Words to Remember
Jayce
It’s almost dawn when I return from patrol.
Walking past Sienna’s room, I frown, spotting the pots I had left outside her door still there.
I had knocked loudly; she would have heard it.
Did she realise I put them there and- no, she has no reason to refuse my help.
I’m the one who’s pushing her away, not the other fucking way around.
I pause, turning towards her door.
Sienna? I call through the mind-link. She hasn’t blocked me out; the link is always open, but I don’t get a response. Sienna, I repeat, my brows knitting together.
Closing my eyes, I try to listen for any sounds. Uncle Alejandro is still out on patrol, his room empty, but I can hear one heart beating, albeit rather fast.
She’s inside.
My stomach twists as a thought slides into my mind. What if something’s wrong?
I try the handle, but it’s locked. I glance down the hallway before I turn the handle again and shove my shoulder into it, closing my eyes when the lock breaks with a loud crunch.
“What was that?!” someone shouts.
“Sorry! My mistake,” I call out.
“Captain?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
Silence falls, and I look into the room.
I still, seeing Sienna lying there in nothing but a black thong that’s swallowed up by her ass.
The only other thing she’s wearing is her Schattenblüte belt.
She’s on her side, her back to me, her small frame curled up.
It only takes me a second to realise she is trembling.
Why the fuck is she naked and without her blankets on?
Stepping inside, I shut the door and stride over to the bed.
“Sienna?” I call quietly, trying not to look at her body. She’s still as fucking beautiful…
I look away for a second before taking her arm and turning her onto her back, brushing her hair from her face. “Sienna.”
She doesn’t respond, her body limp in my hold. I look down at her, noticing the white, angry mark that runs across her stomach and chest, and stiffen.
The lightning… It’s almost alive beneath her skin.
Fuck.
I place my hand on her waist; it burns, and I jerk my hand away.
What have I done? Fuck.
“Sienna, come on, talk to me,” I mutter, shaking her slightly, but she remains lifeless.
My heart thunders as I look around and grab an oversized hoodie and slip it on over her head, my gaze lingering on her breasts. I notice the golden symbol beneath her breast on the side of her ribcage, and I frown, feeling a surge of rage.
What the fuck is that? I destroyed Helios’ mark on her. I pull the hoodie down. I don’t have the time to think about that now. I sweep her up into my arms.
I need to get her seen to by a healer right fucking now.
I hurry through the barracks and step out into the cold before jogging towards the infirmary. Pushing open the door, I see it’s silent.
“Korina!” I call for the head healer.
The woman hurries out from the adjoining room. “Captain.” Her eyes instantly fall on Sienna before she motions for me to follow her. I carry her through one of the doors and place her on the bed.
“While working earlier, I hurt her while using my abilities,” I explain, about to lift her top, but Korina swats my hand away. I force myself back, hating how my heart is thundering.
“Turn around, Captain. And tell me, what did you do? What inflicted this wound?”
“A lightning bolt,” I say quietly, needing her to understand how severe this was.
She tuts. “The power of Zeus… Well, I will try my best, but if I am unable to heal her, you should make arrangements to have her sent back to England, where the Blessed Wolf can heal her. She must have been unconscious for a while, and she’s becoming weak.”
Why the fuck did Alejandro or Ahren not check in on her?
“How is that possible when I have marked her? As the mate of someone touched by a god, she should not be affected like this,” I state coldly.
“Captain Jayce, I know not why this has happened, but now isn’t the time to question it.
And I can see you are not marked. A bond not completed is not whole.
I am simply a witch, but that is my assumption, anyway,” she replies cuttingly.
She’s moving around, and I can smell a mix of herbs.
Ignoring the order to turn away, I turn back to see her applying something strong to the burning skin.
Sienna whimpers, and I walk over to her, crouching beside the bed. I place my hand on her forehead. “Is there nothing that can be done to ease it?” I ask, hating how I find myself taking hold of her hand and gripping it as if somehow I can give her strength.
My wolf is restless and worried, and I’m worried because I’m the cause of this.
“I am trying my best; can you not see? Wolves…” Korina mutters grimly.
I frown as I stand up. “I’ll be back,” I say before leaving swiftly.
Uncle Alejandro is still out. Fuck.
Ahren.
I walk through the barracks, stopping when I reach Ahren’s room and knock. “Ahren?” I call.
“Mm,” he replies, his voice raspy.
“Open the door,” I command.
“Again with the commands? Really, Jayce?” he mutters before pulling open the door. He’s shirtless, and I look at his shoulder, but there’s no injury…
“What is it?” he asks.
“It’s Sienna.”
Five minutes later, Ahren and I are both back in the infirmary. Korina has placed a sheet over her lower half and raises her top to show Ahren part of her injury.
“How big is it?” Ahren asks, frowning.
“From her left breast to her lower abdomen,” I answer without thinking.
He glances at me, arching a brow before he nods.
“What should we do?” I ask quietly.
He glances at me, touching his own shoulder. “I healed, albeit it took longer than usual,” he muses.
Korina is humming a spell, and I can see Sienna’s wound become brighter. We both stay quiet, letting her work until she stops after a few moments.
“The essence of the lightning is still inside her,” she says quietly. “Perhaps it has to do with your bond, incomplete or… I’m not sure, but I do think you are the one who can heal her.”
She’s looking at me, and I turn to Sienna’s trembling form, staring at the faint white glow pulsing beneath her skin like a storm trapped beneath her fragile flesh.
“Leave us.” My words are tense and cold as I stare down at Sienna’s abdomen.
Ahren studies me for a moment but says nothing, and when the door finally closes behind them, I step closer to the bed, slowly crouching down beside it. For a moment, I take in the way her lashes rest against her cheeks.
At the soft rise and fall of her chest.
At the woman I have spent months pretending I do not want – and I don’t. No matter how much my wolf screams at me otherwise.
Sienna, I murmur softly through the mind-link.
There’s no answer, but I feel her.
Distant, but still there.
I slide one arm beneath her shoulders and lift her carefully, drawing her closer until her body rests against mine, her head tucked beneath my chin. She feels small in my arms, too light, and something fierce and protective tightens in my chest.
“I was careless,” I whisper against her hair. “And you paid for it.”
My hand moves to the mark on her stomach, but this time I do not hesitate. I lay my palm flat against her skin, and instead of bracing for pain, I breathe slowly, calling the burning remnants of lightning to me, feeling my aura surge.
Come on…
I lower my forehead to hers, our noses almost brushing, and I close my eyes.
“I am not fighting this now,” I murmur, though I don’t know if I’m speaking to her or to myself.
And for the first time since I marked her, I let the bond open fully.
I don’t resist it.
I don’t dilute it.
I don’t pretend it is not there.
I let it flood through me, feeling her emotions, a storm just beyond my grasp, her consciousness at the brink of my reach.
Under my palm, the lightning shifts. It reacts like something that has recognised its origin.
I feel her stir within my mind.
“That’s it,” I whisper against her ear.
Then I feel the source of the wild electricity and pull, feeling it travel through my hand and up my arm, my eyes blazing as it intensifies.
She gasps, her breath sucked from her as her body arches, and then she slumps into my arms once again.
The last of the glow fades from her skin, leaving only a faint redness behind, and her heartbeat steadies beneath my hand.
Relief rushes through me so powerfully that I almost don’t register the shift in the air.
Fuck, I did it.
The room grows still.
Too still.
The warmth inside my chest intensifies, and then the world around me seems to dissolve into white light that hurts the eyes.
I am no longer in the infirmary.
I stand in the open sky.
Thunder rolls somewhere far above, but even with the lightning flashing, it’s too bright, and the air tastes of the storm itself.
“Jayce.”
The voice is powerful as it booms from all around me. It reverberates through bone and blood alike, causing my body to ache.
I do not kneel, but I bow my head, somehow knowing exactly who it belongs to.
Zeus.
“My chosen,” Zeus says, and the words feel older than the mountains. “You shall learn.”
Lightning arcs across the sky above, vast and endless.
“You will be at your strongest when she becomes one with you. Pride and arrogance have sent many to their knees. Do not let it be your path. Prove that I have not touched the wrong one. Prove that I made the right choice. Prove that you are more than your ego.”
“It’s not ego. I am strong as I am.” I can barely talk; I can’t even fucking breathe.
“She is not your weakness. She is your strength.”
I lift my gaze toward the unseen presence, making out the shape of a muscular man who towers far above me, but he is enveloped in bright light.
“And you,” Zeus adds, voice deepening like distant thunder, “Are mine.”
The sky erupts, and I have to close my eyes, shielding them.
Remember.
I blink, and I realise I am back in the infirmary.
Sienna lies in my arms, breathing peacefully now, her colour restored, her body no longer trembling.
My heart is hammering, and I feel suddenly weak, as if I have trained for hours and now I’m the one shaking.
I feel it before I see it, the subtle shift in her consciousness through the link we share.
“Sienna,” I murmur quietly, though I keep my voice controlled as I slowly place her back down on the bed and stand up, pulling myself together.
Her brows pull together faintly before her eyes open, her lashes fluttering, and then they land on me.
Something soft flickers across her face.
“Jayce…” she whispers softly.
My chest tightens, and my wolf howls in my head, wanting to reach out to her.
For a split second, I almost lean closer.
Almost.
Instead, I straighten slightly and cross my arms. “You’re fine now. I told you to go to the healer. You should have listened,” I say emotionlessly.
Her eyes search mine, confusion slowly replacing the warmth that had been there seconds ago.
“I felt you,” she says softly. “Did you-”
“It’s handled. You’re fine,” I interrupt before she can finish.
The mind-link is still open, and despite Zeus’ words, I put my walls back up.
Her expression shifts as she feels the change.
I ignore it.
“You’ll recover,” I continue emotionlessly. “Korina, the head healer, will monitor you.”
“Why are you…” she trails off as if not sure what to say.
Silence stretches between us.
She looks me over, but then looks down at herself.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
“Get some rest.” With those words, I turn toward the door, ignoring the urge to look back at her.
As my hand closes around the handle, I feel her trying to gain access via the mind-link, as if probing whether I have my walls up or not.
She is not my strength; she has been nothing but my weakness.
Not even if Zeus himself approves of her.
Without another word, I leave the room, only to stop when I spot Ahren leaning against the wall; a sad smile crosses his face.
“Don’t punish her for a mistake she made with the right intentions in mind. We’re all allowed to make mistakes, aren’t we? And if the ones we love punish us the most, then who can we be vulnerable around?”
I don’t respond; I take my leave.