Chapter 35
Zayne
Ididn’t want to leave Myssa, but I’ve asked Knox to meet me in my office. He’s already pacing my floor, waiting for me when I arrive.
“How the fuck did Jasper get on this side?” He explodes.
“I have no idea,” I say. I understand his frustration.
When Myssa told us about the warning from the little girl, my first instinct was to stay away from Aetheriem at all costs.
I was convinced that Jasper was going to try to keep Myssa there somehow.
Maybe our absence would buy us some time.
But clearly, we underestimated his reach.
“No idea, but we need to talk to Jess and Steph, because if he is starting to find a way to jump realms, he's closer to his goal.”
“How’s Myssa?” he asks.
“She’s ok,” I say, “she went upstairs to relax.”
“I want to get back up there with her. Something is telling me this isn’t over tonight. She put on a brave face, but I know her emotions are all over the place. The last thing she needs is to be alone. It’s so easy for her to transition, and I don’t want her to end up in Aetheriem.”
“Yeah, no problem, I’ll close up here tonight and take care of…” he pauses, using the camera feed to look at the guy in the conference room, who’s still knocked out. “Him. I got the guys if anything goes sideways. Go be with her, and we will figure this all out tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sounds good.” I pat Knox on the back and head back to the loft.
Walking in, I call out to Myssa, but when she doesn’t answer, a sudden dread floods my body.
After running up the stairs, I find her in my bed, and I sigh in relief at the doorway as I start to walk towards her.
As I get closer, though, panic washes over me as I see her tank top soaked in blood.
A large wound is slashed across the top of her chest.
“FUCK,” I scream, rushing to her side. I need to get to her.
She’s there without me, with him. Please, don’t let me be too late.
I grab her hand, hoping her connection is still as powerful as it was before.
As the weightlessness takes over, I’m pulled instantly through the frequency to Aetheriem.
I look around, only to find her standing in the middle of the room.
I take a step towards her when I see the blood still dripping from her chest, and my breaths become ragged.
Her eyes meet mine, and my heart stops as the warmth she once shown for me has gone. The scene in front of me is too much to take.
Jasper stands there in the corner of the room, swaying in and out of the shadows as if this is a game to him. His malicious chuckle fills the space.
“I told you, you can’t hide from me, boy,” he growls.
Myssa’s tears pour down her cheeks as her body shakes with fear, and her hurt-filled eyes never waver from mine.
What has he told her? Everything? He would have twisted things, I know he would have.
But she has to know he’s presenting it differently.
I know he’ll have manipulated the truth of what happened.
And if I’d just would have told her the truth, she wouldn’t be looking at me like this.
“Tell me it isn’t true.” She sobs.
I make a move towards her, but she steps back.
The first of my tears falls at her action.
“Tell me he’s lying, Zayne,” her words stab through me and I flinch.
My heart shatters, and what little of my soul was left diminishes. The love that has been consuming me these last few weeks full of her laughter, her passion, her intimacy, her embrace, is leaving me. I can feel her pulling back with each second I before answering.
But the truth is out there.
This bastard has had my soul locked up in his evil game for so long.
I never wanted to do anything—he did this to me, and I’ve been trying like hell to avoid him at all costs.
But none of that matters anymore, does it?
I could have let him have my soul, but I didn’t.
Some might call it cowardliness, or weakness.
What I felt with her was worth every second, and I wouldn’t take it back.
Defeated as the tears fall freely down my face, I say the only thing I can. “I can’t.”
“My name is Jonathan Zayne Fitzpatrick.” I whisper my confession, not breaking my gaze on her. “Myssa, please,” I plead, with all the truth I can give her.
I can explain.
But she just shakes her head as she continues to step back.
In a desperate last attempt to keep her, I give her my last confession.
“Myssa, I love you.”
She pauses for a minute, her eyes on me, searching, but the damage is already done.
“I need to get out of here,” she says, the devastation of the truth haunting her face. Her tears come down harder as she steps out of the doorway of the room and runs.
“Myssa, no,” I yell, but it’s too late. She can’t get stuck here; he will hunt her.
I start to go after her, but Jasper steps in front of the door, his massive hooded silhouette blocking any light coming through.
I gulp as once again I’m reminded I’m no match for him.
I have to try, though. She can’t get lost in Aetheriem.
“This is my realm, boy, and now she’s mine.” His crooked, eerie smile flashes at me for a fraction of a second through the shadows.
“You bastard,” I say, and just when I go to charge him, he snickers.
“Your services are no longer needed, Jonathan.”
It happens in a flash. Somehow, Jasper has managed to gain enough strength to lock me out of Aetheriem, and I’m back in my dimly lit room in the loft. The song we made love to plays through the speakers on my nightstand.
I can’t feel her the way I did before. The look of betrayal on her face is all I see. I can’t do this life without her. She gave me the air I needed to breathe, and she was the touch I needed to feel; the soul I needed to mend all the broken pieces of me—of what jasper took from me.
Crumbling to my knees, I let the guilt and the loss take over as I grip onto the bed, my other hand still in hers.
“Please, baby, please don’t give up on us. I’m so sorry, Myssa. I love you so much, and I can’t do this without you.”
I gently kiss her wrist, and I feel a slight twitch in her fingers.
I quickly look up, hoping to see she’s shifted back, but she still lays there, her face so peaceful.
Then I see what Jasper did, the cut across her chest, the blood soaked into her tank top.
Anger starts to burn within me, and all I can think about is how he will pay.
I will kill him for hurting her.
“No,” I shout, not letting go of her. “I am not giving up on you, on us. This is not how we end. This is not our end—it’s his.”
I bend over and give her one last kiss for the moment. I will not let her get lost in Aetheriem. I’m going to get her back. But I can’t do it alone.
I whisper in her ear, “I’m coming for you, Myssa. Do not let him win. He didn’t get you in this realm, so don’t let him win there. Fight, Myssa, you hear me? You fucking fight.” Reluctantly, I get up, giving her a kiss on her forehead as I walk into the hallway.
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I call the only true friend I’ve ever known.
After the second ring, he picks up. “Don’t trust me to take care of things? Gotta check up on me?” he says lightly.
Pausing for a moment, I’m not even sure how to start.
“Z?” he says, more concerned.
“Knox,” I say, all the emotions coming out in the tone of my broken voice. “Something has—”
“I’m on my way.”