Louis: Supernatural Prison book 6

by Eve, Jaymin

  “You’re taking the little ones?” I asked, staring at Jackson in his arms.

  Braxton shook his head. “No, this situation feels too risky. We’ll leave them here and just take a step-through back to see them a few times a day.”

  “They’ll be safer here in Stratford,” Jessa added.

  I nodded. “I can open a semipermanent one for you so you don’t have to keep leaving the sanctuary to open a step-through.”

  The twins’ faces lit up, and even the Compasses looked relieved to hear that. It was tough for them to be balancing their parent duties in these dark times we kept facing, and I hoped there was peace on the horizon for them soon. A chance to just enjoy their families.

  “It will get easier,” I promised, taking in their drawn and weary faces. “They won’t always be so small and vulnerable.”

  Evie slayed me with her too-old-for-a-child eyes, and I wondered if she was vulnerable even now.

  “I’m just sick of saving the fucking world,” Jessa grumbled. “It’s a thankless job, and it keeps happening.”

  Justice, who was dressed all in black, which brought out the color of her jeweled skin and eyes, nodded. “Yep, I haven’t even been part of this world for long, but in the short time since I wandered into a friggin’ fairy tale, I’ve been locked in a cage, sold at auction, locked in another cage, had power and blood drained from me, dealt with a crazy-ass sorcerer, was locked in yet another cage, turned into a jeweled princess, and found out I wasn’t human.”

  Grace scoffed. “Girl, you think you’ve had it rough. My family tried to kill me. I still don’t know where my mom and dad are, most probably dead, and I was the vessel for a shadow.”

  There was a beat of silence, and then Justice laughed. “What a competition to win.”

  The deck erupted in laughter as everyone registered the absolute insanity of their lives right now. It had been a tough few years for all the supes here, but I was determined that the darkness would end soon. There might be slivers left, like those inside of me, but there would be light as well.

  If Tee had taught me anything, it was that light always trumped darkness. No matter how strong the dark was.

  The twins and Maximus and Braxton took off then, taking their children to their grandparents’ house. Those little supes were lucky that they had so much love and support around them. They would never be alone.

  When they got back, I had a bag packed, and then it was time for us to head to Romania. The meeting was to take place in less than twenty-four hours, and I wanted to get the lay of what we were facing. But first I needed to check on Stratford’s security.

  My step-through deposited me right on the edge of Stratford, where the force field that protected our world—and the humans from us—was shimmering strongly. I had been feeling more pressure on it in recent times … mostly because there were thousands of humans out there at the moment, hammering against the wall, trying to get in. I could hear them—because the force field was connected to me—screaming, chanting, fighting.

  The groups outside seemed to be divided between those fascinated by us and the ones who feared us. The second group thought we were creatures of the devil, here to bring about the apocalypse.

  Suffice it to say, the human world was a mess right now.

  I knew other towns had lost control of their fields when the human numbers got so great that they were overwhelmed. But I was keeping ours strong … along with the Compasses. Between the five of us, half of America could try and bash our door down. We would be able to hold it.

  After I checked everything was stable, I sent some calming magic out into the mass of humans. The violence was ramping up, but I could sense the army out there as well now, and I hoped they would hold off the fighting for the next couple of days.

  I mostly hoped the elders, chiefs, and leaders made the right choice at this meeting. Because the world was clearly not ready for our people to be out in the open. Not yet. And more importantly, not like this.

  The pack was somber when I returned, and that feeling remained as I opened the step-through into my brother’s place. He had it set up so I could enter and leave the sanctuary that way. We’d both figured out how to circumvent the ancient securities, and it was here I would set up a semipermanent step-through for my pack.

  Quale didn’t even blink as we trooped into his living room, and I wasn’t surprised to see sandwiches and drinks already waiting there. He was a nurturer by nature, and I still had no idea why he’d been born a mystic. It didn’t feel like the right fit, but thankfully it wasn’t something he had to deal with anymore.

  “Where are the rest of the mystics?” Tyson spat as soon as the step-through was closed. “I have a small score to settle with them.”

  When he said small, he meant fucking huge. They had almost cost him his mate and destroyed the rest of the world in the process.

  Quale smiled, and it was not a nice smile. “They vanished a few nights ago. I guess word got out that you guys were returning for this meeting.”

  Didn’t surprise me. They had that weak bully mentality, strong in a group situation, but when faced with much more powerful supes, they ran and hid. My phone vibrated in my pocket then, and I pulled it out to check the message.

  I got messages a lot; I was part of a large network that monitored and controlled magical objects. Not to mention we also tracked criminals and handled the legal side of releases back into society. So there was no reason for me to expect the message was from Tee, but somehow I knew it was.

  Tee: When you told me that day you wanted to join my family, and I suggested you’d have to be a chosen mate to Regina, was that the moment I lost you?

  Fuck. That question was actually painful to read, and I had immediate flashbacks. I’d been in love with Tee for some time before that day, but there never seemed to be a right time to broach the subject. I kept waiting for her to give me a sign, but she never did. Well not anything obvious. So then, like a godsdamn coward, I’d decided to just hint at the possibility of me “joining her family” in the hopes she would respond with something, and instead she’d made a joke about me being with Regina. Her words had hurt, because I was sure that if she had even one iota of romantic interest in me, she would never have suggested I choose another girl as my mate. So, yeah, that had been the day I decided that it might be better to stop hinting and just accept that I had a really amazing best friend. To be content with that.

  Knowing she would be waiting for my reply, I texted quickly, reminding her that she had never lost me. Not in any true sense. And there was no point in rehashing that part of our past. It couldn’t be changed.

  For some reason, I waited for an unusual amount of anticipation for her next message. My obsession with her was growing to a worrying level, but I just couldn’t find it in myself to give a fuck about that.

  Tee: That was the moment though that you went to my sister. Did we have a chance? Was it me you wanted first?

  That was an easy one to answer.

  Me: Yes.

  Yes to everything she asked. I knew I’d been a bit short with that answer, mostly because I was filled with anger and regret. So I sent another text almost straight after.

  Me: I miss you.

  And then another one.

  Me: I’ve missed you for years.

  Every minute of every year. I hadn’t even realized how consuming the emptiness inside of me had been without Elizabeth. Being back with her now, it was showing me.

  She didn’t reply, but I could feel strong emotions through our bond. I refrained from writing her again, even though I was still holding my phone like a damn lifeline.

  “You coming, Louis?” Jessa asked from the doorway. Everyone had started to move out, but I was still in the kitchen, frozen.

  I nodded. “Yep, be right there.”

  Shelves rocked around me as my power swelled. Tee’s emotions were growing stronger, and there was so much pain and grief in them that my control disappeared in a flash. I needed
to go to her. I needed to fucking see her. Practicing every single mental calming technique I knew, I breathed in and out deeply.

  “Are you okay?” Jessa was right in my face now, and I focused on her for a moment.

  Swallowing roughly, I shook my head. “Not really. Tee is hurting right now, dealing with ghosts of the past, and I can’t be there with her.”

  Jessa’s smile was sad. “I love that you call her Tee. It’s so different from the formality of her name. It suits her. Even more than Lizzie, and I really like it too.”

  She was babbling, which was very unlike her, and I figured it was because she wanted to distract me and didn’t know how. Reaching out, I wrapped my free arm around her and pulled her in to my chest. “Thank you,” I murmured. “For everything you’ve done.”

  She squeezed me back tightly, and I could hear the rumble of her dragon from outside, but he didn’t venture in. Apparently I was just trustworthy enough now, or maybe it was that I had my own true mate. He knew the strength of that bond.

  Following them out to the sanctuary, I tried to ignore the sorrow floating through my bond with Tee. Focusing on the chiefs and elders helped distract me a little, but I was a loose cannon trying to deal with my mate’s pain. I should be with her. I needed to be with her.

  I sent her one more text that night, needing her to know that she was always on my mind. She replied, and I felt better knowing that it was only memories paining her. Memories she was determined to deal with. Alone.

  That night I slept like shit. After a few hours, I pulled myself from the bed and ventured out into the forest near the main town. I let my energy drift from me, releasing some of the darkness, while I thought about Tee. I’d had her in my arms—and bed—for one night, and now I couldn’t imagine being able to sleep without her again.

  When the false light of this world rose, I ventured back to my room, showering and changing before grabbing some breakfast. Sometime later, when it was early morning back in America, I felt another hot surge of pain through the bond, and I almost blew up a small market stall as I lost control of my energy.

  Before anything else could happen, my phone rang.

  “Tee?” I said immediately.

  She made a choked sound, and everything around me shook as supes watched me warily.

  I kept my voice calm though. “Tee, are you okay?”

  She choked out some words. “I … just … please talk to me.”

  Some of the tension inside eased because she clearly wasn’t in any sort of trouble. I let out a low breath, and the rattling of the buildings slowed as I calmed. I needed to see her. This distance was not good for either of us. “Let me come to you, please. You’re killing me. Your pain is … more than I can handle.”

  It was worse than my own pain. I would be tortured in the land between for an eternity before I’d have her feel like this. “Soon,” she promised me. “But for now, tell me something … anything. Distract me.”

  Working hard to push down my own worry and anger, I tried to decide which of the millions of things I could say to her. There was so much unsaid between us still, but I understood her need for distraction.

  I went with the first thing on my mind: “Your hair drives me crazy.”

  There was a pause and then a chuckle escaped from her.

  A smile tilted up my lips. “Seriously,” I continued, “I have actual dreams about running my hands through it, and how the hell does it smell like wildflowers. Even when we were kids you smelled of wildflowers. I figured it’s because you were always out in the fields, but there were no fields in Alaska, and you still have the same scent.”

  Another chuckle burst from her. “Of all the things you could have said, you want to talk about your weird obsessions.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle in return. “It made you laugh,” I said, before my voice went a lot lower. “And honestly, if I’d heard one more choked breath from you, I was coming for you. Whether you wanted me to or not. I think you underestimate my control.”

  “I’m with Regina,” she whispered, sorrow creeping in again. “I felt her here with me. I think … I think she forgives me.”

  I knew her sister well, and she more than forgave her. “I’m sure she thinks there’s nothing to forgive. Your sister loved you, Tee, more than you’ll ever know. We both agreed you were the best of the three of us.”

  “Do you still miss her?”

  I waited for the pain, because usually it was difficult for me to even think about losing Regina, but … there were just fond memories of the supe I once loved. “I haven’t missed her for a long time.” Admitting this truth out loud felt almost cathartic. “But I still mourn her loss. The world needs more Montgomerys in it. But … my heart no longer aches for her. When I stopped punishing myself, I realized that I moved on a long time ago.”

  “Could you move on from me?” she asked, and this time the pain was swift and brutal. Before I could think twice about it, I followed her energy and somehow arrived right in front of her. I’d never done anything quite like that before … it wasn’t a step-through, more like … instant transmission.

  “W-what?” she said, her mouth ajar as the phone fell from her hand.

  I moved closer, drinking in the sight of her. My heart ached and burned at her red, swollen eyes and tearstained cheeks. I brushed away the last of the moisture, desperate to touch her again. I found myself cupping her face, breathing in everything about her. “I will never be able to move on from you.” This was the absolute truth I held in my heart. “If you were no longer in this world, then I would follow you to the next one. Not for a moment did I consider it with Regina, but for you, there’s no other option. I’ve been with you for years, even if you didn’t know I was there. As long as you were okay, I left you be. But now … now that I’ve touched and tasted and loved you, I cannot leave you again.”

  Part of me was begging, something I’d never done before in my life, but I’d never wanted anything the way I wanted her.

  A million emotions flashed across her silvery eyes, and I felt through our bond the moment she allowed herself to trust in it. In us. “Don’t break me,” she whispered, lifting herself up toward me.

  I’d been dying to kiss her, so I wasted no time in pressing my lips to hers. Fire licked along my body and the energy between us veritably hummed. It was so strong even humans would have felt it.

  “Are we really doing this?” she whispered huskily. “I mean, so many years, so much history. I can’t believe we are in this moment now.”

  My eyes flicked behind to the gravestones, to her family cemetery. It had been years since I’d been back here, years since I felt the energy of Tee’s ancestors. Of Regina. There were so many memories here, at this farm and in the town where I grew up.

  I understood why Tee was so emotional, but for me there was peace here now that hadn’t been there before. I pushed some of her hair back, mostly just needing to touch it.

  “We’ve wasted too many years; I won’t waste any more. I need you, and more importantly I want you.”

  She smiled, a bright, brilliant smile, and I had to kiss her again. I wasn’t sure what the hell I’d done to deserve this second chance, but I was never going to make her regret it.

  20

  Elizabeth Teresa Montgomery II

  His kisses were addicting. Like, block everything else in the entire world and make me forget my damn name sort of addicting Unfortunately, we had run out of time to just sit around and explore this new bond between us. I could tell by the urgency in Louis’s voice that this meeting in Romania was not going to be as smooth as he’d hoped.

  “They’re going to fight me on this,” he said. “Some of it is about power, but most of it is about what they think is the next logical step for supernaturals to take. But they’re not looking at the bigger picture, the long-term effect of what they’re doing. Until now we’ve still had all the power and control while managing to stay under the radar and not deal with the drama of humans. If we are
integrated with the humans, we will take that drama on.” He pushed his hand into his hair, sending it up in spikes. “We’ll be targeted by them. And I, for one, don’t want to spend the rest of my life dealing with humans.”

  My head was resting against his shoulder, his arm keeping me close to him. He had barely let me go since we finally saw each other again, and I had absolutely no issue with that. “What’s your plan, then? Is there any way that you can put this secret back in its box?”

  His chest rumbled under my head, and he let out a long breath. “There’s a way. It’s going to be dangerous, and most probably won’t work completely, but there’s still one option left to us. If they hurry the hell up and agree to allow me to try.”

  I pushed myself up and twisted so that I could see his face. Those arresting purple eyes still stole my breath away just like they had that first day we met when we were children. “I guess we’d better get to the sanctuary, then.” The meeting was basically due to start in the next few hours, and while I loved that Louis cared more about me than that, it was a pretty important meeting. He couldn’t miss it.

  I scrambled to my feet and he followed. Both arms wrapped around me as he pulled me tighter into his chest, and for a moment I wondered how this had become my life. It felt like … too much. I’d been punishing myself for so long that to finally have something good happen, to finally have this perfect moment in my world … I kept waiting for it to crash down around me.

  I had to stop thinking like that though—this would never work if I was continuously looking over my shoulder waiting for the big bad to hit us. Louis must have felt some of my darker thoughts creeping in through our bond, because a scowl brushed across his face, making it appear even more menacing—and gorgeous—than usual.

  “Stop doubting us,” he said. “You’ve known me since we were children. We were best friends for years, and I’ve adored you since you were a tiny doe-eyed girl with more hair than sense. The fact that you are my true mate as well is just a bonus, because I would have chosen you any day. I did choose you. Despite us getting our wires crossed for a little while there.”