Chapter Forty
CHAPTER FORTY
Val
I will end Theo.
My asshole of a mate drugged me and chained me to the bed.
I will never forgive him if he left me behind.
He wouldn’t dare. Not again. Right?
“Shadowvale,” I call. “Can you help?”
The castle responds by magicking a soft blanket to cover me…on top of the chains.
Looks like I’ll need to figure another way out of this.
My soul guardian picks that moment to peek in mongoose form from around the pillow. I yank on the padded cuffs, making the golden links rattle and clank. “Did you let Theo do this to me, Monty?”
He rolls onto his back, sticking his front paws in the air while splaying his rear legs and tail.
“Playing dead won’t absolve you of this, buddy,” I tell him. “Start by helping get me out of these. Find a key or?—”
He chomps through the metal, ripping it apart with his teeth.
“Or that,” I finish lamely, not wanting to consider how supernaturally strong my mongoose is. “That works too.” When Monty rips through each of the four restraints—because yeah, my sadist mate bound my wrists and ankles—and stands on his hind legs like he’s all proud of himself, my soul guardian gives a cheeky squeak. “All right then,” I say to him. “Let’s go tell off a demon.”
I storm into Theo’s study where we’d been when my head went fuzzy. A potion bottle lies atop the desk. We’d each taken a shot of whiskey. For luck, he’d said. Luck, my ass. The bastard slipped me a sedative. I would probably still be asleep if I hadn’t taken my ADHD meds before heading into his study, dressed for battle and ready to talk final strategy.
I’d agreed to stay in the background, to not use my magic, to stay vigilant, and to leave as soon as I saw Gilly hadn’t grabbed any family or friends. Theo had said it was enough.
“I’ll show him enough,” I tell Monty as he rolls the potion bottle with the clink of claws on glass.
Marching toward the wall of weapons Theo keeps displayed like prizes, I go straight for the hatchet that has called to me since the first day. If I’d taken a chunk of Theo with it Day One, he might’ve thought twice before chaining me to the bed. The padded cuffs and broken links still dangle from my ankles and wrists, jingling when I tiptoe and reach up for the weapon.
“Don’t touch it,” Nic says.
“Did Theo send you?” I demand.
“No. I came because I heard you scream when we were going through the portal.”
“He’s gone.” The truth settles in my gut like a stone.
“He’ll be back as soon as?—”
“I’m not waiting behind this time.”
“Look, I get you’re pissed because he chained you to the bed.”
“After drugging me. You know, I’d be fine with him tying me up. It’s the leaving me part that I can’t forgive.”
“Did not need to know the kinky stuff between you and my brother,” she mutters.
I grab for the hatchet again.
Nic stretches a hand toward me, and I flinch away.
“It’s cursed. You can’t?—”
“Great, I’m cursed too.” I rip it from the wall. “Just ask my family.”
“You don’t understand,” she says. “That hatchet is rumored to turn anyone who dares to wield it into dust—especially magical beings.”
“Good thing I’m not really magical. I’m just a weak human.” I slip the hatchet into a holster along my spine beneath my jacket and pick up Monty. “Now, take us to Theo.”
“I can’t,” Nic says.
“Sure you can. Teleport us. No portal needed.”
“Theo left you behind to protect you because of the vision the Cthulhu sent him last night. You should’ve seen how much it rattled him. He was convinced it was your future if you went with him.”
“It was a game .”
She shakes her head. “The myth of the Cthulhu says he brings nightmares, but they’re rooted in reality. That the dreams become true. Theo believes it. I don’t agree with his methods, but you don’t belong at this fight. You’ll only be a liability for him.”
What she says strikes to my worst fears. How I’m nothing more than the weak human who doesn’t deserve love because I love Theo. Not that I’ll confess it to his sister when she just called me a liability. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are . Which is why you have to stay.”
Nic teleports away before I can say another word.
I want to scream in frustration. All my life, I’ve wanted someone to love me for me . Not for whatever box or stereotype they cram me into. Now, Theo—my freakin’ mate—wants me to sit on the sidelines and deal with being left again while he goes out to confront the sister I know he can’t kill.
He doesn’t have it in him, no matter how big he has talked. He loves Gilly. He can’t go from looking out for her for decades to taking her head.
Which means he’s walking into this fight with one claw tied behind his wings.
I need to find a way to get to him. He wants to protect me when he is the one who needs protection right now. From my temper, if nothing else.
My ADHD meds have kicked in, and I have mad focus. My demon won’t know what hit him when I unleash my cosmic crankiness on him.
Putting Monty on the desk, I yank at the first locked drawer. “Help me look for a way to Theo, will you? He keeps his secrets in here. There must be something . If not, then at least maybe we’ll find a key for these cuffs.” Unless the bastard took the key with him. He wouldn’t, right?
Monty disappears into the desk. Such a good soul guardian. He can burrow like a champ, and with his magic, solid forms don’t stop him.
The chain gets caught around one of the decorative knobs, and I yank at the cuff. Chain links clink against the stacks of bracelets looped around my left wrist. I glance in annoyance and spot the summoning bracelet.
That’s it.
If I can’t go to him, I’ll bring him here.
I’ll summon him. That’ll teach my mate to give me instant access to him.
But how to work it? Jabbing all the runes, I finally tap the center where a raised symbol dominates the band. Nothing happens. I keep tapping a frantic beat. Motherfu —oh, I hold it down, and magic pulses through my wrist like a heartbeat.
The incoming throb of teleportation makes my ears pop.
Sweet .
A blonde in a black gown appears, a maniacal grin spreading across her lips and blue blood dripping from her hands.
My heart races in a panicked pace.
Shit .
I summoned Gilly.
She clamps her sharp nails around my wrist. “I can’t believe Theo left this on you. I was always the smarter sibling. Good thing I had it reworked to bring me instead.”
Rage runs through me, heating my blood. “Good for you, you psycho.” I twist my hand free to grab the hatchet, ready to swing it at her.
Except Monty’s mongoose shriek has me freezing. He lunges his furry body at Gilly, not seeming to care she’s a hundred times bigger than him even in her human glamour. She snaps her fingers, and a portal shimmers to life.
Time slows to an awful creep.
Monty leaps at her, and a snake comes through the portal, its giant maw open with gleaming fangs.
It swallows my soul guardian whole.
“No, Mont?—”
My scream cuts short as Gilly teleports us out.