The Effect it Takes
Jayce
Ican feel the essence of her power as she pours it into me, and it feels like something just waiting to erupt and devour everything in its wake.
It desires to explode and devour everything in all directions, growing, intensifying, wanting to consume all that it can touch, and yet somehow her control over it is… impressive.
I focus on her and her touch despite my mind screaming at me that two drakaths are cutting me apart, but I refuse to engage with them, knowing it is all within my mind.
It’s in my mind… I have to remember that.
She said they were not here, and if they were, she wouldn’t be sitting here calmly; no matter how real this feels, it isn’t.
She leans over me, and my eyes dip to her cleavage in her fitted Schattenblüte outfit that clings to her like a second skin, emphasising every curve of her body.
The chaos of her powers is at a bursting point, and yet she controls them as if they dance to her whim, searching for something that she is yet to find.
I realise, as her power flares through me, that maybe her control was never weak; her gift is exceptionally formidable, and demands release. It’s chaotic. And to think she puts up with this daily, I never realised how out of control it is.
“Your control is incredible,” I murmur, trying to ignore the fact that my brain is telling me a drakath is hacking at my neck, and I should be experiencing incredible pain.
“Mm? Thank you. You helped with that,” she whispers. Her hand feels soothing against the wound.
I fight my instincts, refusing to reach for my powers as the drakaths become exceedingly brutal.
“You’re tensing up again,” she murmurs.
“Yeah, I fucking know,” I say through gritted teeth. It’s like I’m in two places at once, one with her, one with the drakaths.
“Do you see them?” she asks softly.
“Yeah, as they hack me apart and I feel every fucking thing,” I snarl as pain sears through me.
It’s not real, it’s not fucking real!
“Jayce, look at me,” she murmurs.
I can’t. Not when the pain is blinding.
“I’m not sure what’s real anymore,” I find myself murmuring as she moves closer, her knee now on the bed beside my thigh.
We will fix this. Her words echo loudly in my mind. I close my eyes, inhaling her scent. She’s grounding me. Keeping some of my sanity at the forefront of my mind as her power continues to rush through every part of me, but it’s all too fucking much. I can’t focus.
So, in a way, she isn’t just my weakness. She can’t just destroy me; she can anchor me, give me strength, give me control.
I close my eyes, wrapping my arm around her waist as I pull her closer. Her breath hitches, but I’m just going to fucking pretend I didn’t hear it as she tumbles against me, straddling my thigh as I hold her flush against me and bury my nose in her neck, inhaling deeply.
That intoxicating scent of cherries, amber and moonflower…
For a moment, the drakaths fade, and I’m back in the infirmary with her on my thigh. She’s so fucking gorgeous, so fucking addictive. I comb my hand through her hair, tugging her hair tie out as I run my fingers through it, loving the way it feels between my fingers.
She wraps her arm around my neck, resting her head against mine as her fingers caress the back of my neck; her other hand remains on my injury, her power dancing through my veins.
I don’t know how long we remain like that, or when the drakaths stopped hacking at me, but I’m left exhausted.
“You have a symbol of a gold sun on your rib. I thought I removed Helios’ mark from you,” I murmur, unsure why I’m asking, brushing my fingers along where I know the mark sits.
Her heart seems to be thumping loudly before her hold on me tightens.
“It’s the mark of someone who has at some point held the title of a goddess, and that is something that will always remain. I was known, albeit for a fleeting moment, as the Goddess of the Sun, and that is something that will remain. I’m sorry,” she murmurs softly.
I wonder why she’s apologising…
“Hmm, I see… Well, you always were a goddess.”
They’re back again.
Her heart is drowning out the shrieks of the drakaths. I’m so fucking exhausted. What are we even doing here?
Her power crawls through me, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold on. I want to hold her tightly, want to feel her in my arms. I know this is fleeting; I’m not sure why, but it is…
What happened again?
“Don’t fall asleep, Jayce, please, listen to me.”
“I’m tired,” I murmur, kissing her shoulder tenderly. “Sorry,” I hear myself murmur as the heaviness of sleep washes over me.
I should listen, not sure why, but I should… but… I can’t…
I can hear talking, and I fight the heaviness that is weighing down on me, trying to pull me further into the endless depth of sleep. A soothing hand caresses my hair, warm, comforting, and one that feels like home.
“Mom?” I whisper hoarsely, my throat dry and achy.
Her hand stills before I hear her move, and then she kisses my forehead, her heart rate a little faster than normal. I open my eyes, light making them water, although it’s not even that bright and find myself gazing into eyes that almost mirror mine.
“Jayce,” she says softly.
Grandma…
My heart squeezes painfully seeing the sorrow in her eyes and the brutal reminder that Mom will never ever run her hand through my hair again.
“Jayce, how are you feeling?” Grandma asks before she hugs me tightly, as if knowing exactly what I was thinking. I lift my arms that feel like fucking lead and wrap them around her.
“I’m ok,” I answer, inhaling her scent. She still smells like home. She’s not Mom, but she’s the closest thing I have.
Fuck, don’t go there. Why am I thinking about this again? Because it is hard not to; that’s why. Russia was an escape from the constant reminder; being around the ones I love hurts more.
When I release her, she moves back and smiles at me. I look around the living room in the Westwood Mansion and raise an eyebrow, seeing Leo, Azura, Dad, Grandad, Uncle Rayhan, Aunty Kiara, Sienna, and Ahren.
“What the hell is this?” I ask as I force myself to sit up. “How the hell did I get back?”
“I carried you,” Ahren says with a smirk. “You don’t really suit being a princess, though.”
I glare at him, my eyes flicking to Sienna, who’s still wearing her Schattenblüte, meaning we recently got back. Remembering how I held her, I avert my gaze and decide I will just pretend I don’t recall what went down.
I fucked up.
The sound of a drakath shrieking makes me jerk up, and I turn to look around the room.
“You’re still hallucinating,” Leo states coldly.
Sienna looks down. “I knew I couldn’t get it all…”
“Get what?” I ask.
“I was trying to incinerate the… not exactly a poison, but when they cut into you, something transferred into you from their claws, and it’s so hard to find; it’s like tiny wisps of… air,” Sienna tries to explain to us. “I got some…”
“And probably that’s why he isn’t hallucinating as badly as Lieutenant Ana,” Ahren says quietly.
“How is she? Did you do the same for her?” I ask.
She nods. “I tried, and I continued to work on her on the plane on the journey here.”
A heavy tension falls across the room, and I look between them. “What is it?” I ask sharply.
“She didn’t make it,” Sienna says softly.
The words echo in the silence, and I lean back against the sofa armrest. “Shit…”
“You’re not out of the woods either,” Azura says as she walks over to me, crouches beside the sofa and touches my hand. “We were just discussing possible solutions.”
“And I hate when you talk like that; it means I’m not going to fucking like what I hear,” I remark, raising an eyebrow.
Azura smirks as she looks at the rest. “Told you.” She stands up, and Uncle Rayhan sighs.
Dad moves forward. “Leo has a solution that might help get rid of whatever remnant of the drakath that is left in you.”
Seems they’ve been filled in about the drakaths.
“Let’s hear it,” I say, crossing my arms.
“Well, cutting straight to the point, you’ve marked Sienna, and inevitably, at some point when you’re over your fucking stubbornness, you will end up giving in to the bond. We all know that’s going to happen,” Leo says.
I narrow my eyes. “Then you don’t fucking know me,” I say icily, hating how he thinks he fucking knows shit.
Leo cocks a brow. “Really? Want a fucking bet on that?”
“Were you always such a dickhead?” I ask.
“Yup, he was,” Ahren whispers, making his dad frown at him.
“Keep being delusional if you want, but I’ll fucking simplify it for you.
When someone is marked, the body doesn’t just respond emotionally – it reacts biologically.
A surge of hormones is released, powerful enough to alter heart rates, complete cellular regeneration, and even stimulate neural responses.
That’s why marking someone in moments of crisis has saved lives before.
It’s not just symbolic; it’s a lot more.
You’re sharing strength, sharing power. For a short window, that hormonal spike forces your cells to accelerate, which makes one heal faster, fight harder, overriding normal limits,” Leo explains, his icy eyes fixed on me.
“So, if Sienna were to mark you, that surge might be strong enough to burn out whatever trace of the drakath that still lingers in your system.”
I scoff. “And what, you’ve fucking tried this shit?” I ask icily.
“I do a lot of research, so yeah, I’m confident,” he answers, unfazed.
“And Sienna is willing,” Azura adds, her voice playful, but I’m not in the fucking mood.
I’ve already marked her, tied her to myself, but if she completes it, then I don’t think I’d be able to fight it; plus I’d go into fucking haze. Yeah, no fucking way.
“And Aunty Kiara couldn’t heal whatever lingers inside of me?” I ask, looking at Aunty Kiara, who has her arm around Dad’s waist, his head resting on top of hers.
Everyone falls silent, and I feel a wave of unease wash over me. Something is wrong. Grandad looks down, Grandma looks at Aunty Kiara, her eyes full of worry, and suddenly, I dread what I’m about to hear.
“I’ve recently been ill…” Aunty Kiara begins as Dad gives her a gentle squeeze. “And I’ve lost my ability to heal.”
My heart races as those words sink in.
“What? That’s temporary, right?” I ask, not wanting to think of how many people Aunty Kiara has saved in her life.
“It’s permanent; it’s similar to what has been happening over the years in Italy,” she whispers.
“Are you saying it’s happening here?” I ask. I know what she’s talking about. Years ago in Italy, certain werewolves got sick and lost the ability to shift, mind-link and their other werewolf abilities.
“We hope not. So far, it happened after Kiara returned from a trip to France, but we don’t know,” Grandad says gravely.
“Can you shift?” I ask Aunty Kiara, my eyes fixed on her.
A pregnant pause fills the room, and she looks down.
“No, she can’t,” Dad says, his eyes full of sadness.
“Fuck, and has anyone told Uncle Alejandro?” I ask as a drakath jumps at me out of nowhere.
It’s not real. It’s not real.
I fight against the pain as it begins hacking at me, continuing to tell myself it’s not happening.
“Not yet,” Azura admits.
“You need to worry about yourself,” Aunty Kiara says as she comes over to me, and I shake my head as I stagger to my feet, trying to resist the urge to blast the drakath away.
“No. You were one of our greatest assets. This isn’t only about you…” I trail off, seeing the pain in her eyes.
What am I fucking saying? She knows that… She’s lost her wolf. This is way harder on her.
“Maybe they’ll return,” she says quietly. She doesn’t believe that; no one here fucking does.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly before wrapping my arms around her.
But we all know this is a huge blow for the Dauntless; we just lost one of our most powerful aces, and now, my issues with Sienna feel so… minuscule.
“Someone needs to tell Uncle Alejandro. He has a right to know,” I say quietly. If I were him, I’d want to know, want to be there for my mate, and she might be pretending to be strong, but this is crushing her. I can sense that.
But I’m not there for my own mate right now.
I push the guilty thought away.
Aunty Kiara needs him here, but she’ll never say it, not wanting to be selfish.
“Send a message. Now,” I command.
“Jayce, you’re not well yourself. Sit down; you need rest,” Grandma reminds me. “We’ll sort it out, but you need to take it easy. Please consider what Leo has just said…”
Her voice is drowned out as I hear more shrill cries of the drakaths.
I need to get out of here; I don’t need them seeing me struggle when there’s so much shit going on.
“Excuse me,” I say as I walk towards the archway, doing my best not to stagger.
“Think it over, Jayce,” Leo’s crisp, cold voice comes. “Because we don’t have time for you to be out of commission.”
I don’t respond, simply staggering towards the stairs, my mind reeling.
Fuck.