Twenty-Six
Riley
Something was wrong.
The light in the room was different. Gareth was pressed up behind me, spooning me, our bond pulsing with contentment. We were still wearing all our clothes. My boots were hanging off the end of the bed.
For a change, I’d woken feeling rested. The nightmares that had been plaguing me recently had tapered off since bonding with Gareth.
I knew I’d have to confront those dreams of Mira and what they implied, but that was for another time.
First, I had to break this damn curse, then free my mom from Boyce.
He didn’t deserve the title of stepfather.
I took stock of the room, my body, and wondered what was nagging at my senses. My inner animal was trying to tell me something, I just couldn’t understand what it was.
My phone was on the nightstand where I’d left it, what felt like hours ago, charged and ready for me to go. Worry bloomed in my chest. The curse. I wouldn’t have much time. I worked my way free from Gareth’s arms and picked up my phone.
The screen lit up with the time. Four. It was four in the morning. On the twenty-seventh.
Impossible.
Taking Gareth’s shoulder, I shook him awake. “Gareth!” The joy in my voice was foreign.
“Hmm?”
“I’m still here!”
“What?” He struggled into a seated position and reached for his phone. He peeled his eyes open, still looking cute and sleepy, his hair and clothes all rumpled. He bolted upright at the display. “The curse!”
“Check me!” I held my hands out to him. He grasped them, and I felt the tickling sensation of his magic over my skin and deep inside where our bond lay. “Huh!”
“What is it?”
“My magic isn’t being blocked by you at all.” He scanned me. “Remember that cut you got yesterday?”
“Yeah…” It was barely anything. I’d cut myself cooking. With my healing, it would be gone in another day.
“Watch.” I felt the magic wash over the cut on my palm and erase it. I shook as panic took hold.
“Woah, don’t worry,” Gareth said soothingly, rubbing my hand with his. “I still can’t hurt you.” He held fire in his free hand and tried to give it to me, a barrier keeping it in place.
“Sorry!” I felt guilty about my reaction, which was ridiculous, I knew that.
Gareth wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on mine. “Don’t be. It’s going to take you a long time to unlearn those natural reactions to magic. Maybe once Boyce is done, we should do some therapy or something.”
“That’s a good idea. I don’t want to flinch away every time you try to do an innocent spell on me. Being able to heal me is amazing, though.” Neither of us said a word about the nightmares.
We stood together, Gareth holding me tightly as he confirmed what I suspected. “Riley, we did it. The curse is completely gone.”
“It is?” I wanted to break down and cry. Hope was so beautiful it hurt.
“You’re free.”
Rather than head out with Gareth to go get Boyce, I crawled back into bed with him. I took off my boots and pants and just… lay there with him. For once, I got to stay with someone I cared about. There was no time limit.
“It doesn’t feel real,” I admitted quietly.
Gareth’s arms tightened around me. “How about later on we take a drive up to the barrier and show you?”
I backed up, pressing closer to him. “Yeah. I just want to enjoy this right now. Even if it is a dream, it’s the best one I’ve ever had.”
We must have gone back to sleep, because my eyes pinged open when someone rang the doorbell.
“I’ll get it,” Gareth muttered sleepily as he unwound himself from me and left the bedroom. His hair was sticking up, and his clothes were all sleep rumpled.
Picking up my discarded pants, I put them on and followed him out to the entrance. There, Tatsuya was standing with a woman I’d never met before. She bore a striking resemblance to him. The sister, I presumed.
Then my attention was stolen by Hestia. She was in our house. I’d never seen the goddess outside City Hall, aside from at the festival. Sometimes I’d wondered if she lived there. Being dedicated to your town was impressive, but it couldn’t become your entire life.
“Ah, Riley. Congratulations on being curse free!” she said with enthusiasm when she caught sight of me.
“Um, thank you. How did you know about the curse? Is that why you’re here?” I asked.
Hestia looked troubled for a brief moment, before the expression quickly settled into her usual calm demeanor. “Well, it’s clear that you and Gareth are now bonded. I can see the gold strings of fate wrapped tightly around you both.”
“So you knew that our bonding would rid Riley of the curse?” Gareth cut in. I could feel his anger. He wrapped an arm around my waist, keeping me close to him.
She had the audacity to look sheepish. “I did, but I wasn’t allowed to tell you. The bond had to be chosen because it was what you both wanted. Not because it automatically breaks all other magic.”
Gareth frowned, yet remained silent. As answers went, it pretty much shot down any arguments we had. Both of us knew Hestia had to play by rules we couldn’t understand.
“That wasn’t the reason we came here today. Even without seeing the bonding, we all knew that the curse was broken,” Hestia said.
“How?” I blurted. There was an odd tension between Tatsuya and his sister. I noticed how stiffly they both held themselves and the distance between them.
“Hi Riley, I’m Adalinda. Ada, for short, please. I’m the chief of police here.” Her voice was warm and kind. “Sorry I haven’t met you before. I know Tatsuya was in the party that welcomed you to town.”
Being reminded of that time really wasn’t wise, considering that Tatsuya was on my shit list. I couldn’t help getting a dig in.
“Fen was really friendly. Went above and beyond,” I said before glaring at Tatsuya.
“Your brothers, not so much. Especially this one. You might want to reconsider him being the welcome wagon with how he likes to leave a lasting impression.”
“Right.” Ada glanced at her brother. “I’ve heard rumors, and we’re going to discuss that later. But we have a situation right now that can’t wait.”
“Situation?” Gareth and I said together. It would have been funny, but there was just too much worry in the air.
“We take the security of the town extremely seriously. There are reports that a man, a warlock, is outside the town trying to get in. He’s slowly stripping the wards.”
I flinched back. “No! It can’t be.”
Hestia rushed to reassure me. “You’re safe, Riley. The town’s wards need more than a second-rate dark sorcerer to break them. However, it does mean that Boyce has found you.”
“Why didn’t the alarm go off?” Gareth asked.
“He silenced it first before working on making a hole,” Hestia answered. “We were lucky we’ve had patrols since the last attack. We thought someone might try it this way.”
“The sentries heard him shouting about the curse being broken but never letting you go,” Ada said sympathetically. “Tatsuya told us about your plan to go after Boyce now that you’re free. Do you feel ready to face him, or would you rather we take care of it?”
“Take care of it?” My mind was spinning.
Gareth wrapped his arms around me. “Whatever you want, baby.”
I breathed in his scent. The bergamot and lemongrass smell that was so familiar to me now. It soothed the rough edges of my panic. I knew what I needed to do. “We need to end this. Me and my brother.”
“You should take backup,” Ada said. “I don’t feel comfortable sending two shifters and a warlock out to deal with someone as unhinged as this man is.”
“Keeley and Oscar will come with us,” Gareth chimed in. “Though we wouldn’t say no to a dragon.” Tatsuya’s eyes lit up. “Maybe not you, Suya, sorry.”
Tatsuya deflated. “I get it. I spoke without thinking. It’s just—”
“Nope,” I interrupted. “No time for bullshit excuses. Ada, would you be able to come?”
She looked frustrated. “Unfortunately, no, I can’t. We’ll gather as many magic users as we can to shore up the wards. We’ve got fighters ready in case he didn’t come alone. I’ll get my other brother to help you.”
Hestia saw the question before I asked it. “I cannot leave Greyhaven without leaving the wards open and the town vulnerable. Though I wish I could help, I have to put the safety of the town first. I hope you can understand, Riley.”
Her genuine sorrow was clear. “I get it. It’s fine.
Greyhaven is too important to put at risk.
Besides, two shifters, two warlocks, a witch, and a dragon?
It sounds like the start of a weird joke.
” I laughed, and the strange mental picture quashed the panic inside me.
“Between us all, I think we can end this for good.”
A couple of texts and a party showed up on Gareth’s doorstep. Ryuu had brought Eason and Keeley. Oscar and Paxton were practically neighbors, so they came together.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Paxton asked, after wrapping me in a tight hug. My brother had never been this demonstrative before. I hoped Greyhaven would be a fresh start for our relationship and our lives. I prayed to the fates that Paxton would convince Fen to come home.
“Yeah, it has to end now. We’re free for the first time since Mom met him. Let’s free her now.”
“Do you think she’s with him?”
“There’s no one else I can think of who he would trust with her.” I knew for a fact that Boyce wouldn’t let her stay alone or with any of his past cronies. He couldn’t guarantee she would be in one piece when he returned. No, he would bring her with him for sure.
“Plus, she’s a pretty big bargaining chip,” Gareth added. “He will try to manipulate you using her.”
“Right. I think that when we get close, one of us should try to get her away from Boyce and through the wards,” I suggested because Gar was right, it was exactly what Boyce would do when he realized I had more backing than he thought.
With our curses, Boyce thought he’d made me and Pax vulnerable and weak. He thought he’d stolen any chance for us to create allies, but against all odds, Pax and I had found fated mates and friends here in Greyhaven.
“Good plan,” Ryuu agreed. The dragon looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes that held none of the sparkle that was there the day I’d met him. I hadn’t actually seen him since. “Load up!”
“Wait!” I cried, remembering something important. “Ryuu, call your brother. I don’t like the guy, but you’ve got a pregnant wife, don’t you?”
“She’s only got a couple of weeks to go.” His face softened with affection for his wife.
“Right. I don’t feel good about you coming. Call Tatsuya—” Punishing Tatsuya by excluding him was only hurting Ryuu who’d done nothing wrong. His brother had too much on the line for a fight with a deranged warlock.
The words died in my throat when I opened the front door. Outside our house was another police SUV, with Tatsuya resting on the bonnet. “Look, I know I did wrong, but let me start making amends.”
“Fine,” I said. “Ryuu, go home to your family. Your brother will take it from here.” He didn’t argue, just went to his vehicle and left.
There was no time to get into it with Tatsuya. We had to work quickly to protect the town. We took two cars: my brother and friend with us, the rest in Tatsuya’s police SUV. In the car, there was quiet. The radio stayed off as we all focused on what was to come.
I’d made peace with killing Boyce. It was a necessary sin to free my family. I thought about the form I would use so I could kill him quicker than he deserved. We just needed this over and done with.
The weather was on our side. For once, there was no snow or rain. The skies were a light blue with only a few fluffy clouds. We passed through the town quickly and followed the road that I’d taken on that first day.
“He must have traced you. This is where you would have dropped off. The last tugging point in the spell when the curse broke.” Gareth answered the question that had been echoing in my head.
“So that’s how,” I mused.
We lapsed into silence again until we had to park and get out.
The ward shimmered in front of us, holding strong despite Boyce’s best efforts. On the other side was Boyce, and beside his furious form was a car. Inside was my mom. Next to her was a boy who looked a little like Paxton. Like me. Like Mira.