Bound by Legend: A Bound Novel (31 page)

Morgan tossed all of the money in her pocket, well over the amount of the fare, at the driver before she jumped out and let the door shut. After a few seconds, the cab finally began to move forward. Morgan watched until the taillights turned the corner before turning toward the gates. Not too long ago, this place had been a safe haven from the weather, now it loomed above her like a giant waiting for the right moment to crush her. Her demon radar screamed inside her head.

Taking a deep breath, Morgan pushed through the gap in the gates and crossed the cracked, weed-choked pavement of the parking lot. Several times fear tried to strangle her, tried to render her useless. Each time Morgan pushed it back with the knowledge that Jake’s life depended on her keeping it together and that somewhere in the darkness her friends had her back.

The lower level was deserted, no surprise given the nice weather and the sounds echoing down the long flight of rusted metal stairs from the floor above. Morgan crossed the cracked, stained concrete in silence. She hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, dread holding her captive unable to move. A loud curse from Jake followed by a heavy thump and a groan pulled her forward.

Each step felt like she was lifting a hundred pounds, a tight band of fear made it hard for her to breathe. Terrified of what she was doing and still unable to think of something that would get both her and Jake out of this alive, Morgan reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner.

Two mid-level demons held Jake by the arms while he sagged between them. His head lolled to the side, one eye blackened. Blood flowed from his nose, mouth, and a large slash down the side of his face.

A heavy lump rose in Morgan’s throat and she swallowed hard to keep it from choking her. To the side of the demons and Jake was a tall man whose handsome face was ruined by the fiery glow in his eyes. Morgan could only assume he was another half-breed. Next to him stood the hybrid she knew as Jax. His cold gaze held no recognition, no hint that he’d been part of her nightmare.

The first man smiled, it held no warmth. “Nice of you to finally join us, I am Macune.”

“I haven’t joined anything.” Morgan glared at him. “But I’m here, so now let him go.”

“Not quite yet, Inola.” He stepped closer to Jake. “We have some things to discuss first.”

Jake’s head swung his head slowly from side to side. “Don’t do it, Morgs.”

Several lower-level demons shuffled into the room. Morgan backed toward the wall, her gaze moving constantly to keep track of each demon’s position and movements. “What do you want?”

Macune motioned toward her. “Why you, of course, Inola.”

Ignoring the first part of his statement Morgan asked, “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Inola is the name of the woman who will set the Kalona free again and remove a lock at the same time.” His voice dropped to a seductive level. “You could be our queen. Legions at your command, strength to fight your own battles, never to be a victim again.”

Morgan settled her gaze on Macune, though she still kept track of the other demons with her peripheral vision. “I don’t want or need legions of anything at my command or any of the other things you’ve offered.”

Faster than she could catch, Macune’s hand shot out, grabbed Jake’s stringy hair and yank his head up. “Then the life of this man, always safe from harm.”

Fear laced adrenaline flooded her veins. She didn’t believe a word of it, but maybe… “What do I—”

“No, Morgs,” Jake mumbled through swollen lips. “Don’t. They’ll kill me anyway; let them get it over with.”

“I can’t lose you, Jake,” Morgan said, her voice cracking.

Jake smiled through broken teeth. “I’ll get to be with Emily—”

The loud crack of Macune’s hand across Jake’s face interrupted. Morgan lurched forward a step, panic rising in her like a tide. She licked her lips and wiped sweaty palms on her jeans. “If I do what you’re asking, you let Jake live?”

“Of course.” Macune’s pleasant expression had never left his face, even when he struck Jake.

Everything in Morgan rebelled at the thought of agreeing to anything. Would Jake really be safe? Out the corner of her eye, Jax gave the barest shake of his head. Was he answering her unspoken thoughts? Or was he thinking Macune was stupid for even giving her a choice? If it was the first, why would he help her by giving something like that away?

Her mind scrambled for answers to the questions. For something that would keep Jake alive. Morgan opened her mouth to agree, at least long enough to get Jake out of there, when Jax suddenly shot forward.

Before Morgan could even react, Jax plunged his hand into Jake’s chest and ripped out his heart. An odd, liquid gurgle bubbled in Jake’s throat. Time seemed to freeze for Morgan as her friend slid from the now loose grasp of the demons to the floor, a gaping hole in his chest. Jax let the heart fall to the floor with a sickening splat.

The world wavered as Morgan swayed. Her head felt light, too light even as the weight of her own shattering heart threatened to swallow her whole.

“Jake!” The sob broke past her lips as she stumbled toward his body. Jax appeared in front of her, his blood-covered hand pushing her back against the wall. The coppery scent of Jake’s blood filled her nostrils and the acrid taste of bile rose in the back of her throat.

Jax pulled his lips back in a snarl. “Enough game playing. What you see lying on the floor over there will be repeated with anyone and anything you care about or have ever cared about until you come to the Kalona. If even then you are unwilling, it will be your own heartless body on the ground. You will come under your own power or he will make use of your heart. Either way, he wins. Either way, he will be free. The only thing left for you to decide is how you want to do this.”

Numb with pain and emotional shock, Morgan stared at him, barely able to comprehend his words. The look in his eyes didn’t match his expression. There was no fire behind his pupils, his irises remained a deep green and…sorrow? The question flittered away. She couldn’t think.

And then chaos broke loose. One moment, Jax’s hand held her upright against the wall and the next he stepped into a shadow and was gone. Without the unwanted support, Morgan’s knees buckled and she slid to the floor. Her mind barely registered the fight going on around her, the three dark angels and two other channels dispatching the demons. She didn’t know where Macune had gone and didn’t care.

Jake’s body filled her vision. Slowly, Morgan crawled across the floor, heedless of the battle; uncaring if a demon killed her. Jake had been her friend, her rock. He’d saved her life and she hadn’t returned the favor. When she reached his side, Morgan laid her hand against the side of his battered face. Every possible scenario ran through her head. Things maybe she could have done, should have done, or said…

She needed to go back in time, even just a day, an hour, and change it. There had to be a way. This couldn’t be happening.

The sudden silence drew her dazed mind away from Jake. Scorch marks showed where several demons had been banished permanently. Only Isobel, Damien, a dark angel and channel she’d never met, and Lucian occupied the area now. The pain in Lucian’s eyes as he stared at her slammed into her with the force of a freight train.

Oh Higher Powers, this wasn’t a nightmare. Morgan’s gaze dropped to the floor and the large puddle of Jake’s congealing blood. Where had his heart gone? The answer came even as she tried to shy away from it. The Kalona. Her stomach lurched. Isobel stepped forward, deep sympathy in her eyes.

Morgan scrambled to her feet, if anyone touched her right now she would lose it. She looked frantically around at the assembled people, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Turning, she fled. Like a deer pursued by wolves, Morgan sprinted down the stairs and across the lower floor. She burst through the door into the alley and didn’t stop.

The cool night air rushed past her as she ran the length of the block. The brakes of cars squealed and horns blared as she dashed across the intersection without slowing. When her feet hit the grass of the park, she pushed herself harder until her legs felt weak and her lungs burned with the effort. Tears ran hot down her cheeks. As she reached the far end of the park her breath broke in a sob and she stumbled, falling to her knees.

The aching grief tightened around her chest, squeezing her pounding heart in a painful fist. Morgan wrapped her arms around tight around her middle in an effort to hold her fracturing pieces together. Her lungs screamed for air, but every breath was cut short by sobs that she couldn’t fully release. Darkness clawed at her.

And then Lucian was there, his hands warm on the sides of her face as he held it gently. His tawny eyes filled her vision. “Breathe, Morgan.”

She tried. It hitched as she tried to keep the tide of agony in. If she released it, Morgan didn’t know when it would stop. The darkness continued to close in, narrowing her world into a tunnel.

Lucian’s expression was filled with a fear she didn’t understand in the ever expanding darkness. “Breathe. Please, Morgan, take a breath. I’ve got you.”

Something in his tone, or maybe it was his words, released the band around her chest and she sucked in a deep breath. Oxygen rushed into her body, chasing away the darkness and bringing the pain of Jake’s loss into perfect clarity.

Morgan collapsed forward into Lucian’s embrace as anguish ripped the sobs from her body with a violence she’d never known, her fractured pieces kept together by Lucian’s arms as he held her tight.

The image of Jake lying on a cold cement floor with a hole in his chest wouldn’t release her from its grip. In the storm of her grief, she could only hold tight to Lucian and hope he kept her from falling apart.

Lucian lowered his head, resting his lips against her hair as she clung to him. Every cry that tore from her throat was a dagger to his heart. He had failed her. Not in the same way as
La Pucelle
, no Morgan still lived, but he’d failed to protect her heart from this kind of pain. Would she be able to handle this? Would it be too much for her?

Clutching her tighter to him, Lucian could only hold her and wait. He would deal with his own sadness over Jake’s death later. Though Lucian hadn’t known the man long, Jake had been a good guy and, Lucian knew, part of the reason Morgan had reached out to him in the first place. The world needed people like Jake in it.

Morgan had no idea how long they sat there in the grass, how long she buried her cries in Lucian’s torn shirt, only that the sky was beginning to show the first signs of morning when her spent emotions and exhausted mind pulled her into a blessed and unfeeling darkness. She didn’t resist it, welcoming a chance to escape the pain. The last thing she remembered was Lucian’s fingers, brushing against her temple as he whispered, “Sleep now, Morgan.”

THE PAIN WAS
there as Morgan started to surface from the deep and dreamless dark and she fought to stay asleep. How could she face the knowledge that Jake was dead? That she hadn’t stopped it from happening? If she hadn’t been close to him, hadn’t cared, he would still be alive. 

The soul-crushing grief threatened to smother her even as her body continued on its course to waking. Already the tight band was back, making her chest ache and depriving her of air. Tears slipped from her closed eyes.

“I’m here.” Lucian’s hand cupped the side of her face. “I’ve still got you.”

His touch, his voice, eased the gnawing ache and Morgan gasped in a breath. Lucian’s steady gaze held hers from where he kneeled next to the bed when she opened her eyes. Morgan forced herself to sit up. It wasn’t easy since she had to extract her legs from beneath Lucy. 

She struggled to keep her mind blank. It was a short and futile battle as the images of Jake’s final moments crashed over her again and again. Barely aware of Lucian gathering her close as the tears coursed silently down her face, she leaned into the embrace needing his solid presence to anchor her.

“I killed him,” Morgan whispered. “How will I ever get this out of my head? I didn’t even have time to try and stop Jax. One moment, I was trying to figure out how to keep Jake and me both alive and the next…”

Lucian tightened his arms around her. “You did not kill Jake. A hybrid killed Jake, not you.”

“If we hadn’t been friends—”

“Then Jake would have missed out on you. He needed someone in the life he lived, and you were that person.”