“You’re royalty.” She knew it deep in her bones. That they would do such a terrible thing to him…what would they do to her if they ever found her?
“So are you.” He straightened, his lips tightening. “And they won’t stand for either one of us disobeying the elders. When they find us—and they will find us—we’ll have no choice but to fight. They’ll either demand we return or try to eliminate us. Only together might we be strong enough to escape our fate.”
Chapter Two
Xander reluctantly loosened his hold on Annora, already missing her as she pulled away, and the three of them began to walk back toward the house. He watched Annora carefully, furious that he couldn’t do anything to help her. She was so focused on getting Logan back, she was physically and mentally pulling away from him and the rest of the guys in the process.
Every day she became more distant. The harder he tried to hold on to her, the faster she slipped from his grasp, and it was crushing him.
His gryphon ruffled his feathers at the thought of losing her, and he wished he knew how to fix everything. The only thing he could do was train her and wait and hope it wasn’t too late to save Logan. Xander very much feared if they failed to rescue the kitsune, Annora would never forgive herself.
He glanced at Eddie over her head. While he wasn’t sure he could trust the guy, Xander didn’t doubt the man would do anything for Annora, his devotion to her clear to anyone who looked. For now, it was good enough for Xander.
As long as Annora was willing to put up with the man, he could stay.
As they approached the house, Xander nudged her arm. “He’s right about one thing…you need to heal before you go inside. If Mason catches sight of your bruises, he’s going to lose his shit again.”
They made the mistake—although only once—of allowing Mason to accompany them to the stadium to help train Annora. When Eddie went after her hard, pushed her for more, repeatedly putting her on the ground, Mason completely lost it. He transformed into his troll, stomping around for nearly an hour, determined to rip Eddie’s head off.
Only Annora was able to calm him, and the man attached himself to her side for the rest of the day, roaring at anyone who got too close. Xander wished he could allow himself to lose control like that, give in to the near-fanatical need to tuck her away someplace safe as his beast urged, but it wouldn’t help either of them.
Instead, he watched her get the crap beaten out of her day after day, his gut churning with acid. He couldn’t sleep at night, could barely function when she was out of his sight. In no time at all she’d become everything to him.
And he was afraid if anything else happened to any of the guys, she would shatter.
Annora sighed, and he gave her a smile of encouragement and held out his hand. “Heal. You’re tethered to me. My touch will keep you from slipping into the afterworld.”
“She’s never going to learn to do it herself if she keeps using you as a crutch,” Eddie grumbled, more in protest than jealousy. “You’re not always going to be around to protect her.”
Over my dead body.
“Maybe, maybe not, but I’m here now.” When Annora accepted his hand and smiled up at him, he silently vowed to do everything in his power to keep her safe.
He hadn’t been there for her last time—and it cost them Logan and broke her heart.
He would not fail her again.
* * *
Annora squeezed Xander’s hand, grateful for his silent support. It had been a week since she visited the afterworld, and she missed it, her body actually aching, her skin tingling as she fought the pull. Being near the guys was the only thing that made it better, gave her even a fraction of peace and made her forget for a few minutes.
But she didn’t deserve it.
She was afraid if she allowed herself to feel anything but anger, she would drown in her loss and pain and never surface again.
She couldn’t abandon Logan that way.
She wouldn’t.
He was counting on her, and she was determined not to let him down again.
“Pulling on the afterworld is a muscle memory, and the more you do it, the easier it will become.” Eddie came to a stop in front of her, his blue eyes intense as he gazed down at her. “Most phantoms learn the skills when they’re young. In truth, most can’t do more than just touch the other side. Very few can actually visit the afterworld. They just aren’t strong enough. Some don’t even try for fear they’ll never be able to return.”
Late at night, when she couldn’t sleep, she played with the afterworld, watching the particles fill her room, and once even called some of the black butterflies over to watch them dance and chase each other, ignoring the fact that they were carnivorous bugs that fed on the flesh of the dead and dying. She didn’t say anything to the others because she knew the guys would bust a nut over her practicing on her own.
They wanted to shackle her powers, afraid she would be pulled into the afterworld and end up trapped beyond their reach. Yet for some reason she felt comfortable in the afterworld. Maybe it was because she’d visited so many times as a child, but the other world no longer held any fear for her.
The real world had more than enough monsters to fill her nightmares.
She studied Eddie, not sure why he didn’t spill her secret.
Maybe now that he was no longer living in the afterworld, he couldn’t sense her intrusion anymore, but she quickly dismissed that idea as ludicrous.
Right?
She narrowed her eyes on Eddie and saw him stiffen slightly. “You were stronger in the afterworld,” she accused.
“Everyone is stronger in the afterworld,” he answered smoothly, not missing a beat.
Annora stubbornly shook her head, knowing she was on the right track, and poked him in the chest. “It took something out of you to assume physical form again, didn’t it? You’re weaker.”
The lines around his eyes tightened slightly, as if she just questioned his masculinity. She saw the debate in his eyes over whether to tell her the truth or not, and she placed her hands on her hips. “Spill it.”
“The transition weakened me.” He kept his face expressionless. “I need more time in the human world to gain my strength back.”
“Because of me.” Everything inside her went cold, the air freezing in her lungs. “You didn’t take the shape of a ferret to trick me,” she murmured, the truth taking shape in her mind. “You were scattered in the afterworld. You could only take the shape of small forms because you were trying to pull yourself together. You came early to save me.”
He gave a negligible shrug, like it wasn’t a big fucking deal that he risked his very soul to save her. “You needed me.”
Xander immediately jumped on the only question that mattered to him. “If they come for her, are you strong enough to fight?”
Eddie lifted his chin, his jaw tightening, dark smoke rising from his skin. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“But you’d get stronger if you went into the afterworld, wouldn’t you?” It was a hunch, and she assumed she was right when his eyes went blank.
“No, only time will cure me.”
Even Xander snorted at the lie, but when she went to shove Eddie in the chest and force him into the afterworld, Xander tightened his hold on her hand. “If you enter the afterworld with him in his weakened state, he won’t be able to conceal your location. If your father senses you, he’ll hunt you down. Eddie made the right choice. If he can heal on his own, let him.”
Annora yanked her hand away from him, her fury surging wildly. “Stop making decisions for me.”
Xander’s teal eyes widened slightly, his white hair bristling, as if the gryphon’s feathers in the other world stood on end, and his face darkened. “If your father is as powerful as Eddie claims, he will easily plow through us to get to you. None of us will let you go without a fight. If you don’t care about that, think of Logan before you do anything you can’t take back. If they find you and take
you from us, he’s as good as dead.”
She flinched, agony like a gaping wound opened up in her chest, as if he’d physically sliced into her with his talons, leaving her feeling gutted. That he would think she was capable of abandoning them stole the very breath from her lungs. “I would never risk him, or any of you.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He reached for her, his teal eyes sad.
She held up a hand, unable to bear being touched right now. She paced away from them, stopping at the bottom step leading up to the house. While she might not be able to help Logan, she could do something for Eddie.
Before she had a chance to doubt herself, she reached for the afterworld. Magic from the human realm flared around her, exposing secrets and spells, until she could even see the souls of the people around her, and their animal counterparts.
Dark particles began to rise from her skin as she funneled more of the afterworld through her. As she absorbed the particles, the bruises and aches in her body faded, the knots in her muscles eased. The particles clung to her, begging her to play with the darkness, an invisible current tugging at her hair and clothes, but she resisted the pull.
“Holy shit.” Eddie’s whisper drew her back from the edge.
Reminded her of her purpose.
She cupped her hands, carefully gathering the dust-like particles, and turned to face Eddie. Before she could doubt the wisdom of her plan, she blew the particles directly in his face, engulfing him in a cloud that left him no choice but inhale the darkness.
He immediately began to wheeze and hack. Ignoring them both, she stomped into the house, taking little satisfaction in slamming the door behind her.
Calling upon the particles wasn’t as hard as trying to control them. Her head throbbed as the beginning of a headache built behind her eyes and exhaustion crept over her, as if giving him the particles instead of reabsorbing them had taken something out of her.
As soon as she entered, Mason spun from the stove and scanned her from head to toe, taking in all the details. Only when he was satisfied that she was whole and without a scratch did he grunt a welcome.
He lifted the plate next to him and carefully pulled off the lid to reveal mounds of breakfast food. Ever since she was taken from the woods under his care, he’d been hovering and feeding her every chance he got.
She was trying to be understanding and gentle, but she missed the old way of things.
I want my friends back, dammit.
She pushed aside her annoyance, tolerating his need to coddle her. She’d give him one more day, then she was going to kick his ass. She forced herself to smile and accepted the plate…then nearly grunted. The damned thing had to weigh at least five pounds. “Thank you.”
When she would’ve turned away and scurried to her room, he cleared his throat. “I’ll be walking you to class this morning.”
He sounded nervous, like it was a date or something, and her annoyance with him faded, her smile turning more natural. “I’d like that. Give me a few minutes to get ready.”
But as she placed her foot on the bottom step, yelling erupted from the basement. She hesitated for a second, the impulse to walk away so strong she actually took another step, then she sighed and retraced her footsteps until she was facing the basement door.
Sweat broke out between her shoulder blades, her heart began to pound so hard against her ribs she was having trouble catching her breath. Even though she knew nothing in the basement would hurt her—that she could leave any time she wanted—it took a concentrated effort for her to function past the paralyzing fear that wanted to take root.
Logan was trapped underground somewhere because of her. She couldn’t afford the weakness of being afraid. Her fear of her uncle had gradually faded to rage over the past week, and her anxiety turned into determination.
It didn’t matter where her uncle went to ground. She would rip the earth apart until she found the rat bastard and make him pay.
For every wound her uncle inflicted on Logan, she would bring him back from the dead just so she could kill him again.
More yelling erupted, interrupting her murderous musings and annoying the ever-loving crap out of her. Her anger surged forward, a familiar friend that never went away anymore, and tiny particles swirled around her as she yanked open the door and stomped down the stairs, her plate of food balanced precariously in her hand. That she was losing control, summoning the afterworld unconsciously couldn’t be a good thing, but at the moment she didn’t give a shit.
Ever since Terrance and his brother appeared on her stoop a week ago, they hadn’t stopped squabbling. She wanted to give them time to work out their differences, but their constant bickering was going to make her lose her ever-loving mind.
Terrance stood beside the bed, his hands on his hips, glaring down at his sickly brother. But she could see the exhaustion and helplessness underneath his fierce facade.
“Enough!” When Terrance turned toward her, she shoved her plate of food at him. “Go get ready for class. School starts in an hour.”
He automatically accepted the plate and turned to go, so dejected and beaten down he didn’t even protest, and she swallowed the rest of her sharp words. It hurt to see him so broken after everything he’d sacrificed.
She and Kevin remained silent until Terrance trudged up the stairs, the door softly snicking shut behind him.
“You can keep your pity to yourself. Whatever you’re going to say isn’t going to change anything.” The sullen kid lying on the bed crossed his arms and turned his head away from her.
The kid was right. Nothing she said would reach the stubborn fool, so she didn’t try.
“You blame your brother for saving you.” Annora turned away from the sulking boy and curled her nose up at the stink permeating the basement. It was almost worse than when her uncle turned off the toilet in her cell when she refused to obey him. “And you won’t get any pity from me. You did this to yourself. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
That caught his attention—if the way he stiffened was any indication. “He should’ve left me to die.”
Annora snorted at the absurdity. “You should know your brother better than that. I’ve only met him a few times, and even I know he would never abandon you.”
At least the kid had enough shame to hunch his shoulders, then muttered under his breath, “He’d be better off without me.”
“Oh, you won’t get an argument from me. You’re weak, wasting away, allowing your self-pity to destroy what little remains. After everything he sacrificed for you…he deserves better.” She crossed her arms and glared at him, pleased when his dull brown eyes turned spiteful. “But what happens to lone wolves?”
The kid looked at her silently, refusing to speak.
“I mean, everyone knows his involvement in procuring the drugs. They’re not going to welcome him with open arms. Even if they do accept him into a pack, he’ll never be happy, never be complete. He’ll never rise above being a virtual slave, a punching bag for the rest of them.”
Using her foot, she nudged the clothes and rotten food scattered on the floor, disgusted by the mess. “Even I kept my cell better than this,” she muttered in distaste.
She thought she would have flashbacks being underground again, but the comfortable room was big and spacious, taking up the whole span of the house. The bedroom barely took up a quarter of the area, the rest of the basement cluttered with training equipment and sparring mats. Windows lined the top edges of the room, admitting streaks of sunlight across the floors and walls.
“Your cell?” he asked tentatively.
She shook off her stray thoughts, the tightness in her chest easing until her breath no longer caught every few seconds. “Yup, my uncle decided I could be of use to him, so he trapped me in an underground prison for ten years.” She shrugged at the horror darkening the kid’s face. “I survived, but I don’t think your brother will without you.”
His face shut down again, and she stifled th
e urge to smack him silly. “You know what happens to lone wolves. Without a pack, they eventually go completely wolf. Is that what you want for him? To have him be hunted down and slaughtered? Are you honestly that selfish?” She leaned forward, yanking the blanket off the bed, completely fed up with him, the wave of sweaty warm air nearly making her eyes water. “Get your head out of your ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You did this to yourself. Pretend to give a fuck. If not for yourself, at least for him.”
Kevin sat up in bed, his face turning a mottled red, his body so emaciated, she shuddered at seeing him move like a freaking skeleton wearing skin.
“You don’t think I know what he sacrificed for me?” he snarled. “I’m a liability to him. I always have been. I thought with the drug…” Kevin laughed bitterly. “Without my wolf, I’m nothing.”
Her anger deflated.
She could understand doing anything to help the guys, even sacrificing herself to save them. “You—”
“Just tell me if I’ll ever get my wolf back.” He stared up at her in defiance, a shard of hope lurking in his eyes.
But she couldn’t give him what he wanted.
“You might not have your wolf, but you’re not human. You may eventually gain your extra senses and strength back. You can live a full life, which is more than what you had the day before.”
His eyes dropped in defeat, the hope burned to ash, and the last bit of life drained out of him. “I’d be useless, prey to every other supernatural.”
“Not useless. You can—”
“Sit behind some desk?” he asked in revulsion, grabbing the blanket to cover himself again.
Shackled to the World: A Phantom Touched Novel Page 2