Chapter 4 #2
"Actually," Kenya said as she dropped her arm, "I was just coming to find you.
A few minutes ago, I felt..." She paused, looking between us, and I could see her gauging Elias's mood.
When he appeared to be calming down, she continued, "Through my bond with Alex.
I felt him." She gave me a sad smile. "I felt him.
Like he was right in front of me. I swear I did. "
My heart stopped. "You felt him?"
"Before all of this happened." She gestured at the broken streetlights. "Whatever you guys were doing, I think it reached him."
I glanced at Elias and found him watching me. The hunger was still in his eyes, but it was overlaid now with grim determination.
And he was right. "We need to try again," I said.
"Not tonight." His voice brooked no argument.
"But, Alex—"
"Has survived two weeks. One more night won't kill him." He moved closer, careful not to touch me. "But you pushing yourself until you collapse might kill you. And that helps no one."
I wanted to argue, but he was right. I could barely stand. I felt like a bundle of exposed nerves, raw and oversensitive. And being near him...
"Tomorrow night," I conceded. "Same time."
He nodded once. "I'll be here."
The promise in those three words made my chest tight. I turned to Kenya. "Can you tell me what you felt? Every detail?"
"Come on," she said, shooting Elias a look I couldn't interpret. "I'll walk you to your car. We can talk on the way."
I followed her out of the alley as she talked, hyperaware of Elias's heavy gaze on my back. But when we reached the corner, I couldn't help looking back. He stood exactly where I'd left him, a dark silhouette against the darker night, watching me go.
The thread between us pulsed once, twice, then settled into a steady rhythm that matched his heartbeat.
Tomorrow night, I promised myself. Tomorrow night I'd find Alex. I'd keep my distance from Elias. I'd maintain control of my magic.
Even as I thought it, I knew I was lying.
Because the truth was, I'd felt it the moment our power had merged. That impossible, terrifying, exhilarating truth neither of us wanted to acknowledge.
We were mates.
And pretending otherwise was only going to make everything worse.
"So," Kenya said as we reached my beat-up Honda. "Want to tell me what that was about?"
"No."
"How about telling me why my friend back there is looking at you like you're his last meal and your scent is—how do I put this delicately?—stronger than normal?"
I froze with my hand on the door handle. "You can…" My cheeks were suddenly on fire, "sense that?"
"Talin, honey, half the supernatural community can probably sense it after that display." She moved closer, her expression sympathetic. "It's not a bad thing, you know. Having a mate."
"He's not my mate."
She tilted her head to the side and stared me down until I gave up the game and threw up my arms.
"It is when you're..." I gestured vaguely at myself. "When he's him and I'm me."
She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
I yanked open the car door instead of answering. But Kenya caught it before I could close it, my weak human muscles no match against her vampire strength.
"He's not as put-together as he seems," she said quietly. "None of us are. We're all broken in our own ways, Talin. The lucky ones just find someone whose broken pieces fit with theirs."
"Poetic." I tried for sarcastic, but it came out strained. "Did you get that from a greeting card?"
"I got it from experience." She released the door.
"Alex didn't think he deserved me either.
The darkness in him, the djinn blood, he was convinced it made him wrong for me.
But that darkness saved me. Still, it took him almost dying to realize that the things we think make us unworthy are usually the things that make us perfect for each other. "
"This is different."
"Why?"
Because there are parts of me that are just gone, that no amount of fate or magic can bring back. Because when he finds out, when he sees what's under this vest, he'll be disgusted.
"It just is," I said instead.
Kenya studied me. "The vision you had earlier. When you and Elias touched. Did you see where Alex is?"
Grateful for the subject change, I nodded. "Yes. Sort of. Marcus has him bound with silver chains inscribed with symbols I've never seen before. He's... Gods, Kenya, I think he's using Alex as some kind of battery. Feeding off his power to fuel something bigger."
She turned her head away, staring at the few people still on Bourbon street. But I could tell she wasn't really seeing them. "Alex is weakening. I can feel it."
"He's alive, Kenya." I hesitated, then added, "And I think Marcus needs him to stay that way. Whatever he's planning, Alex is a crucial part of it." I rubbed my temples, a headache building behind my eyes. "I need to go. I need to write down everything I saw before the details fade."
"Tomorrow night," Kenya turned back to me. "When you try again with Elias. I want to be there."
"Kenya—"
"He's my mate, Talin. If you can see him, really see him, then I need to be there. I need to know." Her eyes flashed with determination. "Besides, my connection to him might help somehow."
She was right. The connection between me and Elias had amplified everything, but it had also made it harder to control. Having Kenya there, with her bond to Alex, might help me get to him faster.
"Okay," I agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow night."
I slid into my car, very aware of the silver thread that still connected me to the vampire in the alley.
Even with a little bit of distance between us, I could still feel him all around me, inside of me.
A steady presence at the edge of my consciousness, order and control wrapped around carefully leashed hunger.
Tomorrow night, I'd have to face him again. Face this thing between us that neither of us wanted but couldn't seem to escape.
Tomorrow night, I'd have to pretend that the almost-kiss hadn't rewired something fundamental inside me.
Tomorrow night, I'd have to try to find Alex while ignoring the fact that I'd found that missing piece of myself that didn't fit anymore.
I started the car and pulled away from the curb, but I couldn't resist one last look in the rearview mirror. Elias had walked out to the sidewalk in front of the club, watching me go.
Letting me go.
For now.
The thread between us pulled taut as I drove away, but it didn't break. If anything, it seemed to grow stronger, humming with both sweet promises and deadly threats in equal measure.
I pressed my hand against my chest over my heartbeat, feeling the uneven landscape beneath the fabric of my vest and bra. Tomorrow night, I'd have to be stronger. Smarter.
Tomorrow night, I'd have to pretend that Elias Noire wasn't everything I'd never let myself want.
Tomorrow night, I'd have to lie better than I'd ever lied before.