Her high, thin scream lifted into the air and then she was gone along with the Kalona.
Morgan swayed as she stared at the dark, gaping doorway.
And then Lucian was there, his strong arms pulling her back against his chest and supporting her, his urgent voice in her ear, “You have to close it, Morgan. Don’t let go until the doorway is closed.”
Trembling with icy fire of the power racing through her veins, Morgan struggled to hold it at recoverable level. “I don’t think…” her teeth chattered with the cold, “…I can.”
Lucian’s arms tightened around her. “Yes, you can, you got this. I’m right here with you. You do what you have to. I won’t let it sweep you away.”
Giving a jerky nod, Morgan grabbed the crumbled door and began the work to recreate it. Power swelled and raged through her as tears for Nany-hi coursed down her face. There had been no way to save her first mother’s spirit. All she could do now was close up the gateway.
With the door repaired, Morgan put everything she had into it until it finally closed and sealed shut. The shadow flames flickered and went out. The outline of the door glowed bright white and the whole thing collapsed and was gone.
The cougar claw disintegrated in her hand and the vice came back to fight the beating of her heart.
“Pull your power in now, a little at a time,” Lucian said, his voice low.
Ignoring the stuttering in her chest, tuning out the continued sounds of lower and mid-level demons being banished and the snarls of Lucy ripping through yet more demons, Morgan focused on Lucian’s voice and only his voice until she could finally release her power. Sagging, Morgan’s body went limp. Lucian didn’t loosen his grip.
Through suddenly heavy lids, she watched as the hounds, or what was left of the pack, turned away from the fight and melted into the shadows. Sarah circled a large swath of mid-level demons. The frozen brand that was the locket pressed down on Morgan’s heart and her breath wheezed. Lucian said something anxiously, but Morgan couldn’t make it out.
A little farther away, Isobel took in the rest of the mid-levels and two upper-level demons. The combined cries from all of the demons as they were sent back to Underworld filled the night. Damien and Jameth were glowing blurs as they removed the remaining lower-level demons.
Lucian’s hand was at her neck, grabbing the chain and ripping the locket away. And then there was silence in the night and in her chest. The world went dark.
MORGAN STOOD IN the swirl of white light and squinted into the brightness. It was peaceful here, the silence pleasant rather than heavy. The air weightless and warm. And best of all, safe. She had never felt as safe as she did in that moment. The sense of the Higher Powers filled her, not their direct presence, but they were around and Morgan knew where she was.
The light dimmed a fraction, enough that she didn’t have to squint and a smile broke across her face as the person she had so desperately wanted to see, the one she’d almost thrown the world to the wind for, stood in front of her.
“Heya, Morgs.”
She threw herself into his embrace with a something between a laugh and a sob. Jake stroked her hair and chuckled. “You’ve changed. You didn’t used to be so demonstrative.”
“I learned holding back only deprives people of things like this.” Her arms loosened and she stepped back, a ripple of unease sliding across the perfect moment. “Wait, you’re…am I… Oh, no.”
Jake placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay, Morgs. I’m dead, but you aren’t. I’ve just been hanging around here waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“You.” He grinned and she noticed for the first time that his hair wasn’t scraggly and his face didn’t hold the sorrow or scars it once had. His gray eyes sparkled with a relaxed openness she’d never seen in them. “They told me you might pass through here and offered to let me wait. I can’t stay long; I’ve been waiting longer than I should.”
“I’m just glad to see you at all.” Morgan ran her fingers through her hair and smoothed her clothes, mainly to check if she was all there rather than because she was worried about how she looked. “If I’m not dead, then why am I here?”
“You kinda died from what I heard,” Jake said as if it was no big deal. “When you get back, have Lucian or Damien take that locket and drop it in a volcano or something.”
“The locket? Why? The Kalona is gone.”
“They said it’s connected to his power and that’s why you’re here. The power that’s linked to the locket was stopping your heart. As long as you were grounded by the Cherokee magic, it couldn’t touch you. Once that cougar claw was destroyed by so much power flowing through it to close the doorway, you weren’t grounded anymore and, well,” he motioned toward her, “here you are.”
“But I’m not dead?”
“Nah, Lucian started CPR while Damien started the request to heal you. Then Lucy came over and practically sat on you while glowing white and your heart started again. You’ll be waking up in a little while and I have to go soon.” Jake ran a hand through his still long hair. “I tell you what, it’s been frustrating as hell to watch all of this and not be able to help. Some weird shit, too. I never really thought, wasn’t sure…guess it’s all good now.”
Morgan couldn’t stop the tears from rising, she wasn’t ready to wake up, to say goodbye again. “I have so much to tell you; so much I should have trusted you with a long time ago.”
Jake held up a hand to stop her. “Tell me about it when you see me again.”
“When I see you again?” What did that mean?
“You didn’t think the Higher Powers would let me wait here for you if we were never going to see each other again.” He leaned close and kissed her on the forehead before stepping back. “Not all souls who return are channels or dark angels, and not all souls who follow each other are sodales in aeternum.”
“Wait!” Morgan called as he turned and walked away and the light brightened.
Morgan woke slowly and in too much comfort. Damn it, she was in bed again. Her eyes opened to the familiar room in Lucian’s house and the tiny Rainbow Dash sitting on the nightstand next to Jake’s flag, now encased in a flag display box. Love filled her heart until it burned her eyes and a tear trickled onto her nose.
Lucian’s fingers trailed over the side of her face and she rolled to face him. His eyes searched hers. “You okay?”
Nodding, she buried her face against his chest. “I love you. No, that doesn’t seem enough. I wish I could say it better or express it better.”
He pulled her into an embrace. “I wish I could do the same.”
“You do with every action.” Wriggling free of his arms, she sat up and wiped her face. “We did it.”
Lucy, lying at the foot of the bed, scooched forward on her stomach until she was lying on Morgan’s feet. Morgan ran her hand over the dog’s fur, offering comfort and taking it at the same time.
“We did.” Lucian too sat up and scratched the dog. “Unfortunately, we did all of it.”
“Pandora’s loose.” Morgan couldn’t find it in herself to be afraid. Too much had happened. Pandora was another challenge, one that would be dealt with in the future. For now, there was something else she needed to do. “I need to see Tara.”
Lucian crooked a grin. “I figured you would. At least give yourself a few days to recover.”
“Recover?” Morgan absently rubbed her chest, her memory of meeting Jake vivid in her mind. “The locket stopped my heart.”
“Yes.” Lucian tried to keep the strain out of his voice. It wasn’t easy. Morgan’s heart stopping as he held her, the image of her lying lifeless on the ground would haunt him for the rest of his lives. “Lucy was faster than all of us.”
Morgan smiled at Lucy, again thankful for the dog’s presence in her life. Leaning into Lucian, she asked, “Where is the locket?”
“Hidden away in a safety deposit box held for one of the dark angel accounts. No one can stumb
le across it.”
“A safety deposit box?” Morgan raised an eyebrow.
“We keep them for relics that have been found. The locket resides next to a vial that still holds a few drops of a saint’s blood and a few other items.”
With the knowledge of the locket’s secure location, her mind turned to other things. “Is everyone else okay?”
“Only minor injuries. Sarah and Jameth have already headed home. Damien and Isobel plan to come by later after you’ve had a chance to wake up and have something to eat. Speaking of which,” he flipped the covers back, “Breakfast awaits you. A plethora of fast food covers the table.”
Suddenly aware of how ravenous she was, Morgan climbed from the bed. Her legs felt weak as she pulled on a pair of jeans, tucked the pony in the front pocket, then grabbed her cigarettes off the dresser. A last look at Jake’s flag and then she followed Lucian downstairs with her stomach rumbling.
RETURNING FROM A walk, Morgan passed her new suburban sitting in the driveway on her way to the porch. The other one hadn’t survived the demon encounter and had been totaled by the insurance company. Lucian had replaced it with an exact replica.
She pushed open the front door and strode into the living room as Lucy brushed past her to sniff search the house for anything unusual. Smiling at the dog, Morgan walked into the kitchen and laid the leash she carried just in case anyone complained on the counter. On the refrigerator door was a note from Lucian telling her he’d gone out and would be back soon. Reaching in the fridge, she took out a bottle of water and chugged half of it down.
After opening the sliding door, she stepped outside and lit a cigarette as Lucy went to lay in the shade. She would need to pack soon. In a week, they would be going to visit Tara. The wait was almost unbearable, but her sister’s adoptive father had been sick and Tara hadn’t wanted company until he was better. Though they had spoken on the phone several times in the two weeks since the gateway was closed, Tara still wouldn’t answer Morgan’s questions about why Jax had been in her dreams.
Sighing, she sat in one of the patio chairs, her eyes on the house. It was hard to believe that when she’d first came to this place, she’d felt trapped by it. Now it felt like home, like she could easily stay here. Well, mostly.
“Morgan?” Lucian called from inside the house.
Morgan stood and peered through the open door of the house. “Out here. I just got back from my walk.”
Lucian set a couple of things on the dining table then walked out to the patio. He ran a hand through his nearly shoulder length hair and Morgan frowned. Why did he seem nervous? Lucian sighed as if making up his mind about something. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.” Uh oh, a ‘can we talk’ moment. Those didn’t usually end well. Too many years of rejection made nerves twist knots in Morgan’s stomach. She still struggled with the idea that she was loved, it was hard to wrap her mind around it.
“I wanted to ask you something, to do something for you, but I don’t know how you’d feel about it.”
Surprised at the direction he’d taken the conversation, Morgan said, “I don’t know how I’ll feel about it either if I don’t know what it is.”
Chuckling he nodded. “Right. I know you don’t like being tied down or feeling trapped, so if this isn’t something you want, just say so. No hurt feelings okay?”
“Okay.” She drew the word out.
“I want to put your name on the house.” He held up his hands as if to stop a protest. “It doesn’t mean you’re stuck here or that it can’t be sold if you want to move. I thought maybe it would feel more like yours, like home, if your name was on it.”
Taken aback, Morgan had to unscramble her thoughts before she could answer. “Wait a minute; you want to put me on the house? It would be mine? Really mine. If something happened to you, no one would come and take the house away?”
“Not yours so much as ours. And yes, if something happened to me, it would still be yours for as long as you want it.” He looked hopeful. “So is that a yes?”
“Hell yes!” She threw her arms around him and practically danced them in a circle.
“Whenever you’re ready, the papers are on the table. All you have to do is sign them.”
With a squeal, Morgan ground out her half-smoked cigarette and ran into the house. A large manila envelope lay on the table, next to a stack of paperwork. Lucian sauntered into the house after her and held out a pen. With a huge grin plastered across her face, Morgan took it and started signing next to all of the tabbed areas.
She had Lucian, Lucy, a truck, and now officially, a home. It was more than she could have ever dreamed of and more than she ever thought she would ever have.
There is an urban legend surrounding Riverdale Road in Colorado. It’s sid that if you drive the road at night, it looks like there is blood smeared on the signs. That a lady in white walks the road and if you try to stop and help her she will walk up to your car and then disappear. That if you pull over and roll down your window you can hear a heart beating and the sound will eventually get so loud you can’t stand it. And it’s said there is a gateway to hell somewhere along the road. I took some of the elements from the urban legend and wove them into the story.
The road does run along the South Fork river and does follow what was once called the Cherokee trail. After being forced to Oklahoma, some of the Cherokee, along with some African Americans, and whites, did indeed follow this trail up the eastern side of the Rockies where they eventually turned west in search of gold. I added a train of wagons several years before any actually left for the purposes of this story.
The Kalona is indeed a demon of Cherokee legend. I used artistic license with this legend and wove it into the story. There are seven sacred directions to the Cherokee, and the symbols I used in the story are all important to the Cherokee. However, I used them to fit the needs of the story and in no way reflect their actual use or any kind of ceremony of the Cherokee Nation.
A.D. Trosper is the author of the bestselling, award-winning Dragon’s Call series. She has also written a children’s book and a paranormal romance series called Bound. A.D. enjoys writing in a variety of genres including epic fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. An avid lover of animals, she has rescued and rehabbed horses, goats, dogs and cats. When not writing, she spends time with her family and pets. She is convinced chocolate is a necessary food group and magic is real (not always the way we think it is, but real nonetheless).
Visit the author at:
www.adtropser.com &
www.bhcauthors.com
Cover design, interior book design,
and eBook design by Blue Harvest Creative
www.blueharvestcreative.com
Table of Contents
About The Book
Copyright Information
Also By A.D. Trosper
Acknowledgments
Title Page
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Author's Note
Don't Miss "Bound By Time"
About The Author
Visit the Author
Meet the Design Team
Bound by Legend: A Bound Novel Page 30