Fated Bonds (Angel's Fate Book 1)

by Tessa Cole

  “Next,” she said, sweat glistening on her forehead despite the cool temperature. “And I don’t want to hear any complaints about the glamour.”

  Titus stood and turned to face us. Except it wasn’t Titus facing us, it was a still-big, but average looking guy. He now had brown hair and eyes and a slightly crooked nose. His once rugged appearance had softened and, if I really thought about it, he didn’t seem quite as imposing as before.

  “It’s boring and perfect,” Sebastian said, setting me on my feet by the stool.

  I sat, my nerves thrumming and my chest still sore. I really didn’t want to experience that pressure again, but I didn’t have any other choice. Even if the plan was to hide until Faerie’s Heart went back to sleep, I’d still need the charm.

  Mavis cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders, and I placed my arm on the table while Cassius sterilized the knife again, my attention stalling on my bloody hands, the blood a mix of Cassius’s and Sebastian’s.

  Mavis noticed the blood too and, with a hint of a smile, tsked.

  “Let me take care of that for you.” She closed her eyes, and the blood pebbled into droplets on my skin even though it was mostly dried. It rolled off my skin, onto the table, and gathered in the groove at the edge.

  “Gee, Mavis,” Sebastian said, “what do you take me for?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

  Did that work with any man?

  “Really?” Sebastian asked incredulously. With a sigh, he pressed a small glyph on his chest, lighting it up, and the blood evaporated. “You honestly think I’d let you get away with collecting my blood?”

  “Oh, well, you know.” Mavis shrugged. “I had to try.”

  “Sure you did, and I’ll just accidentally say the wrong thing to the wrong person.” He cocked an eyebrow and her eyes narrowed all pretense of innocence gone. “Cast the spell, Mavis.”

  With a huff, she jerked her attention back to my wrist, painted on the simple glyph, and made her incision. She hissed the same sharp word from before, set a coin on the now-bloody glyph, and picked up the marble, which now glowed a third as brightly as before. Three more hissed words started her spell, and the crushing weight of the leash spell returned.

  This time I did groan, unable to hold it back, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Cassius jerk forward and Sebastian put a hand on his chest to remind him to stay back.

  Another hissed word and agony sliced through me with each panting breath. Specks of light and darkness flashed across my vision, and the room lurched.

  I clenched my teeth and fought to hold on. It wouldn’t take long. Please, don’t let it take long. I’d never had a concealment spell on me before. I knew from talking with active agents that it was a pretty quick and simple spell. Surely my spell would be quicker than Titus’s because he’d also needed a glamour.

  The pressure swelled and I leaned onto the table, unable to keep myself upright. Then the coin sank under my skin, taking the blood and ink with it, along with the enormous weight from the leash spell and leaving no evidence that Mavis had cast the spell.

  Gasping, I sagged against the table, tears I was not going to cry burning my eyes. At least I’d been right and it hadn’t taken as long as Titus’s spell.

  Cassius tugged on my arm, urging me to stand, and helped me stagger to the stainless-steel counter, where I leaned against it, trying not to look like I was shaking. It was bad enough I’d looked weak since Hawk’s tent. Much more and Cassius wouldn’t want to let me out of his sight or go anywhere or do anything… which was just as bad as being trapped by a spell or a soul bond.

  “You okay?” he asked, his angel glow bright with worry.

  “Yeah. Sebastian will break the leash spell tomorrow and things will get—” Well, they wouldn’t go back to normal, not with the Spring Court coming after us, but they would get better. I’d no longer be trapped. I could leave if I wanted to. It wouldn’t be safe or wise, but I could. Please, I had to.

  Except I wanted to leave now. My soul screamed. I had to be free. I’d sworn I’d never be someone’s prisoner again, never be foolish or reckless enough for someone to take me and hurt me again. Never be so helpless.

  I dropped my gaze, afraid he’d be able to see the fear squeezing my chest.

  “Things will get… less restrictive,” I said, awkwardly finishing what I was going to say.

  He brushed a finger across my cheek, drawing my gaze back up to him, and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

  The gentle action surprised me. He’d never touched me like that before. He barely ever touched me because touching wasn’t appropriate for angelic friends, and the sudden soft contact ignited my desire… because everything right now seemed to make me yearn for sex, which then made me angry with myself. I had more control than this. I’d had over a hundred years of proof of my control.

  “I’ll make this right,” he said.

  “You’re up, Cassius,” Sebastian said as Hawk got up from the stool.

  “I promise.” A whisper of smoke curled around him and he took Hawk’s place in front of Mavis.

  Hawk sidled up to me, rubbing his wrist where Mavis had implanted the charm, his hellfire banked, his gaze appraising. “You are one complicated woman. When was the last time you got any?”

  “Excuse me?” I don’t know why it surprised me that he was so blunt.

  “Sex,” he said, lowering his voice. “You’re awfully tense. When was the last time you had sex? And I don’t mean the little treats I gave you today.”

  “You’ve already made your offer. Do you honestly think now is an appropriate time?”

  “Baby, I’m an incubus,” he said and a curl of his seductive magic caressed my cheek, mimicking Cassius’s touch and making me throb with need. “There’s nothing appropriate about me.” He leaned in close, his demonic heat radiating from his body and his breath feathering across my neck making my pulse pick up. “And there’s nothing appropriate about you, either.”

  “My situation is complicated.” Why had I just said that? I should have just rejected him. Even if I wanted to take him up on his offer, now certainly wasn’t the time.

  “More complicated than being leashed to a man wanted by all of Faerie?” he asked and his magic seeped across my chest and started to sink.

  “Yes,” I breathed. Oh, my goodness! I had to get ahold of myself.

  “Which is why you need to do more to relieve your stress.”

  I squared my shoulders determined to resist his magic. “What I need is food and sleep.” And to get free.

  My panic surged, overwhelming my desire.

  Hawk’s hellfire snapped to tiny red pinpricks and he shifted away from me, his hands raised. “Hey, I’m not going to make you do anything,” he said thankfully mistaking my fear for fear that he’d manipulate me into doing something I didn’t want to do. “It’s no fun if you don’t really want it.”

  “So you think I wanted you to kiss me in the abandoned bathhouse?” I asked, realizing as I said the words how stupid they were. I hadn’t expected his kiss, but I’d certainly wanted it, and Hawk with his ability to sense sexual desire knew it.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Pretty sure you wanted more than just a kiss. Pretty sure you still do.”

  Thankfully, Sebastian stepped close, rubbing his wrist like Hawk had, saving me from coming up with a response and drawing Hawk’s intense gaze away from me.

  “We’re all done,” Sebastian said. “Can you walk?”

  “Yes,” I replied, my voice still embarrassingly breathy.

  I clamped down on my emotions and pushed past Hawk, hurrying down the hall, out the metal door, and into the stifling summer heat.

  This was getting out of hand. I had to regain my control. Somehow. I just had no idea how.

  Shadows filled the alley and dusk was starting to darken the sky. My stomach rumbled and exhaustion dragged at my senses. It had been a long day and I’d only eaten once and spent all o
f my magic twice. I was exhausted… which was probably why I had no self-control.

  We returned to Sebastian’s apartment in silence, the drive thankfully short, and the ride in the elevator grim and awkward. Everyone was worried. Yes, now we didn’t have to worry about being magically tracked, but the spells, no matter how expertly they’d been cast, would only last for so long.

  “Everyone should eat something before going to bed,” I said as Sebastian unlocked his door and let us in.

  “Speaking of bed…” Hawk purred with a sensual smile.

  “You’ve got the couch in the living room, and you and I are using Titus’s bathroom,” Cassius said, striding past him toward the kitchen. “You’re also going to be useful and help make dinner.”

  “Oh, I am, am I?” Hawk asked as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “I’m not even going to get anything out of it. Food isn’t what I eat.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. I was too tired to deal with a fight between them and I was pretty sure Hawk, like Sebastian, would escalate the situation just to amuse himself. “I’ll help you.”

  “No. You’re going to sit and drink a glass of orange juice.” Cassius jabbed a finger at me. “You’ve expended your magic twice today and you look terrible.”

  Hawk snorted. “You should probably take that back.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of assessing my condition.” Jeez, and now all I wanted was to prove him wrong even if the smartest move was to let him take care of dinner. But I wasn’t helpless. I’d never be helpless again, and it made my insides squirm knowing he was doing something I was perfectly capable of doing myself.

  “No, you’re not,” Cassius said. “You always push yourself too far.”

  “You did not just tell me I don’t know my own body.”

  Hawk snickered and I glared at him which only made him flash me a heart-stopping smile.

  “I’ll help,” Titus said. “Seirea— sorry, Sebastian, any suggestions?”

  “Make whatever you want. I had Nova stock up the fridge and pick up more clothes for everyone before she left. It should all be in the kitchen.” Sebastian rubbed his face and for a second his complexion was gray again… which it shouldn’t have been because I’d healed everything that was wrong with him.

  Or at least everything I could heal. There wasn’t anything I could do for magic depletion.

  He turned and headed to the hall leading to the bedrooms. “I’m going to get cleaned up.”

  “You should eat first,” Cassius said. “We haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. You can survive if you’re filthy. You can’t if you’re starving.”

  “Whatever.” He didn’t turn around and gave Cassius the finger.

  “Bane—” Cassius growled.

  I set a hand on Cassius’s arm. “Let him go. He used a lot of magic today, too.”

  No one, except for maybe Hawk who’d gotten more than enough sexual energy in the last little while, had much energy to cook anything, so we settled on sandwiches. All three guys — even Hawk — helped assemble sandwiches, and while Sebastian’s kitchen was big, so were all three of the guys. So to stay out of the way, I ended up sitting at the kitchen table cutting vegetables for a salad.

  Sebastian didn’t come out to join us, and a worry that there was something wrong with him, something I’d missed started gnawing away at me. Maybe it was something deep, an infection that was slowly affecting him.

  I’d been so concerned about the laceration in his leg and sealing shut all his other cuts that I might not have noticed it, and I’d pulled my magic out before I was finished fully healing him, trying to conserve it. If there had been the beginnings of an infection in any of his wounds, I could have withdrawn my magic before removing it and it could have been growing inside him since… well, since last night’s fight.

  Which was ridiculous. Surely my magic would have noticed it.

  But the need to heal him twisted in my gut along with the selfish fear that if he was sick, I’d have to wait even longer to be free. And I had to be free.

  I wasn’t going to be able to get any rest until I eased the compulsion from my healing magic and the fear of being trapped, and I was too tired to fight either, so I grabbed a sandwich from the pile on the platter in the center of the table and stood. “I’m going to check on Sebastian.”

  “He’s probably just fallen asleep,” Cassius said.

  I hoped so.

  “Something you—”

  I glared at him and he cleared his throat, making Hawk snort, not even trying to hide his amusement.

  “Something all of us should do,” Cassius finished.

  “That’s the plan,” I said. “I’m taking him this sandwich then going to bed. Good night.”

  His expression softened, verging on that look I hated so much. Why did he always see me as the weak, pathetic angel he’d saved? Why could I never put that nightmare behind me?

  Because it had been my own fault. I’d made a bad decision, first to go to the human realm by myself, then to keep healing those humans when I knew it would keep me weak. I never wanted to make a bad decision like that again, and yet I knew, if put in the same position, I would. I’d drain myself dry to save lives. I’d never been able to stop myself.

  Which meant I couldn’t allow myself to be put in that kind of position again. Ever.

  I marched to the door at the end of the hall and firmly knocked. I doubted Sebastian was modest, but it was always polite to give fair warning. “I brought you something to eat.”

  No answer.

  I strained to hear anything inside.

  Nothing.

  He probably had fallen asleep, and while it would be best if I returned the sandwich to the kitchen and went to bed as well, I couldn’t ignore the compulsion to ensure he was okay.

  I cracked open the door and peeked in. The lights were off and only a thin band of light from the barely open en suite door cutting into the room offered weak illumination. His bed was empty, the sheets still pulled up, and I could hear the soft rush of running water.

  “Sebastian?” I called. “Are you okay?”

  He still didn’t answer and my need to heal twisted tighter. I had to confirm he was okay and that there wasn’t anything else I could do to help him. He had, after all, saved my life. And I had no doubt we wouldn’t be able to get out of this mess without him.

  I certainly wouldn’t be able to be free of the leash spell… or my mating brand.

  The thought made my pulse race. It didn’t matter if he was angry at me, so long as he wasn’t hurt and could break the leash spell in the morning.

  I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. His bedroom wasn’t much bigger than his guestrooms and was done in the same white and blues as the rest of the apartment. Unlike the simple plain guestrooms, he had a large painting hanging on the far wall of a winter forest scape, a wide, masculine dresser with a stack of books, and two small wooden boxes on top, and a large bookshelf also crammed with books. More books sat on a bedside table and in a pile on the floor in front of it.

  I’d known he liked books — the man had a whole office with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves crammed with books — but it was always so easy to forget his scholarly nature with his brash flirtations.

  “Sebastian,” I called again, as I headed to his bathroom. “I brought you dinner.”

  Still no answer. Now I was really starting to worry.

  “Are you okay in there?” I knocked on the door and it creaked open a little wider.

  The air inside was humid. Mist had gathered on the large mirror above the sink and the glass wall of the large shower stall, but not enough to obscure my view of Sebastian’s incredible body.

  He stood with his back to me, his forehead pressed against the white tiles, the water rushing over his sleek muscles and the mesmerizing swirls of ink covering him. All of him. The ink encircled his neck, snaked down his spine, curled around one shoulder blade, and twisted on top of the other. A lattice of thin lines
accentuated the firm muscle of one butt cheek and trailed down the back of his thigh, while a thick line cut along the curve of his other hip and wrapped around his other thigh.

  My mouth went dry and my pulse picked up again for a completely different reason. He was breathtaking. I’d known he was. I hadn’t seen him fully naked, but I’d seen enough to know he was in as good a shape or better than any JP agent I’d worked with, but this… This was so much more than I expected. I ached just looking at him.

  Chapter 18

  Amiah

  My desire throbbed low within me, and I wanted to scream with the day’s frustrations. I needed to regain control of my emotions, but I didn’t know if I’d be able to do that, not while being trapped in this situation with Sebastian and now Hawk always around.

  No. The best plan was to get it out of my system. Surely if I released this pressure, I’d be able to think straight again. Hawk would be my best choice. He’d already offered. Except there was no guarantee he’d be discreet, and I wasn’t ready for everyone to know I’d invited him to my bed.

  I bit back a groan. There was no good way to deal with this.

  “Fucking hell,” Sebastian gasped, and I yanked my attention back to him. I hadn’t even realized my gaze had dropped to the floor. “What are you doing in my bathroom?”

  Heat rushed across my cheeks and I turned my back to him. I’d seen many naked men before and I had no doubt many women had seen Sebastian naked, but given what I desired, looking at him was inappropriate. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t pretend I was just an impartial physician. “I came to check on you.”

  “So you just decided to walk into my bathroom?”

  “You didn’t answer when I called.” I squared my shoulders, trying to draw on my cool professional persona and ignore my desires. “And you didn’t get anything to eat.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” he hissed. “I’m fine. I’ll get something to eat when I’m out.”

  “You’re not fine. You’re too pale.”

  “I’m supposed to be pale,” he shot back. “I’m winter fae.”

  “You know what I mean,” I said, shifting closer to the shower but managing to keep my back turned to him despite the urge to look… because I wanted to assess him, not ogle his gorgeous body. Really. “Just let me check you.”