Chapter 6
Talin
I ran.
Not physically. I had enough dignity left not to literally sprint out of The Purple Fang like a scared rabbit. But the second Elias disappeared through that back door, the second I heard it slam behind him, I slid off the bar and grabbed my coat with shaking hands.
My throat still burned where his fangs pierced my skin.
The wounds were already healed, sealed by whatever supernatural magic lived in a vampire's saliva, but I could feel them.
Feel the ghost of his mouth on me, the weight of his large body against mine, the way his hands had gripped my hips like I was something precious and breakable.
I pressed my fingers to the spot and stumbled when pleasure shot from the bite and hit me right between my thighs. A needy moan escaped before I could stop it.
No, no, no. What the hell did I just do?
The cool night air hit me like a slap when I finally made it outside. I gulped it down, trying to clear my head, but all I could smell was him.
Elias.
A few people passing by gave me a curious stare, but I ignored them. His scent clung to my clothes, my skin, my hair. Leather and bourbon and something delicious and inhuman. Something that made every nerve ending in my body light up with awareness even though he wasn't here anymore.
Because he left.
He tasted my blood and he fucking left.
The thought sent ice through my veins even as heat still pulsed between my legs.
I started walking, one foot in front of the other, no real destination in mind, beyond relieved that it was still early enough for the streets to be relatively empty.
I just needed to get away. Far, far away.
Before he came back. Before I had to see whatever expression was on his face now that he knew what I'd been refusing to admit to myself all this time.
That I was his fated mate.
Because that's what was happening here. I wasn't stupid.
I'd heard enough stories from the others about their vampire mates to recognize the signs.
The way he trembled. The possessive growl that rumbled through his chest. The absolute horror and certainty in his eyes when he finally looked at me before fleeing like the building was on fire.
He knew.
And now it was just a matter of time before he realized what a cosmic fucking joke the universe just played on him.
My apartment was only a forty-minute walk from The Purple Fang, but it felt like it took hours, and I cursed myself for not bringing my car. But I was so frazzled when I came here there was no way I'd have been able to drive safely.
Every step I took sent aftershocks of pleasure and panic through my system. Every breath reminded me of how his mouth felt on mine, every cool breeze how his body had felt pressed against me, how right it'd been in the moment before everything went to hell.
When I got home, I fumbled with my keys, nearly dropped them twice, and finally got the door open.
Shutting it behind me, I locked every lock then turned around and pressed my back against it.
Not that something as silly as a locked door would keep out a vampire if he really wanted to get in, but it made me feel better all the same.
Glancing around, I took a shuddering breath. The familiar space should comfort me. Instead, it felt like a cage.
I paced from the living room to the bedroom and back again, trying to calm down.
But my hands wouldn't stop shaking. My throat wouldn't stop burning.
And underneath it all, underneath the panic and the fear and the humiliation, was a thread of silver light that tugged at my chest with every rapid heartbeat.
Elias.
Gods, I could feel him. He was across the city, probably back under control and opening the bar by now, and I could feel him like he was standing right next to me. The bond was formed. Connecting us in a way that was permanent and inescapable and absolutely terrifying.
I stripped off my coat and threw it across the room. But I left my vest on for now, because if I took it off, then I'd have to look at myself in the mirror. Have to see the truth of what I was.
Or, rather, what I wasn't.
I pressed my hand against the fabric, feeling the familiar uneven shape of my body underneath. The scar. The absence. The proof that I was broken and magic couldn't fix it.
He was going to see it eventually. There was no way I could stop this. He was going to see my body. He was going to see what was missing, and the desire in his eyes—the hunger, the need, the possessive certainty—was going to turn to pity.
Or worse, disgust.
I threw myself onto my bed and buried my face in my hands. This was exactly what I was afraid of. This was why I never let anyone get close. Why I deflected and joked and kept everything light and superficial. Because the moment someone saw the real me, they left.
Just like Elias left.
The tears came hot and fast, and I hated myself for them. Hated that I was crying over a vampire I barely knew. Hated that his reaction affected me this much. Hated that some small, pathetic part of me had hoped—
No.
I wiped my face with my sleeve and stood up. I wasn't doing this. I wasn't falling apart over a man who looked at me like I was everything for the first time in my life, and then ran away the second he realized what the universe had saddled him with.
I needed to focus. Needed to think about something else. Anything else.
Alex.
The name hit me like a bucket of cold water. Alex, my cousin, still trapped somewhere with Marcus. Alex, who'd been missing for days while I'd been too distracted by a dark-eyed vampire to do my job properly.
My magic stirred restlessly under my skin, threads of power flickering at the edges of my vision. I'd been trying to work with Elias because my visions were clearer when he was near. Because his steady presence somehow stabilized the chaotic mess of my Threadwalking abilities.
But I didn't need him. I didn't need anybody. I could do this alone.
Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I closed my eyes and reached for my power.
The threads appeared almost immediately, dozens of them, hundreds, crisscrossing through the air like a spider's web made of light.
I could see connections between people, between places, between moments in time.
Blue threads, red threads, gold and green and purple.
And silver. Always silver, that one bright thread that led directly to—
No.
Nope.
Not thinking about him.
I focused on the blue thread instead. Alex's thread. It was dimmer than it should be, a little frayed at the edges, but it was still there. Still strong enough to follow.
Mentally, I reached for it with my magic, wrapping my power around the glowing strand, and pulled.
Pain exploded behind my eyes.
The vision hit me like a freight train, and I saw Alex. Or pieces of him. A stone floor. Shadow chains. Red threads wrapped around his wrists, his throat, binding him to something I couldn't quite see.
I tried to follow the threads further, tried to see where he was, but they tangled. Twisted. Knotted themselves into impossible shapes that made my head throb and my stomach lurch.
Focus. I needed to focus.
But without Elias's steady presence anchoring me, the threads wouldn't behave.
They slipped through my mental fingers like water, reformed into different patterns, showed me glimpses of places and people I didn't recognize.
Marcus's face, twisted with rage. A warehouse.
A house. A street corner. Images that flashed too fast to process, too fragmented to make sense of.
I pushed harder, forcing my power to obey, and the pain intensified. It felt like someone was driving nails into my skull. Like my magic was tearing itself apart trying to show me something I couldn't quite reach.
Almost there. Just a little further.
The threads suddenly snapped into focus, and for one perfect moment, I saw it. The stone chamber. I smelled damp earth and human sweat. Alex was bound in the center, red threads of Marcus's magic wrapped around him like a cocoon, and I suddenly knew where he was...
A place between worlds. A dimension built from magic so old I couldn't even comprehend it.
A pocket realm.
Marcus's realm.
Triumph surged through me for exactly two seconds before the vision shattered.
The backlash hit me like a physical blow. I was thrown backward on the bed, threads exploding in all directions, magic lashing out wildly. My nose started bleeding. My hands shook so badly I could barely wipe the blood away.
And underneath it all, the silver thread that connected me to Elias pulled tight. Demanding. Insistent.
Calling me back to him.
NO.
I forced myself to stand even though my legs felt like water.
To breathe through the nausea churning in my gut.
I found Alex. I had his location. Sort of.
That's what mattered. Not the pain. Not the way my power was still crackling unstably under my skin.
Not the way every cell in my body was screaming at me to go find Elias.
I stumbled to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, washing away the blood.
My reflection in the mirror looked like death.
Hollow-eyed and ghostly-pale, with dark shadows carved beneath my eyes as though someone'd been slowly excavating me from the inside out.
My hair was a wild mess, little wisps floating with residual static from the power surge.
Another drop of blood escaped my nostril, a stark red contrast against my ashen skin.
I gripped the edge of the sink and closed my eyes as I tried to steady my breathing. The silver thread tugged at my chest again, harder this time, and I had to lock my knees to keep from following it.
I didn't need him. I found Alex on my own. I could handle this on my own.
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue.