Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) (15 page)

My violet smoke thickened as the intensity grew and my need to be close to him, to touch him, overwhelmed me. Aidan was still steps away and he stood still, watching me. I wanted the distance between us gone.

Blue fire circled his hands and reached out to surround him. It swirled around his wrists and up his arms until the two segments connected, each cut with orange bursts to remind me exactly what made Aidan special.

Each of us encased in our respective magic, we took a step toward each other and held one hand up. The action was innate, my hand rising of its own accord to the same height as Aidan’s. We took another step forward, our hands inches apart.

Power ricocheted back and forth, the current flowing between us. Violet, blue, and orange bounced between our palms. Between the wolf howling in our shared mind and the Hunter strength emanating from Aidan, I couldn’t focus. I wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to feel his lips.

As we closed the final distance, Aidan lowered his head, his lips hovering just above mine. I felt his breath and needed to move only the tiniest bit to meet him. Before I could move, he whispered, “Focus, doll. Let’s open that gate.”

I didn’t take my eyes off him, but focused on the gate and the need for it to be gone. Through our shared connection, I felt Aidan mimic my efforts, and we both directed our power to our palms.

I saw the quirk of his lips as he whispered,
Now
, in my mind. We turned our palms out at the same moment and lightning shot toward the gate. It was a concentrated energy that swirled and mixed as it raced toward the wooden door. I was too busy closing the distance between us to see the two collide.

With my free hand, I gripped the back of his neck and felt his smiling lips as they crushed against mine. We had broken open the damn of power and now, as his tongue swept into my mouth and his hand came to my waist, I felt more from him than I ever had.

Aidan’s emotions were stronger than I’d expected. With the door between us blown wide open, I caught glimpses of his memories, his thoughts about me, and his true feelings.

Our kisses slowed and his hand moved to grasp mine as he pulled away.

“When did you know you loved me?” I asked, still lost in the intimate thoughts I’d seen. Embarrassment burned my cheeks and I looked down at my feet.

Aidan pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. “There was no one moment that I knew. It was every moment combined. From the first time you spoke to me out on that beach, to the day you absolutely failed at convincing me you were training MMA with Micah, to the nights we stayed up until sunrise asking each other a hundred questions.

“Every day you said something else that surprised me. You wanted so much from the world, but you wanted to give it so much as well. You didn’t want to be held back by your family, but you wanted to be close to them. You were fiercely protective of Bethany and equally hesitant to let me in. You were a riddle I knew I would never solve, but I wanted to spend the rest of my life trying.”

I opened my mouth to respond when Aidan exclaimed, “Holy shit!”

I whipped around to find that we hadn’t just opened the door, we had destroyed the door. It was toothpicks. Slivers of wood shattered and tossed in every direction. Charlie and Onyx had already crossed into the castle and stood waiting for us, clearly impatient.

“Ohmygod, can you believe this? Look what we did!” I took a few steps toward the open door, hardly containing my shock.

“Were you going to say something before?” Aidan asked, a sly smile telling me he knew I was.

“Oh,” I stuttered. “I…um…I’m really glad you didn’t let me go. I’m really glad you came for me and you’re here now.” I stumbled through the words I hadn’t actually intended to say.
Coward
, I berated myself.

Aidan looked at me, his hopeful expression slowly fading.

“Shall we?” he asked, gesturing forward.

I exhaled and mentally thanked him for not pressing the issue. I knew what I wanted to say and what he wanted to hear. After all this, he deserved to hear it. I only hoped he would stay patient as I unraveled the mystery of my own heart.

I
nudged
Amelia along as I tried to keep pace with the Danes. Her eyes were wide and her movements slow, just as they had been since we’d entered the castle. We were both astounded that so much remained.

I tried not to dwell on what happened outside. I had allowed her to see me, unfiltered and emotionally vulnerable, and yet again, she found a way around her feelings. I had stopped second-guessing my feelings for her a long time ago. I accepted whatever part of them was tied to being her mate and realized beyond the obvious physical attraction we had for each other, the way I felt couldn’t be manufactured. She was clearly still hesitant, and I wasn’t sure how many more times I could put myself out there for her to reject. Whether she knew that’s what she’d done or not, that was how it felt.

Charlie and Onyx led us past rooms filled with furniture and hallways lined with paintings and photos. No one had closed up shop, so to speak, and many of the rooms had clearly been raided. Drawers hung open, furniture shoved askew, and unidentifiable broken items littered the floor. The castle itself was cold. The chilly air from the mountain whipped through the empty hallways, making us both glad to have winter jackets.

The dogs yipped and barked at us if we took too long, and eventually, Onyx came to take up the rear so he could physically push us forward. I considered shifting to show him who was really in charge, but that would have been poor judgment on my part since the dogs clearly knew where they were going and we had no idea.

Amelia stopped in front of yet another frame. “Doll, we have to keep going. Onyx is going to take a chunk of me before long,” I said as I tried to pull her along. Amelia yanked her arm from my light grip and stepped even closer to the photograph.

“It’s my mom. With Rynna and Julia,” she said quietly.

I looked at the portrait again, this time really focusing. Rynna was the only one of the three I’d actually met, so it was easy to pick her out. She stood between the other two in a long dress with her hair in a long braid, as it typically was today. Of the other two, I knew which was Amelia’s mother based on the fact that Amelia was a carbon copy and the other woman was bright blonde. Rynna and Liana looked maybe fifteen in the picture and stood in front of a water fountain. All three were laughing, their arms around each other’s waists.

“They were all friends?” I asked.

Amelia nodded. “I think so. I wonder what happened,” she mused.

I pulled at her arm again. “We can ask Rynna when we get home.” Reluctantly, she came with me, but her eyes darted back to the photograph as we walked away.

We continued up staircase after staircase. As we made our way higher into the castle, the walls weren’t just made of stone, they were stone. I looked closely as we climbed and was certain the castle was built directly into the side of the mountain.

Charlie finally diverted from the stairs and made a beeline down a hallway. It didn’t look different from any other hallway we had passed, but as we approached the last door on the right, Charlie sat down and a warning bell went off inside me. It was the first time I’d felt anything out of the ordinary since we’d landed, and that meant something.

I pulled Amelia back to the top of the stairs in a second. She swayed on her feet as I called out, “What’s going on, Charlie? Something’s off here. I can feel it.”

We must go this way. You have to trust me. I am leading you home.

“You keep saying that. You keep talking about home, but aren’t we already home? We’re in the castle,” I said. “You need to give us more information.”

Amelia stepped from my side and turned her back to the dogs. “Come on, Aidan. We have to go. We have to trust them. Why come here and follow them this whole way if we aren’t going to finish this? Whatever it is.”

This could be a trap
, I growled in her mind.

If it were a trap, we wouldn’t need to walk up eight flights of stairs. And Charlie’s protected me since I’ve known him. He wouldn’t let me get hurt now.

I crossed my arms and surveyed the situation again. Charlie came back down the hall halfway, but Onyx stood next to the door, sniffing with his tail quickly swishing back and forth. Amelia was in front of me, and looked mildly impatient herself.

“What?” I asked. I knew there was something she wasn’t saying.

“I can feel it again,” she said, her gaze darting between me and the door. “It’s pulling me. It’s pulling me that way. I want to go in that door, Aidan. I need to.” She was trying to remain still, but kept shifting her weight from her right foot to her left, her fingers twisting in front of her.

I still couldn’t feel the pull she was talking about. I searched myself and the connection between us, hoping for a better understanding of what everyone was so anxious for, but I got nothing. I didn’t like nothing.

“If we’re going, I’m going in first. You stay behind me, got it?” I was trying to be stern, but she nodded with such excitement, I couldn’t keep the face going. I sighed and held out my hand. “Okay, let’s go then.” She took it and dragged me toward the door. I really didn’t like the idea that something was influencing her, but she was right, there was no turning back now.

Onyx moved to the side and Charlie stood right in front of the door. I felt the same excitement coming from him and struggled again with my inability to know what was coming. I reached out slowly with my free hand, grasped the door handle lightly, and twisted it.

I’d expected it to be locked, but the door opened with a quiet
snick
. I shoved it in, slamming it against the wall while keeping Amelia safely outside. Immediately, we were bathed in a bright glow.

We stepped in slowly, both of us staring at the river of rainbow-colored light that ran ceiling to floor. It moved, a continuous current of energy that was both beautiful and terrifying. It reminded me of a combination of both our powers — the electric look of my energy, snapping and popping as it streamed along, and the wispy threads of Amelia’s, flowing and shifting. Colors streaked down the wall — orange, green, red, violet, and blue. They flowed together, drawing both of us forward. As we got closer yet, I saw bright white interspersed among the colored river.

Both dogs paced in front of the door. They strode opposite directions, their paws hitting the floor at exactly the same moments, turning in stride and crossing past each other again. They didn’t look around, they didn’t speak to us at all.

Charlie’s mammoth white body, which was covered in small black patches, moved with a precision I’d never seen the lumbering giant have. Onyx disappeared into the shadows as he walked his route. His nails clicked on the floor and his black body shined in the firelight. The cavernous room was most definitely built into the mountainside. The rock walls were jagged and the room appeared chiseled out.

I made Amelia stay a step behind me, but we inched forward. The unease I felt in the hallway only grew, and the reaction from the dogs only worried me further. “Hey, guys, what are we doing here?” I asked, but neither animal responded. They didn’t acknowledge my presence at all, just kept pacing.

“Does this concern you in the least?” I asked her, gesturing to the Danes. Amelia shook her head.

“We’re supposed to be here,” she said, breathless and unfocused. “I can feel it, Aidan. This is exactly where we’re supposed to be. Can we get closer?” she asked as she stepped forward. I jumped in front of her.

“Can you please let me go first?” I asked, ready to toss her over my shoulder if she didn’t stop running headfirst into the unknown. “I know you’re completely capable, but let me be the guy right now, okay?” I thought she’d appreciate the compliment, but Amelia only nodded absently as she stared over my shoulder.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. I whirled around, power flooding my system. Instead of something terrible, I saw symbols floating down the wall. Somehow, we had gotten close enough to trigger this. We watched bright, silver glowing emblems flow from top to bottom. They disappeared at the floor and reappeared at the ceiling, slowly drifting down again.

Amelia pulled the small backpack from her shoulders and dropped it to the ground. “She talked about this,” she said excitedly as she pulled the journal pages out. “My mother talked about this. We are in the right place, Aidan!” Amelia looked up at me, beaming.

I couldn’t help but smile down at her, even though I knew in my gut this wouldn’t be as easy as she thought.

Amelia flipped the pages until she found the one she wanted and stood so we could both read it together.

Lavignia sees all. I know she does. It was no coincidence during my trek to the chamber today that she removed the blind before they finished unlocking the door.

It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. A wall of power — a rainbow of color and continuous stream of symbols. The ancient markings Tragar and I only found in books were lit up — silver and effervescent against the swirling colors of the door.

I watched as Lavignia and Vivian stood side by side, their arms moving in a slow pattern as they snatched certain symbols from the cascade of power running from floor to ceiling. I couldn’t move. I didn’t know if Vivian understood the gift Lavignia was giving me, so I was only able to see a portion of the symbols.

As Lavignia snatched the last symbol from the wall, it burned brightly in her glowing, violet palm. Vivian placed her hand over Lavignia’s and the door disappeared. Then, I was blind again. I’ve walked through this interior room every time on our way to the chamber and I always feel the pull strongest in this place. I only wish I understood where it was coming from.

Together, we stared at the wall standing between us and answers. Just as her mother described, the flow of power was continuous and every race was represented.

“These symbols, I’ve seen them before,” Amelia said. “They are the same ones on my cuff. Micah started to explain them to me, but he didn’t finish. I wonder why they are this color, this silverish white. The only white power I’ve ever seen was a piece of the Keeper. This is all so strange,” she mused.

Amelia took a step forward and leaned in to look closer, interrupting Charlie’s path. His growl was deep, intense, and I snatched her by the waist, pulling her behind my outstretched arm. As soon as she moved, Charlie resumed his measured steps, disregarding us completely.

“What’s wrong with him?” Amelia asked.

I gritted my teeth against the overwhelming howls of my wolf. I had controlled him thus far, but with Amelia in actual danger, I couldn’t anymore. He wanted us out of here, back on that plane, and halfway across the world on the way home. But, we had to do this. She had to do this. There was no going back now.

“They act like they’ve turned back into guards,” I said to her as I watched the dogs continue their patrol. “Baleon said they guarded the chamber, and that’s what they’re doing. But it’s strange that they are so focused.” My mind whipped through the possibilities of what all of this could mean.

I worried that behind this door was going to be something bigger and scarier than Amelia imagined. She had this misguided notion that because she was sent on this path, everything would be sunshine and rainbows. That wasn’t what we’d experienced up to this point, and I didn’t see it changing.

“We need to know what those symbols mean,” I muttered.

“Micah!” Amelia exclaimed. “Micah knows, and I can get to Micah.”

Amelia walked backward, further from the door and Danes. I followed. She reached out and I took her hands, grateful for the contact. My wolf calmed when I touched her. As our powers swirled together and our connection solidified, I felt like I could take a full breath again.

“Do you think he’s been bitten yet?” I joked.

Amelia rolled her eyes, and said, “I wouldn’t doubt Melinda tried. I hope he let Baleon pin her to a wall and the Mages use her for target practice.”

Her retort dripped of sarcasm and her eyes narrowed when she said Melinda’s name. I couldn’t stop from laughing out loud. Amelia shook our joined hands. “Focus, Montgomery. I need your help to find Micah.”

“Right. Yes. Let’s do this,” I said, still chuckling. I closed my eyes and focused myself in her mind. I lingered on the edges and allowed her to give me whatever access she wanted. I found myself matching the rhythm of her breathing and as we both took a slow inhale, I felt an openness, like someone had been in a heated room and suddenly opened a window. The air was sucked out and a chill sent shivers up my spine.

I’ve never tried this over a long distance. Give me a second.

I didn’t reply, but I did pull at my power and send it to her. What would have normally been blue smoke was a swirling tangle of orange and blue. Since touching down, the Hunter side of me that had never really felt integrated was everywhere. My senses were further developed, my fear was less, and my intuition more.

I watched my power filter into her space, mixing with hers. As they threaded together, a multi-colored braid, she spoke again.

Micah? Can you hear me? We need your help.

I saw the thin, red glowing thread that was her connection to Micah. As she reached out, it pulsed brighter and became thicker. I continued to feed my power into her until finally, we heard him.

This is not a fabulous time, Amelia. What can I do for you?
Micah’s irritation was blatant. I was about to interject when Amelia spoke.

We found the chamber, but there are symbols on the wall and I don’t know what they mean. We have to know which symbols to use to get through it.

It was silent. Micah said nothing and I was about to pull the plug on the whole thing when he spoke again.

Quickly, can you show me?

What’s happening, what aren’t you saying?
I interrupted, knowing something was wrong.

Not now. If you need my help, you have about one minute to get it.
Micah’s fear invaded my mind, forming an ugly ball in the pit of my stomach. He was supposed to be protecting my people.

Amelia started rattling off descriptions of the symbols, and Micah named the ones he could, but I barely heard their voices. I could only think about Cora and Dillon. Elias, Nell, and their children. Willow. Sully. My wolf tore my insides apart trying to get out, trying to force me to move. I was letting my people down, out on a wild goose chase for something that could be nothing.