Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) (10 page)

I
will kill them
.
That’s all I could think as I came around the corner, hearing Bethany’s story and taking in the disheveled, terrified girl hovering on the edge of a breakdown.

Cole and Aidan stood feet from her. They both looked unsure of what to do, but ready to unleash on someone. Amelia knelt on the ground next to Bethany, but each time she reached out, Bethany withdrew. She shook her head in jerky motions and I watched her hands tremble as she held them out in front of her.

Unable to allow her to get any worse, I quickly made my way to Bethany and gently put my hand on her shoulder. Bethany looked up at me, and I was shocked to see relief. That look was all the permission I needed to pull her into my arms, one around her and one under her knees. Without a word spoken, I walked away, and they didn’t stop me.

It took two steps before her tears began to soak my shirt. Soft whimpers both shattered my heart and fueled my anger. They had broken her. After everything Bethany had done, and been put through, by Immortals, they had broken her spirit. I struggled to check my rage as Baleon opened the door to our apartment.

He took one look at me, and her, and disappeared into the back rooms. With as much grace as I could, I lowered both of us onto the couch. She didn’t move, her bloodstained hands clutching my shirt as she continued to cry quietly. I reached up and brushed my thumb over her cheek. “It’s okay,” I murmured, over and over. Slowly, the tears stopped.

Bethany looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot and swollen, the tip of her nose red. For a brief moment, I saw trust. She trusted me to see her through this. That was enough for me.

I connected to Baleon and requested a bowl of water and a washcloth. In seconds, he was in and out of the room, moving quickly and quietly. So much so, Bethany didn’t notice him coming up behind her and setting the bowl within my reach.

I shifted her slightly and was able to use one hand to wring out the cloth. I moved slowly, allowing her to see what was in my hand before I touched her again. I started with her face, gently wiping away the dried smear high on her cheekbone. She leaned into the cloth and my hand, her eyes closed. I held her there, with just that thin piece of fabric between us. It was the closest we’d been in months, and the ache of missing her subsided in the smallest way.

“I’m going to set you on the couch so I can clean your hands, okay?” I said, my voice wavering with unexpected emotion. She still didn’t speak, but nodded warily.

I shifted her gingerly from my lap to the cushion and slid to my knees on the floor between her legs. We maintained eye contact throughout, hers widening marginally as I lightly spread her legs apart. I pulled the bowl of water closer and rewet the cloth, wringing it out before I unclasped her hands and brought one toward me. I wiped, rewet, wrung, and wiped again, until every speck of blood was gone from her hands.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

She finally spoke. “No. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

She mashed her lips together in a tight line and her eyes darted around as she swallowed more tears. She was going to pull herself together soon. And then she would realize what she just allowed. She’d so diligently avoided me since I’d arrived. She made her disdain for me painfully clear. Too clear, actually. What was that quote? “The lady doth protest too much.” I could only hope that was indeed the case.

She began to fidget and I knew the time had come. I stood and held a hand out to help her do the same. Surprisingly enough, she took it. She stood inches from me as she stared, gripping my hand tightly. I waited as she took me in, her eyes moving across my face, searching for what, I wasn’t sure.

Her blue irises were vibrant against her bloodshot eyes and even as I told myself to stop, I couldn’t. I lowered my head and captured her lips. At first, she responded, her tongue teasing my own. I held her face in my hands lightly, then moved one hand to the back of her neck, pulling her against me. I had no mate, I had no destiny, and I had been a joke to everyone but her.

Her hands gripped my shirt and I waited for her to pull me even closer. Instead, she shoved me back. A quick jolt of power stopped me from somersaulting over the table and into the wall. Bethany held her fingers to her mouth and her face gave away so much. I could feel the swirl of conflicting emotions and sighed as they landed right where I knew they would. She was angry.

“What was that?” she demanded.

“That was me kissing you,” I responded.

“Where do you get off kissing me? We are done. We are nothing. We weren’t ever anything.
I trusted you.
” She spit the words at me. Red flushed her cheeks and made me want to kiss her again, which would have required Baleon to save me from an untimely death.

She had just been through a traumatic ordeal and I didn’t want to fight, but she clearly did. Since there may not have been another chance for me to fight for her, I went for it.

I took a step forward and while she winced, she didn’t budge. “Were we nothing? Are you so sure? Because it was you kissing me back right then, wasn’t it, Bethany? It was you who came willingly into my arms and sought solace.”

I pulled at the button-down shirt I was wearing, and said, “Aren’t these your tears on my shirt? Did I not clean the blood from your hands? When will you realize that we
were
something, that we
are something
? You cannot hate with such venom unless you have loved in some capacity. At least I am not afraid to admit my feelings for you.

“They have always been there,” I continued, refusing to look away, refusing to miss one silent response. “From the moment I saw you, on every date we had, during every moment I tried to keep you safe and away from all of this. You didn’t see the fights I had with my mother and her brood of Hunters so I could be the one who brought you your meals and made sure they did not treat you like a human toy. You turned me away and cursed my name while I convinced my mother a human could not interfere with her plans, all the while knowing if the day came when you set your mind to it, you would do just as much damage as anyone with power running through their veins. I see who you are. I see the person you hide.”

Taking another step toward her, I breathed in deeply and lowered my voice. “I hide the same one — the one who has been used and spurned and done their best to make the right choices for the right reasons. I fight the battle to find myself and be myself while tuning out the constant judgment coming from all angles. My life is made of cleverly crafted lies I’ve been told since I could understand the words by someone who truly believes their intent is a justification for the decimation of a people they were sworn to protect. Take away the power and the royal title, and we are the same.”

Bethany hadn’t spoken. She hadn’t moved. She stared at me, her face blank, giving away nothing. I tried to wait, to give her time to process all I had laid bare, but I couldn’t.

“Say something, please.” The words were choked, a hoarse whisper.

She closed her eyes and slowly reopened them, resignation settling across her features. “I can’t do this right now, Micah. I can’t process all of that, and all of this. I just…can’t.”

I nodded stiffly and stepped to the side. She moved past me, but stopped at the door.

“Thank you.” Her words were barely there and as she walked away, they unraveled me further. Perhaps it had been easier to allow her to hate me, but the small fire of hope burning in my soul was enough to confirm I had made the right choice.

A
melia
and I rushed to the barn, concerned for Nell and her kittens. I worried about Elias’s reaction if anything had happened to either. With the rest of the pack here, devoted to the man who had been their leader for years, it could be mutiny in a second.

The barn doors were open and sunlight lit the path. Small groups of Immortals were huddled together, but went silent as Amelia and I approached. The AniMages bowed slightly and the pregnant Mages smiled sadly. I pulled Amelia around a corner, looked around to confirm no one was near us, then dropped the barriers Elias had taught me to put in place, allowing the emotions and thoughts of the other AniMages to flood my mind.

Amelia grasped my hand and pulled at the edges of my mind, wanting to know what I saw. I used our connection to show her as well.

We saw the situation unfold like a replay in someone’s mind. They entered the barn as Bethany ran toward them, screaming for help. Just as we’d found her, Bethany was covered in blood, bordering on hysterical. The yowling screams from Nell pierced the background. The AniMage called for Cora and Elias. Elias was out hunting, trying to find something Nell would eat, but Cora was there in seconds.

Bethany tried to tell them what happened, but no one would listen. She was shoved aside, literally, as AniMages and Mages gathered to do what they could. It was Melinda who completely turned on Bethany, which wasn’t shocking in the least. She hissed the words at Bethany, a venomous string of insults that had eventually broken our friend.

I came out of the memory filled with rage, ready to end Melinda once and for all. She had attacked Amelia and me against Elias’s orders. She had taken Bethany and taunted her for hours when she was only supposed to watch over her until Amelia came. And then she had set Braxton against me. That woman was poison and had no business being part of my pack.

I took two steps before Amelia’s hand wrapped around my wrist. I instantly felt the anger diminish slightly. “Aidan, no, not now. We need to focus on Elias and Nell. You have to show them that we don’t lash out in retaliation. We lead. We take care of our people first.”

She was right. Of course she was. But I wanted this made right. “She needs to understand that taking care of my people also means protecting them from each other. I won’t allow this.” A growl quickly followed my words and I felt the tightness inside me, a coiled spring ready to let my wolf loose.

Amelia gripped my arm with both hands now. Her power weaved in and around mine, trying to settle the fury building inside me.

“Bethany is with Micah, where she needs to be. We are here, where we need to be. We are not Julia and her Hunters. We don’t attack without all the facts and a clear head. I appreciate that you love her as much as I do and want to protect her, but our decisions aren’t ours alone anymore.” As Amelia spoke, she continued to use the mixture of her and Cole’s power to bring me down to a reasonable level.

The tension uncoiled and I audibly exhaled, rubbing my free hand over my face. “I haven’t been that angry since…” I trailed off and she continued for me. “Since I left with Micah,” Amelia finished.

I nodded. “I didn’t mean to—”

She cut me off again. “I know, Aidan. It’s hard to believe that was only weeks ago, but we are different people now. We’re in this together and we have responsibilities.”

I shook my head, once again awed by what the combination of Amelia’s time at Cresthaven and the integration of Cole’s power had done. She still had her impulsive tendencies, but she saw the bigger picture.

I leaned down and stole a quick kiss. The tingle of electricity that passed between us was expected and welcome. I wanted to linger, and I could tell she did, too, but I pulled back and quickly pecked a kiss to the tip of her nose, breaking the tension.

We walked back into the main aisle toward Nell’s stall.

“Are they happy here?” Amelia asked me quietly, her voice coming over my shoulder. I turned to find her walking slowly, staring at each stall we passed. I forgot this was her first time in the barn and I could feel her conflicted emotions. I pulled her beside me and wrapped my arm around her waist so we walked together.

“They are, Ame,” I assured her. “They’re free and their children will be free. They’re protected and they have their power. We aren’t making them stay here, this is their choice.”

We stepped up to Nell’s stall and I knocked on the wood frame. The door was open, so we took it in simultaneously. Amelia’s emotions spiked and I knew she was crying, but I made no move to stop her. I was just as taken by the scene.

Elias sat on the mattress spanning the width of the stall, his back against the wall. He looked exhausted, but absolutely enthralled by the woman in his lap. She was curled on her side, asleep. Her head was on his thigh and her arm came over that same leg, snaking up toward his waist where she held his hand. Her legs were pulled into a fetal position with just enough room to see three small kittens piled on top of each other, their tiny little bodies protected by both their parents.

“How is she?” I asked my friend.

“She’s finally able to shift back and forth, and is resting now. I still don’t completely understand what happened, but they worked together to stop the bleeding. My children are alive and healthy. We don’t know yet if they have power, but it doesn’t matter. She’s healthy. And she’s come back to me.” Elias’s words were choked as he looked up at Amelia. “You brought her back to me. She showed me how you healed her in Cresthaven. How you saved her life. Amelia, I can’t ever repay this debt.”

“There is no debt, Elias,” she said, her own voice thick with emotion. “I did what was right. I did what I was supposed to do. I would do it again. These are my people.”

Amelia stopped and looked up at me. Her eyes were full of unshed, happy tears, and for once, they weren’t violet. They were the eyes I initially couldn’t stop thinking about. The ones that looked more green than brown and belonged to the quiet girl I had to know.

“No,” she corrected herself, still looking up at me, “these are
our people
.”

“That we are, Amelia Bradbury,” Elias confirmed as he stroked a hand over Nell’s hair. He looked back up at us. His smile was gone and his blue eyes glowed softly as he continued. “You have done more than you realize. You have given us hope, and hope is a rare and fragile thing to people who have lost more than they’ve won in their lives. Know this to the depths of your soul: we will stand beside you and follow you anywhere.”

“No, they won’t.” A small voice came from behind us. I turned to find Dillon standing in the row of stalls. He looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from one bare foot to the other. I looked back at Elias and he waved me off, making a
shut the door
motion with his hand. So, we stepped back and I quietly slid the door in place.

“What do you mean, little man?” I asked. Amelia and I stepped toward him and Dillon shuffled forward, sticking out his hand.

“I know we already met, Miss Amelia, but I wanted to thank you for saving my mamma. Thank you for bringing her back to me.” Amelia smiled tentatively and shook his hand. She stooped down, as I typically did, and kept ahold of his hand lightly.

“You are very welcome, Dillon. Miss Bethany and…uh, Mr. Aidan, have told me a lot about you.” Amelia threw me a smirk over her shoulder. “Can you tell me what you were talking about just now? I know your mamma was able to know things. Do you know things, too?”

Dillon nodded quickly and pulled his hand from hers, shoving it into the pocket of his bright green hoodie. “Mr. Elias is only part right. He will follow you. Lots of these people will. But not all of them. Some of them don’t want you. They want to hurt you.”

I was beside Dillon in an instant, my hand gripping his arm. “Who, Dillon? Who wants to hurt us?”

“Aidan!” Amelia’s sharp tone brought me clarity, and I saw Dillon’s wide eyes and pale face. His freckles were like brown pebbles on a white sand beach. I immediately dropped his arm, apologizing.

Dillon backed up a few steps, but said, “It’s okay, Mr. Aidan. I’m scared, too. But my owl isn’t showing me who. I just know Miss Amelia isn’t safe here. But she knows where to go, don’t worry. Her mamma took care of her, too.”

As he typically did, Dillon took off running once his message was delivered. He flew past AniMages and Mages, muttering “‘scuse me,” as he passed between them.

Amelia was staring at nothing, her eyes unfocused before she gasped.

“He said my mother took care of me, too. That means wherever I’m supposed to go, whatever I’m supposed to be doing, is in that journal.”