Chapter Two
~Kalo~
In the darkness, the shadows whispered a language I used to know. I could almost make it out, but every time I tried to concentrate harder on it, it slipped away, leaving only an echo behind.
In that blackness, something stirred. Something old, older even than me, and hungry.
And it wanted me.
I tried to run, but the ground shifted beneath me and turned to ash beneath my bare feet. My chest burned the way it did in my last human moments, when the magic of the genie poured into me, taking over my soul.
From somewhere in the distance, I heard my name.
Kalo.
It sounded soft and almost seductive, and when I hesitated, it repeated again, nearer than before.
Kalo.
The darkness lashed forward, invisible hands reaching out and freezing me to the bones when they brushed against me.
“Please,” I whispered, though I didn’t know what I was begging for. Mercy? Freedom?
The right to exist on my own terms, just once more before I died?
In front of me, the shadows twisted into something vaguely human, a face forming in the black. The eyes were gold, reflecting mine, and the voice that came from it sounded like my own when it rasped, “You’ll never be free.”
I jerked awake with a groan, and for a long moment, I couldn’t remember where, or when, I was. Sweat slicked my skin despite the temperate air, and as my eyes focused, I saw him.
Leo sat in a chair near the bed of the Ravenstone pack house guest room where I’d spent the last few nights, his clothes rumpled. Even in my confused state, the wrinkled clothing stood out to me, because on every other occasion I’d seen him, he’d been meticulously groomed.
His solemn eyes watched me carefully, but he said nothing to explain what had brought him there.
With no clues from him, I tried to piece it together on my own. What was the last thing I remembered?
We were in the woods and Amanda was going to wish me free. She did make the wish, undoing all the wishes I’d ever granted, which undid my own foolish wish to become a genie in the first place.
The magic that had weighed me down for so long, taking up all the space inside me, vanished, and I saw the most beautiful, glowing, peaceful light, just ahead of me.
But then…
Then… I couldn’t recall exactly what happened, other than a sharp, sudden pain in my throat.
My fingers went to the spot as the memory came back, and sensation flooded my body. Pain, yes, but something deeper too, a need that I couldn’t quite place. An invisible thread wound through my body, tugging me towards the man sitting in the chair next to me.
He flinched at the movement, his eyes filled with guilt and regret, and dread settled in my stomach.
“What did you do?”
Leo’s jaw tightened, and for a few heavy seconds, he didn’t speak, as if rehearsing the words before letting them out.
“You were dying,” he finally said. “Literally fading from existence. I had to act fast.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
His exhale echoed in the silence of the room. “I marked you.”
The world seemed to tilt as I blinked, trying to focus. “You… marked me?”
“I claimed you as my mate. Do you know what that means?”
I did. Thanks to the magic I held as a genie, I entered each of my new owner’s lives with a basic understanding of their world, enough that I could serve my master without confusion or delay.
Societal norms, politics, culture, language…
all of it implanted into my brain as if they were things I had always known.
So, when Alpha Amanda of the Ravenstone pack summoned me, I suddenly knew practically everything about the laws and customs of werewolves, even though up until then, I’d never even known they existed as anything other than a vague myth.
Yes, I knew what a mate was, and as my fingers pressed against the tender flesh at my neck again, I understood what it meant.
“I’m bound to you.”
“Yes.”
Although he whispered the word, it landed with a thud in my chest, and I let my hand fall from my neck. “Can it be undone?”
Again, Leo flinched. “Normally, if mates don’t want the bond, they can reject it upon recognition. But once they’re marked… it’s not so simple.”
“Meaning?” I pressed.
“Meaning you’re stuck with me. At least for now.”
Anger flared in my chest, burning through the lingering numbness I’d woken with, and the walls of the room seemed to press in around me.
Even the air felt thicker in my now-human lungs.
I’d been dreaming of freedom for so long, hoping and praying for a way to break out of the prison I’d stupidly placed myself in, and right when I finally achieved it, when I finally existed as myself again, another set of chains clamped around me.
A different kind, perhaps, but chains all the same.
“So, I’m not free after all.”
Leo’s eyes closed for a moment, avoiding my gaze. “You asked for my help. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Had I? I didn’t remember doing that, but even if I had, I wouldn’t have meant this kind of help.
“I would have rather died free.”
Leo froze, his eyes darkening as his wolf pressed close to the surface. I’d seen it happen in Troy, the Alpha’s mate, enough times over the past few days to recognize the signs. “Don’t say that.”
I didn’t mean it as an insult to him. In truth, I had nothing against Leo. In the time we’d spent together, he seemed like an honest, earnest man with a strong sense of duty and loyalty.
But he also had no idea what my life had been like and what this bond meant to me. No matter how decent a man he might be, it didn’t change the fact that after finally breaking free of the genie’s curse, I felt trapped once again.
My anger collapsed into a heavy helplessness, and since I didn’t want to say anything that might inadvertently hurt him, I looked away instead, drawing in a ragged breath. “I’m going to need some time to process all of this.”
Heavy, uncertain silence stretched between us.
“You… want me to leave?” he finally clarified.
“Yes. Please.”
The chair scraped against the hardwood floor as I kept my gaze focused on the opposite wall. Footsteps faded towards the door, but just before it opened, he spoke once more.
“I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
As the door clicked shut, silence swallowed the room again.
I curled onto my side, pressing my fingers once more to the new mark on my neck. It sent an ache through my body, part pain and part longing, mixed with grief for the loss of my brief brush with freedom.
I wasn’t a genie anymore, but my life still wasn’t my own. Maybe it had been naive to imagine it ever could be again. I’d dared to hope, and losing that hope again cut just as deep as it had the first time.
You’ll never be free, the voice in my dream had said, and somewhere in the dark corners of my mind, I feared it might be right.