to quickly erase her emotions. I remove nearly all of her terror and, finally, turn it into something calmer.
“Is there somewhere we can go?” I quietly ask her, keeping my voice purposely low.
“We will go back to the house and—”
“I’m not going anywhere with any of you,” I bite back, refusing to turn around and look at Ezekial as my dark tone slices through his words.
I refuse to look at any of them.
Kacey’s brows narrow slightly, then she peers at the men behind me and the furrow between her brows falls away. Her feelings seep around me, she wets her lips, her eyes gleam.
She understands.
“My apartment, we can go there,” she replies, quickly wiping the tear trails from her cheeks as she takes another deep breath. “We’ll be safe there.”
When she begins to stand, I use my tendrils to support her and slowly pull her up. Her soft blue eyes and the slow quiver of her lip amplifies the concern I can feel seeping from her, but the concern is no longer for her. It’s for me.
I see the way her nervous sight sweeps to the men, then to me, her gloved hands rubbing together as she nods. “We can go there together.”
“Jasmine, you can’t— ”
I turn on them viciously, ensuring my coils go nowhere near them as they surround me in shards and spikes of savage shadows. But my emotions, I allow them to flare blindly, I allow them to incessantly plummet into them, spear into their skin and bones and souls until their own powers quiver under the impact.
One emotion overpowers the rest.
Betrayal .
“You lied to me. You all lied to me.”
I see it then, the moment they realise what’s happening, when they realise the impact of their actions, the consequence of their lies, their omissions. It’s like something cracks and I watch each of their strong composures splinter before me, their emotions spilling out and into the realm.
But it doesn’t matter what they feel. Not anymore.
“Red, please, please , just let us explain,” Sai begs, his pleading tone almost rattles me.
I note the subtle glow of his ivory skin has completely drained from his face, his markings no longer alight, they lay flat against his skin like paint, and I watch his contorted expression with complete and utter apathy.
I can feel his desperation, his terror, his need to close the distance and reassure me, reassure himself, that everything will be fine.
But I don’t let him.
“There’s nothing to explain. I don’t accept—”
“Don’t.” Kane forces his darkness into that one command, cutting all my words that were to follow, cutting the rejection I so close to verbalising.
His heavy gaze watches me warily, like I’m a rabid creature he can’t predict, waiting for me to continue my words, to fill in the silence with the sour things I can’t even stomach to say in my mind…
Then, he utters it aloud. “Don’t.”
I can’t continue it.
My teeth are bared in a barricade behind my firm lips, halting the sentence in place, and I’m no longer sure who made me stop, why I can’t just say it. Say I don’t want...
“This is my fault, not theirs. I’m the one who decided to keep this from you, I—”
“You don’t get to take all the blame like usual, Kane. You don’t get to be the fall guy every time. Especially not this time. You all made this choice.” My voice is void of emotion as I stare at him, then each of the others. Before glancing back at Kacey. “Ready to go? ”
She nods, fumbling in her back pant pocket for what I knew she would have.
“Red, baby, please stop. Please .” Sai moves towards me and my lips pull into a snarl as I step back. “I can explain, I’ll tell you anything you want, I'll do anything you want, please. You’re breaking my fucking heart—”
“Your heart?” I hurl the question, complete with sour mockery, right back at him out loud. “ I’m breaking your heart?” I repeat, twisting each of those words into horrific tones. “You’re lucky that’s the only thing I’m breaking you lying, selfish, manipulative, conniving, fucking pricks!” I scream, each word reverberates around the realm and causes the ground to shudder.
“You weren’t ready, you wouldn’t have—”
“That wasn’t your choice to make!” I snarl with vehemence, my eyes clashing with Julien's. “All this time, all this time... you were lying to me, playing games with me, using me... just like they did.”
Sai stumbles forward, I’ve never seen him stumble before, any of them. “No, no, Red. It wasn’t like that, I swear—”
My eyes cut to him.
“You were the worst one.” My voice is lower, the darkness finally seeping in as I feel it uncoil from the intensity of my sour emotions.
Sai completely stops, my words hitting him exactly the way I wanted.
Then I deliver a final blow.
“You do know that, right? You know I’ll never forgive you.”
I think he’s about to fall but Julien doesn’t allow it, stepping out to clasp his dear friend by the shoulder.
He leans to murmur something in Sai’s ear but I know he isn’t listening, I can feel his devastation thickening the air as my eyes sink fully into the dark.
“You too.” My voice echoes as I meet Julien’s gaze. “I’ll never let you near me again.”
Julien blanches. Such a human, vulnerable, reaction.
He's the smallest I’ve ever seen him. He’s so small. A speck. He's nothing.
They didn’t want us.
My eyes flutter at the voice filling my mind.
And when they finally did, when they realised what we were, how worthy we were...
“Leave the realm, Jasmine.” Kane is suddenly so close that my spikes impale him.
I feel a sliver of guilt until I realise he’s completely unaffected, watching in a trance as they melt into him.
They aren’t worthy of us .
“Don’t listen to it.” Kane’s voice is layered in its own darkness and my eyes fly open in response.
Especially him.
“You’re not worthy.” The words leave me without thought. They’re barely a whisper. If Kane hadn’t seen my lips moving I doubt he’d know the voice belonged to me.
“I know,” Kane replies, his darkened gaze a mirror of mine, his voice even lower than mine. “I know I’m not, but they are.”
His words rattle me, make the dark voice quieten for a moment and the room doesn’t seem so cold.
“You have to leave the realm.” I take a deep breath, closing my eyes to allow some reprieve from his deep gaze. “Please, Jasmine.”
I slowly open my eyes, desperate to see his face when his voice sounds like that, whilst he pleads. But when I do, I feel all of their eyes seek me out and I catch them all, all filled with brimming urges and emotions.
But they don’t speak. They don’t move.
They just watch as Kacey comes to my side, with a small, black rock in her hand. The silence punctuated by our breaths, and when she reaches out her other hand, her gloved palm reaching out towards me, I stare at her with an unspoken question.
She slowly nods, her eyes filled with reassurance as my own hand reaches out.
And the men say nothing.
Kane says nothing.
Even when my coils wrap around Kacey’s arm, even as she gasps as my darkness sinks into her, the silence remains.
I tentatively reach out, touching the tips of her gloved fingers with mine.
“Take her, Kacey,” Kane orders and her fingers immediately interlock with mine.
I feel the distant tug of two powers initially meeting.
I hear someone moving, struggling, someone being detained. There’s a muttered curse.
But I don’t look back.
I just stare at my fingers clutching hers, I see the darkness coating my fingers and spiralling around my wrist.
Then I feel Kane. I feel his fingers skim my wrist, see his own coated in black as they barely touch me.
Then.
It's gone.