“You are so young.” Her words startled me. While she still sat perfectly straight, she rested her chin in her palm, her elbow on the arm of the chair. She studied me and I could only do the same. “I was young once, too. I looked around at the world and thought I could make a difference. I thought I could live my dreams and have the life I wanted, but it was taken from me, brutally ripped from my hands and tossed in my face.
“I made choices, Amelia. Choices that didn’t feel like choices at all. My anger and my grief sent me down paths I hadn’t known existed and once I was there, it was too late. Do you know what it takes to control these Hunters?”
Her question surprised me even more than the honesty she was sharing. “N-No, your highness.” I stumbled over the words and forced myself to swallow, sitting straighter myself. “I can’t imagine, your grace.”
The corner of her painted lips rose in a wry smile. “Of course you don’t, because you are a child with power you don’t deserve.” I recoiled a little, but she continued. “The collars they wear link them to me. At any time, I can use them to control their actions or see their thoughts. They are an army belonging to me. But it requires power I thought was lifelong. It is not. And I need your cuff so I can continue. I need you to give it to me, Amelia.”
“Excuse me?” There were no respectful pleasantries. The words just fell out of my mouth as I stared at her. I couldn’t reconcile her confession of waning power, or her belief I would hand over my cuff simply because she asked.
“Rhi saw what you did yesterday, Amelia. You need to use your power. You need to embrace it and channel it. You don’t need the cuff for control. You don’t need control. You just need to try harder. You’re an Elder, which means your power can be used at will. This is an opportunity and you have to stop running from it.”
I couldn’t even speak. She had absolutely no clue what she was saying. All along, I thought she understood the prophecy and what was happening, but she thought I was actually choosing not to use my power rather than actively working to figure out how.
“You need to look around you, child, and realize you are lucky. You will marry my son. You will have glorious little babies filled with the most powerful magic ever known and you will be the beginning of a new era. You will continue to build the Mages to their rightful place and we will create the next dynasty.” She looked so sure, so eager. I could only continue to stare at her as the words replayed in my head. I tried to connect the excitement and hope I saw in her eyes with the realities of what she’d outlined.
I swallowed. It was a dry, worthless act, but it made me think before I spoke. “Do you truly believe it is so simple? Do you even understand what I have inside me? And you think I’m just going to go along with this demented plan of yours simply because you said so? I’m just going to marry Micah and pop out some babies and the world will be right? Have you lost your mind?”
I had wanted to be deferential and appropriate, but the panic lodged in my chest and the subsequent anger over her ignorance took over the connection between my mind and my mouth.
The Queen sighed and stood. “As I suspected, you are still a foolish child. With everything you’ve seen and what you know I can do to you and those you love, you still refuse to do your duty. You are willful and disrespectful and everything I despised about your mother. She refused to fall in line and play her part as well.” Julia closed her eyes for a brief second and I heard the door open.
I jumped to my feet just as arms closed around me from the back. I struggled, kicking and shooting blasts at the feet of whomever was restraining me, screaming out for Micah and Baleon. I got half of Micah’s name out before my limbs were locked at my side and my mouth snapped shut. Julia’s fingers pinched my chin and turned my face to hers. I was just inches from her and her bright red eyes.
“I want you to understand I tried to do this the nice way,” she hissed. “I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, as my son asked me to. Mikail obviously did not do a good enough job convincing you during your time together. And you don’t even appreciate having your brother returned to you.” She shook her head slowly, a low “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” accompanying the movement.
Arguments and counter points were swirling in my mind as Rhi moved from behind me and stepped next to the Queen. I had instantly known it was him controlling me. With a tight-lipped smile, looking far too satisfied, he yanked my sleeve up. As he reached for the cuff, the Queen stopped him.
“No. Let me.” She looked like a kid in a candy store, her eyes wide as she stared. I waited, staring at her, knowing if she removed the cuff, I would destroy everything. I would end them and this could all be over. They didn’t realize this. She didn’t know what was truly inside of me. I stopped resisting and instead, hoped she would. I was tired of it all.
Just as Queen Julia’s palm wrapped around the cuff, she started screaming. My movements were under my control again and I looked down to see the cuff glowing white as she howled in pain, shaking her hand back and forth. Her palm was bright red, the runes visible in the burn.
“Get her out of here!” Rhi yelled. As the Hunter pulled me backwards toward the door, I could only smile at the Queen and Rhi.
Chapter 19
I walked the woods outside Will’s cabin, picking my way through the trees as my mind churned through the last twenty-four hours. Every now and again, I would stop, close my eyes, and connect to my wolf. He was always there now. I only had to link to him to feel his intuition and emotion. Dillon had described it perfectly. I wasn’t really able to talk to him, but he spoke to me in his own ways.
I probably should have felt odd to have someone else inside my head, but this felt right. Together, we were Aidan the AniMage. I was no longer Aidan the human with a beast living inside me. To test my theory, I stopped and held my hand out in front of me. As fast as I thought the words, my hand shifted into a paw. In another blink, it was simply a hand again. There was no pain. The stretching and breaking I had previously felt was now a seamless melding of bones and sinew. Elias had explained that without my full AniMage abilities, which now included healing, I had felt each part of the shift. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be, and I wouldn’t miss the pain.
I laughed out loud. I could feel his pride inside me. His relief that we were finally as we needed to be. But what was the Hunter piece of it all? Elias said the Hunter who had bound the AniMage in me had done it to protect me, but he had also infused a piece of himself. What did that mean? How did I access that? Again, I held my hands out in front of me and allowed the power to build. Small blue orbs of crackling light gathered in my palms. I tried to picture them as orange, like the power I’d seen in Will’s memory, but nothing happened except a snort of displeasure from my wolf. I shook my head and kept going. I needed to use the physical exertion to let my mind wander. There were answers here, I could feel it. I just needed to give my brain time to sort through it all.
As I pushed up steep inclines, I no longer became winded or tired. Energy would fill me and adrenaline kept me going. As I thought about my parents, I could now access footage of when I was young and what it had felt like to be loved by them—when I was accepted for who and what I was, and knew I was safe. As my mind bounced to Amelia—to the moment my wolf had come alive inside me—I saw that night at the theater and finally understood. She had broken the first binds. She hadn’t meant to, but that night while she held my hand and attacked Melinda, her power had inadvertently flooded my system and the first door was opened. That was the first night I shifted and the first night my wolf had overtaken me.
Amelia. I sighed. And then my wolf was tugging at my mind, his frantic energy filling me as he made it clear he had information for me. I closed my eyes and rescinded my control. Visions of Amelia in the woods as she cried into my fur filled my head. Then it flashed to me stretched out, her head on my belly as she spoke. Her words filled my head. She told me what she and Micah had been doing—the mental training and the journals she had found from her
mother. She told me of her guard, the Hunter Baleon, and how he irritated her to no end because he refused to speak to her, but she knew she was getting under his skin. She got quiet as she described having to face Queen Julia for the first time and the idiotic ways she had provoked her.
I felt her fear and I hated myself for having to lay there while she hurt. I saw her twist the ends of her hair as she spoke, the words not stopping until she fell asleep, curling onto her side, her fingers twisting in my coat. The last scene he showed me was just days before the binds had been broken. I hadn’t remembered it until now, but she was so clear in my mind. Her words sliced me to the core as she cried, her arms wrapped around me. “I’ve missed you so much, Aidan.” What I didn’t expect was for her voice to continue, saying words I hadn’t heard or expected. “This is the only place I feel safe. Every day, I wake up and wonder what I’ll have to face. I never feel like I’ve made the right choice. Being away from you hurts all the time—I have to force myself to block you from my mind. I’m sorry for the choices I had to make. I’m sorry I couldn’t return your words.”
I stood still, afraid to even breathe, lest she disappear and the words stop. She had heard me. She had told me we were over and I was nothing, but I knew she didn’t mean it. We had shared too much of ourselves and I knew those weren’t words she’d use, even if she felt them. They were forced and she had refused to tell me the truth. She walked away and hid inside her apartment. As I had pounded on the door and called for her, the words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.
I hadn’t actively thought about it before then, but being faced with losing her made our connection more real. Afterward, I had thought it was ridiculous. We’d known each other just a few months. And while we had spent every second we could together, or connected through texts and emails, it seemed over the top to think we could be in love. Looking back, I could fill in the pieces of stories she’d told me where magic should have played a part, but we’d both laid ourselves bare, sharing about our parents, our upbringing, our fears…connecting on a level neither of us had expected.
Now, I saw my overprotectiveness for what it was. If we were the subjects of this prophecy then it seemed only logical that my innate response to her would be protection. And as a man who was part wolf, I wasn’t going to be able to stop the dominating part of me. I chuckled a little, remembering that night on the beach when she finally admitted to wanting to be kissed as much as I wanted to kiss her. Not even a millisecond later, I had her in my arms and didn’t let her go until we were both breathless. The glazed look in her eyes and her swollen lips told me she clearly liked the dominating side of me. Something tickled in the back of my mind…a niggling little thought that I couldn’t quite grab. There was something here I was missing. I nudged at my wolf to see if it was him, but his response was an annoyed exhale.
I started walking again, this time back toward Will’s. All these thoughts of Amelia made our end goal of getting to her push to the forefront of my mind again. I needed to figure myself out, but I had to move faster. She had given me information. I stopped in my tracks, my mouth falling open.
Montgomery, you’re an idiot.
It had been there the whole time—she had given me the information. Somehow, we had ended up in the same place and she had told me. I had to get back there. If I could get there, she could help me to help her. I took off running toward the cabin, praying Elias and Will would know how I could find her again.
One of the perks of being an AniMage was super-speed, apparently, because I made it back to the cabin in record time. I flung open the door and Will turned to me slowly, one eyebrow arched, while Elias showed no reaction.
“You’re in my head again, aren’t you?” I asked dryly.
Elias flicked his gaze up to mine. “It would help if you weren’t broadcasting it as far and loud as possible,” he said as he stood and moved toward me. “But we need to get back to camp. If you’re one hundred percent, let’s shift and get going. We can talk while we cover ground.”
I gave Elias a short nod and he walked outside. Will followed, still not speaking to me. He actually kept some distance between us and I was mildly offended. The guy had seen the inner workings of my mind and body, yet, since he knew a Hunter had helped me, he wouldn’t acknowledge my existence. I shook my head a little and followed them outside. Elias was already down to his shorts and Will was pulling off his shirt as I approached. I’d spent years in locker rooms with half-naked guys, but stripping before shifting was still awkward. Often, before they shifted, the AniMages would throw their clothes in a pack and carry it in their mouths or with their claws, depending on their animal of choice. Will and Elias had tossed theirs to the ground, so apparently we would find new clothes once we got back to camp.
I looked around a little and sidestepped behind a larger tree trunk. In the time it took me to get my jeans off, I could hear the rumble of big cats. I looked around the tree to see Elias had taken the form of a sleek panther and Will a massive tiger. There wasn’t time for debate, so I yanked my shirt over my head and whispered under my breath, “Let’s do this,” trying to reassure myself as I prayed the shift would work.
I inhaled a deep breath and the exhale was a snort from my muzzle. Just like that, I was in my wolf form. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the feeling of being contained in a body with four legs. I stretched, pulling backward and then pushing forward, my back arching as the muscles tightened and contracted. The dirt under my paws was gritty and moist, and the scents of the woods were sharper in my nose. I could smell a rabbit and heard the rustle of what I knew was a deer in the vicinity.
Let’s go.
I heard Elias’s voice in my head and turned to see the two animals looking at me expectantly.
Um…can you hear me?
Will’s voice was loud and perturbed. Of course we can hear you. This is how we communicate.
And clearly, the guy who’s actually present for the first time in his animal form would know that, right?
I couldn’t stop the response and felt my blood pressure rise with the exchange. Something in me was building, making me want to assert my dominance over Will. I wanted his respect. I heard the whisper in my own mind saying I deserved it. Shaking my head in an attempt to clear the chaos and stop a response guaranteeing to start a standoff, I echoed Elias. Let’s go, I said, and took off.
I probably should have let the other two lead, but I knew exactly how to get where we were going. My wolf had been aware during our trip out here, so the path was ingrained in my mind. It was the first time I had experienced the freedom of running. My paws gripped the ground and I loped through the trees, feeling worry free for the first time. Nothing mattered but the air in my lungs and the burn in my muscles. I allowed myself the time to enjoy the simple happiness until Elias was in my mind again.
You came back wanting to talk. What about?
How is it possible I was able to connect with Amelia in wolf form? Do you know how I can get to her again? I need to talk to her. I’m pretty sure she thinks those were dreams. She kept saying she didn’t want the dream to stop. But they weren’t. We can share information and use our connection to help her escape. At least, I hope we can.
Elias was silent. It was Will who responded.
Show us.
The thought of sharing our intimate moments rose my hackles and a low growl formed in the back of my throat.
Calm down, kid. We just need to see what you mean. What you’re saying isn’t something we know how to do.
Will’s lack of patience for my learning curve was really starting to piss me off, but I saw his point. If this wasn’t an AniMage trick, maybe it was the first display of my Hunter ties.
Fine. I pulled at the memory. It felt like opening someone else’s filing cabinet and removing their personal files, but I did it. I only let a portion play inside my mind, keeping Amelia’s secrets between us. I cut the memory off and waited. This time, Elias spoke as we dodged between f
ir trees and through ravines and creeks.
That definitely isn’t something you got naturally. AniMages don’t have those skills. Honestly, I don’t know of any race capable of it. But you are something different entirely. My best guess is it comes from the mixed magic inside you, combined with your connection to Amelia.
The best you can do is guess? Is there anyone who would know? I have to find a way back to her. The need to get to Amelia was overwhelming. It was hard to stay focused on anything but her, but I needed answers. I needed more than a guess.
You don’t get it, kid. Will’s gruff tone cut in. What you are isn’t normal. You weren’t born from a Hunter and AniMage, yet you carry both inside you. I was only able to give you access to this power. There is no way to remove the Hunter from you. You’re on your own. No one can help you, but you.
The silence between the three of us lasted until we approached the caves and the AniMages’ hiding place. Elias had explained they had likely been here too long, but they had known Amelia was in Brighton and were determined to get to her before the Queen did. They had spent their lives outrunning Hunters, but over the last few years, the Queen had been less interested in them. They just weren’t sure where her focus had gone. It gave them the opportunity to stay in one place for longer, though their wariness still kept them on edge. We heard the hooting of an owl above us and I looked up to see Dillon.
Mr. Aidan! Mr. Elias! I’m so glad you’re here. Braxton is causing all sorts of problems, sir. He has everyone very upset. And he made me go get Miss Bethany and Charlie, even though you told me they were supposed to stay away. Are you going to punish him, sir? Can I help?
Dillon’s voice gained volume and pitch as he hurried through his update. He was clearly anxious and had been searching the woods for some sign of us.
Elias responded. Calm down, Dillon. Let’s all get back to human form and then we can talk. Okay?
Bound by Spells (Bound Series Book 2) Page 17