Chapter 16
Talin
The voice cut through a thousand possible futures, a single point of certainty in an ocean of light and noise.
Come back to me.
Pain erupted in my chest. I wanted to follow that voice.
More than anything, I wanted to follow it.
But I couldn't. There were too many threads, too many paths.
Alex was dying in seven of them. Saved in three.
Lost to Marcus's control in twelve. Transformed into something unrecognizable in eight.
And there were so many more I hadn't explored yet.
I needed to see all of them. Needed to understand which choice led where. Needed to—
Something flooded through me in a head rush, like when you stand up too fast and you almost blackout.
Not words. Not even emotion, exactly. Memory. Raw and unfiltered, pouring into me with the force of a tidal wave, and I suddenly saw myself through Elias's eyes.
The first night I walked into The Purple Fang, my hair still damp from rain, green eyes scanning the room. He noticed me immediately. Not because of any bond. Not because of fate. Because I looked lost and defiant at the same time, like I was daring the world to try and break me.
Beautiful, he thought. But dangerous.
Another memory. Me standing in the alley outside the bar, hands crackling with power I couldn't control. He wanted to reach for me even then, before he understood why. Wanted to fix whatever was breaking inside me, wanted to teach me how to harness the magic instead of fear it.
She doesn't know how strong she is.
The night I came to his room bleeding. The terror that gripped him when he smelled my blood, saw the evidence of my reckless attempt to use my power alone.
He'd wanted to shake me and kiss me in equal measure.
Wanted to lock me somewhere safe where I couldn't hurt myself trying to be brave.
Wanted to lick the blood from my face and sink his fangs into my throat.
Stubborn witch. MY stubborn witch.
The moment he drank from me. The wild taste of my blood, the way it sang through his veins like it was a drug made specifically for him. The absolute certainty that crashed over him. Not fate. Not magic. Just knowing.
MINE.
And last night. Oh, gods, last night.
I felt what he felt when I showed him my scar. Not pity. Not disgust. Pride. He saw a warrior who'd survived a battle most people never had to fight. Saw strength etched into my skin, proof that I refused to surrender even when my own body turned against me.
So fucking beautiful.
The memories kept coming, relentless and honest and utterly unguarded.
Every moment he watched me when he thought I wasn't looking.
Every time he'd caught my scent over the years and had to fight the urge to follow.
Every conversation where he memorized the way I tilted my head or tucked my hair behind my ear.
Even the way the light glinted off my eyebrow ring.
He'd wanted me before the bond.
Chose me before fate made the choice for him.
Would have found his way to me eventually, mate thread or not, because something in my broken pieces fit something in his.
Like two jagged edges designed to interlock, our craziness complementing rather than competing with each other.
His need for control finding perfect harmony with my chaotic resistance.
His meticulous precision balancing my impulsive nature.
Tears filled my eyes as the memories kept coming.
The realization yanked me back from the thread realm like a fishhook caught in my soul, dragging me toward the surface of reality.
I physically felt it—this truth about us—a painful hollowness expanding beneath my ribs, making it hard to breathe as the tears spilled over and tracked hot paths down my cheeks.
I gasped, my consciousness slamming back into my body. My lungs burned. My head pounded. Every nerve ending screamed in protest.
Strong arms locked around me, pulling me against a solid chest.
"Don't you dare leave me," Elias whispered against my hair. His deep voice cracked on the words. "Don't you fucking dare."
I tried to respond but couldn't form the words. My throat was raw, like I'd been screaming over and over. And maybe I had. The threads still pulled at me, trying to drag me back, and a part of me wanted to go.
I could find Alex. I knew I could.
Elias's hand cupped the back of my head, holding me to him. "Stay with me, Talin. Do you fucking hear me? Don't you go back there without me." His heartbeat thundered against my ear.
Beating for me.
Voices erupted all around me. But I recognized them this time. It was my family. Elias's family. I had the sudden urge to try to explain, and I started to pull away. "I'm sorry," I told him. "I thought I could—"
"Don't." He pulled me against his chest, wrapping both arms around me. "You don't have to apologize."
I shuddered against him. "I saw so many versions of how this ends. Most of them..." I trailed off. Most of them ended badly.
"I know," he murmured. "I saw. We'll find another way."
"Alex—"
"Is not worth your life."
The words cracked like a whip. I jerked back, or tried to. But Elias didn't let me go far, just enough that I could see his face. His dark eyes blazed with cold intensity that stole what little breath I'd recovered.
"He's my cousin," I managed to say. “My family. I can't just abandon him."
"You also can't save him if you're dead.
" Elias's hand slid to my jaw, thumb stroking my cheek.
"Or worse. Scattered across a thousand different realities, alive but unreachable.
Do you have any idea what you looked like in there?
You were split up into so many fucking pieces I thought you'd never be whole again. "
I remembered. Sort of. It was hard to hold on to the memory now that I was back in my body, but I recalled the sensation of being pulled in a dozen directions at once. Experiencing multiple timelines simultaneously. Feeling myself spread thinner and thinner until—
"You brought me back."
Something flickered in his expression. Vulnerability. The same look he had last night when he knelt before me, kissing my scar.
"I only showed you the truth," he said quietly.
The thread between us pulsed, still glowing white-hot in my peripheral awareness. It was stronger than before. Reinforced by whatever he'd poured through it to anchor me.
"Alex is still fighting," I told him.
He stared at me for a long moment, then his wide chest rose and fell on a resigned sigh. "How long do we have?"
"I'm not sure. Days. Maybe a week." I was so tired, and I closed my eyes, trying to recall the specifics without getting pulled back into the threads still waving around us.
I'd seen something new while I was in there this time.
I didn't give it much recognition at the time, but now I tried to remember, to figure out what it was.
"In all of the different scenarios I followed, I saw four binding points connecting that dimension to this one.
I think if we can find them, we can break through. "
"Binding points?"
I opened my eyes, trying to make my brain work. "I think so?"
"The witches can work on that." Elias shifted me in his arms, and I realized we were still sitting in the protective circle at Ancient Magicks. The voices I heard when I first came out had stopped, and all around us, worried faces stared down at me. "First, you need to rest."
My eyes found Kenya's before going back to Elias. "I'm fine."
"You're shaking."
I was. My whole body shivered like I'd just walked through a blizzard. When did it get so cold? I pressed closer to Elias, seeking his warmth.
Honey-blond hair tickled the side of my face as Alice bent close to us. "You found him, though?" Alice whispered in my ear. "You really saw him?"
"I did." I'd seen multiple versions of him, but I didn't tell her that. I reached for her hand, squeezing it. "He's still alive, Alice. And he's fighting."
She broke down completely, sobbing into her hands. Angel moved to comfort her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Kenya was strangely quiet.
"Can you tell us what you saw?" my aunt asked.
I told them everything I could remember while Elias sat restlessly beneath me. I could feel his eagerness to leave even though he never moved while I tried to explain what it was like to travel beyond yourself.
When I was finished, Elias helped to my feet, still holding me. The room full of vampires and witches watched me, waiting.
But I had nothing more to give them.
"I'm taking her home," he announced.
No one moved. No one spoke. No one tried to stop him.
Good.
He carried me out of Ancient Magicks and into the New Orleans night, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder, not even caring who saw us.
We almost lost each other in there. Almost lost everything.
But we didn't.
And I'd be damned—more damned than I already was—if I let Marcus or anyone else threaten what we had.
Elias saved me today.
Tomorrow, I'd figure out how to save Alex.