It was only with that shift of pressure or, maybe just by being in the presence of another witch’s magic, that I recognized how overpowering the Virgo bond truly was. How atavistic it made me, how it hurled me into the deepest, darkest, most primal parts of my soul.
Did it scare me?
The contrast was such that, yeah, I had to admit it did. I didn’t think that made me weird. I was sure most people would be scared by how an ethereal connection could overtake you to the point where you forgot your very sense of self. Because no longer were you simply a single entity. Responsible for yourself. Suddenly, you were part of a unit. And this unit? Went deeper than a troupe bond. Sol, the link between a troupe was nothing in the face of the connection that bound Virgo together. And even though our Virgo bond wasn’t fully realized, it would be soon.
The second Riel was back with us, it would be set in stone forever. Sure, the clarity this brief respite provided was welcome, but it also cemented some things in place. The bond was overwhelming, but I missed it. Even as I was content to finally be able to think freely, without the beast Riel had brought out in me panicking at the loss of her, I missed my woman more than I missed being a free man.
Deep inside me, that clarity morphed. Became unwelcome. No longer did it provide relief, instead, it was like a door had been locked in my soul, and I didn’t have the key to get back into the room that had been shut off.
Just as terror began to form—because what if I could never open that metaphorical door again?—Jyll clenched her hands, balling them into fists, and like that was the prompt, rain began to cascade from the sky. Soft droplets fell at first, which swiftly morphed into a rough shower. When she tipped her head back to let it fall on her face, it wasn’t the weirdest shit I’d seen in my time, but when she opened her mouth to sample the rain? It certainly made me look twice. Of course, I’d seen that done before—kids, mostly. But a full-grown witch?
One who looked like she wouldn’t say boo to a goose?
Nah, I hadn’t expected her to pull that move, that was for sure.
With a sigh, I shook out my wings and held them wider so that the rain could massage them. They’d be a bitch to dry, but I figured I’d be flying to wherever Riel was being kept, and they could dry out then—there was no way I was leaving this bewildering harem of witches that Seph’s father had collected for himself without some kind of fucking answer.
I wanted Riel back.
Now.
It didn’t matter if my mind was foggy or clear, if anything, what Jyll had done showed me exactly what I wanted.
Gabriella.
Every infuriating inch of her belonged to me.
Even as my heart pounded with the desperate urge to have her close, I watched every minute movement Jyll made. After she was drenched through—Sol, after we all were—she unballed her fists and the rain settled just like that.
I was used to many forms of magic, to the point that I was desensitized to it. It was everywhere, after all. Especially at the Academy. But that? That was a feat that was beyond impressive.
I cast Matt and Seph a look, saw they were equally as awestruck at the power inherent in that simple gesture. The opening of her palms, a quick glow, and a hum, and she’d started a rainstorm?
Sol, what could she do when she really put some effort into it?
Like she heard my thoughts, she opened her eyes slowly and twisted to face us.
“They called for her, but they did not get her.”
My throat felt thick. “Meaning, the Fae who cast the portal isn’t aligned with the witches who sent the magic for her?”
She nodded, but sorrow crossed her features. “I’m sorry, Daniel.”
I sucked down a breath. “Not your fault.”
“The witches who seek her are unusual,” she whispered, her voice taking on a faraway note that had us all tensing.
“In what sense?”
“They club together somehow. They’re not powerful enough to manifest, I’d have sensed that. But somehow, they form a power funnel of their own. It works. As a unit, they’re incredibly strong, but individually, they’re weak.” She blinked. “I’d remember that if I were you.”
“We will,” Seph rasped. “Did you discern anything else? A location? Somewhere we could start looking for clues?”
“There are many of them, and they’re headed by a woman. There’s a distinctly feminine touch to the magic,” she whispered. “I could feel it.”
“How?” Matthew blurted out. “How did you feel it?”
Seph’s father clipped him above the ear, but Jyll shot him a small smile. “The rain told me.”
Because the rain could talk?
She tutted, and there was no mistaking the fact that she’d aimed that at me as her gaze drifted onto me and captured my own. “You know there are many strange things in this world. Why not this?”
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “True.” As I stared at the bland amusement on her face, like she found us humorous but not worthy enough to build up the energy to outright laugh, I reworded Seph’s earlier question which she’d failed to answer, “The rain… did it tell you where the magic came from?”
“Of course. But it was the swells who told me that.” She sucked down a breath of air, and I suddenly realized I was surrounded with the scent of ozone. “They come from South America. I can’t tell you more. Not with hurricane season approaching. It blurs the air, taints it with those unique powers.”
South America… It had to be Cuba. Right? Too much of a coincidence otherwise, surely? Riel’s heritage was there, after all.
“Thank you for your help, Jyll,” I told her gravely, and Matt and Seph quickly followed me with their thanks.
The witch waved a hand. “It was nothing. A mere frippery considering what Noa does for us.”
Unease tripped down my spine at her words. “Is there…” I licked my bottom lip. “Is there anything we can do?” I waved a hand back at the room we’d just left. If these women were feeling what I was feeling now, then there was no way I couldn’t offer some assistance. “For you or—”
“No, my needs are well tended to, thank you.” Like a waif, she drifted toward us. There was a fluidity to the movement that told me she called on the wind to shuffle her along the path. With less than a few inches between us, she reached up and patted me on the arm, murmuring, “The Virgo bond consumes you. It leaves nothing behind, nothing whatsoever. Without your one, or ones, you become an empty shell. There is nothing that can ease that pain, but again, I thank you for the offer.”
“Was it worth it?” I rasped, suddenly desperate to know. I was a muddle of urges and instincts, feelings and desires, and she understood because she’d been where I was standing now.
A smile lit up her eyes, transforming her somber features into a vestige of true beauty. It was also the first time she showed any spark of true energy, and I responded to it, everything inside me knowing what her answer was without her having to utter a word.
“Oh yes,” she breathed on a soft sigh. “I’d endure this misery for an eternity to know what it means to have them. Even for as little time as I could call them mine.”
Her words highlighted the fact that Noa had insisted we’d become nothing more than animals, primally driven to our own detriment if we allowed ourselves to be claimed. Yet here she was, stating we’d be an empty shell if we lost our Virgo witch forever, but it was worth it…
In the face of such pain, I felt like her words were far more powerful than Noa’s take on the situation. Especially as he hadn’t even gone through with the claiming.
With that declaration, she patted my cheek and drifted off. As I twisted around to watch her go, entranced by the way she moved like a waif and a ghost combined, as though her body was just waiting to be taken by Sol to the next realm, one of the others’ cellphones buzzed.
“Yeah?” Seph’s phone.
I twisted around to look at him, curious as to why he’d taken the call when nothing was more im
portant than finding our woman.
Then, when I saw the sheer relief on his face, I knew, point blank, that it was Gabriella.
She was on the other line, and his words confirmed it, “Where the fuck are you?”
❖
Riel
Clusterfuck. That was one way to describe my current situation, and yet, if there was one thing today had done, it was ram home just how much of a life the Virgo bond had taken on.
It was no longer a theory. Not just sex, nor something that we were playing with.
It was real.
Tangible.
Like a chain that linked me to my Virgo mates, one that had been torn apart by the magic that had brought me to my grandfather… it existed.
And I needed them. More than I needed to sleep, and Sol, I needed a bed so badly that I wanted to cry with how tired I was.
Even before the storm, I’d been exhausted. Seph had discovered I was in possession of a ‘scruff,’ and when he’d pinched it, I’d fallen asleep. Ever since, the fatigue had been there, and now it was like a heavy weight. I felt like staying awake would require toothpicks in my eyes like Tom from Tom & Jerry—ouch. And a coffee mug the size of Everest wasn’t going to reenergize me any.
With a sigh, I reached up and rubbed my face.
“Are you well, Granddaughter?”
The word jarred me, but I just sighed. “I need my Virgo.”
He hummed. “Of course. Call them.”
Out of nowhere, a small weight plopped into my lap. I moved my hand away, saw there was a cellphone there, and blinked as I reached for it.
“I-I can call them?”
His eyes were amused but I could see there was a softness about his features as he looked at me. It was the kind of look a parent or grandparent gave a child they cared about, a notion that had my throat feeling remarkably thick.
All this time, he’d been watching out for me. All this time, he’d been there, in the background, keeping me safe. But, all this time, he’d been a stranger. Willingly leaving me out in the cold, even though he knew I was lost in this big, wide world.
How many times had we met?
How many times had he left me alone when I’d needed him?
“I haven’t abducted you child. Call who you wish.”
I stared at him as he clambered to his feet, again, and this time, he moved toward the drink’s tray where he’d grabbed a bottle of water for me. With my eyes on him, I reached for the phone then frowned when realization struck.
“I don’t know their number.” Fuck. My eyes watered with distress. “We weren’t that close. Before. Just enough to—” Sleep with them.
Well, there hadn’t been a lot of sleeping. Hence this morning’s tiredness.
Again, his eyes were amused, but he cleared his throat. “I can imagine, yes. Just cast a spell. Call on the information.”
“Call on it?”
“Yes.” My grandfather tipped his head to the side. “You know how to, surely?”
“No. I-I wasn’t taught all that much.” Apparently, my mom had forgotten to teach me a lot of things, but how could I blame her when I was apparently the equivalent of a magnet around a compass?
He grunted. “Let me see what I can do.”
The cell flew through the air and into his open hand. When he closed his eyes, I focused on his house bands which began to gleam and sparkle in the light. Out of nowhere, gold dust coalesced, more than I’d ever seen before. Normally, it was only visible at night, but more and more gathered, glittering around him until he was hard to see through the curtain of metal. A sigh escaped him, and with that exhalation, the gold disappeared as though it had never been. The cell returned to my lap.
“Try now,” he murmured, sounding satisfied and I knew that the magic he’d called upon had been difficult to cast, and he was feeling smug at having managed to achieve his goal.
Not about to argue when I appreciated his help, I connected the call.
“Yeah?”
Seph.
He barked out the word, but I didn’t care. Sol, his voice. This time, my eyes didn’t just water, they were drenched with tears. Gratitude and joy overwhelmed me, making me feel like we’d been parted a lifetime, as I whispered, “Seph?”
A relieved groan sounded down the line, but just as quickly as he showed his elation, he ground out, “Where the fuck are you?”
Seph’s hoarse demand might have offended another woman, but not me. How could I be offended when I knew what he had to be going through? Sol, what they’d all gone through. If I felt the agony of being separated from them, how did they feel? I’d disappeared as though I was made of nothing but dust, and they must have been panicking ever since, wondering how to find me when my enemies were unknown, worse, unseen.
Sol, I was certain they’d have panicked whether or not I was linked to them through this unusual bond. The sight of me being tossed into the air like a feather in the wind before crashing into the ground and out of existence? Even a troupe bond merited concern for someone who’d gone through that. It wasn’t exactly something you saw every day of the week, was it? Except, I wasn’t just a part of their troupe, was I?
I was so much more than that to them.
Sucking in a breath, I cut through the BS and gave him the bare bones. “I-I’m with my grandfather,” I explained shakily.
“You’re with one of my father’s troupe brothers?” Seph clarified, his voice as close to a squeak as his tenor could soar.
“Yeah. It was a portal… he explained it all to me. This group wants me, they’re the ones behind, well, everything,” I said on a rush, “but he got to me first.”
I cut the man I knew as Linford a look, saw he was circling his finger around and around a glass tumbler he’d filled with aquifer—a Fae beverage that was like sherry, an aperitif, that had a distinctly golden color to it. And when I said golden, I didn’t mean it was amber-like, it was bright, frickin’ gold. I’d tasted the vile stuff a few times at faculty dinners—the Fae were like that. The students mingled with the instructors as though their gravitas would rub off on us eventually—and had never managed to find much appreciation for the bitter liquor.
“We can talk more about that later. Where are you specifically? How do we bring you home?” he demanded, voice deepening.
His words made my throat feel thick, overfull with emotions that had me wishing I could tumble into his arms.
Home.
Sweet Gaia, home.
He meant that, and it resonated with me so deeply, so fully that, for a second, I was speechless.
How had I gone from being alone? Shunned from my family, stuck in a school I didn’t want to be in, and forced into the company of three guys I didn’t want to fight with… to suddenly having a family of my own?
It didn’t seem logical, but then, nothing about what Linford had shared was exactly logical, either.
“I can send you my live location,” I confirmed, my words a rasp but it was better to rasp them out than to start sobbing. Tears would only make him think I was under threat, and while Linford might be blowing my mind with the information he’d imparted today, no other part of me save for my brain was in any danger.
“Tell them not to fly,” Linford instructed smoothly, his gaze on the aquifer. “Use Noa’s clout to get them on a plane over here. They’ll wear themselves out before they get to the island otherwise.”
I blinked at him. “Why? Where are we?”
Eight Wings Academy was in Georgia. I couldn’t be that far away, could I? Although, that ocean in the distance looked and scented like no East Coast beach I’d ever come across, and those plants? Which were growing without a greenhouse? Unless we were in some kind of botanical garden, which I doubted, we had to be somewhere, well, tropical.
“I’m in Hawaii. The warmth is good for my bones.”
Gaping at him, I whispered, “I’m in Hawaii?” My brain and geography had never been friends, but even I registered that had to mean I was a couple of thou
sand miles away from my Virgo.
And shit, worse still, we were separated by an ocean! A frickin’ big one.
Linford shrugged. “That’s how the cards fall.”
I wanted to glare at him, but he had just saved my ass. I’d be with this AFata group now if it weren’t for him, and only Gaia knew what they wanted with me.
He’d said they wished to induct me into their group as a spy, but Sol, they’d evidently never checked in with me because I was the least adept person you’d ever meet when it came to being devious.
One of the major reasons I’d studied fashion design was because I loved how flamboyant you could be. How you could make a simple outfit pop with a bright burst of color… how, by changing styles, you could transform yourself into a whole other person. Sure, that might sound like a nifty trait for someone who wanted to snoop, but blending in wasn’t something I’d ever wanted.
If it was the AFata who wanted me—and I figured it was because, by the sounds of it, my grandmother had been running from the group for a long-ass time—then the nicest potential outcome was that these AFata people did want me as a spy and weren’t actually trying to kill me.
And that was going to be a great conversation to have with my Virgo, wasn’t it?
The fun times really are hitting us hard and fast and wet, I thought glumly.
“We’ll be there by tomorrow, Riel,” Seph gritted out.
The way he said my nickname sent shivers down my spine. No one had ever called me that before them, and I’d been surprised because even the preppy people I’d worked with in my last job before being inducted into the Academy had called me Gabi.
A name that, according to them, to my men, didn’t suit me.
“Stay safe, Riel. I don’t know what I’d do if—"
Again, my throat felt thick. He cared. He fucking cared. A rational person might ask when this had happened, when the Virgo bond had morphed from an inconvenience into this, but I knew. I already had my answer.
When they thought I was going to die.
Faeling Hard: An Eight Wings Academy Novel: Book Two Page 6