by Aileen Erin
“I’ll text her,” I said.
Not even thirty seconds later, the answer came. “She said yes, but she wants to get repaid for the Uber over. She’s short on funds. I’m sending her money now.”
“She can’t pay for an Uber?” Chris asked.
“No.” I didn’t realize how bad off she was, but that was something I could help with.
“How much can that cost?” Chris asked.
“Apparently, just shy of twenty bucks.”
“How much are you sending her?” Cosette asked.
“The reward I set up for anyone who found Tessa.” Also known as a lot of money. I’d been desperate, and I had my inheritance. Which was sizable.
The phone rang, and I picked it up.
“There were way too many zeros in that transfer. I’ll take out what my Uber is and send you back—”
“No.”
She was quiet. “What? I don’t understand. I told you I only needed $19.47. That’s the round trip fare. I checked the pricing from the address you sent. Why would you—”
“Want me to send more?” Because I was happy to send her the $19.47 in addition to what I’d already sent.
“No. Damn it. I don’t need your money or your handout. I told you. Money’s tight. I don’t have a car. If you’re in a rush, then the bus is out. I need to be repaid for the Uber. That’s it. I’ll send the rest back—”
“Don’t.” I cut her off. This wasn’t something that I was arguing about. “It’s not a handout. That was the reward I set up for finding Tessa. You found her. You earned it. I’m sorry I didn’t pay you when you first called me. I just didn’t think about it until…I just didn’t think about it.”
She was quiet for a while. “I didn’t do it for a reward.”
“I know.” I knew she hadn’t been expecting anything but the twenty bucks.
“But I didn’t do anything to find her. Eli set the whole thing up.”
“I’m aware, but I’m not sending him money. He doesn’t need it. You do. So, take it. He probably wants you to have it.”
She was quiet again. “You might have just changed my life.”
“You saved mine when you found her.” It wasn’t a lie. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah.” She sounded a little dazed for a second. “Uber just pulled up.” Her voice was stronger now. “Be there in ten.”
“Don’t use the buzzer. I’m sending Chris to wait for you. She’s asleep in my lap, and I don’t want to wake her up. I just need you to look at her. Something’s happening with the spell that’s on her. It’s probably a good sign, but something feels off.”
“Okay. Don’t panic. If I can’t figure it out, I’m sure Claudia will know something.”
“We’ll keep her in the loop. See you soon.” I hung up and looked at Cosette.
“I’m texting Claudia now. I don’t want to call Van if I don’t have to. Georgine said he was…busy at court. But I will if we need him.”
Cosette texted back and forth with Claudia, Chris paced for five minutes before leaving, and I sat there holding on to Tessa.
I tried not to get too excited or scared. I didn’t know why the spell to hide Tessa was thinning, but I was pretty sure that my being around her was helping. Assuming that the spell thinning was a good thing.
Also, the food probably helped her. She ate a lot, and her color was better. So, that had to mean all of this was good.
It sounded like Tessa might not have done much other than school. Which meant she must’ve spent a lot of time in the apartment. Being out of that apartment had to be helping, too.
And hopefully, she hadn’t taken those pills since she got home from the hospital. Even if she had, she’d been at my apartment for a few hours before she fell asleep. Which meant her next dose was late. And the five she was supposed to take tonight weren’t happening.
I stared at Cosette, and she stopped texting for a second to look at me.
“Are you still texting Claudia?” I asked.
“No. Everyone. I stupidly texted the whole group. I thought if I was texting Claudia, I might as well let everyone know.” Her phone buzzed, and she let out a frustrated sigh. “And now Axel’s texting. He wants to come tonight. I’m trying to tell him that his wolf can’t handle it, but he’s not taking no.”
“Tell him to come.”
“Really?” She said it as if I’d suggested something crazy. “I thought his control wasn’t good enough, and after your performance at dinner, your control isn’t good enough for your own wolf. You can’t help him.”
“But you could. You’re Lunar Court. You can control his wolf.”
“I could.” She sat on the pouf and shrugged like controlling someone’s wolf was no big deal. “You’re right. But I don’t enjoy using my will like that. It…it can be addictive.”
Well, that was good to know. “That’s why you let me break the plate.”
“Two plates. Yes. I don’t want to turn into my mother. It’s one of my fears. So, I don’t want to even be tempted with…” She glanced down at Tessa. “She learned French for you.”
I looked down at my mate. “She did.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“What are you? My therapist.” I was teasing her, and she’d changed the subject. Abruptly. But I got that she didn’t want to talk about her mother. At least not right now.
“No. Just curious.”
“I guess I was shocked at first, and then a little sad for a fraction of a second. I wanted to be the one to teach her and that someone could steal that from me…” I sighed, letting that anger go again. “And then I heard her explanation, and I was happy. Because it meant that she was still thinking of me even when the best tried to fight against us.”
Her heartbeat was still steady, but something was off about this. I couldn’t stop thinking that we should be doing something. “She never sleeps like this. She moves a lot in her sleep, and she would never be able to sleep with us talking.”
“It’s a healing sleep. At least, I think that’s what it is. I think she’s taking power from you. I’m not sure, but…”
If that’s all this was, then I’d be happy about that. “She can take whatever she needs from me. I don’t mind.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
The door opened, and Chris walked in, followed by a tip-toeing Samantha.
“Hey,” she whispered. She glanced down at Tessa, and her eyes went wide. “Whoa.”
“What do you see? Is our bond there? Can you see if the—”
Samantha held up a hand. “Shut up. Just give me a second.”
Cosette scooted over as Samantha knelt in the small space between the pouf and the couch. Samantha held her hands a couple of inches above Tessa’s body. She ran them from her head to her toes and back up. After a minute, she sat back on her heels, dropping her hands into her lap.
“What? Just tell me.”
Samantha was slowly shaking her head as if she didn’t like what she was going to say. “I didn’t see it when I bumped into her on the street. It was so quick, and she was freaking out and—”
“She’s dying.” The words were out of my mouth before I even knew I was going to say them.
“What?” Cosette’s question was half-screamed. “What do you mean? I thought it was a healing—”
“No. This isn’t a healing sleep.” Samantha kept her gaze on mine. “This is so much worse.”
I shoved down the fear and the anger and everything else until all I felt was a calm, cool well of power. “What do I do?”
“Break the spell.”
Great. I’d be happy to. But that was the question that we’d been struggling with ever since she’d been taken. “How?”
“I don’t know.” Samantha tapped her fingers on her leg for a second and then whistled. The sound was so loud that it felt like it went through my soul. She shook her head as if whatever she’d been trying hadn’t worked. “Have you tried kissing her?”
“
She’s asleep, and she doesn’t remember me.” I wanted her to want to kiss me or at least be conscious for it. “No, I haven’t tried—”
“She’s not asleep. She’s dying. Fix it,” Samantha said. “Kiss her.”
Fuck it. I was supposed to kiss her, so I’d kiss her. I’d done it countless times before.
Cosette and Samantha moved to the far side of the pouf to watch with Chris. I didn’t want to do this with an audience, but I was doing it. I needed Tessa to live.
I slid out from under Tessa and pressed my lips to hers, but she didn’t wake up.
I stood and turned to Cosette. “Who do I need to kill to break the spell?”
“You can’t kill my mother.” Cosette crossed her arms. “You’d die.”
My knuckles started popping, and I felt the shift start. “I can try.” My voice was more growl than not.
“You’d die!” Cosette kept yelling at me, but I didn’t care. Either she would take me to her mother, or I would find someone else who would. Meredith was living next door to the entrance to the Lunar Court’s underhill. I could figure it out.
“There were thirteen of you,” Samantha said, but she was talking so softly that I could barely hear her under all the yelling.
“What?” I turned to Samantha, trying to shove the wolf back down so that I could talk to her.
“In the spell that linked you all together. Thirteen. Right?”
I shook my head, not because she was wrong but because we’d been over this. “We tried a spell—multiple spells—all together before. It didn’t work.”
“But you didn’t have her. Now you do. You have to do something now. Tonight. The kiss didn’t work. So, try one of the spells again, but with her.”
“Van!” Cosette yelled.
Van appeared. “We’ve been over this. I’m not a taxi, Coco.” His sword was in his hand. Blood dripped down its blade. “I told you not to call me again unless it was an absolute emergency and—”
“She’s dying,” I said.
The sword vanished from Van’s hand. “What? That can’t be right.”
“We need everyone in Texas.” I picked up Tessa’s limp body and focused on the sound of her breath going in and coming out. In and out. She was alive. I had her. I would fix this. “Now. Please.”
Van gave me a slow nod. He knew—he understood everything that was on the line right now. “Everyone hold on to me.”
“Wait,” Samantha said. “I can’t—”
“Everyone.” Van’s command was sharper than his sword and left zero room for argument.
We each grabbed onto a bit of his arm. Instantly, the world toppled and turned, but I held onto Tessa.
The three times that I’d traveled with Van, I thought I’d die. But this time, I didn’t feel a thing.
We appeared in Texas in front of our house. Mine and Tessa’s. The one she hadn’t seen before.
“I’ll be back,” Van said, and he disappeared.
He came back a few minutes later with Shane, River, Elowen, and Kyra from the Sanctuary. Then, Beth and Blaze. Then Lucas and Claudia.
Somewhere among all of it, Axel came out of the house and knelt beside us. If he had questions, he didn’t ask them. We were too busy trying to save Tessa’s life to explain, and I didn’t have any words.
Claudia threw her bag on the ground beside us and started digging out supplies. The other witches joined her—including Samantha—quickly prepping for a spell. The fey huddled together, discussing magic. And there were werewolves just standing around.
I sat on the ground, cradling Tessa to me. She was breathing. Her heart was beating. It didn’t feel like she was dying. It didn’t feel real that this could be happening now. But Samantha wouldn’t lie about this.
Something that we’d done had set this off. Maybe even being around her had done it. Or maybe it was always going to end like this.
But if she died tonight, I would follow her. I wouldn’t have time for thought or regret or revenge.
I was her True Mate. I didn’t doubt that anymore. I didn’t wonder if I deserved her because that didn’t matter anymore.
Once bonded, when one passed from this realm, the other followed.
There was some comfort in that.
At least we’d always be together. In this realm or the next.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DASTIEN
It didn’t take long for the witches to set up the spell. Minutes really. The last time I was inside a salt circle, I told myself I’d never again participate in another spell. But here I was, about to be inside another.
I turned my back on all of this when I walked away from them last time. I walked away on the new council, on my friends, on my responsibilities. I walked away from everything except the pain and loss I was feeling.
And now I was back here, asking them to help me again. As if I hadn’t abandoned them.
I knew they understood why I’d walked away, but as I watched them rushing around to set it up after dropping whatever it was they were doing to come here, I knew I owed everyone an apology.
That would come. After I had Tessa safe.
I still had Tessa draped across my lap. Samantha sat beside us, watching Tessa in case something changed. The candles around us were already lit. Now Claudia was walking around us with a jar of salt, surrounding us in a circle of white crystals while whispering the beginning of her spell. Just before she completed the full salt circle, Samantha stepped out.
“I’ll be watching,” she said, and she went to sit beside Axel.
The rest of them surrounded us. When Claudia was done, she nodded to the rest.
They knelt as one around us, and each slashed their palms with a tiny dagger.
Blood dripped down the daggers as they stabbed them into the salt circle.
With a slap of flesh against flesh, they joined hands. Their mouths moved together, saying the words. Magic filled the circle like too much static.
The candles, the moon, the stars were all the light we had to see by, but it was more than enough. The moon wasn’t full, but we would need more than the power of the moon if we were going to break the magic on Tessa.
The static feeling grew until it felt like tiny needles zapping along my skin.
I watched Tessa, but there was no change in her. One look at Samantha told me that she didn’t see anything different either.
This wasn’t going to work.
My skin grew cold as I realized that we needed something more. Something bigger. We needed a magical intervention from God or at least an archon.
“We need Eli,” I said.
“We tried calling for him,” Cosette said. “And he hasn’t shown up.”
“You can’t trust an archon,” Samantha said. “I know he’s helped you before, but you can’t rely on any of the archons.”
“No, you really can’t,” Cosette said.
Tessa was cradled in my arms, and I pressed my forehead to hers, willing her to wake up. “She was fine. She was eating. I don’t understand what happened. Did I do something to—”
“No. Being with you made her stronger. She’s fighting the magic,” Van said. “Or more accurately, I believe her wolf is fighting the magic, but it’s taking everything from her. There must be a seed inside Helen’s magic that kills the wolf or makes the wolf submit. We need that gone. She can’t survive without her wolf anymore.”
“I’m breaking out of the circle, but the rest of you need to keep holding hands,” Claudia said. “I have one more spell to try.”
There was a hush, and then Claudia started her rhyming spell. She walked around the outside of the circle. She held a cup underneath each pair of joined hands, pricking their fingers and dropping the blood into a cup as she spoke.
The candles grew brighter, and the flames flashed higher, but I didn’t feel the fizzle of magic along my body like I had with the first spell. And it certainly wasn’t doing anything to Tessa. She was still sleeping, but her breaths were shallow as if t
he weight of the magic was too heavy on her chest.
I set her on the ground and laid down next to her. I watched her chest to make sure I didn’t imagine it, but with every breath, she moved less and less. The time between breaths grew more and more apart. And then they stopped.
“Stop! Stop whatever you’re doing. It’s not working. She stopped breathing.” I pressed my ear to her chest, but I didn’t hear any thumping of her heart. It’d stopped pumping.
I had a second of sheer terror—a fraction of a second—before I started CPR.
God. We’d been here before. I’d been here before. But I didn’t want to be back here.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Breath. Breath.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Breath. Breath.
One. “Someone do something! Help me!”
Three.
God. Please. I can’t lose her now.
Five.
Breath. Breath.
I heard the murmurs of my friends as they debated what to do, and none of it mattered because I had to keep her blood flowing and oxygen moving in and out of her lungs.
“Bite her.” Chris’s voice was firm, clear, decisive. “Bite her now.”
I didn’t stop what I was doing, but I heard what Chris said. “What? You hated that I bit her without permission. I—”
“Bite her,” Claudia said. “Her wolf needs you. Renew your bond. It’s the only thing left to try. Renew the bond and feed her your strength. And while you’re doing that, we’ll renew the spell that linked us all together. With all of us here, we should be able to defeat whatever magic this is.”
Renew our bond. Cement it again.
I hated myself for taking away her choice. I swore I’d never bite anyone ever again, and yet, here I was. I’d do anything to have her back.
Last time I nearly killed her. This time maybe I could save her.
Save us.
I bit my hand, and then let the blood drip into her mouth.
And then I bit her hand.
I kept doing CPR. Kept hoping. Kept waiting to feel the bond slip into place.