“This is too m—” Declan cut himself off.
That’s right. You can’t say I can’t handle this when we had a hallway full of shifters watching. I was his mate. That made me second in the Pack hierarchy and someone that close to the top couldn’t afford to be weak.
He turned in my direction, probably feeling my flash of irritation through the mate bond since I didn’t bother even trying to hide it.
We had an audience. It would be helpful if he would get rid of it.
As if hearing my thoughts, he turned to the onlookers and without raising his voice, ordered everyone to clear the floor. Not just the hallway. The entire floor.
Clearly, his confidence in me was failing. But I tried not to let that get to me.
I blinked hard to clear the black spots in my vision. God I was tired.
Come on, Inarus. I’m here to help.
My arms shook from the effort of holding myself in place as I crawled across the floor into Inarus’ room. This was no hands-and-knees crawl. No, the jerk was forcing me to army crawl across the cold concrete floor barefoot and in yoga pants. Not my best look. And yeah, I’d been on the floor before Declan had ordered everyone out.
Not that we were actually alone. Without looking, I knew at least Dia and our Pack healers—Frankie and Annabeth—had stayed behind.
For someone on his death bed, Inarus’ mental strength was a hell of a lot stronger than I could have anticipated. I tried to tell myself that was a good thing but the stabbing sensation in my skull didn’t agree with me.
“Stop trying to reach him physically. You don’t need physical contact to get through to him.”
What the hell did she know?
Okay, obviously more then I did. I was such an idiot. She knew a hell of a lot more than I did when it came to this sort of thing. So why was I being so dense?
Probably because I really disliked her. Dammit, I hated when she was right. And she was probably right about this, but there was only one way to find out. I heaved an exasperated sigh and took a deep breath as I slid my back against the wall.
Another psychic force rammed into my skull and forced the air from my lungs. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought furiously to hold my mental shields. His psychic energy waged war against me. It hurt. God, it hurt.
“He’s too strong!” I gritted my teeth and pressed my back against the smooth surface of the wall. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have admitted he was stronger than I was but in this, he absolutely was. There was no denying it.
“He’s in a coma. Pull yourself together and reach out to him. He knows you. Trusts you—for some stupid reason.” The last was mumbled with clear annoyance.
My head throbbed. I wasn’t going to be able to stay here much longer. The strain was rapidly becoming too much and if Inarus knocked me unconscious, no one would be able to get to me.
Wouldn’t that be my luck?
“Come on. Come on. Think.” I needed to reach him on a psychic level. But that wasn't something I'd ever tried to do before. Hell, up until today I didn’t even realize I could reach him on a psychic level. I’d assumed that was something reserved for telepaths but according to Dia, all psykers could form mental connections with one another. Telepaths were the ones who could forge those same mental connections with non-psykers and also influence them.
I had no clue where to begin because this was not something we’d ever even considered covering in my training. Dia said it took an insane amount of trust to allow someone within your mental shields in order to communicate telepathically.
Lets hope Inarus trusted me enough to bring down his walls.
Eyes still closed, I focused on the telekinetic force battering against my skull and brushed my own mind against it. It was a fast and featherlight touch. The one you’d use when touching a pan that might still be hot.
For a split second, the pressure eased, but the moment of relief didn’t last. Inarus’ mind slammed into me full force.
Air whooshed out my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Aria?” Declan called to me.
It took a concentrated effort to turn my head toward his voice. Crouched in the doorway, he had lines of concern etched into his handsome face.
I tried to form words but my throat refused to cooperate. I opened and closed my mouth several times but nothing came out. My vision blurred. I struggled to keep my head up.
“Aria, focus on me. Listen to my voice. Do not pass out.” That was an order with the full weight of the Alpha behind it.
Declan’s words rattled my bones. He was my mate, not my Alpha, but whatever power he’d put into that order reverberated through me.
My head spun. How I'd managed to remain upright I didn’t know. The floor was looking awfully inviting right about now.
My connection to Declan through the mate bond was there, but it steadily became hazy. I needed to pull myself together, and fuck what Dia said because there was no way I was going to get through to Inarus without some sort of physical connection. I just wasn’t strong enough. Maybe if I’d had time to sleep and recover from todays excises but I doubted it.
Sitting here on the floor and staring at his bed just wasn’t going to cut it. Not in this instance.
Sucking in a lungful of air, I pushed myself onto my hands and knees. I braced myself for the onslaught I knew would come and mentally knocked on the door to Inarus’ mind.
The storm surging around me paused. I knocked again and inched my way closer to the bed.
Questions I couldn’t grasp filled in my mind. Echoes of his voice swirled around me. I pushed closer but then the pressure doubled down, dropping me to my stomach. Cold stone met my cheek and I lay there for a few minutes.
“Come on—” I groaned and pressed my forehead to the floor.
I knocked again. Nothing.
Sweat dripped down my hairline. Taking another moment to catch my breath, I lifted myself back up and stared at his still form.
I could do this. I was almost there.
Using my forearms, I dragged my body forward, ignoring the burn on my arms as they scraped across the floor. Blood dripped down in front of me. I reached up and touched my face.
A nosebleed. Great.
A noise behind me had me turning my head around. Declan pushed his way into the room only to be slammed back out by an invisible force.
For a moment, Inarus’ focus was off me and I was able to gain another foot.
“Do that again,” I shouted and wiped the blood from my nose with the back of my hand.
Without any hesitation, Declan pushed his way back into the room only to be thrown back out but it earned me another foot.
I was right beside the bed now. I just needed to pull myself up.
“Again!”
I didn’t watch this time. Declan growled low and guttural behind me and as soon as the pressure ebbed, I pulled myself up and grabbed Inarus’ cool, stubble roughened cheeks between the palms of my hands, leaving streaks of blood across his skin.
I screamed into his unconscious face, “Let me in!”
Everything froze.
It was so sudden I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was as if I were in the middle of a tornado. An invisible breeze swirled around the room, but where I sat beside Inarus on his bed, things were absolutely calm. A force field surrounded us. It shimmered and whirled and looked a lot like staring into water.
I could see Declan and Dia in the doorway but they were out of focus. It was the strangest thing.
There was a mental knock on my mind. It felt like a request for telepathic contact but it had a “taste.” Something familiar but also unknown. I knew it was Inarus. Who else could it be? But still, I hesitated.
The knock sounded again.
I let instinct take over and opened my mind to form a connection.
“Aria—”
Relief flooded through me.
“Inarus? Hey! You’re okay. You’re safe.”
Emotions flooded through my m
ind. Uncertainty. Fear.
My heart ached for what he must be going through.
“Do you remember what happened?”
A mental shake of his head.
“I remember Viola … pain … and then nothing.”
I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
“You were hurt. You’re safe now, in the Compound.”
There was a mental pause.
“Inarus?”
“My sister?”
“Also here. Safe. Worried about you. You won't let any of the healers near you.”
The tension in the room eased and my blurred surroundings slowly came back into focus.
“Why can't I wake up?”
“You were hurt. It was bad. Really bad. Frankie and Annabeth put you into an induced coma to give your body time to heal.”
“How long?”
“Almost three weeks.”
There was a shudder. “I need to wake up. Get Dia.”
I turned and located her in the crowded doorway. Frankie, Annabeth, Declan, Dia, Robert, and Brock all peered into the room with varying expressions but Dia’s was the easiest to decipher.
Trepidation.
"He needs you."
She didn't need to be told twice. She pushed past the others and took her place on the other side of Inarus’ prone body before resting a hand on his forearm.
“She's here.”
He mentally nodded. I didn't know how I knew that, but I felt the movement almost as though I'd seen it.
“Tell her to wake me up.”
I did as he'd asked, but as expected, she couldn't help. Today wasn't our day.
"As long as I have this on," she lifted her hand to show the spelled cuff, "I can't do anything with my telekinesis. I can't help him." Frustration bracketed her mouth. “He needs time to heal. He’ll wake up. He just needs more time.”
I didn’t know who she was trying to convince. Me or herself.
Either way, I told Inarus what she’d said and he didn’t take it well.
The room started doing that hazy tornado thing again and I was forced to cling to the bed or risk being thrown off.
Dia had to do the same. She gripped the headboard with all of her strength, her knuckles going bone white.
"You're going to have to do it,” she shouted.
Wind whipped my face. “What?”
“Tell him you’ll do it. Tell him you’ll pull him out.”
I had no idea what she was talking about but the storm inside the room was getting worse and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on, so I slammed my mind against his and mentally screamed that I would pull him out if he would just calm the fuck down!
And he did.
I released a breath and told him to hold on one minute. And then I whirled on Dia because I had no clue what she was asking me to do. I only knew I would promise Inarus the sun right now if it would calm him down so he could heal properly and not kill himself or anyone else.
"Me?"
"Of course you. Do you see another psyker in the room?"
"We can call—"
She shook her head before I could finish. “Inarus isn’t going to let anyone else into his mind. Pulling him into consciousness is an intimate act and it requires trust. He would kill Jason before he let him that close. The only other psyker who may have had a chance getting through was Aiden and well…” she trailed off.
Right.
Aiden was dead.
Great. This was just freaking great.
Exhaustion, both physical and mental, tried to drag me down.
“What do I need to do?" I asked, because really, what choice did I have?
She looked over her shoulder and nodded her head toward Declan. "You need to make him leave. This won't work with him here."
Declan folded his arms over his chest and assumed a 'try and make me' stance.
I really didn’t have the energy for the verbal battle that would ensue if I tried to kick Declan out right now. Assuming that was even possible. He was the Alpha and this was his territory. I had a feeling no one could get Declan to leave if he didn’t want to.
And he clearly didn’t want to.
“Why won't it work with him here?" It wasn't like he would interfere. At least I didn't think he would. Declan might not be Inarus’ biggest fan but he wouldn’t prevent me from helping him either.
If Declan had wanted Inarus dead, he wouldn’t be in the Pack’s infirmary to begin with.
"As I said, it's an intimate process. One your mate isn't going to like."
"All the more reason for me to stay.” There was no arguing when he used his Alpha voice.
"Just tell me what to do and we'll go from there."
Dia looked doubtful, but with one last glare directed toward Declan, she nodded and told me what had to be done.
And she was right. Declan wasn’t going to like this.
4
Forming a mental connection strong enough to pull Inarus out of his coma was more intimate than I could have imagined, and none of us were happy about it. Least of all, Inarus.
“Stop fighting me.”
“Get out of there.”
I gave a mental eye roll. “You’re the one who asked me to help you in the first place,” I reminded him.
“No, I wanted you to get my sister to help. I never asked you to invade every private corner of my mind!”
Urgh. Arguing with him was like arguing with a toddler. He just refused to see reason.
I couldn’t help where my mind wandered. I’d never poked around someone else’s mind before and it was … breathtaking. Like gazing at the stars on a clear night. Bright spots shone, each one signifying an emotion or memory in his past. The brighter the spot, the stronger the associated memory was.
His mind was like the night sky full of constellations.
I’d stumbled into two bright stars before Inarus pulled me back. Neither had been a big invasion of privacy. The first was a moment from his childhood. Eating an ice cream cone at the park while he watched his younger sister on a swing.
The second showed Inarus accepting an award in college. I’d experienced his pride in the moment as he strode across the platform to the podium.
“You went to college? What did you get your degree in?”
A not-so-gentle shove against my mind had me pulling back from the mental plane. “Fine.” I grumbled. “Message received.”
I wiped my forehead and blinked several times as my surroundings came back into focus.
Inarus lay unmoving in bed. His jet-black hair was sticking out at all angles and I had the insane urge to smack him upside the head.
Not long ago, I'd contemplated punching his sister the last time she'd been out cold too.
There was probably something wrong with me since I kept wanting to hurt people who were physically unable to hit me back.
Wrong of me...or maybe just smart on my part. Who knew. Who cared.
"He's fighting me at every turn. I can't help him wake up if he won't let me." I popped my neck and adjusted my position at the edge of the bed as I glowered down at him.
My butt was going numb. We'd been at this for twenty minutes already and we weren't making much progress. I’d stumbled into unimportant memories all while Inarus held me back from anchoring to the ones that would actually get him out of his own head.
I studied his still form. His skin was usually a sun-kissed bronze color but today he was pale and sickly, and God I was such a jerk because he was still recovering and I was fantasizing about hitting him.
Thankfully the paleness was the only real indication he was still recovering.
Frankie, or maybe Annabeth, had changed him out of his blood-stained and torn clothing when we'd first brought him in.
Now he wore a light gray cotton shirt and matching loose cotton pants. Not that I could see them right now. A white blanket was pulled over his hips and the head of his bed was lifted to a near forty-five-degree angle.
An IV fed fluids and nutrients into his left arm and a pulse oximeter and automatic blood pressure cuff monitored his vitals. Yes, he was pale, but his coloring had improved since yesterday.
Had he been awake, blue-grey eyes would have met mine. Eyes so clear it was like looking into the ocean.
But he wasn't awake. And at the rate we were going, that didn't look like it would be changing anytime soon.
I turned to Dia.
"What are you doing while you're in there?"
"Exactly what you told me to do. I'm trying to find anchor points to connect our minds but he keeps telling me to get out. I'm invading his personal space. Blah blah blah." I waved my hand in the air. "He's being a baby."
Communicating with someone mind to mind was personal. And the more I did it, the stronger Declan's irritation bloomed. His feelings on the matter vibrated down our mate bond, holding a neon sign that said, I do not approve.
I was going to have to deal with that later but for the time being, I pushed his emotions out of my mind. Getting Inarus out of this coma had to take priority.
Anchoring my mind to Inarus's may make him uncomfortable, but I was trying to do it as quickly as possible for both our sakes and he was dragging it out longer than it needed to be. Dia had explained what I needed to do. Find six strong memories filled with emotion between the two of us and anchor to those moments. I could only anchor to memories where I was the focus and I needed six if I was going to have any luck pulling him from his unconscious state.
It’d sounded easy enough while Dia was explaining it all but I was beginning to reconsider my first impression.
Dia scowled. "Are you paying attention to what you're anchoring to?"
I shrugged. "Not really. Why?" My goal was to get in and out as quickly as possible. What I anchored to in Inarus’ mind wasn't all that significant so long as I was in the memory.
She smacked herself in the face and then glowered at me like I was an idiot. "Don't you think that might be important?" Her voice was condescending and I fought the urge to lash out with my own verbal barrage.
I furrowed my brows and chanced a glance at Declan—who did everything he could to appear uninterested. No help there.
"No. Why would it be?"
She heaved an exasperated breath. "Let me explain this again. Slower so you can understand."
Forged by Fire: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Blood and Magic Book 6) Page 3