Shifter Bound

by Leisl Leighton

  ‘That’s right, Iain. Remember who she is to you and get up. You have to move. You have to try.’

  He had no idea what the voice was talking about. Why was it so important he move?

  ‘Eloise has chosen. She is giving her life so Cain and Morrigan can’t use her powers. She’s doing it to save us all.’

  What? No!

  She couldn’t leave him.

  He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn’t work. He couldn’t seem to roll over, to push himself up. He couldn’t even open his eyes.

  ‘Breathe, Iain. Focus on Eloise. Then pull on the pack. We’re here for you. Use us.’

  It wasn’t in his nature to need or rely on anyone. But for Eloise, he would do anything. His wolf howled in agreement, in agony at the thought of losing its mate. The other half of itself. Anything for her.

  Anything.

  As it had always been. As it always would be. He’d thought he could leave, live without her, but he’d been fooling himself. She made him whole and he wasn’t ever going to be torn from her again.

  Iain’s eyelids flickered open, and with a teeth-gritting groan, he rolled over, gathering strength from the pack to force him to move.

  ***

  Bright shapes, some golden, some mere wisps of silver-laced shadow, rushed at Eloise, surrounding her. Spirits. Their vibrations were like a shouting crowd as they tried to communicate with her, tell her their messages for their loved ones now that she could see them. But she couldn’t understand. Their shouting hurt her. The waves of sound raked along her skin. She wanted to protect herself, to cover her ears, but she couldn’t move her hands from Cain’s chest. They were welded there, her blood a magnet to his, to his flesh.

  ‘Please, stop. Go away. I’m looking for Cain. Only Cain.’

  But they crowded in closer. Too much. It was too much. Their touch like a thousand paper cuts. Was this what it was like for Shelley? How could the witch stand it? She was going to pass out. But she couldn’t. Not until this was done. ‘Go away,’ she screamed. The blood-orange light flared. The spirits fell back, not far, but it was enough.

  In the distance, she heard banging and a panicked voice yelling. The name ‘Iain’ span at her out of the dark again, catching her attention. She wanted to look, but a scream sounded in her head. It shattered through her just like it had before, wrenching a tearing gasp from her throat as that same icy-cold sharp thing with a thousand teeth twisted in her damaged ankle and crawled further up her leg. The yelling died away as the pain became everything—sight, sound, smell. That old pain. The cankerous Darkness in her ankle that had kept it twisted and deformed throughout the centuries of rebirth. The mark of something horrifying that had touched Bridgette Colliere in the ether and never let go.

  She swayed but didn’t fall, connected as she was to Cain and the rune. She looked down and her thoughts stuttered, eyes opening wide. The rivers of her blood that had covered Cain’s chest, running down the side, pooling into the sheets, now crawled back up, pulled towards the rune. She watched with a kind of numb amazement as it oozed and snaked its way, against all the laws of gravity, mingling with the darker taint of Cain’s blood—why was his darker than hers?—and disappearing into the rune, leaving no trace of red in its path. Now the blood ran from the cuts in her wrists, and straight into the rune. She felt the power of it, sucking, like a baby at a teat.

  The icy darkness had reached halfway up her leg. She bit her lips closed to stop screaming from the pain. Her head snapped back against her will and blinded once more, she stared into the abyss of the ether her twin was locked in.

  ‘Search. Find him.’ The ice-cold voice with a thousand teeth whispered in her ear, shattering her mind. The icy teeth bit deep and rose higher. Pain sliced through her, but it pinched her diaphragm, trapping her scream in her throat, squeezing. Squeezing.

  This was it. This was the end. It had been coming for her for centuries and now, in this act, she’d finally unintentionally let it in. Darkness flooded towards her as her eyes fluttered and her knees weakened. She didn’t have much more in her.

  The light fluctuated around her. The spirits crowded closer, their roar a crescendo. A sob rose in her chest. It couldn’t end like this, but it had to. She wouldn’t be used again. Cain would wake, but it would be too late. She had cut too deep, let the blood run too fast, and there was nobody here to save her.

  Cain’s laugh trembled through her, echoing out of the black. ‘You’ve done well, Little Bit. Soon you will be one of us.’ Coldness touched her shoulder, the icy pain of it slipping down her arm to grip her hand. ‘No! What have you done? You’re not supposed to die. You’re mine. Mine!’

  ‘I won’t be used, Cain. Never again.’

  ‘I won’t let you go.’

  ‘It’s too late to stop me.’

  ‘No. Darkness, aid me now.’

  He entered through her, joining the Darkness, his presence cloying and cold. So cold. She began to shudder uncontrollably, her teeth snapping together as foam frothed from her mouth. Goddess, no. They couldn’t do this. But they were. She felt them press towards her centre, slowing down the blood loss, pushing power into her life-essence, forcing her to live. She struggled, but they were strong, so strong together, and her control, her will, began to slip.

  She wanted to cry, but even that had been taken from her. ‘Don’t do this to me. I don’t want to be used by you.’

  ‘You have no choice. You’re mine. Mine and the Darkness. We won’t let you go.’

  He shifted then, trying to wrap around her heart. They wanted to take that too.

  ‘No!’

  The sound tore out of her. They couldn’t have her heart. Never her heart. It belonged to herself. To Iain. She wouldn’t let them have that.

  She grabbed onto every last essence of her will and power and pushed. ‘Not my heart. Not my heart,’ she muttered, over and over as she fought them. They tried to scrabble at her powers, use them as they’d used them against her before, but she was angry now. Determined. They couldn’t have her powers or her heart. In fact, they didn’t even deserve her life.

  She gritted her teeth, shook with the effort to hold the combined force of them back from taking control, but even as she did it, she knew she couldn’t hold against them forever. Her power was still too new to her. She didn’t have enough control. She could feel it slipping even as she tried to shore it against them. She wanted to scream her frustration, her fury. She wouldn’t let them touch the beauty that was her love for Iain. Not that. Never that. She had to be braver. Braver than Bridgette Colliere when she’d sacrificed herself to save her loved ones. She wouldn’t give up. Wouldn’t give in. All she needed was more power. More control.

  And suddenly, she knew where to get it.

  The bond. It had been growing, filament by filament, ever since she’d woken and seen Iain standing guard over her. Changing with him, having him share in his joy in the change had strengthened the promise of it. But she hadn’t wanted to see it. Didn’t think she could deserve it. Believed, despite dreams of her past life telling her otherwise, that it wasn’t possible. Was afraid to want, to reach for it, afraid to lose it and be outcast again, and in more pain than every other time she’d been outcast. So she’d denied it. Had even denied it when it had strengthened after making love with him. All it needed to snap fully into place was for both of them to accept it. But she couldn’t wait for Iain to show his acceptance. She needed to use the strength it gave her now if she was to live.

  Without thinking about the consequences of making this decision for him, she grabbed a hold of the bond and wrapped it around her heart, her soul, her essence. The buzz of extra power, of rightness, as it snapped through her was exhilarating. She cried out in triumph, in joy. Light filled her. A golden light that flowed along the cord that wrapped around her heart and extended out beyond her body, a protective shell, pushing Cain and the Darkness back. They battered at it, but couldn’t smash through, no matter how hard they tried.

 
The Darkness screamed its frustration and wrapped itself fully around Cain’s spirit. He tried to fight it as it forced him away, using her blood as a conduit to enter Cain’s body, but it was too strong and too much a part of him.

  The burn of them was like a surge of something putrid under her skin flowing towards her sliced wrists. Her blood darkened as they finally slipped out of her body and into the rune. It flared, glowing like coal in a fire, searing her fingers where they touched his skin. She screamed.

  ‘If we can’t have you, no-one can!’ Cain’s screech, a slash of hate-filled venom, punctured the pain. She tried to pull away. Her knees collapsed, but still she hung there, attached. She couldn’t free herself. Couldn’t move to staunch the bleeding. She was going to bleed out, even though she was free of them. Even though she was now determined to live, knew she could do so without giving everything she was over to them.

  Panicked and grief stricken, she knew her life was counted in seconds.

  Her skin prickled. She had to pull away. Had to find the strength. She couldn’t let them win. They couldn’t take her. Couldn’t use her. She wouldn’t let them do this to her too. She was stronger than they could ever be; more truly herself than she’d ever been.

  There was a banging in the distance, but she could barely hear it over the roaring noise that rose up and engulfed her as she tried to pull on the last vestiges of power left inside her. She had to stay. Had to live. Had to have a chance to tell Iain everything that was inside her. The room tipped and swung wildly as she channelled her power down her arms, green flame dancing along her veins, over her skin. She narrowed her eyes, her concentration, trying to make the flame eat at the spell holding her to Cain, burn it away, free her. One finger shifted. Then another. Cain was screeching in her mind, but she pushed him away, concentrated harder, the sweat stinging her eyes. One hand swung free. She focused entirely on the other, leaning over the edge of the bed, holding herself upright with sheer force of will.

  Pinkie free. Ring finger. Middle, pointer. Black hazed her vision, but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop now. She had to save herself. Nobody else was going to do it for her. Her thumb shifted, slid sideways. She was free.

  She stumbled back, the room spinning. She had to get over to the cabinets with the bandages. Stop the bleeding. She stumbled a few steps. The room was so dark. She could barely see past the black hazing her vision. The sound shrieking in her head, the slow, too-slow, thump of her heartbeat through her veins.

  One step. Another. Every part of her crying out with pain. ‘Can’t stop.’ Another step. Her foot slipped. She began to fall.

  Through the black swirl slowly taking over her vision, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She was caught before she hit the floor. Warm, strong arms wrapping around her, picking her up, holding her close. She heard voices through the noise, sounds she could barely distinguish from the crashing, tearing in her head.

  Then one voice made itself heard above the turmoil: The voice of the Goddess. ‘Do it, now!’

  Light blinded her. Pain seared through her. She screamed. Red filled her vision, Darkness swirling at its core. A Darkness that terrified. A Darkness that wanted her. She scrabbled away from it, trying to push with everything she had left in her.

  ‘Eloise. Eloise. I’ve got you. It’s going to be all right.’

  ‘Iain. Iain.’ She looked up into his beautiful eyes. They were all she could see, except the Darkness which hung over everything. It reached towards him.

  ‘No!’ she screamed, pushing everything she was at it.

  She heard something echo her scream and then she was nothing.

  ***

  Still unstable on his feet, Iain stumbled as Eloise shoved what looked like a ball of sunshine through him and collapsed, a dead weight in his arms. Her scream and the unearthly cry that followed, rang in his ears. A warm trickle ran down his neck. He knew he was bleeding, but didn’t care. Not when the blood from Eloise’s slashed wrists had become a slow drizzle. Leaning against the wall, he clutched her to him. ‘No! Eloise. Come back. Don’t leave me. Don’t you dare leave me.’

  She was paler than he’d ever seen her. Hanging on by a thread. He reached into his mind for the bond that had so suddenly snapped into place only moments before. It was pulled tight, almost to breaking. But he could feel her. She was still there, the force of her will to live so strong. ‘Stay with me, Little Bird. Stay with me. I love you. I love you.’

  He held on tight, curling his body around her as the door smashed open. It came off its hinges and flew across the room to crash against the wall just to his left.

  Cain snapped upright in the bed as Marcus and Adam came pounding into the room. Black lightning crackled in his eyes and across his skin as he turned to face them.

  Before Iain could even take a breath, Cain lifted his hands and screamed, ‘Die!’ Black lightening shot out of his fingers. It caught Marcus directly in the chest, rammed straight through him and into Adam.

  Iain cried out as Marcus and Adam were flung across the room to hit the wall with a loud crack and thumped to the floor. For a moment there was stunned silence and then Cordy screamed, running forward to collapse next to her mate, her hands shooting out over the gaping hole in his chest. ‘No, no,’ she cried, over and over as she tried to use her power to heal him. A choked, breathless feeling scrabbled in Iain’s chest as he watched her desperate attempts, her power only coming in pathetic spits and spurts.

  Shelley stood, frozen in the doorway, her gaze fixed on something in the middle of the room. ‘No. No,’ she whispered. The hairs rose on Iain’s skin as the horror in her tone pricked at him. ‘It’s too late. He’s gone. They’re gone.’

  ‘And soon, you will all follow.’ Cain pushed himself from the bed. ‘You took my sister from me!’ He raised his hands.

  Shelley’s gaze snapped to him. Fire sparked in the depths of her eyes as Cain released another bolt of black lightning. She muttered a word, and the bolt shot up to the ceiling, smashing into the rock overhead with a loud bang and a shower of sparks and flame. He shot another at her. She deflected it again, stepping into the room, her hair lifting as if caught in some fae wind, a strange amethyst nimbus of light coming from her. He tried again as she moved further into the room, but the lightening hit a wall, chunks of burning, sizzling plaster raining down on the floor.

  ‘Your spirits can’t protect you forever,’ Cain snarled, but she didn’t seem to be truly paying him any attention, her eyes now riveted on Adam where he lay on the floor, a hole burned through the right side of his chest. She muttered something else. Power sparked and Iain felt the air rush from the area around him, stealing his breath, then rush back. Cain sent more lightning at Shelley and Cordy as she knelt on the floor trying futilely to save her dead mate, but it just bounced off. He sent a bolt towards Iain and Eloise. Iain rolled to protect Eloise with his body, but the lightning hit some kind of barrier and skittered up to the ceiling.

  Shelley was protecting them all. He had no idea she could even do that.

  ‘You’ll pay. You’ll all pay.’ Cain’s scream rang around them as he ran past them to the door, shooting bolts that kept skittering away, burning chunks of plaster falling in his wake.

  ‘Don’t let him get away,’ Iain yelled.

  Cordy didn’t even look up—she hadn’t stopped working on Marcus. Shelley also didn’t move, still staring at something in the middle of the room. ‘Don’t go,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t go.’

  Iain knew he should get up, chase Cain down, but he couldn’t leave Eloise. She was his mate. She came first and she needed him to stay. He was the only thing holding her to this earth right now; she held onto the fledgling bond, using his power to keep her alive, and he would do nothing to jeopardise that. He wasn’t about to let her go.

  Cain’s footsteps pounded down the hallway, fading. The warlock had run further into the tunnels. Where did he think he was going? There was no other way out except the lift.

  For a few s
econds, silence reigned.

  Then a sob rent the air. Cordy grabbed Marcus’ shirt. ‘Marcus. Marcus. Come back to me. Don’t you leave me alone. Not like this. Not like this.’

  Her agony hurt Iain’s ears and his heart, but he couldn’t console her. He had to concentrate on keeping his own mate with him. Eloise’s breath had slowed to shallow pants, her heart a fast-paced flutter. But she was still there. He held onto the spark of her he could feel with his mind and heart and wound his strength around it. He would keep her alive with the strength of his will if he could. But he couldn’t chance that it alone would be enough.

  ‘Shelley.’ She didn’t move. ‘Shelley! You can’t help them. They’re already gone.’ He knew it was harsh—they would mourn the loss of Adam and Marcus later—but he had to slap her out of her shock. ‘Eloise is still alive. We have to help her.’ She didn’t look at him, but there was a flicker of her eyelashes as she stared into the middle of the room. ‘Shelley!’

  She blinked and then very slowly turned to look at Cordy, her face creased in a frown. Bending over, she touched the McClunes’ Pack Witch on the head and said, ‘Sleep’. Cordy slumped over Marcus’ body, the absence of sobbing a shocking silence. Shelley nodded slowly. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Are you sure?’ She paused, then nodded. ‘I’ll tell her later.’

  ‘Who are you talking to?’

  She swallowed hard. ‘Marcus. He’s standing right there. He couldn’t bear Cordy’s grief and asked me to make her sleep. She’ll be no use to us anyway.’ Her eyes slipped to the side and then away, as if she was looking at something she’d prefer not to see.

  He wondered what Marcus was doing, but didn’t want to ask. The thought was too raw. The man had just died and caused a tear in his mate’s heart and soul that would never heal. Iain didn’t even want to contemplate the pain in that thought. That pain was too near. ‘We have to help Eloise.’

  ‘Yes.’ She blinked again and turned to look at him and the woman in his arms. ‘Bron will be here soon.’