Chapter 7
Rylee
A laugh rips from my lips at Axl’s declaration, the levity spearing through the panic.
Panic at waking up with Baydel right there.
Panic when I heard they were in a battle, powerless.
Panic when I arrived and they were . . . overrun.
My incredible, half-god mates were overrun.
Because of me.
Because they’d sacrificed their powers to bring me back.
Guilt threatens to steal the joy of seeing them alive.
Pierce gasps, his reflexes reaching out like he’s trying to catch something. Jax, Kal, and Axl flinch, too—
White-hot lightning splinters my mind, stealing the breath from my lungs. The powers I’d somehow sent back to them return in a painful rush like I’ve lassoed them in and yanked them back.
I topple forward. Pierce catches me, scooping me into his arms and holding me against his chest. “Rylee?”
Ocean and sun, endless thoughts and energy. Emotions. So many variations. They swarm through me, slamming into my body with such force, it’s like I’ve hit a rock wall at full speed on a velomage.
“Sorry.” My head is swimming. “I don’t know how to stop them from coming back to me.”
“Yet,” Pierce says. “You don’t know how to do it yet, my darling. We’ll figure it out.”
I reach up, gently touching his cheek where the Fader cut him. The wounds are partially healed.
“Your healing abilities,” I say, each word difficult to get out. Damn, their power weighs a fuckton. “They’re attached to your power? Not your goddess-given immortality?”
Kal comes into view, then Axl and Jax, creating a little protective circle around me that I want to live in forever.
“Not entirely,” Pierce explains. “Our powers accelerate our naturally quick healing abilities. Without them . . .” He glances at the other three before looking down at me. “We’ll still heal. It’ll just be slower.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again. “We need to figure this out.”
“We will,” Axl says.
“We have time, love,” Kal adds.
Pierce shifts me tighter against him. “The important thing is that you’re back now.”
Tears fill my eyes, emotion catching up to me. So much has happened.
“You’re alive,” Jax says, finally speaking. I meet those indigo eyes, relief uncoiling inside me. “That’s all that matters.”
I take a deep breath, allowing their words of assurance to soothe my sense of urgency.
“Take me home?” I practically beg. “Not to the palace,” I hurry to add.
“From the way Baydel spoke to me before, he’ll have a whole slew of questions.
I’m not ready. I need . . .” I bite my lip, trying to articulate what I can feel stretching awake inside me.
“I need to be with you,” I continue. “Just the five of us.”
“My place is closest,” Jax says, glancing around at the Faders’ destruction.
I shift against Pierce, silently indicating for him to put me down.
He does, and I manage to hold myself up, despite it feeling like I have a mountain sitting between my shoulder blades. “Your powers . . .” I sigh. “Are heavy.”
A small cry sounds from behind us and down the road, effectively stopping all plans to leave so quickly.
“The people,” I say, coming back to reality. “Of course, we’ll go home after we’ve seen to their needs.”
Jax locks gazes with me, intense emotion and pride radiating there. He steps into my space, dragging a knuckle down my cheek. “I can stay,” he says, his voice softer than the Nightmare’s ever is. “They can take you home and then—”
“No,” I cut him off. “These are my people, too.” I do my best to hush their powers roaring inside me. It’s as if being right next to their original owners makes them struggle and tug and fight to return to them.
I get it.
I just need a minute to figure this all out.
I try to convince the powers of that, as if they’re sentient creatures roaming beneath my skin and along the four mating bonds I have with the Legends.
“I want to help the people,” I continue. “I’m fine, I promise. If I feel like I’m going to pass out again, I’ll tell you.”
Jax seems keen to argue, so I turn to Kal. “Let’s take the left side of the block,” I say, then glance to Axl. “You and Pierce take the right.” I look up at Jax. “You take the middle. We’ll work our way down, helping where we can. When we’re done, we’ll go home.”
Jax dips down, kissing me quick and hard and branding. I melt at the touch. My connection with him flares to life in a way I’ve never felt before. Pride and love and undiluted passion pulse down that bond, his emotions mixing with mine until I’m not sure how to decipher which is which.
“I missed you, butterfly,” he whispers against my lips, then pulls back and holds my gaze for a moment before stepping away. “You heard our mate,” he says to the group. “Let’s get to work.”
Anger and exhaustion settle heavily in my bones as we reach Jax’s home after several hours of helping shopkeepers and injured citizens.
The familiar smell of leather and smoke hits me the minute we step inside.
It’s welcoming in a way that clogs my throat with emotion.
I feel like I’ve been away for a very long time.
I’m the first to head down Jax’s staircase, wanting nothing more than a good soak in his massive tub.
She’s alive.
Kal’s voice flits through my mind, quick and soft as a welcoming breeze. It stops me short on the last stair.
Are you listening to us? Pierce’s voice is direct and clearer somehow, as if his power knows who its true wielder is.
I take the last step, turning to face them as they follow in behind me. We linger in Jax’s living room, and I close my eyes, focusing on the connection to Pierce that sears inside me right now.
Yes. I visualize my voice skittering along that connection of ours, pushing that word into his mind.
A smile stretches his full lips, his eyes lighting up as he steps closer to me. Goddess, he’s so handsome. I can’t help but reach up and touch him, sliding my fingers over the smooth brown skin of his cheek and into his curly black hair. “Well done,” he says. “Are you able to shut us out?”
“I’ll try.” I draw my hand back, focusing. He told me once before it’s like mentally closing doors on all the voices in your mind, but since there are only four of them, I don’t have as many doors.
My fucking beautiful kitten. I’m so glad she’s back. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. Axl.
My fault. Jax’s voice is jaded, cold. I should’ve checked the elixir. I should’ve known. She’s struggling with our powers, and it’s because I couldn’t live without her.
I cringe against the emotions that storm my senses—grief and anger, relief and love. Each is stronger than the next. I stumble back, just a step, as if the physical distance will give me some breathing room.
Oh no.
What’s wrong?
Please don’t break.
Fuck.
I can no longer separate their thoughts. I hold up a hand, silently signaling I need a minute, as they each come for me.
I concentrate on my breathing. Focusing on the rise and fall of my chest, the way the air feels cool as I inhale and warm as I exhale. In and out. Over and over.
I don’t know how long I do this.
I only know that in doing so, I manage to close those heavy doors on their thoughts, shoving their emotions behind them, too. Though a small fraction of the emotion seems to slip through—a soft tingle against my skin that I’m not sure how to fully subdue.
Maybe I can’t.
Pierce told me even Jax has a hard time completely shutting it out.
I have so much to learn.
Thankfully, Kal and Axl’s powers are different.
Easier to shift and maneuver. I can feel the air around us, from my own power, and I have this sense of the sky, like a whisper begging me to come play.
And then I can pinpoint every amount of water in this house—the liquid flowing through hidden pipes, the moisture beading on the roof in the cool midnight.
It’s incredible, the vastness of their powers.
Terrifying, for sure, but incredible.
“I’m okay,” I say, finally opening my eyes.
They haven’t moved, and each of them sighs, as if they’d been doing the breath work with me.
I smile at them, feeling clearheaded for the first time since I woke up. I know that I won’t be able to pause and do a breathing session every time I get overwhelmed. I know we need to figure out a better plan on how to manage this, but right now? I’m just happy to be with them.
And now that the powers are coaxed to sleep, I feel.
Their bonds—each of them is connected to me in a way that’s so much more significant than they were before. The Choosing ceremony, the Athanry, the process of becoming immortal—they strengthened the mating bonds in ways I’ve yet to understand.
But they’re there, each of them, like golden beacons that flow freely between us, strengthening and connecting us in a way that feels significant.
And demanding.
There’s a silent need pulsing along each of these golden bonds.
And it grows stronger by the minute.
“I’m okay,” I say again when none of them look convinced. Anticipation trembles down my spine as desire ramps up, overtaking all other thought.
I’m immortal. I survived. But I was taken from them and them from me before we could fully celebrate this accomplishment.
Despite everything else, I’m here. With them.
And we get to spend forever together. The significance of that settles along our mating bonds, and I can’t stop the burst of excitement that makes my heart skip.
“I’d like a bath,” I say, my voice feeling so much more my own now. It’s almost intoxicating to come back to myself in this way. Because that hasn’t changed—my need for them, my love for them.
“Of course,” Kal answers first. “We’ll be here when you’re done.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “What part of that statement did you interpret as me wanting to be alone?” I smile at him suggestively, crossing the space to run my fingers over his broad chest.
It’s wonderful to have the powers sleeping. It gives me a sense of control I’ve been desperate for.
“Rylee,” Kal chides softly, stroking my hand. “You’ve been unconscious for seven days—”
“I’m fine.”