13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Taylor
T he pressure lifts and I crash to the ground, the impact jarring my insides. Pain lances through my skull as it cracks against the unforgiving stone. Stars burst behind my eyelids, bright and dizzying.
For a long moment, I can only lie there, gasping for breath. Nausea churns in my gut, bile burning the back of my throat, but it's nothing compared to the anguish shredding my heart.
Rowan has taken Liam. Again. And I'm powerless to stop it.
Desperation claws at my chest, urging me to action. I stagger to my feet, the cell spinning around me. I lurch toward the bars, grasping them with white-knuckled intensity. The metal is cold and unyielding beneath my fingers. Invisible static bugs race over my hands, magic making my skin crawl.
I shake the bars, looking around the cell for the millionth time. I know it's futile, but I have to do something . Need and logic are at war inside my head. I can't just sit here while Liam suffers more at the hands of that monster.
Sobs build in my throat, but I choke them back. I won't let Rowan break me. Even if that's exactly how I feel. Shattered into a million jagged pieces, hope bleeding through my fingers.
I need to be stronger. Liam is the one being tortured while I’m simply going mad.
God, the thought of what Liam must be going through... It's a waking nightmare. Heat surges up my throat, and I barely manage to turn my head before I'm retching. Nothing but bile comes out, which somehow makes it worse.
I want to scream. I want to rage. I want to claw at the walls until my fingernails crack and splinter. But I don't. I can't. I have to hold it together. For Liam.
He's going to survive this. He has to. Because the alternative, if he dies, is unthinkable. I’m not sure I’d survive that, either. And even if I did, Rowan could just leave me here, forgotten. Starving to death.
Fresh tears sting my eyes, blurring the edges of the cell into wavering shadows. I sink to the floor, curling in on myself. Despair is a tangible weight, crushing me, suffocating me.
I've never felt so helpless. So alone.
Without warning, static crackles through the bond, sharp and biting. It feels like a million ants biting my insides with sharp pincers. I gasp, my hand flying to my chest.
Something...something is wrong.
Pain explodes behind my ribs, white-hot and blinding. It steals the breath from my lungs, the strength from my limbs. I crumple to the ground, my body convulsing as agony rips through me.
I'm being torn apart from the inside out. Pieces of me are being shredded and ripped away. I scream, but no sound emerges. Or maybe I just can't hear it over the roaring in my ears, the frantic stutter of my heart. Black spots dance across my vision, growing larger with each passing second.
I try to cling to consciousness, but darkness drags me down into its smothering embrace.
***
Awareness returns slowly, filtering in through the haze of pain and confusion. I blink, disoriented, as I take in my surroundings.
I'm...in the forest?
But that's impossible. I was just in the cell, I was...
Liam. Oh God, where's Liam?
I clamber to my feet and spin in a frantic circle, my eyes raking over the towering evergreens, the carpet of pine needles beneath my bare feet, but he's nowhere to be seen. I'm alone.
Fear claws at my throat, but before it can fully take hold, a strange sense of peace washes over me. It's jarring, out of place. I shouldn't feel calm. I should be terrified.
And yet...
A soft golden glow suffuses the clearing, growing brighter with each passing heartbeat. It’s the same light that appeared in my last dream. It's warm and welcoming, chasing away the shadows that cling to my soul. The light descended from the sky to hover above the ground. I watch, transfixed, as the light coalesces into a figure before me.
She's...breathtaking. Exquisite. Her form is crafted from pure, shimmering luminescence, her features undeniably feminine. Ancient, infinite power clings to her. I should be quaking on my feet, turning tail and running from the impossible, but instead, I feel...safe.
“Hello, child,” she says, her voice a melodic caress against my mind. “I am Lunarith.”
“Please,” I whisper, desperation cracking my voice. “I need your help. My mate, he's...”
She’s so powerful. Surely she can help us? Surely she’s strong enough to crack through Rowan’s magic?
Lunarith's smile is tinged with sorrow. “I cannot directly interfere with the workings of free will on your plane of existence, but I can offer you the tools to forge your own path. The strength to save that which you hold most dear.”
I shake my head frantically, tears blurring my vision. “I'll do anything. Anything . Just tell me what I need to do.”
The bond pulses weakly, Liam's essence flickering. He's fading.
I'm…I’m losing him.
I have to go back to him. I can’t be trapped here. Need to help him. Need to do something .
“Your love for your mate is a powerful force. Trust in that bond. Trust in yourself.” Lunarith begins to shimmer and dissipate back to a bright, formless light.
“Please stay. Please help me,” I beg.
Lilting words whisper in my mind, strange and foreign.
Lunaris, Lunara, noctem illuminare,
Gratia Lunarith, revelare lucem absconditam.
“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” I cry at the golden light that was once my angel and now is my lost hope, but the world is already dissolving around me. Her words repeat in my head, searing into my bones. Over and over until I know I’ll never forget them.
I lurch upright with a ragged gasp, the cell walls swimming into focus. My heart pounds against my ribs, cold sweat plastering my hair to my forehead.
A dream. It was just a dream.
But no... There, on my finger. My ring pulses with heat, the metal glowing like a brand. It should burn, should blister my skin, but there's no pain. No mark.
A scuffling sound echoes from the corridor, dragging me from my racing thoughts. I turn toward the cell door, my heart leaping into my throat.
It's Liam. But he's...oh God, he's barely standing.
He leans heavily against the wall, his once strong frame hunched and shaking as he struggles to take a step. Every inhale is a labored rasp, the sound wet and thick.
Bruises mottle his skin and cover nearly every inch of his exposed flesh, a sickening map of the abuse he's endured. Blood trickles from a gash above his eye, painting gruesome streaks down the planes of his face. The crimson stands in stark contrast to the pallor of his skin.
He sways on his feet with the next step. It's a miracle he's even upright, but then his knees buckle, sending him crashing to the ground. He barely catches himself on his hands, his arms shaking with the effort of keeping his face from smashing into the stone.
As hurt as he is, Liam manages to lift his head, his gaze finding mine, checking to see that I’m safe. I don’t know what hurts more, me seeing him like this, or knowing his first reaction is to think of me.
Rage and anguish war within me. I struggle to my feet, chest heaving, my hands balled into impotent fists at my sides. I want to scream. I want to tear Rowan apart with my bare hands. I’ve never felt such blistering rage toward someone before now.
Rowan waves his hand, and the cell bars slide open with a grating shriek.
“Get up, wolf.” Rowan’s cold voice echoes off the stone.
Liam lurches, but he can’t get to his feet. He struggles to one knee, a low groan tearing from his throat. Rowan rolls his eyes, irritation flickering across his features. He reaches down and grasps Liam's bicep in a brutal grip, hauling him bodily into the cell.
An irresistible urge seizes me, a compulsion I couldn't fight even if I wanted to. I lurch forward, my fingers closing around Rowan's wrist in an iron grip.
Shock ripples across his face as his head snaps toward me. Those cold, dead eyes widen imperceptibly.
I've done it now.
I brace myself for the retribution I know is coming. For the pain I'm sure he'll rain down upon me. I don't let go. I can't.
“Please,” I rasp, the word scraping my raw throat. “He needs water. Just give him—”
The rest of my plea dies on my tongue as, instead, Lunarith's words spill from my lips. My ring flares with blinding heat, the metal searing against my skin. Terrifying power thrums through my veins, ancient and immense, raising the fine hairs on my arms.
Rowan's reaction is instantaneous and terrifying. His entire body goes rigid, muscles seizing hard enough to lock him into a statue. His eyes roll back in their sockets, the irises disappearing behind a film of white, stark and unseeing. His chest is still, no breath passing his parted lips. Even the pulse at his throat has gone silent.
It's unnatural. Eerie. As if I'm staring at a wax figure. But this is no illusion. No trick of the light. Whatever I've done...it's holding him immobile. Helpless. There’s no telling how long this will last. Seconds? Minutes? But I know one thing with unshakable certainty.
I shake off my shock.
We have to act now.
We have to run.