Chapter 234
Chapter 234
There was no doubt in my mind that the place I had been was not of this world.
Not only had Sean been there, confusing me with talk of some mysterious person watching over me, but the concept of pain had been elusive and just out of reach. The peace that hung in the air, shimmering as brightly as the magic interwoven to create a place that was both real and memory, could only belong to some kind of afterlife.
At least, that’s what I was hoping.
Pain was the first thing I felt as that place slipped away. It held my head in its strong grip, claws digging into my scalp to produce a throbbing pain that chased me into consciousness. I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet and there it was.
When I did manage to peel my lids back, I tried to recoil at the pale face staring out at
More pain engulfed me, stinging my wrists, neck, and ankles. It blasted my mind, sapping my strength until even calling out to the shadows felt impossible.
I craned my head down, staring blankly at the silver-plated cuffs that pinned me to the wall. What was even more surprising than my restraints was the fact that my hands and arms were no longer covered in inky veins of dark magic.
As much as I wanted to wrack my brain for the identity of this mystery being watching over me, there was someone else vying for my attention. 1
“It’s about damn time. I thought you were dead.” A voice snapped.
The person staring at me from across the room came into focus. Toffee eyes sharpened, so familiar that my chest begun to ache. Only, they didn’t belong to Asher.
“Brandon?”
His name came out as a rasp, my tongue sticking to the roof of my dry mouth. My throat contracted with the effort it took to speak. When was the last time I had something to drink? I had a couple blood bags back at the house, but how long had it been since then?
“The one and only.”
Brandon was chained against the far wall in the same position, silver cuffs around his wrists, neck, and ankles. His reply was dripping with sarcasm, but beyond it I could see clearly the rough shape he was in.
Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his cheekbones were just a tad more pronounced. There was dried blood where the silver had previously made contact with his skin. As he fidgeted, fresh blood sprouted from raw, cracked flesh.
“What happened?” I grimaced. It felt like I’d been hit upside the head with a sledgehammer. Every single thought was paired with a wave of nauseating pain. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, lets see…” Brandon mumbled, blowing the hair out of his face with a frustrated huff.
He made a show of counting on his fingers, though I wasn’t sure what for.
After going over each one on his hand several times he grunted. “Since that bitch
Ember and the other witches attacked the Vamp town.”
“That was days ago.” I blanched, my stomach sinking. “You’ve been here for that long?”
“Yeah, I fucking have. You wouldn’t happen to have a bottle of liquor stashed on you?”
I tried to snort, but my dry throat refused to let the sound pass. “No, I definitely don’t have any alcohol on me.”
He leaned his head against the brick wall, glaring at the singular light hanging from the center of the room. It was nothing more than a lightbulb on a thin wire, with a little string dangling from the side. The light it produced was shitty, but it was better than drowning in darkness.
“Fair warning, Lola. The service in this place fucking sucks!” He bellowed, thrashing against his restraints.
The chains clanked against the brick, spitting out a thin plume of dust, but he was clearly too weak to do any more damage. Blood trickled from his wrists, splattering on the concrete floor. It dribbled from his neck as well, soaking into an already blood- stained shirt.
When he was finished, he slumped against the wall, his chest heaving. He swiveled his head towards me, scanning me up and down the way I had done to him mere minutes ago.
“You look different. How are things back home?” He asked.
I swallowed, shifting in my restraints. The sting of silver split the thin skin around my wrists, and I winced as the wounds began to weep blood. They’d heal quickly, only to be torn open again. It was unfortunate that I knew how this worked.
“Not good.”
Holly’s face flashed in my mind, and with it came a slew of emotions I couldn’t handle dealing with right now. I’d trusted her, bonded with her, and thought of her as the little sister I’d always wanted but never had. Not only did I feel pathetic and stupid, but I also felt lost-betrayed.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.
Brandon’s shoulders slumped, his lips merging into a thin line. “You might as well tell me everything considering neither one of us is leaving anytime soon.”
Starting off at the beginning, I recounted the moments leading up to when everything went horribly wrong. I’d expected a look of disgust when telling him about Asher’s proposal, but his face hadn’t changed in the slightest. When I mentioned what happened to Sean, that garnered a reaction.
Brandon’s eyes darkened in nearly the same fashion as Asher’s, but no amount of anger would coax Brandon’s wolf forward with all that silver touching his skin. His time here must’ve permanently altered his brain because the next words that left his mouth put me in a stupor.
“I’m sorry. Your brother was a good guy.”
I blinked the tears away, swallowing the knot in my throat. It ached as it went down, forming a weight in my chest that wouldn’t go away.
“Yeah, he was.” My whisper danced along each corner of the room before fading into the darkness.
Brandon’s eyes drifted to the floor. “I can imagine how Asher’s taking it. He’s never going to let that one go.”
“I’ll spend every day of the rest of my life reminding him it wasn’t his fault.”
“You might have to.” Brandon voiced his agreement.
I continued on, explaining what happened after Sean and grandma had been attacked. Brandon was more than angry to hear about grandma, which was another surprise. The woman truly did make everyone fall in love with her. My heart clenched painfully at the thought of the woman I considered my second mother.
She’d be so disappointed to know what I had attempted to do.
When I reached the part about Rowena, that was the first time I’d seen Brandon show any glimmer of happiness. His eyes flashed with just a hint of his wolf before the color
died off and the beast went back into hibernation.
I shouldn’t have mentioned it since I had no
intention on elaborating, but I finished by telling Brandon I knew who the second witch was.
“Who? Who is it?” He leaned forward in his shackles, tilting his head.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Brandon opened his mouth, probably to goad me into telling him, when a sound came from beyond the heavy wooden door on the other side of the room. It sat to the left of me, far out of reach. There was a long groan, followed by a squeal from the hinges as it opened.
Even in shitty lighting, I could make out that head of hair anywhere.
It was an open flame streaked with golds and yellows, beautiful if not for the scowl marring the face of the person it was attached to.
“Ember.” I snarled, but it wasn’t nearly as threatening as it could’ve been had my throat not felt like I’d swallowed the Sahara.
Considering there was nothing else to focus on, it was all too obvious to notice the smirk
Ember tossed Brandon’s way. She sauntered into the room wearing a pair of skin-tight leather pants and a low-cut blouse the same fiery shade as her hair. Propping her hand on the flare of her hip, she opened her mouth, but the only sound that filled the room was Brandon’s voice.
“I told you not to come back here without that pizza. All that talking you did and you’re doing a shit job at keeping me alive.”
Ember visibly stiffened, her entire body going rigid. Her eyes, which were a deep brown tinted red, flashed like hot coals.
“And I thought I told you to shut your damn mouth.” She hissed, barely craning her head to toss the words over her shoulder.
Seeing as Brandon’s number one quality was running his mouth, I already anticipated what he’d do next.
“Fuck, I feel bad for any pets you’ve ever owned. You were the type of kid to squeeze her hamsters to death weren’t you? Seems like the kind of psychopathic thing you’d do.”
Digging the heel of her leather boots into the ground, Ember spun to glare daggers at Brandon.
“Oh, shut up about the stupid pizza!”
The two continued to argue, shooting jabs back and forth until Ember was quite literally smoking. It rolled off her shoulders in waves, filling the dingy room we were locked in. Brandon didn’t seem to care in the slightest. If anything, I’d say he was enjoying riling her up so much, but that- that didn’t make any sense.
She jabbed a finger at him, and Brandon snapped his teeth in response. The longer I watched two, the more I realized they had forgotten I was even here.
Fuck, they’re arguing like a married couple -wait a damn second…
There was too much for my brain to process. Between my brother’s death, Rowena and Holly’s betrayal, the blood witch herself capturing me, and the identity of the second witch, I had too much
information and emotion to sort through. It would take me years to process it all, to move on from the rage and the pain that followed.
There was no way-no way in hell that this was possible. It was too much of a coincidence.
I focused on Brandon’s eyes as the two snarled and cursed at one another. There was clear hatred there, which would’ve been soothing if it weren’t for the sharp edge to it.
I recognized that edge intimately.
It had been the same edge in my own eyes when I’d first met Asher-when I realized how much I wanted him.
“You two are mates.”
Two heads snapped in my direction so quickly I swore I heard one of their neck’s crack. Just like that, their argument was snuffed out. There wasn’t even a sliver of its heat leftover.
“Told you she’d find out.” Brandon sang, his teeth bared in a sarcastic grin.
Ember’s stare burned into my face.
Somehow I knew her words weren’t for me, but for Brandon.
“Shut. Your. Mouth.”
My heart downright shuddered in my chest. First Tessa, and now Ember. Two extremely powerful elementals both mated to
Werewolves. There was an odd feeling tickling my spine, like a puff of breath blown at the back of my neck. For the smallest of seconds, my thoughts drifted to the stranger Sean mentioned, the one watching over me.
Why did it feel like they were responsible for this? No, that couldn’t be possible. It must be the excitement messing with my thoughts.
“When did this happen?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Ember’s lips curled back, her nose crinkling and eyes flashing with anger. I wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d actually answer me, which is exactly why I couldn’t bite back my snort when Brandon shouted over her head.
“Remember when this one here attacked the Vamp town, and I chased after her? She found out what we were, then she captured my ass.”
Ignoring Ember and her rising temper, I craned my head to the side to look at
Brandon.
“That’s why you’re here?!”
It had to be, there was no other alternative.
No demands had been made in exchange for
Brandon’s return. Hell, none of us even knew he was captured to begin with.
“Why don’t you ask my mate here why she chose to capture me.” Brandon shot back, putting special emphasis on his words.
So, Ember made the call that landed Brandon here.
“It was your choice to capture Brandon? What, did you think you’d keep him as your pet?” I asked incredulously, thinking there was no possible way I could be right. 2
“That’s exactly what she thought. She’ll have another week with me before I starve to death. Clearly, her track record with pets is shit.” Brandon drawled, making a show of rattling his chains.
Ember stalked up to where I hung on the wall. She was so close that I could see the sharp curve of her lips. Her scent was warm and surprisingly pleasant, like cinnamon and clove. There was a slight tang of fruit that reminded me of apple cider.
“The Blood Witch approved my decision, not that it’s any of your business. And why shouldn’t I keep him? He’s mine.”
Once again, her eyes flashed like hot coals, but I wasn’t at all focused on her magic flickering to the surface. No, there was something else there, a sort of raw emotion that bled through the cracks no matter how hard one tried to patch them.
She hated Brandon, but he was hers and she wanted him.
From Tessa, I knew that their parents had been murdered by rogues, but Ember didn’t seem to care about that in the slightest. If she did, wouldn’t she be disgusted to find out she was mated to a Werewolf?
A thought trickled to the surface of my mind, and once I latched onto it, there was nothing else I could think about.
Had Ember never been chosen by anyone before?
The Blood Witch chose her and Tessa to hunt me down, but it was common knowledge that they were all nothing more than a means to an end-soldiers for the Blood
Witch in the war she created.
“Besides, once your mate is dead, Brandon will assume the role as Alpha. His blood will hold incredible power.” Ember hissed, her lips curling in a victorious smile, but it was transparent now that I’d realized the truth.
She wanted Brandon not because his soul was bound to hers, but because he could never leave her.
I had one card up my sleeve, and just one chance to try and change the tide before it swallowed us all.
“Tessa, your sister, she found her mate too.”
Surprise flashed in Ember’s eyes, dimming the heat of the coals she’d been feeding. Her head turned, and she glanced at Brandon. Uncertainty rippled across her face.
“I told her the same thing, but she didn’t believe me. Go ahead, Lola. Tell her who
Tessa’s mated to. Maybe then she’ll see I wasn’t fucking lying.” Brandon called out.
Ember didn’t snap at either one of us like I thought she would. Instead, she stared into my eyes. Within them, I watched doubt and certainty meet head on in a war that only one would win.
“Our friend, Alpha Zeke is your sister’s mate.”
A shaky breath, so faint that I had almost missed it, slid past Ember’s lips.
