Point of No Return (10 page)

“I’m sorry, Terian,” Titus rumbled softly.
“If I’d known of you, even had an inkling, I’d have moved Hell and
earth to find you.”

Terian swallowed hard.

“I always wanted a son,” Titus rumbled. “But
Alerian didn’t want children. I never even knew she was
pregnant.”

Terian began to tremble.

“Forgive me?” Titus rumbled, his low timbre
breaking. “I’d like the chance to be your father.”

Terian pulled back slowly, tears in his eyes.
“I’d like that.”

Titus hugged him again.

“Not that I wasn’t touched by that,” Devlin
said, looking from Terian to me. “But you led me to believe there
was some emergency here.”

“Theo is under a love spell,” Terian said
gratingly. “The most powerful one there is.”

“What?” Devlin said, shocked. “Since
when?”

“Which love spell?” Titus growled, his
ferocious expression similar to the earth cracking open, a jagged
maw of jagged sharp edges. “Who put it on him, and why?”

“Tasha, the woman he left Sar for. She
bespelled him with Everlasting Love,” Terian said quickly. “I can’t
break it, but maybe you can.”

“That makes sense,” Devlin said slowly. “That
would explain how he could give Sar up so easily, despite the dream
they shared together.”

“How do you know of that?” I said sharply to
Dev.

Titus laughed, but it was a cold laugh,
devoid of real humor. “You have much to learn. Brian reports
regularly on everything that affects you, Sarelle. Before him,
Lander sometimes gave us information.”

“And others, as well,” Devlin added.

“When you said you knew everything about me
you needed to, Dev, I didn’t realize how much that entailed,” I
said slowly.

“I know of the dream, how it happened the
first time, and how it affected you both the second time,” Titus
said. He looked at Devlin. “Whomever did this spell intended to
entrap Theo, and keep him from Sarelle. This spell, if it is indeed
the one Terian says it is, was both costly and complicated.” He
looked at Devlin with red eyes. “I can break it, if that is really
your will, Master.”

“You’re implying I put this spell on Theo,”
Devlin said icily. “I didn’t. If I wanted Theo out of the way, I’d
have had Lash kill him, like he’s wanted to for years. I wouldn’t
have bothered with a spell.”

“Lash mentioned he was in Russia, that night
he came to see you at my home,” I countered. “When was he there,
Devlin?”

“He was in Moscow a few years ago,” Devlin
said to me smoothly. “A werelion had been killed there, and he went
to make sure it wasn’t Theo. When he verified it was not, he came
home.”

“Why send your best man?” Terian asked.

Devlin rounded on him, snarling. “Because the
person who killed the werelion was Samuel, Terian. He killed him at
his estate. Lash was the only one who was good enough to get in and
out without being detected.”

“If Devlin did this to Theo, he did it
without my help,” Titus rumbled. “Leri is not skilled enough in
love magic to have done this spell. Logically, he is innocent. That
leaves the next most likely suspect: Samuel himself.”

I sank down to the floor, sitting in a heap.
“All this time, it was Samuel.”

Devlin crouched down, and helped me back to
my feet, settling me in a chair. “Why do you say that?”

“Samuel hated Theo, thought he’d interfered
with me as Danial’s Oathed One. He promised Danial he’d look for
him, and wouldn’t kill him. I thought that meant he was helping us.
Instead, he found a way to keep us apart without breaking his word
to Danial.”

“Even if Theo found his way back to America
and met Danial and you again, that spell ensured Theo would move
on,” Devlin mused. “Ingenious.”

“Perseus knew already that you were splitting
up before any of us did,” Terian added. “It makes sense now that
Samuel told him.”

“I’m not pleased to have ridden to your
rescue, Sar, only to be accused—” Devlin said, glaring at me.

“Ease off her!” Terian said, blackness
flowing out of him. “She loves you, and she wants to trust you, but
she’s afraid to. She remembers what you did to her, all of it, not
just that day you made love to her, if you can call the first time
she was with you by that moniker.”

Devlin stared at Terian. “Who are you to tell
me what she feels?”

“I saw her memories, looking for signs of the
love spell I suspected was on Theo. I saw a lot of you in them,
Devlin, and felt her emotions through every encounter.”

I flushed. Devlin gazed at Terian, a small
amount of respect in his eyes. “Forget what you saw and felt,” he
said finally. “Sar and I will build our own relationship without
any help from you or magical means.”

“I’m sorry for suspecting you,” I said
awkwardly. “It made sense at the time.”

“You were being logical,” Devlin said with a
wave of his hand. “Now that we determined what’s going on and who
is behind it, what do we need to break this spell?”

“I can break the spell, Devlin,” Titus said,
his warning tone that of stone grating on stone. “But you should
make sure you want me to.”

“Explain,” Devlin commanded.

“This isn’t a simple spell he’s under,” Titus
continued. “To make matters worse, he’s got two layers now, with
her addition of another on top of the previous one that was
waning.”

“Why did it wane?” Terian said. “Everlasting
Love is supposed to be, well, everlasting.”

“Distance,” Titus explained. “That was the
only thing that saved him. That and his character, I suppose. A
lesser man would have been unable to leave her at all.”

“Why did she do it?” I asked. “Why force
someone to love you?”

“As long as there has been magic, there have
been love spells,” Titus growled. “Everyone craves it, and few feel
safe in it, even when they have it.”

“Why caution me?” Devlin said to Titus.

“Because once it’s broken, Theo is going to
come looking for Sar. He is not going to be able to stay away from
her, not for anything. No matter where you take her, Devlin, he’ll
follow you.”

“Why is that a problem?” Devlin replied. “I
said I’d share her with him.”

“He will not want to share her with you,”
Titus stated. “That is also the nature of the dream they share. He
must possess her utterly, and she will not want to give herself to
anyone else, not you, not Danial. Her bond with Theo has been
lessened by the spell. When it’s dissolved, it will spring back in
full force, enveloping them both.”

I wanted no part of what he was describing.
“Fuck, can’t anything ever be simple?” I cried.

“Not this,” Titus said, his red eyes on mine.
“Make a decision, Devlin.”

“Tell me what you need to do,” Devlin said.
“And what will happen, if you know.”

“I can break the spell. I have a mixture with
me that will do it. But it is going to prompt Theo and Sar to dream
of each other one last time. When they wake up after, what is
between them will be stronger than ever. As before, they will seek
each other out.”

“Terian told me long ago that we renewed the
dream, by dreaming a second time together,” I interrupted. “We
didn’t know what that meant.”

“What you shared that first time made you
reveal your feelings. When you acted on your feelings, dreaming of
each other, the magic deepened your love for one another, made it
all it could be. When you dreamed a second time together, you made
the love you share much stronger than normal love is, much more
powerful. The third time, you may make the bond between you
unbreakable.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, scared.

“I mean if Theo should die, you may die as
well, Sar.”

“I’ll not risk that,” Devlin said stridently.
“I want Sar safe. Do not break the spell, Titus.”

“It is your decision,” Terian said curtly.
“But is also Sar’s as well.”

“The question isn’t can we do this, but
should we do this,” I said wearily. “I think we should leave well
enough alone.”

“You want to leave him under her spell?”
Terian said, aghast. “How can you say that when I know how much you
love him, how much you are dying inside from him leaving you?”

“It is because I love him that I’m suggesting
this,” I said angrily. “He’s happy, really happy with her. As he
said to me so eloquently, he doesn’t have to share her with anyone.
If we break the spell, not only is he going to cause trouble with
the new Oathing arrangement, but my personality—who I am—is also
going to change. I don’t want that.”

“Don’t ask me to do it, because you know I
won’t,” Devlin said, his tone hard as stone.

“I know you won’t release me from my Oath to
you,” I retorted. “I don’t want you to. I’m saying this bond sounds
not too much different than the spell he’s under with Tasha. Theo
never asked to be bound to me, not the first time or the second
time. I don’t want to enslave him against his will.”

“You would be binding yourself as well as
Theo,” Titus added in. “But it isn’t false love, like he knows now
with Tasha. Your love is real, and the depth of it is rare,
Sarelle. Your wills, your wanting of each other, your love for one
another is the strength of the spell. It cannot be against either
of your wishes, by the very nature of what you share. In short, you
cannot bind him against his will.”

“You want me to do this,” I said in surprise,
looking at him. “Why?”

“I was under a love spell before, many, many
years ago,” Titus said, remembered pain in each word. “I hurt
someone I cared for badly, and stayed with someone I hated. By the
time my brother broke me free, the woman I loved was lost to me. I
still regret it.”

“Do it,” Devlin said, sighing. “I’ll never
hear the end of it from you or her if I don't agree.” He turned to
me. “But you, Sar, are going to make me a promise here and now with
them as witnesses.”

“What promise?”

“Even if your feelings for me change, even if
you don’t love me anymore, I expect you to honor your vow to me, to
work with me to have my child. Even after it’s born, I expect you
to come to me when I ask you to, and to come willingly.”

Devlin’s eyes were cold and cruel, but it was
a cruelty born of his fear of losing me, not malice. I kissed him.
“I swear it,” I said. “I’m not going to break my promise, either to
you or Danial.” I turned to Titus. “Are you sure there isn’t
another way?”

“No,” Titus said. “Everlasting Love was meant
to be forever. Most often death is the only sure way to break it.
Even then, when one of the lovers dies, the other usually commits
suicide out of despair.”

“Do it now, Titus,” Devlin said. “Where is
Theo, Sar?”

The package! How in God’s name had I
forgotten it? “We have to get to the driveway!” I shouted
frantically. “There is a package that needs to be incinerated! Theo
is most likely there!”

In a second, the four of us appeared on the
driveway, bumping into Danial and Theo.

“Danial,” Devlin said with a winning smile.
“How good to see you again.”

“What are you doing here?” Danial said, his
eyes narrowing, looking from Dev to me.

Theo growled, looking at Devlin with murder
in his eyes. “What do

you—?”

“Where is it?” Titus said, ignoring everyone
but me.

“There,” I said, pointing to the package
lying on the driveway.

Titus walked up to the package noncommittally
and picked it up. We all watched, riveted. Titus vanished, then
reappeared by us in a few seconds, sans package.

“What did you do with it?” Danial said. “What
was it?”

“It was poison, all right,” Titus said
cheerfully. “A high grade, made for werelions. No point wasting
it.”

“I’m sure you’ll put it to good use,” Theo
said sarcastically.

Titus bared his teeth at Theo in a half
smile, half snarl. “Stay on Dev’s good side, or I will.” He turned
to Devlin, Terian, and I. “Let’s go inside,” he said urgently.
“Terian has discovered something on his travels this past week. He
needs to share it with all of us.”

We went inside, Terian following. Just as we
entered, Terian disappeared.

“Where is Terian?” Theo said angrily, folding
his arms across his chest the moment we were inside the great room.
“I need to get back to work.”

“He’s coming,” Titus said, moving to Theo’s
side. “He needed to bring in one more to hear what he has to
say.”

Terian blinked back into view abruptly,
holding a woman. She was struggling frantically. When her eyes saw
Theo, she let out a scream. “Theo, help!”

“Tasha!” Theo shouted, lunging for her.

“Hold him!” Titus yelled.

Devlin and Danial moved as one, grabbing Theo
fast. He snarled, and tried to bite them, but they held him.

I gaped at Tasha. God, she was Aspen’s twin.
If I didn’t know better, I would think she was Aspen.

“Theo!” Tasha cried, her Russian accent
slight. “Help me!” She suddenly saw me and froze.

Rage filled me at her guilty face. “Tell him
what you did to him,” I said, moving toward her. “Tell him what you
did to us!”

“I did nothing!” she said defiantly. “Now let
me go!”

I decked her as hard as I could. She went
down on her side hard with a grunt. She looked up at me in fear,
blood from a split lip trickling from her mouth. I moved closer.
She cringed back.

“Stop it, Sar! Don’t hurt her!” Theo
screamed, flailing.

“Do it, Titus!” Devlin shouted. “We can’t
hold him much longer!”

Titus hauled Tasha to her feet, and stood her
in front of Theo, his hands on her arms. Theo was screaming, his
cougar fangs snapping in the air, his yellow eyes furious. Danial
and Devlin held him, bleeding from scratches inflicted by his
clawed hands.

Titus threw some wet sparkling stuff over
Theo. He swayed, and stopped struggling.

“Release him from your spell,” Titus rumbled
to Tasha. “Or I’ll break every bone in your body, little girl.”