Sylvia Frost - Heartbound (Moonfate Serial Book 4)

by Sylvia Frost

  Orion makes a sound deep in his throat and places a hand on my shoulder. “No, even if she was worried. I know Cal. She’s been deeply unhappy for a long time. That kind of unhappiness doesn’t come when you have a mate.” His hand finds its way to the side of my face and strokes the skin there. I don’t think Orion does it on purpose; it’s as if his need for me has a mind of its own. I lean into his caress, equally spellbound.

  Desire curls in my blood and I sigh. God, I want to kiss him so much. To pivot and take his soft lips with my own and show him everything he means to me. My knees bend, but I don’t fall.

  Instead I take a step closer to the glass.

  “Besides,” Orion grumbles, probably annoyed at me for breaking contact, “Stefania isn’t a homosexual, and Cal making a point of avoiding her whenever she can is hardly a mark of affection.”

  Cal places Stefania’s hand back on the sheet as Stefania blinks awake. Underneath Cal’s furry scars, her cheeks are tinged with orange. A blush. She pulls away again, stalking back toward the wall.

  Stefania isn’t a homosexual.

  Oh.

  That one sentence explains everything.

  Cats’ bonds aren’t like wolves’—as Beasts, Blood & Bonds says, cats don’t have dreams from their matemarks and their mate’s matemark doesn’t grow until after the bonding has completed. Stefania would never know that Cal wanted her. And Cal, knowing that Stefania didn’t like girls, would never tell her. Cal probably thought she was freak enough already, the only known female werebeast in existence.

  I’m just about to vocalize all of this to Orion when Cal finally notices us. Her gaze zeroes in on my mate first, but it doesn’t take long for her to see me too. All of her gentleness calcifies into a fierce stare. She strides over to the door and pulls it open.

  “What the fuck are you doing here, North?”

  “We’re here to see Stefania,” I lie.

  Orion shoots me a quizzical glance.

  “Try again later.” Cal tries to close the door, but Orion’s hand shoots out and keeps it open. Not without a wince, though. Cal is strong. A doctor rushing past notices the scuffle and gives me an odd look.

  “Let them in.” I barely recognize Stefania’s voice, weak and raspy as it is. Cal tenses, glaring at both of us before she opens the door.

  Orion and I don’t wait to see if her goodwill changes; we filter into the ICU unit, each of us taking a side of Stefania’s bed. She looks even worse up close. Her once-shiny, long black hair is tangled and mussed with sweat. Her eyes barely stay open and her lips are parted slightly like she’s too drowsy to close them completely. Bandages hide the bigger wounds on her body. It’s impossible to know how badly hurt she really is.

  She groans and moves her head so her eyes make contact with mine. “Artemis,” she wheezes. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. If I had known, I—”

  “Hey. It’s okay,” I say. I’m not sure it is, but if we want Cal to come with us, to help, I can’t get mad at her mate. I’ll parse out how I really feel later.

  “North.” Stefania tries to shake her head, to turn toward Orion, but only gets halfway before her eyes start fluttering again.

  “It was my father,” Orion says coldly. “You couldn’t have known he was still alive. The records say his mate died, so he was marked dead, too, I’m sure.”

  “We’re going to Letchworth State Park to find him and rescue Lawrence,” I say.

  “No,” Stefania says. “You can’t. They’re too strong. They’ve been using V-positives to create bloodbindings for months. Up in Canada, where Tracker can’t reach. No one else saw it on the USB, because no one else could understand the science. But—” She groans, out of breath.

  “Are you all right?” Cal darts to the button on Stefania’s bedside that would call a nurse.

  Orion watches her tensely, his jaw gritting.

  “Yes,” Stefania sighs, relaxing back onto the bed. “I’m fine. The bloodbindings gain more power the greater the number of different blood sources or…victims. V-positives, like your friend, get transfusions from different donors every week. The rebel werebeasts been killing them to enhance their powers, and now they’ll make your resistance to silver and tracking abilities, North, look like nothing.”

  I’m glad I’m not hooked up to the heart rate monitor. If I was, I know it’d be screaming. My heart is in my throat. “I’m not letting my friend die. I’m going to find Orion’s father, and I’m going to stop him with my werecall.”

  “Huh,” says Stefania. A quirk of a smile plays at the corner of her lips. “That might actually work. As long as you don’t try to kill them…”

  Cal grips the railing of the hospital bed so hard I think claws are going to shoot out of her knuckles. “Letchworth State Park? As in, the park where Lawrence is being held? As in, where there’s going to be a giant-ass bust-up massacre where the FBSI murders every last werebeast and vice versa?” Cal lowers her chin to her chest and regards me as if I’m the stupidest creature she’s ever seen but decided not to eat for breakfast. “And you’re telling me you and Orion are going to go infiltrate this battle, rescue your stupid-ass friend, and then stop Orion’s father using only your chirpy, annoying voice? “ She throws her hands up into the air, unable to contain her frustration any longer. “Are you fucking insane?”

  “We thought you might come with us.” Orion widens his stance behind me, adopting a posture that’s perfect for shifting and ripping Cal’s head off. Not the best way to convince her.

  “Cal,” I say, but I’m stopped when Stefania’s hand fumbles up to tug at the edge of my shirt.

  “I know you don’t like me, Cal,” Stefania says softly, her head still back against the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. “I’ve seen the way you avoid me at work. This is the first time we’ve spoken in months.”

  Cal crosses her arms and takes in a breath so sharp I feel like it cuts my skin. “That’s not true. I—”

  “Please,” Stefania hisses. “You don’t have to deny it. I made peace with the fact that not everybody’s going to like me the moment I beat all the boys in Mathletes. But you came here now. Today. That must mean something.”

  Cal exhales, her lip trembling, and I avert my gaze to Orion. Now I know how people must feel around him and me. Except this is worse, because Stefania has no idea what’s brewing inside of Cal. And Cal’s too proud to ever let it out.

  Stefania exhales at the same time Cal does. “Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe you just drew the short straw at headquarters, to go and make sure the weird tech girl isn’t dead. But either way, I’m begging you to do what I can’t. To help them. The FBSI is going to fight the rebel werebeasts in the wrong place, where they see them congregating on Tracker. And, to be honest, that’s a good thing, because silver bullets won’t work this time. Not on them. Artemis and Orion, being bloodbound themselves, are our best chance.”

  “Stefania,” Cal says. I don’t have to look at her to know that her whole heart is in that one word.

  But Stefania doesn’t reply. Her eyes have shut and she’s fallen back into unconsciousness. The only signs she’s still alive are the intermittent rising and falling of her chest and the beeping of her heart monitor.

  Cal pushes off of the bedside, hands clenched. Her normally Sharpie-colored-in nails are faded and worn, the edges ragged from being bitten. “Fuck you,” she says finally.

  I flinch.

  If I didn’t know I was right before, now I’m certain.

  “Fuck you, Artemis,” Cal says. “I’ll go.”

  15

  It’s twilight by the time we arrive at Letchworth State Park, and my nerves have only gotten worse with every passing mile. Orion is driving. I’m riding shotgun. Cal is rocketing along ahead of us, speeding so fast that sometimes I think we’re chasing her. Every five seconds I have to remind myself that I can do this, that my werecall was strong enough to get a confession out of Lola, and it will be strong enough to subdue Orion’s father. But there are a lo
t of five seconds in a three-hour car ride, and my mantra is only so strong.

  We hit a stoplight at the apex of a hilly, deserted country road, and I shoot Orion a watery smile. He stares at me darkly. Then, just before the light turns green, he twists to put his lips on mine in a demanding kiss. When the reflection of red on the dashboard glass turns to green, we part and he guns the gas.

  Cal ran the red.

  “What was that for? Adrenaline before our big battle?” I say.

  “You’re mine,” he says, so quiet it’s like he wants to keep a secret between us. “A kiss doesn’t have to be for anything.”

  And there it is again, that feeling of weightless joy. How Orion can awaken it in me at a time like this I’ll never guess. I kind of don’t want to. Maybe if I knew how it worked, whether it’s part of the bond or just the innate chemistry between us, it wouldn’t be as effective.

  “Right,” I say.

  The highway ends, and Orion turns onto a dirt road. Trees replace the median divider, casting our faces into shadow, and the rough terrain makes the Camry jostle from side to side. I recognize the bend in the dusty road, even though they’ve changed the sign. This is the exact same campground where my parents were killed. Unlike the other entrances to the state park, this one has no ranger, just an automatic ticketing process. Stefania told us that she’d be able to hack it from her hospital room with her phone.

  Cal revs her engine and doubles back to catch up with us before parking her motorcycle next to the big wooden box that houses the automatic ticketing station.

  Ahead the dirt road gets narrower and narrower until it’s nothing more than a footpath. The trees aren’t thick here, but I still see strange shapes in their shadows, and eventually, when we get far enough in, they’ll crowd out the sky. I put my hand over Orion’s and squeeze it so tightly that if he were human it might hurt.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Artemis?” Orion asks. “You won’t be a bad friend if you don’t. This is dangerous. Possibly suicidal.”

  I swallow down my fear, but I know Orion can feel how hard my heart is pounding through my hand. I shake my head. “You don’t have to do this either, you know.”

  Gently, he turns my body to face his. Then he smirks and darts in for another kiss, even more brutally passionate than the one in the car. His hands find my hair, tugging at my scalp to open my mouth to his tongue. My lips part, letting him in. Letting him taste every part of me. With his body flush with mine I can feel how much he wants me.

  When we part, his breathing is as ragged as mine. He smiles, but his eyes stay tender, wide, and wanting.

  I wonder if I look like that to him.

  “That,” he says, “is because obviously my first message didn’t sink in. You are mine, Little Mate. And there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

  “Holy fuck, can we stop the love train and get going?” Cal says sourly. “Unless you really do want to suddenly be sane and abandon this crazy-ass plan.”

  “Not unless you’re too scared to go on and scout ahead, Cal.” Orion grunts with annoyance and turns to face the woods.

  Cal blows out a decisive pshhh and then, as an answer, begins to shift. Claws shoot out from her knuckles and her back arches upward, spine twisting in a way that would kill a normal human. Hair bursts through her skin, and her eyes condense into slits of yellow fire. When the change is complete she rises up onto two legs, her ears pinned back, a message written in the jagged edges of her fangs.

  I’m going to kill someone today.

  Then she’s off, darting into the trees, managing to stay in the shadows. Her tail flickers like a flame, and it’s the last thing I see before she rounds a corner in the path and disappears. Hopefully only for five minutes. That’s how far away the falls are.

  If she doesn’t come back in ten, we’ll know it’s not safe, and we’ll have to try another plan of attack. What exactly, I don’t know.

  Orion pulls out a small bottle from the back of the car and squirts a few puffs of anti-scent spray onto my clothes and hair. I wince at the smell: silver nitrate. Then Orion strokes my arm, slowly, so slowly, and my breathing evens out. I wish I had brought the gun. But there’d be no point to that. Only one thing can stop Orion’s father. My werecall.

  I am in control.

  “I have you,” Orion whispers into my ear, so quietly I’m not sure if he spoke at all, or if our connection has become so tangible that I’ve started being able to read his thoughts.

  We are in control.

  Just as I’m about to mouth into his ear that I love him too, something appears at the edge of the woods. It’s moving too fast to see completely, but it must be Cal.

  “Come on,” I say to Orion.

  But he grabs me around the middle to keep me from taking a step forward. My nerves combust into flares of anxiety.

  The flash comes again, and it’s not orange and black. It’s brown, lumbering, and far too big to be Cal.

  “Run!” Orion shouts.

  I don’t need to be told twice. He yanks my arm so hard I think he’s dislocated it, and an instant later we’re sprinting down the dirt road back to the car. But still we’re not fast enough. The bear—that’s what it must be—is closing in on us.

  For one terrible moment, I remember the night of my parents’ deaths. The sounds of bones breaking and their screams as I hid inside the tent. This can’t be the same bear. Timothy Higgens is currently in a high-security prison.

  But that thought doesn’t make me run any slower.

  The bear roars behind us.

  We need a new plan. We’re not going to make it. And even if we do, where will that leave Lawrence?

  I skid to a stop, the force of my momentum barely slowing Orion at all and sending us both tumbling to the ground. When I look up, I’m met with the biggest bear I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s the size of a small elephant, and its mahogany fur ripples as it stalks toward us. Twilight has faded to a mottled purple sky, turning the bear’s dark eyes into pits. It opens its mouth, slobber dripping off of its many large yellow teeth.

  Next to me, I feel Orion powering through a shift, but I have a different idea.

  “My name is Artemis Williams,” I say as calmly as I can, “and this is my mate, Orion North. The son of your leader. We’re here to see him.”

  The bear stops moving toward us and closes its mouth. Then it raises its nose and sniffs. Orion aborts his shift, fur sinking back into his skin as he rises onto two feet. I’m not sure what I’m more worried about, that the bear will decide to eat us anyway or that Orion will decide to fight the bear.

  Neither would end well.

  Luckily, after a few tense moments, the bear growls at us before turning back to the forest. I grab Orion’s arm as we rise from the ground, more to steady my nerves than my balance. Even Orion’s presence can’t slow down my triple-timing heart.

  Our gazes meet, and I can see from his clear, narrowed eyes that he’s not happy with this plan. I’m not happy with it either; we’ll be losing the key element of surprise, and who knows what happened to Cal. But it’s not as if we have a choice.

  The bear looks over its shoulder and gives a muted growl to hurry us along. Orion clamps down on my hand and we follow the bear into the deep, dark woods. Above us, the full face of the moon finally slips away from the clouds.

  16

  The hike up to the waterfall is steep and rocky. I figure we’re taking a back path, because I don’t recognize it. As we scale upward in silence, the trees turn hardier, soft, leafy maples giving way to sharp-needled pines. Somewhere an owl hoots and small, nameless creatures rustle through the underbrush. With every step the darkness gets starker until I’m moving more by feel than by sight.

  Blood roars in my ears, first louder than the birds, then louder than my footsteps until finally I can’t hear even my own breath. Then I realize that it’s not my blood making that sound at all. It’s the falls.

  The trees part and the gushing sound of water
over stone fills the world around me. Letchworth is often called the Grand Canyon of the East, and for good reason. Shelves of sheer rock rise up on either side of a river, cutting through the thick deciduous forest like a silver snake, glimmering in the moonlight. The view reaches so far that I can’t see the end of the gorge.

  Perched on a stone jutting out of the river is a man half-sunk in shadow. He looks far too gaunt to be any kind of werebeast, let alone a wolf. He’s more like a sketch of a man than the finished product, and his white-gold hair is patchy, lying in wisps against his skull. He’s even older and more haggard than in the dream.

  The bear beside us grunts and begins to shift back into its human form.

  “Act submissive. Don’t look him in the eye. Don’t do anything until we see Lawrence,” Orion reminds me with a hiss in my ear. “I will protect you if something goes wrong.”

  I look down, focusing on the muddy toes of my sneakers, the one patch of normalcy in this whole scene.

  “You have guests, Apollo,” says a man who must be the bear. I don’t look up to verify my guess.

  “Thank you, Theodorus. You may go retrieve the sacrifices and the girls now.”

  Sacrifices. That must be Lawrence.

  A twig cracks next to me as the bear shifter scuffles back into the forest. Graceful he is not. I allow myself a small smile at his clumsiness. I know I won’t get many more of them tonight.

  Over the roar of the falls, I hear a splash. Apollo, Orion’s father, must have jumped down from the rock and is crossing the stream. This close to the falls, the current is strong enough to sweep even an Olympic swimmer away, but Apollo’s on our shore in less than a minute.

  With my eyes down, all I can see are his feet, bare and pale, blue veins showing through his skin from the cold. “You,” he says. “The dream was real. You are alive.”

  He comes closer.

  I trip backward into Orion, unable to override my first impulse to get the fuck away from this monster. But Orion doesn’t let me run and keeps me upright. If Apollo weren’t so close, I’m sure Orion would whisper in my ear not to look up.