Chapter 22 - Hyacinth
I stay curled up against Shane for a long time, just drifting and trying not to think. If I immerse myself in the feeling of us being together, there is no doubt or fear. Only a sense of comfort and safety that feels too perfect to trust.
His heartfelt apology moved me, and I really believe he didn’t want to hurt me… but still, there is fear in my heart. How can I know if what we are feeling right now will be the truth of us forever?
Shane murmurs something, a single word that sounds like “forever,” and cradles my head against his chest. His fingers stroke my hair so gently, I can’t imagine that these hands would ever give me pain.
I sit up slowly, letting my eyes trail over his muscular chest, exposed by the tear I made in his shirt.
I can’t help reaching out to touch him, and I press my palm flat to feel the strong beat of his heart.
As the sensation strengthens under my hand, I close my eyes to increase the sensitivity of my touch.
A strange, disorienting feeling sweeps over me, and it takes me a moment to realize I’m surrounded by a strange web of light.
I open my eyes quickly, but the room is exactly the same. Shane is watching me, a small grin on his bow-shaped mouth. I smile back, then close my eyes again.
The thudding of his heart beats strongly under my hand, and from that point, a web of light appears around me, pulsing in time with his heart.
That’s when I realize I’m somehow seeing inside him, as if the inner workings of his body are being projected into something I can see with senses I never had before.
I try to relax and give myself up to the sensation, following the little pulses of light as they streak through his astral body.
He seems strong and healthy, but threatening the light at every turn are knots of malignant shadow.
They grow slowly but steadily, and I know I’m looking right at the curse.
“Hey, are you okay?” Shane asks.
Feeling his hand on my cheek, I open my eyes, seeing his concerned expression. “Yes, I’m fine,” I answer. “I’m just worried about you. You seem fine while I’m touching you, but I think the curse is still active and I’m barely keeping it at bay.”
“I feel the same way,” he says, putting his hand over mine where it rests on his chest. “I don’t feel healed right now, just as if I’m getting a brief respite.”
“What can we do?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It might be time to call the others,” he says, sighing. “Owen and Rhys, and the girls. I don’t know what Sadie’s been up to, but apparently it’s been nonstop witchcraft for the last few weeks.”
“Don’t call them yet,” I say, almost desperately. “Let’s just enjoy this moment a bit longer.”
“Okay,” he replies, brushing a strand of hair off my cheek. “I don’t mind a delay, but honestly, I think the only thing that’s going to give us answers is a big shakedown with them—and probably the elders.”
“At the manor,” I add.
Shane nods. “Most likely there, yes.”
I bite my lip a little, thinking. The vivid dream from the night before comes back to me. I can hear the two lovers calling to each other, torn apart by time and circumstance.
“I need to tell you something,” Shane says. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“You said that already,” I say with a little laugh.
“No, I mean, I’m sorry for how I treated you… right after I kidnapped you.”
“Oh, wow,” I reply. “That’s a sentence you don’t ever expect to hear—even if you’ve been kidnapped.”
Shane laughs, shaking his head. “Do you ever stop being witty?”
“No, never. I’m just that much quicker than most people. I can’t help myself.”
“I believe it,” he says, pulling me down gently to kiss him. I settle myself more comfortably in his lap and put my hands on his shoulders, deepening the kiss.
“I was trying to say something,” he mumbles.
“It was riveting,” I whisper back. “Now, kiss me again.”
Shane’s hands tighten on my waist, and I lean in even closer, wrapping my hands around the back of his head. Warmth starts to spread through me, making me grind my hips into him as we deepen the kiss.
“Dammit, woman,” Shane says, grabbing my arms and pushing me back. “Stop distracting me. I’m trying to have a big-reveal moment.”
“Big reveal?” I ask, batting my eyes innocently. “Are you going to take off your pants?”
Shane looks at me blankly for a second, then tackles me. We fall onto the floor, rolling over each other, giggling, until he comes out on top.
“Ah-ha! Got you,” he announces triumphantly.
“Oh, no,” I mock. “My kidnapper kidnapped me. Now what?”
“Will you stop that?” he says, losing his smile. “I really, really am sorry about that.”
A flicker of pain shows on his face, and the bright blue of his eyes dims, as if the shadow of a cloud has brought a storm to tear apart the serenity in his heart.
“What is it?” I ask, stroking his cheek.
“I know I wasn’t in my right mind when I did it,” Shane says. “I do honestly feel like it was part of the curse. However, I won’t cop out on this—I fucked you over, and you should punish me for the rest of my life.”
“Torture,” I say matter-of-factly. “Yes, I understand completely.”
I wriggle under him, freeing my legs so I can wrap them around his waist and writhe against him.
“I asked for that,” he laughs. “But what I’m talking about is how I treated you as an object for a long while after the actual event. I’ve been conditioned to look down on humans my whole life, but it wasn’t even that. I just considered your emotions to be an inconvenience to the whole situation.”
“I got that idea,” I say, wriggling against him some more.
“But here’s the thing, Shane—none of that matters anymore.
We got thrown together because of the curse.
I don’t think that’s even your fault. But the only thing that scares me is being used and discarded.
I’ve wanted to help since the beginning, and I’ll do whatever I can to break the curse. But do you still want me after that?”
Shane’s blue eyes burn, flickering like the first tongues from a gas lamp as it begins to banish the shadows. He shakes his head a little, an expression of complete disbelief coming over his face.
“I can’t imagine my life without you,” he says.
“It’s true that I thought I was just fine as a bachelor, and my only purpose in this world was as an alpha.
But since I’ve been with you, I now know what I’ve missed out on.
I want to get to know you, Hyacinth, and I want to hear that crazy wit of yours cracking at me every minute for the rest of my life. ”
“Oh my lord,” I reply, laughing. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Oh, I think I do,” he answers, leaning down to kiss me.
I lean my head back, squeezing his waist with my legs and feeling him pin my wrists to the floor. Desire floods through me, and I press against him, teasing him as I struggle under his weight.
“Stop it, you heathen woman,” he whispers. “How can I resist you?”
“You’re not supposed to,” I whisper against his ear.
Shane laughs and kisses a line down my throat, keeping me pinned. Before things can get too hot, though, he untangles himself from me, settling beside me on the floor.
“We really should call the others soon,” he says.
“Yes,” I reply, snuggling against him. “We will.”
Still, neither one of us moves, and after a few minutes, I hear Shane’s breathing deepen with sleep.
I slide my hand across his chest and press it against his heart, wondering if I can bring back the vision I had before.
The second I close my eyes, the lines of light appear around me again.
It’s as if Shane’s energetic body has been projected around me, enabling me to see all of his soul as if I’m standing at the core of his being.
The light pulses strongly, and it’s brightest where my hand touches his heart. The malignant shadows gather at the edges of his soul, bubbling and growing like tumors. When I take my hand away, the light dulls, and the shadows grow immediately.
I sit up and break the contact, shuffling over to the table to eat a couple of cookies and sip the now-cold tea.
Something is happening to me. It’s happening so fast, it should scare me. But all I can feel is excitement, as if I’m finally learning who I really am.
I stand up slowly, heading for the back of the house. A thought buzzes in the back of my mind that I should really call Sadie and Trina to explain what’s happening, but I ignore it.
This is crazy—why don’t I want to talk to them? Everything that is happening to me happened to them, too. They’re the only ones who can understand.
As I pass through the back door into the yard, a cold breeze whips around me, soothing me. I close my eyes and tilt my head back, seeing lines of light tracing across my vision, as if my new senses are trying to show me the soul of the world itself.
Suddenly, it feels imperative that I don’t call Trina or Sadie.
Because they will stop me…
Stop me from doing what?
The wind stirs around my head again, and I walk out onto the grass, my bare feet sinking into the cool earth. There is a harmony behind every sound, a perfect symphony that’s always playing and never ending, the song of the world.
And I’ve always heard it. I just didn’t know what it was.
I turn in a slow circle, hearing Lynette’s screams in my mind. Everything that’s happened here—from Sadie being brought here by Rhys, to me standing in Shane’s backyard right now—was meant to be.
All of it is a desperate attempt to undo that pain from so long ago. It festers like an infected wound, bleeding poison into every single witch and wolf.
I close my eyes again, following the lines of light that I can only see with my eyes closed. I can feel Lynette’s pain and her curse upon the wolves, but I can also feel her hope, her faith.
She never gave up on Darian. She is still waiting for absolution in the spirit realm, and so is he.
I turn my focus even further inward so I can see where the glow of my own soul connects to the great web. By just thinking about a place or person, I can home in on their energy. Through the net, I see Sadie and Trina as bright stars, burning ever stronger as their energy works against the curse.
But it’s not enough.
From the manor, a horrific dark energy bleeds out into the web. It rots everything it touches, and I know it’s the heart of the curse.
The place where Lynette died. Where she was imprisoned.
I open my eyes suddenly, the lines of light fading from my gaze like imprints from the sun. The sky is growing dark, and the stars are coming out. Everything seems peaceful and quiet, even though I know part of the spirit world is anything but.
I know what to do… I know what I have to do!
The manor calls to me, its malignant, dark energy seeping into me as a soft voice from the past begs me to come. Before I know what I’m doing, I take the keys for Shane’s car and am speeding towards the manor as fast as his rust bucket can go.
To break the curse, a sacrifice is needed, and I won’t let anyone else get hurt. I can end the curse here, right now, by offering myself in exchange.