Mate Bound

by Holly Hook

  "Nobody's going to find that guy for a while," Brett says.

  Down the hall, a television drones. Every muscle tenses. We have to get the blood off, and thankfully the Savage's scent trail lingers in the hallway, so I follow it and lead the way. It leads right back through the lobby and to an apartment on the first floor. Not surprising. Also, there's a plaque on the door that reads something in Italian, probably manager. And I hear no one on the opposite side, so I bust the lock and enter.

  The apartment smells of meat stocked in the fridge and is dirty, as if this man's final months were spent falling apart. Garbage lies everywhere. Old clothes. Even papers lie all over the kitchen table. Brett finds the shower and washes off, leaving me to hold Karina's arm. At least she's not shaking anymore. But she looks at the closed bathroom door with a gaze I can't read.

  Brett emerges later and I use the guy's shower to clean off, not wasting time. I doubt we'll find leads on Cayden here, because when I leave the bathroom, I smell the fact that the manager slept here all night, when the cult member would have come here and grabbed the silver chains. I shake my head at Brett and Karina, knowing I'm going to hear it. "This was a bad lead."

  "Well, it was the best one," Brett says. "I hope I don't have to fight like that again."

  "It happens." I turn away, not wanting to deal with either one of them anymore. I hate that Brett might have been right about what a dumb idea I had fighting alone. Sure, I could handle that giant Savage Wolf by myself.

  I just want to get out of here and away from his stench.

  And out there, somewhere, Cayden's in chains. And I still have to meet the others at the airport. I can hear Cayden yelling at me now to turn back.

  * * * * *

  When Brett suggests we go to the airport and gather the rest of the group, I don't have the strength or the pride to protest. He's won this battle. Fine. I'll let him.

  "We can take a tram there," he explains, looking at his phone. "These travel guides are amazing. Cool city."

  "I suppose it's not bad except for all the killing," Karina says. "The rest of the world is just as bad as I expected."

  "That Wolf would have destroyed you," Brett tells her.

  I let him lead us to the tram, which we take to the airport as the sun finishes rising. I can still smell traces of that Savage's blood on me. What would Aunt May think about my dumb move? She's still at home, being that Plan B while I'm risking my life. I'll never get over the betrayal even if I understand why she has to do it. Maybe we're both broken, hurting the ones we love because we're responsible.

  And so is Cayden. Wow, we're a mess.

  I hate getting off at the airport and following Brett and Karina inside so we can wait. But I feel no wave of despair that tells me Cayden's about to die. That, I'm sure, the Savage King wouldn't block. That's the only reason I can force myself to sit in the lobby and wait.

  We wait for an hour once back at the airport. Brett and I sit in silence. We don't even confront Karina about her calling the cult to ambush us. There's no need. Her punishment was enough.

  Finally, a parade that consists of Leonora, her parents, Everly, Remo, Callie, and Alex enters the lobby. Their familiar scents wash over me and bring me back home for a moment. I get up and hug everyone in turn, except for Alex, who balks at the idea of affection.

  Then I look to Brett, silently demanding he stay shut up and let me explain what happened.

  "Callie, how are you feeling?" I ask. Like me, she's partially possessed, too, and it'll just take one awful thing to tip her into that vulnerable state.

  She forces a smile. "I was fine on the plane. We'll see what Rome does to me."

  "How'd you get through security?" I ask, looking to the Russells.

  "Well, my parents and I did a spell before we got on the plane to get us here safety and without any problems, and do you know what?" Leonora asks. "We got to security, and this guy proposed to his girlfriend right there. The guards got distracted and we were able to sneak through. It was amazing."

  I glare at Brett. He shrugs. He didn't have to cause the other two guards distress.

  "Why don't you sit down?" Leonora asks me.

  "Cayden's still missing. I can't just sit down." I only came here because the fight took so much out of me. And to escape my stupidity.

  "Brie, you have bags under your eyes," Everly tells me. "You need to sit and rest for a minute or you're going to make some bad decisions."

  Great. "Haven't I already?"

  Everly puts her hands on my shoulders and pushes me towards a table. Though she's pushing me in a friendly manner, I find I don't have the strength to resist. I really am exhausted from running across Rome all night, and that's despite getting plenty of sleep on the plane. I let her push me down into a chair, and once she seems confident I'm not going to get up and run out of the airport without everyone, she lets go.

  "See? Now doesn't that feel good?" Leonora asks.

  "But Cayden's still missing."

  Everly rolls her eyes and looks at Leonora and then her parents, who have followed us over to the table. "I'm worried about him, too. But he's told me about the bond you two have. And that if one of you died, the other would feel it."

  "Don't remind me," I say. "All the cult has to do is kill Cayden and I'll go dark. Why haven't they done it yet? Have they just not realized it?" I look to Brett for help. Yeah, Brett. He stands behind the others with Karina.

  "Because maybe losing Cayden isn't what would make you go dark?" Brett asks. "I haven't heard anyone muttering about making you go dark that way. But I wasn't the top star, either. Karina?" He turns to her.

  She speaks quietly, like she's just some low-key shy girl, but even with the chatter and noise of the airport around us, I can hear her fine so long as I focus. "I never heard anything about it, either," she says, tapping her fingers on the table. "Artemis didn't reveal everything to me."

  "You can't be serious. Didn't Artemis keep you close?" I study her for any signs of lying. Cayden's life could depend on me figuring Karina out. She eyes me with that same glare she had in the basement, just not as intense. And there's a glimmer of confusion like she's not sure what to do. If anyone would know the cult's real intent, it's Karina. But forcing the answer out of her won't do anything but make her close up even more. She's a shell that I don't know how to pry open.

  "Karina, you have to know how the cult plans on winning," Brett whispers. "You were around them more than I was. Don't you want revenge? There's a reason they wanted to kill you."

  "Exactly," I add, but Brett's words are more powerful than mine could ever be.

  She sighs and glares at Brett. "Look, I don't know where their other apartments are, but if they have Cayden and I think they do, then they'll probably want to do whatever they're going to do at the victory site. Artemis said something about making Brie fight there, and making it hurt more than she could imagine."

  "I don't like you guys calling it a victory site," I say.

  Brett steps up beside his sister. "That's what it is. It's where Romulus destroyed his brother and buried him. Sure, it's the best place to contact Remus, but it's also the best place to contact the other guy, too."

  "Artemis says she's felt both of them there, even though the Savage King is stronger," Karina adds. She picks at her fingernail.

  "Destroyed?" I ask. My stomach turns over and my palms break into a sweat.

  "Well, that's what she called it," Brett said. "I did hear that much. Artemis gets fancy sometimes and I never knew what she was talking about. I was a bit too...consumed to care." He doesn't want to say it out loud, that I killed his father. He knows what the thought will do to me. But why isn't he glaring at me anymore? He should still hate me despite turning. Lawrence and Abigail did.

  I turn my attention to a coffee vendor on the side of the room to avoid the thoughts. "Totally understandable," I force, tensing. Karina should be trying to claw out my eyes, too. Something's still not adding up with the Hayde siblings.
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  "Look, we need a way to find Cayden safely without the cult getting to us," Everly says. "He's my twin so I agree with Brie about getting him back as soon as possible. Leonora showed me the texts she got from Brie. Cayden will be in silver chains."

  "What else would they use?" Callie asks. She and Alex exchange a glance.

  "And helpless," I blurt. He'll never recover from being the damsel in distress. It might even rip our relationship apart if I have to rescue him, at least for a while. And that won't help the possession thing.

  "And helpless," Everly repeats, giving me a sympathetic look. She bites her lip. "He'll be waiting for us."

  That thought's been lurking in the back of my mind since the apartment. "Then what? They'll have the upper hand and I'm sure they've done lots of magic to the area."

  "Maybe those dreams you've had will tell us something?" Leonora asks. She turns her freckles up in a hopeful smile.

  I forgot I'd told her about them during a past text. It's been a crazy night. "Maybe," I say. "I keep waking up before I see the outcome of the fight. The dreams seem real. It could be vital or it could be not."

  "You should try to sleep again," Leonora says.

  "Our daughter might be right," Mr. Russell tells me, pushing around her to stand at the round table. "You should try to sleep somewhere. Cayden should be safe so long as you don't go to him yet. The cult obviously needs him alive for something."

  I want to believe them, and at the same time, I don't want to believe them. "Well, where do I sleep?"

  "We need a hotel room where the cult won't try to destroy us," Brett says. He looks to Karina as she winces at his words. She's still not over it. First her brother switched sides and now her lone mother figure tried to kill her. I almost feel sorry for the girl.

  "Sleep while Cayden's captive," I say. "Well, the cult knows I'm impulsive. Like him. Maybe they won't expect this?"

  Everly leans over the table, motioning for Remo and Everly to do the same. They do, and the three lean at me as she speaks. "This is what Cayden would have wanted. For you to take your time."

  I gulp. How can I argue? This is what Cayden would have wanted, next to me turning around and getting out of Rome.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Brett uses his GPS to take us to a hotel on the opposite side of Rome as the one where the cult attacked us. "I won't take us anywhere remotely close to where the cult might have stayed in the past," he says once we're on a tram together. "They stayed in a lot of different places in past years, probably dodging the authorities."

  At least I have familiar faces other than Brett and Karina with me now. My tension decreases and somehow, I don't feel as ganged-up on. Even if the others don't want to go right to Cayden, either. But the more I think about it, the more I see the Haydes' point about waiting and I feel like a jerk for arguing with Brett about it in the first place. The cult does want me to go to Cayden and into a trap.

  Brett stands next to me in the tram, and though he's getting better and better at not draining others, I still feel weakness creeping into my legs. Ad thoughts. Horrible, intrusive thoughts. If I take too long, the cult might say screw it and kill Cayden. I bite my lip as the buildings, now lit under the sun, crawl by. We stop to pick up more passengers, mostly tourists coming out of a museum. When we get moving again, Everly shocks me by patting my shoulder. Our gazes meet. I'm not the only one worried about Cayden. Her chin quivers and she grips the pole so hard her knuckles pale.

  A faint feeling of dread fills my limbs and crawls up the back of my throat when I think about the next vision I'll have. Each one gets more complete, piecing another bit of the twins' story together, but at least the cult doesn't know I'm getting these. Right?

  "We're here!" Brett announces, checking his phone and leading us to the front of the tram as we stop. We follow him as he mutters, "I hope the cult hasn't been tracking us. Karina. You're not calling them anymore, are you?"

  She responds by lowering her gaze to the tram steps as she disembarks. That's enough answer for me.

  The hotel Brett's chosen is smaller than the Portrait one, but still has an awning and potted plants out front. I sniff and everything smells welcoming enough. Brett leads us inside and rents us a few rooms with his father's credit card. "Sucks to be the credit card company," Brett says with an evil grin.

  Yes. He's changed his tune on his father very fast.

  Alex and Callie manage to get past the woman manning the lobby. Though they wear their leather coats, I can smell the faint metal of their weapons inside their rolling luggage. It's amazing they smuggled it through the airports. Maybe I haven't given the Russells enough credit when it comes to working magic.

  Brett leads up to the third story, which brings back memories of my jump out the window, and tells us he's rented three rooms for the next two nights.

  "We won't be staying here that long," I say.

  "It's just in case," Brett says with an annoyed undertone. "Girls in one room, over here. You, Everly, Callie, and Leonora can have that one. There's two beds in each room."

  I look to Callie, who smiles and waves at me. She's just as much a danger as I am, so I'm glad we'll be together.

  "A couple of people will have to lay on the floor," I say.

  "I will," Callie says. "Not a big deal. It's not as if I let Earl come with me."

  "You left without him?" I ask.

  "And us?" Alex asks. "I should be in the room next to the girls." He shifts and puts his rolling luggage all the way down. Metal clinks against metal inside. It's a warning, but I wanted Alex here just in case someone needs to stop me and Callie. In case either of us gets possessed. Even Callie agreed to it.

  "I agree," I say, despite the fact that Callie will hate that. "Just in case."

  Callie nods. She's shaking.

  Cayden's not here to try to protect me from the Hunter who could have to kill me.

  But it's better that way. The thought brings a lump to my throat, but the people of this city have to be protected.

  Alex leans close. "I won't act unless I must."

  The guys take a room and Karina separates from her brother. "Girls in one room, right?"

  I jump in shock. Karina wants to bunk with us? That's bold after she called the cult on us. But she won't be doing that now. "Girls mostly in one room," I say, despite Leonora shifting in discomfort beside me. Callie does the same. "It'll be fine." I hope I'm not lying.

  The guys and Leonora's parents vanish into two separate rooms, though I can tell Mr. Russell doesn't want his daughter with us. I take the key card Brett's handed me and open the door on a small room that has two beds and enough floor space to let all of us sleep. Like I even want to do that at all. Cayden's still out there. Despite my tired limbs, I still want to run across the city, looking for my mate. My arms and legs twitch with desperation, ready to go.

  "Enter the room," Everly says, shoving me from behind.

  "Fine." I do.

  "Lie down on that bed and try to sleep. Try," she orders.

  "Who's the alpha here?" I ask as a sudden burst of anger sweeps over me. I whirl to face Everly. Even though I know she's just trying to help, I can't control the urge. Everyone's been pushing against my authority all day. "Maybe Karina should tell us for sure how the cult plans on winning." I look over my shoulder to where Karina stands in the doorway, blocking entry for Leonora and Everly.

  She sighs at me. That's what I expect.

  "Well, it would be helpful, and the sooner you do that, the sooner you and Brett can go your own way," I say. "I won't force you to stay in the pack if you don't want to. Really."

  Her glare softens. "Sounds good. And I don't know for sure what's going to happen at the victory site. I wasn't in the cult for very long. They don't let people in until they're sure someone's ready. Artemis never let me know a whole lot and usually went off by herself."

  She's talking too much to be completely truthful. More work has to be done. I turn away once I sense she's not willing to o
pen up yet. Everyone is Karina's enemy right now.

  Callie groans and lays on the floor, facing the ceiling.

  I sniff, but she still smells of pancakes with no trace of the Savage King. "How have you been doing?"

  "Fine. I haven't had any more attacks for a while. Maybe they're gone?" Callie asks.

  "I hope so," I say. On the other side of the wall, Alex unpacks his weapons. I listen as he lays his crossbow on the bed. Daggers. And then he starts to sharpen one. I'm glad Callie can't hear that.

  If Cayden were here, he'd march over there and deck Alex.

  Crossing the room, I close the curtains to make it nice and dark. The air conditioner starts running, filling the room with a soothing hum. As much as I don't like sharing a room with Karina, I realize the air's not thickening with darkness at all. She might still hate us but she's not using dark magic on us at the moment. Even if she is hanging near the bathroom, watching as everyone finds a spot to lay on. Bags hang under her eyes, too. She didn't get quality sleep on the flight.

  Or something's eating her on the inside.

  My head starts to pound with it all. I listen as the guys settle on the floor and the beds in the next room, and Leonora's parents take their own room. I'm taking a risk like I did on the plane, but who's Karina going to summon on us? The cult, who will kill her?

  I flop down on the bed. "Okay. Don't wake me unless you absolutely have to. Or I'm never going to see the end." How can I sleep? I'm messed up enough from the flight and the time changes, let alone the dread of what I'll see.

  "Got it," Leonora says.

  Karina's eyes glow with revenge. She wants to get back at the cult. "Tell us what you see."

  Maybe she doesn't know about the cult's plans after all.

  So I close my eyes, hoping it's not the last time I do so as Brie. Thoughts of Cayden in danger swirl through my head, invading every time my muscles start to relax, jarring me out of near-sleep again and again. The others settle and all around me, breathing gets more even as my roommates fall into exhausted sleep. Twisted images dance in the void of my closed eyelids, forming terrifying monsters and screaming faces, but eventually, my tired muscles force my mind to give in and quiet. I float away into the dark.