Chapter 18 #2
The meeting continued, Judy explaining the specific spells each witch would need to cast, the protections required, the timing essential for success. I listened with half an ear, my attention fixed on Talin as she went over her role in all of this.
When the meeting finally broke up, Kenya pulled Talin aside while Killian approached me.
"Walk with me," he said, nodding toward the door.
We stepped out onto the porch, but I stopped there. I wasn't going any further.
"She'll be fine," Killian said, leaning against the railing. "Talin's stronger than any of us realized."
"That's what I'm afraid of," I admitted. "She's so focused on saving Alex that she doesn't give a shit what happens to her..." I trailed off, not wanting to voice my fears.
"Ye have to let her do this, Elias. Ye have to trust her."
"Would you let Lizzy do it?" I countered.
One side of his mouth curved up. "If it were my Lizzy, I'd tie her sweet ass to the bed and gag her to keep her safe. I'm already thinking about doing it as it is."
"So then you see my dilemma."
"Aye. I do. But Kenya is dying, Elias. She's dying," he emphasized. "And we need ye to let Talin do this." He looked up at the sky and breathed in the night air. "Hell, maybe I should tie ye to the bed instead to keep you from interfering."
I couldn't help it. I barked out a laugh. He knew damn well nothing short of my own death would keep me away.
Killian turned back to me. "But she needs ye there with her. Ye want yer mate to live? Ye want Alex and Kenya to live? Then help Talin get Kenya's mate back. Do whatever ye have to do, or we could lose all four of ye."
Before I could respond, the door opened and Talin stepped out, Kenya behind her.
"Ready to go?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral.
I nodded, studying her face. Something had shifted during her conversation with Kenya. There was a new determination in the set of her jaw, and a vulnerability in her eyes that hadn't been there before.
"I'd feel better if we stayed in The Quarter tonight," I told her. "Just in case."
"Sure," she told me. "Let me just swing by my place and get a few things."
"I can ask Killian to wait. We can catch a ride back with him."
But she shook her head. "I like to walk."
After confirming the time for the next night, we said our goodbyes and walked in silence through the Garden District. The space between us felt both vast and nonexistent, the mate bond pulling us together even as Talin tried to keep her distance.
"What did Kenya say to you?" I asked finally.
Talin glanced at me, then away. "She told me about her and Alex. How they fought the bond at first. How they both almost died because of it."
"And?"
"And she said I was being an idiot." A small smile touched her lips. "Her words, not mine."
I couldn't help the answering smile that spread across my face. "Kenya was always my favorite."
By the time we reached the house, it was well past midnight. I guided her through the courtyard and to the backdoor. Inside, Talin set her sketches on the kitchen counter and turned to face me, her arms wrapped around herself as if for protection.
"We need to practice," Talin said, her voice steady despite the way her hands trembled. "I need to go deeper into the threads if I'm going to find Alex tomorrow."
I wanted to refuse. Every instinct screamed at me to keep her the hell out of there. But Killian's words echoed in my mind. Kenya was dying. We were running out of time.
"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. "But we do this my way. The second I sense danger, I'm pulling you back."
For a moment, she looked like she was going to argue, but then she nodded. "Here?" She gestured toward the front sitting room.
"No, let's go upstairs to my room so we're not interrupted when everyone gets back."
We went up to my room and she sat cross-legged on the floor, her eyes downcast while she waited for me. I settled behind her with my back against the foot of the bed, then pulled her back to sit between my legs.
She raised an eyebrow as I did it, but didn't say anything about the new position. "Ready?" she asked.
No, I wasn't. Not at all. But I wrapped my arms around her waist, physically anchoring her to me as much as I could. "Go."
The shift was immediate this time. One moment we were in my ordinary room, the next I could see the threads stretching out in all directions. Our bond blazed white-hot at the center, but Talin's attention was already elsewhere, following the electric blue thread that led to Alex.
She moved faster than before, more confident in her abilities now. The thread realm responded to her will, paths opening that had been closed just yesterday. I held tight to our connection, feeling her consciousness stretch further and further from mine.
Deeper, she murmured through the bond. I need to go deeper.
The blue thread pulsed weakly, like a dying heartbeat. Through Talin's perception, This time I felt Alex's presence when she did. And she was right. He was exhausted, drained, and barely holding on. Marcus was killing him slowly, siphoning his power drop by drop.
There, Talin breathed. I can see him.
The pocket dimension materialized around us, Or rather, around Talin's consciousness. A vast cavern carved from shadow and malice, its walls writhing with dark magic. Alex hung suspended in the center, his skin glowing with sickly light.
But that wasn't what made my blood run cold.
Marcus stood before an enormous ritual circle carved into the stone at Alex's feet, one that perfectly mirrored the binding points Talin had drawn. He was building something, weaving power into symbols that hurt to look at even secondhand through Talin's vision.
What the fuck is that?
Talin paused, but only for a second before she pushed closer, her consciousness straining against the boundaries of this dimension. The ritual circle pulsed with gathered power.
Pain lanced through our connection as Marcus's head snapped up, his eyes finding Talin's presence instantly.
"Hello, Threadwalker." his voice echoed through dimensions. "Come to watch?"
Talin tried to pull back, but Marcus's power wrapped around her consciousness like barbed wire. I felt her panic spike through our bond.
Hold on, I commanded, pouring my strength into our connection. I've got you.
"You're too late," Marcus continued, his smile cruel, and I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or her. "Tomorrow night, when you disrupt my anchors, you'll be doing exactly what I want. The barriers will weaken, yes. But not just between my dimension and yours. Between all dimensions."
Horror flooded through Talin as the implications hit her. Marcus wasn't trying to keep them out. He was using their rescue attempt as part of his ritual.
We have to warn—
Marcus's power constricted, and Talin screamed. The sound tore through me, her pain becoming mine. I yanked hard on our connection, using every ounce of strength I possessed to drag her back.
The thread realm shattered around us. Talin gasped, her body convulsing in my arms as we crashed back into my room. Blood trickled from her nose, the scent instantly setting off my blood lust, her skin burning hot against mine.
"What the hell were you thinking getting so close to him?" I snarled, cradling her against my chest.
"I had to see," she gasped, struggling to sit up.
"Godsdammit, Talin!" Fury and fear warred within me as I jumped to my feet. "You almost got yourself killed. Again."
She shoved away from me, stumbling to her feet. "We needed to know! Don't you understand? He's counting on us to disrupt the binding points. It's part of his ritual!"
"Then we don't do it," I said flatly. "We find another way."
"There IS no other way!" She whirled on me, eyes blazing with green fire. "Alex is dying, Elias. I felt him. He has maybe two days left, if that. And Kenya—" Her voice broke. "Kenya won't survive losing him. You know that."
"And I won't survive losing you," I shot back.
She froze, staring at me. "That's not... you can't put that on me."
"Why not? It's the truth." I stood, towering over her. "One taste of your blood and I was bound to you forever. You die, I die. That's how it works."
"I know how mate bonds work," she said quietly. "But that doesn't mean—"
"Doesn't mean what?" I demanded. "That I should care if you throw your life away? That I should stand back and watch while you dive headfirst into danger?"
"You don't trust me!" The words exploded out of her, tears streaming down her face. "You say you want me as I am, and maybe that's true when it comes to my physical body, but you won't let me do what I was meant to do!"
"What you were meant to do?" My voice was cold, controlled, the way it did when I was truly angry. "You were meant to risk your life diving into a pocket dimension controlled by a psychotic djinn? That's your grand destiny?"
"My destiny is to save my family!" She was sobbing now, but her eyes remained fierce. "And you keep trying to stop me!"
"Because I can't lose you!" The words ripped from my throat, a century of control shattering in an instant.
"Don't you understand that? I've lived for so long without feeling anything, and now that I have you, the thought of—" I broke off, turning away from her tear-stained face.
My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood. "I can't lose you, little witch."
The silence stretched between us, broken only by her ragged breathing. When she finally spoke, her voice was so quiet I almost missed it.
"You never had me. Not really."
I went completely still, every muscle in my body locking into place. Slowly, carefully, I turned back to face her.
"What did you say?"
She lifted her chin, meeting my gaze despite the tears still falling. "You don't want me. The only reason you care this much is exactly what you just said. Because if I die, then so do you."
Rage flooded through me. Not at her for throwing my words back at me, but at every person who'd ever made her feel less than the fierce, beautiful, extraordinary woman she was.
And at myself for not making her see the truth.
At this whole fucking situation that kept pushing us apart when we should be together.
My vision went red at the edges, the vampire in me rising to the surface.
Okay, so maybe I was a little angry at her.
All I knew was that I was tired of fighting this same battle with her.
And hell, maybe she was right! Maybe it was only fear for my own miserable life making me act this way.
All I knew was that I couldn't fucking think when she was anywhere near me.
When I spoke, my voice was deadly calm, each word precise and cutting. "Get out."
She blinked, confusion replacing the defiance in her eyes. "What?"
"Get. Out." I couldn't look at her anymore. Couldn't stand here and pretend her words hadn't just carved out a ragged hole inside of me. "If that's what you really think, then leave. Because I'm done trying to prove something you refuse to see."
"Elias—"
"I SAID LEAVE!" My control had finally snapped.
She flinched, throwing up her arms to protect herself, and for one horrible moment, I saw fear in her eyes. Fear of me. The monster she was mated to. The creature who'd claimed her without her true consent, who'd drank her blood and bound her to him forever.
Without another word, she grabbed her jacket and fled, the bedroom door slamming behind her with brutal finality. I stood there in my room, listening to her footsteps on the stairs and Dae asking her what was wrong, then the slam of the backdoor.
Grabbing my cell, I texted Dae and asked him to follow her home. A second later, I heard the backdoor open and close again.
The thread stretched between us, a line of agony centered in the middle of my chest as she put physical distance between us.
Picking up the glass on my nightstand, I hurled it against the wall, watching it explode into a thousand pieces.
You never had me. Not really.
I sank onto the bed, burying my face in my hands.
The irony wasn't lost on me. I'd spent a century maintaining perfect control, keeping everything and everyone outside of my coven at arm's length.
Then one small witch with green eyes and more courage than sense had destroyed all of it in a matter of days, because she was the one thing I could not control.
But she was also the one thing I desperately wanted.
And now she was gone.
My blood pulsed with her distress, telling me she was crying, that she was hurting too. Good. Let her hurt. Let her feel even a fraction of what her words had done to me.
But even as I thought it, I knew I didn't mean it. I'd rather die than cause her pain, which was exactly the problem.
I sat there as the hours crawled by, replaying every moment since that night she'd walked into The Purple Fang. The way she'd challenged me from the start. How her blood had sung to mine even before the bond. The fierce determination in her eyes when she talked about saving Alex.
Her tears when she'd shown me her scar. The trust it had taken for her to let me see. To let me touch.
You never had me. Not really.
But I had, hadn't I? For those few perfect hours in her bed, when she'd grabbed our thread and bound us tighter than any mate bond could. When she'd whispered "yours" against my throat, and meant it.
It was still there, a constant ache reminding me of what I'd lost. What I'd thrown away in a fit of pride and rage.
No. What she'd thrown away by refusing to see the truth.
You never had me.
Maybe she was right. Maybe I'd never had her at all.
But gods help me, I'd wanted to.