by Eve, Jaymin
Lurching forward, I grabbed Jessa’s hands. Her concerned expression met mine. “I need your help,” I whispered. “I need to leave. Right now. I’m going back home, because Louis and I both need time to think about everything and decide what we want.”
Her tanned skin paled. “Lizzie, dude, I really like you. I think we’d all have died without your help, and for that you’re family to me, but … there’s nothing that can stop Louis if he wants something. I really think you should talk this over and explain to him that you’re leaving.”
I shook my head violently. “No. No, it won’t work. The bond will stop him from letting me go. Even though he knows, deep down, that it’s better if we’re apart, at least while we both deal with our feelings.”
Jessa didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue again either. Her head flicked to the door for a beat, before coming back to me. “Louis is occupied right now. The dragons have come to visit.”
It was only then I remembered the wild dragons who had arrived when the spell was cast. “They’re still here?” I asked.
Jessa nodded. “Yes, they came because it was time for Maximus to bond to his dragon soul. But it’s now time for them to return.”
An idea came to me. “I’m going to go with them,” I told her quietly. “My transition from Faerie to Earth will take at least five Earth days. That will give Louis time to think about what he wants. Give him the space he needs to deal with this revelation.”
“What about you?” Jessa asked.
I laughed without humor. “I have loved Louis since I was five. He was my best friend, the one who got me through every fucking hard moment of life. But he also broke my heart. Shattered it into a million pieces when he chose my sister as his mate.”
The pain still felt like it was strangling me.
Jessa’s expression was sympathetic. “I’m not going to defend Louis here, because I don’t know enough about the situation, but, Lizzie, you should have seen him when you got hurt. He held you like you were precious. He looked at you like he would never see another thing outside of your face. That love you felt … it was not one-sided. Louis was devastated when you almost died. Maybe the two of you just need to explore this bond between you. Stop fighting it.”
I wrapped my arms tightly around myself to try and prevent my pain from leaking out. Like … her words had actually cut into my skin, and I was bleeding from the agony.
“Is it ever too late?” I whispered. “Is there a point where too much has happened … there’s no way we could be together…”
She shook her head. “While you both breathe, you still have hope.”
I choked on a sob, my chest aching. “I think … I think we both need a few days. At least. This is a shock to us, and there is no way to make a decision while in shock. If Louis chooses to follow me, chooses to explore this mate bond, he’ll know where I am. If I go via Faerie, he’ll be forced to wait a few days, which will give him time to think.”
Jessa threw her head back and laughed. “Girl, you’re delusional if you think he’s not going to follow you. He’s going to be on your ass in all kind of ways.”
Before I could stop myself, I laughed too. She had grown on me, and I was going to miss her. “I’m mostly trying to give us some time. Please let him know that.”
Despite the spells that were hiding me in Alaska, I knew Louis would find me when I returned. If that’s what he decided he wanted.
“They’re leaving,” Jessa whispered. “Louis and Brax are heading back this way. If you want to leave at the same time, you need to do it now.”
Leaning forward, I hugged her tightly, and she gave me a squeeze in return. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, her earthy scent surrounding me. “And don’t be too hard on Louis. He loves deeply, even if it takes him some time to figure out what he wants.”
I just nodded, because some of what she said was true.
“Back door is that way,” Jessa said, pushing me toward a large blue door near the impressive kitchen. “Josephina is waiting for you.”
Jessa must have asked her to wait, and I was eternally grateful. With one more squeeze, I let go of her hand and turned, hurrying from the room. I could feel Louis’s energy closing in, and with it the warm sensations in my chest increased. It was his presence … our bond tugging us together.
My pace picked up and I practically burst out the back door. In the clearing a little ways away was a huge golden dragon. She sat still, watching me closely as I moved toward her. Her eyes were wide and ancient, filled with knowledge and wisdom so far beyond anything I’d ever seen.
Hurry.
The word filtered through my mind and I picked up the pace. Magic started to build around her, and I reached her side just in time for the peak of her energy. We were then hurtling toward Faerie, and I was zooming away from Louis.
This had been my choice … my plan … but in that moment my heart broke a little.
This was the best thing for everyone. I had to believe that.
12
Louis
The dragons surrounded me, each of them filtering thoughts to me. They were heading back to Faerie now. Maximus was handling his new bond without issue, and while they’d stayed an extra day to argue with the council members, the current situation here on Earth was not their problem. This wasn’t their home.
Josephina did leave me with one warning though. I fear that this is going to lead to war. The humans are not dealing well with this new reality, and it has only been a few days and minimal exposure. If you stand any chance of returning things to what they were, now is the time. Tomorrow might be too late.
She was right. I already knew we were balancing on the edge of a situation I could not control. Very soon there would be too much exposure. Now was the only chance we had.
But I also had another situation I needed to deal with: my mate.
My anger and pain at hearing her cry had not faded; my energy roiled angrily inside of me, wanting a place to go. Thankfully, the darkness remained buried under the light, so I didn’t have to worry about that, but I was a little concerned by how volatile my emotions already were in regards to Tee.
We needed some time together to explore this bond. I hadn’t lied to her before; I still wasn’t sure that I was good enough for her anymore, too old and broken from the pains of the past, but we both deserved a chance.
Tee was wrong about one thing, though. I never abandoned her. I’d known exactly where she was all of these years. I’d kept an eye on her, missing my friend. I figured when she was ready to forgive me for Regina, she would come and find me, but she never had.
We’d both wasted so much time, each of us punishing ourselves.
There was one irrefutable truth though: losing Tee again was not something I could deal with. At the moment, as long as she lived the darkness was contained. Which was what had me hesitating about deepening the bond. I was scared to lose control of myself again if I felt even more deeply than I did right now.
Would it really make any difference though? Even if she died right this minute, I would be destroyed.
I was already fighting not to go back to her.
“Come on,” Braxton said when we’d been standing in the clearing for some time, letting nature soothe some of the ragged edges. “Jessa is waiting for us.”
Jessa had basically kicked her mate and me out the door, saying she’d talk to Tee. Make sure she was okay after the crying. Probably a better idea than blasting the door down, which was what I’d wanted to do.
“You seem a little out of control,” Braxton said as we strolled along. I could feel his dragon hovering close to the surface. “I thought your energy had calmed since the true mate bond.”
I didn’t answer immediately. I hadn’t forgotten the way Braxton had called me “brother” when I was filled with darkness. The fact that he had finally accepted me into his pack meant a lot to me, because Braxton did not do that lightly.
“The darkness is contained,” I told h
im. “But my emotions are a mess. The true mate bond might have saved the world, but it’s also not something I want or need in my life. Tee… It was her sister that I chose as a mate, that I settled with, that I lost...”
We had so much history between us already. So much pain.
“The mate bond was what drew you to that family in the first place,” Braxton said, his intelligence second to none. “You chose wrong. Now it’s time to make it right.”
The dragon shifter saw so much of life in black and white, and normally anyone suggesting that Regina was wrong for me would have pissed me right off. But now … now I somewhat agreed.
“That doesn’t change the fact that parts of our past almost destroyed us,” I said, mulling it over again. “What if embracing this bond is the catalyst to end it all—maybe we’re not meant to be anything more than best friends?”
Liar.
My inner energy called bullshit on my denial, but I couldn’t afford to just run with that notion. Braxton paused then, his eyes unfocused; I recognized the signs of his mental communication with Jessa. “What is it?” I bit out, each word thundering. My power was definitely stronger, darkness part of it now.
He met my gaze. “Lizzie is gone,” he said. “Jessa just told me…”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. I opened a step-through into my house, appearing right before Jessa.
“Where the hell is she?” I demanded, my hands clenched at my sides. “Where did she go?”
Jessa crossed her arms, not at all intimidated by the power I was throwing around. Which was good, because I would never hurt her. Not now, and I would like to think not even in the throes of being evil Louis. I’d had the power to kill them all with ease, and I hadn’t, so that had to mean something.
“I’m sorry, Louis,” Jessa said, her expression sympathetic. “She said she needed some time. That both of you needed to think about what you want and need in your life, and you couldn’t do that while the bond was pushing you toward each other.”
It all made perfect sense. So much logic in what she said, and still it didn’t stop the thud of pain in my chest. “What if she’s in danger?” I said, sounding dangerous myself. “She needs to be protected at all costs. She’s the light keeping my darkness at bay. She could get hurt!”
Jessa narrowed her eyes on me. “Did you tell her you didn’t want another mate?”
I opened my mouth to deny it before realizing I’d kind of said that. “It’s safer if I don’t let myself care too much. Tee already has so much power over me. I have to make sure that my emotions don’t get out of control.”
“The darkness?” Jessa guessed.
I nodded, just as the door slammed open and a pissed-off dragon shifter stormed in. He didn’t say anything to me, just raced to his mate’s side and hauled her into his arms. “Keep fucking acting like a crazy sorcerer and I will kill you, Louis,” he said over Jessa’s head. She was tucked tightly into his chest. “I trust you with my mate and my pack … you’re family. Don’t make me regret that decision.”
I didn’t bite back, because he had a right to be worried. I was a little out of control at the moment. Jessa twisted in his arms and met my gaze. “A bonded mate is a dangerous creature,” I told her softly. “The deeper the bond is, the worse the danger to others. I’m already too powerful. I have darkness in my energy now, no matter what I do. I can’t risk any stronger emotions than I already have.”
“I don’t think it matters,” Jessa said quietly. “You already care too much. I think fear is the only thing holding you back, and you deserve the happiness you might find with her. Don’t let fear steal that from you again.”
Swallowing hard, I let the truth I’d been hiding from finally free. “She’s the one I can’t ever recover from losing. It was always her. She’s my best friend.”
Jessa’s face softened. “Then don’t lose her. Take this second chance.”
I started to pace, my senses searching desperately for Tee’s energy. Trying to figure out where she’d gone. She wasn’t in her Alaskan home, and I figured she wouldn’t go straight there because it was the obvious place I’d look.
“I can’t feel her anywhere?” I said slowly. There was no step-through here, no residue of her magic, only the lingering dragon energy and a few traces of where Tee had been in the house and … near the back door.
I followed that energy, a nervous-looking Jessa and emotionless Braxton close behind.
Out the back of my home, there were the strongest tendrils of gold. Of original magic.
“Josephina left from here,” I murmured, and then I put it together. “And Tee left with her.”
Fuck. That meant she was in Faerie, and with the way time shifted, it would be days before she made her way back to Earth. There was no point in following her to Faerie either, because by the time I got there, she could be anywhere. And the energy of Faerie would help her hide from me.
She’d arranged it so I’d have no choice but to spend some time considering what I wanted. My genius of a mate.
My blood boiled at the knowledge that right now she was completely untraceable. Our bond hummed in my chest, as if to remind me that she was okay and that I could check on her through it.
“Use this time to think about what you really want,” Jessa said.
“And sort out the problem with the humans,” Braxton added. “Our borders need securing. An army of humans is moving toward all supe villages now that the elders have revealed our existence to the world.”
Thanks to the television program that was airing night and day on their cable networks, humans had started to surround the supernatural villages. At first it was only the humans who lived their lives half in a fantasy world already: gamers, authors, actors, all of them seeking out the magic they’d dreamed of being true. They’d been camping outside Stratford for the last day and half, and they were mostly calm. But things were starting to ramp up now.
The human government must have done their own investigation into what they were seeing on their televisions, and apparently the threat was now real enough for them to bring out their armies. The US president, who had not been aware of us before this, was declaring us a threat of the highest level.
“Have you spoken to our contact in the government?” I asked Braxton. A lot of humans already knew about us. We had guild members in every government sector.
He nodded. “Yes. He’s trying his best at damage control, but now that the president is aware, it’s basically out of his hands.”
I figured as much, but it was still an avenue we had to explore. “We need a council meeting, one with all of the leaders from around the world. There’s still time to reverse it, if I can get enough votes.”
This was a mess I started, and I was ready to fix it.
“We can put the call out, but it’s going to have to be a quick meeting,” Braxton said, already moving toward my front door. “We can’t leave our communities unprotected, especially not right now.”
“Just tell them it’ll take a day, and we’ll have our final vote.”
Supe leaders were scattered across the world in multiple time zones, so it would take a little maneuvering to get them all together at the same time. But the Compasses would make it happen. They commanded more respect than they realized.
And I needed this issue sorted out as soon as possible, because I wanted to focus on Tee. For the first time in a very long time, a spark was flaring inside my chest at the thought of tracking her down. Of spending time with her again.
I wanted to know if she still loved flowers, the brightest, most colorful ones she could find. If she still drank Faerie wine on the full moon and ran naked through fields. If she ate more food than someone her size should be able to do without bursting, and laughed the entire time because she found so much joy in it.
I wanted to know her again.
We had been friends for most of our lives, and I was determined that we get back to that place. And maybe, just maybe, we could embrace t
he bond fully. Because I agreed with Jessa—I was kidding myself thinking I could keep her at arm’s length.
She was already ingrained into my soul, into my heart. She had been for most of my life.
13
Elizabeth Teresa Montgomery II
Sometimes it was easy to forget that the few hours I spent in Faerie were days on Earth. I crossed with Josephina, and she then opened a step-through for me to take back to Alaska. My cabin there was small but comfortable. Unlike in my youth, I had plenty of money now. All supes were paid a stipend based on the wealth of American supernaturals.
And apparently they were doing really well.
I didn’t use money a lot anymore—magic got me most things. Money was for the human world. You couldn’t magic things out of nothing, they had to be pulled from somewhere. So when I built my house, wood had to be available somewhere for me to magic it into my possession. So in some ways it was easier for me just to purchase lumber and have someone build it.
It was the same with food.
Which was why right now I was in town, at the local grocery store, stocking up on supplies.
Condor, Alaska, was a small town. Population 1,200—most of the time, depending on the seasonal trades. I knew everyone by name and face, having lived nearby for decades. For some reason, none of them really questioned why I never aged, and if anyone ever did comment on it, I just used a little bit of magic to confuse them into thinking this was normal. As far as the humans knew, I was Elizabeth Tanner, who lived out of town and kept to herself—which they appreciated.
“Elizabeth!” Karen was in her sixties and had been working at the local grocery store for at least fifty of those years. “I almost sent someone out to your cabin to check on you. Long time, sweetheart.”
I gave her a genuine smile because she was always so kind and caring, but never pushy. She accepted that I had my secrets and would not share, and still treated me the same way.