Unbound Destinies, page 13
I squealed, jumping on the bed beside her. “Tell me everything now!” I exclaimed. Clapping my hands, I couldn’t contain the excitement I felt about this development. These two were adorable together and I wanted nothing more than for them to be happy.
“It happened right after we got back from the fight. I was crying and he was comforting me. The next thing I know, we’re kissing and my body was basically on fire,” she said. Her face glowed with happiness with each word, her voice growing louder with enjoyment.
It was good to see her smile after all the pain and heartache she’d felt while he was gone. I knew she was a tough one to break, but Aiden had wormed his way into her heart, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
“Awww, Sadie,” I said gleefully. “You two are perfect together.”
She shook her head. “No, we aren’t. It’s nice, though, for now.”
“For now?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
“He has to go back after the council meeting. It’s been decided.”
I saw the heartache that filled her. She was devastated, but would never admit it. Her eyes held a sorrow that ran deep, mixed with an emotion I knew to be love, though I wouldn’t reveal it to her yet.
“So what are you going to do?” I asked.
“What can I do?” she quizzed.
“Make sure he never forgets you. Spend every minute with him, show him how you feel even if you can’t say it. He’ll be eighteen soon; maybe he’ll come back.”
She shrugged. “He’s still not my heart mate. It’s pointless.”
I grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Do you care about him?”
Eyes wide, she nodded.
“Then you’ll show him. Hiding emotions is stupid. It doesn’t help anyone. Tell him, show him, whatever you need to do, but don’t let that boy leave this house for good without knowing you’re crazy about him,” I demanded. Releasing her face, I stared at her with my arms crossed.
“That was scary, Liv,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been watching you,” I said nonchalantly.
She shook her head and laughed loudly. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Take such a serious moment and turn it so light and funny?”
I shrugged. “I dunno.”
We both broke into a fit of giggles. We spent the rest of the hour chilled on her bed talking about boys and desires of the heart. I wasn’t allowed to go into kissing detail about Scott, because every time I tried she said eww and covered her ears.
She apparently didn’t want to hear about her brother’s kissing skills.
Our bonding session was nice, a refreshing comfort we needed amid all the sadness we’d endured.
KYLE
“My mother left today,” she said, her legs swinging in the air from where she was perched on the counter.
“Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do, Elsie?” I asked.
Shrugging, she stared at me. “I dunno. You sister came up with an interesting proposal for me.”
Inching closer, I rested my hands on either side of her body, bending to level with her. “You talked to my sister?”
Her luscious lips broke into a smile and she nodded. “Is that not ok?”
I backed up a little, shaking my head. “Yeah, no, it’s fine. I’m surprised is all. What was the proposal? I thought she was taken by Scott.”
Rolling her eyes, she punched my upper arm. “Ha. Ha. She wants me to stay for a while longer.”
My heart raced. I didn’t want her to go, so this would be perfect. “Oh yeah?”
“Why’s your heart beating so fast, Kyle?” She giggled.
I cursed myself – silently – for allowing the response. Damn super hearing! She probably heard it before I felt it. “I want you to stay,” I admitted. “I kinda like you.”
“Only kinda?” she asked, leaning her face in close. “You seemed to more than kinda like me when you kissed me that day.”
I licked my lips and nodded. “Ok, I more than kinda. Are you staying?”
“You don’t even know why she wants me to,” she pointed out with a chuckle.
“I don’t think I care, if it means you stay.” I gave her my most dazzling smile.
“She wants us to continue helping the unbound, Kyle,” she said. Her soft, delicate hand touched my cheek. Her touch was light, but it lit every bit of me up.
I wanted her. I needed her. Standing upright, I wedged my way between her knees. Her eyes were wide as she watched me curiously, a delighted half smile gracing her angel face.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Kissing you again,” I replied. My lips took hers in, each movement more passionate than the last. One hand tangled in her hair while the other rested on her waist. She followed suit, resting hers around my neck and grazing her nails across the sensitive skin.
Each second felt like the best kind of forever. I lost myself in her, her lips rhythmic and soothing as they lulled me and pulled me into all that was Elsie. I continued to devour her mouth, my tongue exploring every inch of it.
The more we kissed, the tighter my fangs felt. They were attempting to descend, but I wasn’t sure how exactly that worked. Did vampires regularly share blood? Was biting one another weird? Sexual? Would she freak out?
Our kissing stopped because I pulled back. My eyes connected with hers and she grinned, revealing her fangs were out, too.
“Can I taste you?” she asked seductively.
I nodded, all thoughts leaving my mind. She forcefully jerked my body to her, pushing my head to the side. The initial skin to fang contact was a stinging prick, then pure joy. She inserted them further, a moan releasing from her lavish throat. She sucked and purred in my ear, while I explored her body with my hands.
Nothing had ever felt this good, before.
When she released me and closed up the small bites, she looked at me with blood stained lips. She thrust her own neck forward and I dove in.
If I thought having her bite me was good, then this was heaven. The feel of breaking her skin was an adrenaline rush, and the warm blood flowing through her veins to me was a high I never wanted down from. She tangled her fingers in my hair, moaning once again.
She really needed to stop that.
I broke away and sealed the small wounds with a lick of my tongue. Looking to her, I saw how disheveled and sexy she was. Her eyes were glowing red, her lips still a dark pink. I kissed her again, this time more intensely than before. My tongue delved in her mouth, and her legs locked around my hips.
“Excuse me,” I heard someone say as they cleared their throat.
It took every ounce of strength I had to pull away. When I turned, I saw my mother standing in our kitchen doorway, hands on hips.
“Mom,” I said. It was embarrassing, yes, but I was twenty-eight. It wasn’t a big deal.
“Did you two share blood?” she demanded, stepping closer and seeing the tinted stain on our mouths. “Untangle yourselves and come with me.”
I helped Elsie down, shrugging as I followed Mom to the living room. “What’s the deal?”
“You two did something only lovers do,” she said, then stopped. “Wait, are you lovers?
Elsie choked beside me, but attempted to turn it into a cough.
“No, Mother, we aren’t.”
“Well, you will be,” she predicted. “You’re going to crave each other now.”
I stole a look at Elsie, who was red cheeked. She gave me a faint smile, then directed her attention back to Mom. “Why is that a bad thing? We’re interested in each other.”
“Because if it doesn’t work, you’ll still crave each other. These kinds of things turn deadly in the vampire world,” she explained.
“Oh,” Elsie said. “Well, we won’t let that happen.”
She stared at us, her anger evident, then finally threw her hands up in defeat. “Don’t come crying to me when one of you wants to murder the other.”
I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not, but I nodded and picked up Elsie before running from the house.
SCOTT
The day was young and sweet. My love and I were out pulling weeds from Grandma’s garden, laughing about things we’d done when we were both younger. We felt light and carefree.
It was our first mistake.
When the council summoned someone, they were wanted then and now. There was no gathering belongings or waiting for others to join. They called you and then they used their powers to transport you there. No one was allowed knowledge of the location, so they’d always done things this way.
I heard Livvie’s surprised gasp as I felt the wind whoosh around me. We were going faster than I’d ever gone, and I felt queasy. Reaching out, I latched on to what I hoped was Livvie and held on for dear life.
The rest of my family should have been summoned, as well. Would they already be there? Was it just us? Were they going to try and break us up?
We landed in a thud on the cave floor from last time. The cold, wet dew coated my skin and clothes. Shivering, I reached for Livvie and pulled her tightly in hopes our body heat would warm us both. Our magic didn’t work in here this time.
“What happened?” she asked through the shivers.
“You were summoned, of course,” Harlow said from somewhere in the room. It was pitch black and seeing Livvie was almost too difficult. If I hadn’t been holding onto her hand, I don’t know that I could have found her.
“Can we get some light?” I asked.
The room glowed to life, revealing the whole council—minus Mark—sitting behind the long table they liked to hide behind.
“Your birthday is in ten days. Have you succeeded in your tasks?” Harlow asked Livvie. She was so frigid and bitter with her words.
Livvie stood tall and proud, dropping my hand and stepping forward. “I did.”
Harlow showed emotion for the first time, a shocked wave crossing her face, before it went back to her normal evil self. “You did. You’re sure?”
Livvie nodded. “The curse was lifted six days ago when I defeated Devlin Hart. The Crimson Calamitous was defeated a month and a half prior to that. No other powers of mine have developed, so am I free?”
Harlow scoffed. “Free? Of us? We have a few more questions.”
I joined Livvie, grabbing her hand once more. We were going to be a united front for the council.
“Tell us about the unbound you’ve been hiding,” she demanded. Her voice boomed, echoing throughout the cave. Anger poured out of her.
“We weren’t hiding them,” Grandma said from behind us.
I spun around to see that she, my sister, and Aiden had also been summoned. Kyle was with them, his eyes red and unfocused as he assessed his surroundings.
“Anna Tabors,” Harlow snarled. “Come forward.”
She did as she was told, standing in front of her with crossed arms and a bored expression. “They came to us for help. We assisted them in merging, and they went on their way. No harm, no foul.”
Aaron stood then, his tall form towering over everyone. “There was harm and there was foul! Assisting the unbound wasn’t your decision!”
She stared at him defiantly. “I made it my decision.”
Harlow screamed in frustration and waved Grandma back to where she stood. She glanced over all of us, settling on Kyle. “You, here,” she instructed, pointing to a spot in front of her.
He scoffed, but strutted forward. He radiated a thirst for vengeance. I knew he was thinking of his mother being taken and then Mark, and he wasn’t going to let Harlow run all over him. She began to spout off about how unnatural he was and unsafe, when he held up a hand and stopped her in her tracks.
“I’ll speak first.”
KYLE
“I don’t know who you are, and I really don’t care, but let me tell you something: binding me as a child was a big mistake. It tore a basic part of me away, and it almost destroyed me when I became unbound. I want you to know I’ve worked hard to become free of that mess, to become one with the vampire side of me, and you don’t have any right to take that away just because you don’t understand it, and can’t control it,” I said.
She snarled, lunging for me, but I held out my arms and blocked her. “I’m not fighting you.”
“Who do you think you are, little mixed boy?” she cried. She flicked her wrist and a dark smoke rose around me. Before it got my face, it dissipated, and I turned to see Livvie counteracting it.
“You,” Harlow scoffed. “This is why we can’t have unbound beings.”
“No, Harlow, you didn’t have unbound beings because you were scared, just like my brother said. You told me I could keep my powers if I proved I wasn’t a danger and defeated the strongest sorcerers for you. I did it, so let me go,” Olivia said.
She walked away, not answering in any way, and they all huddled behind the table. Deliberating took longer than expected, and I grew bored.
“Vampire mix, come here,” the bodyguard guy called.
I walked forward, stopping just shy of the outside of their circle. “Yeah?”
“What can you do?” a meek one asked. She was short and pudgy, her nose turning up in a weird way. She wasn’t as loud and demanding as the other two, causing me to wonder if she approved of their ways.
“Well, I guess I do everything vampires do, and toss in seeing auras.”
“That’s the only sorcerer side effect you got?” Harlow asked disbelievingly.
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“Go,” Aaron said, shooing me away.
These people were rude. I really wanted to knock some sense into them.
They came back in front of us, quizzing us on every unbound we’d seen. Sadie stepped forward, handing over the copy of Santos’ research she kept with her for this reason, and left it at that. We weren’t their puppets and refused to stand and answer a million questions. I crossed my arms and tried to look bored, hoping to piss them off some more. I caught the eye of one of the members at the table and shrugged with an eye roll.
Then for more effect, I yawned.
They finally scattered, Harlow once again facing us with the disgusted look I was convinced she had sewn on. “We’ve come to a conclusion. The unbound are free to continue merging IF all stays well. If the combinations become out of control or too powerful, the beings will be rebound.”
I heard Anna mumble under her breath, but half of us nodded in agreement. What else could we do?
“Now, one more thing must be addressed,” she said. She pointed to Aiden, motioning him forward. “The human.”
SADIE
My heartbeat was loud in my ears as it thundered against my chest. They’d wanted Aiden for some reason, and I’d tried to stop him from being transported, but it was no use. He was here. He was going to be sentenced, or chosen, or some other crazy council solution to his human issue.
“Are you aware of what you are?” she asked. She stared at him with a cold disdain and it sent chills through my body and made my blood boil.
He shook his head. I wanted to go hold his hand, comfort him or protect him in some way, but I didn’t know how they would react.
Hell, I didn’t care how they acted.
I made my way to his side and clasped his hand tightly. Ignoring the heated look Harlow sent my way, I smiled up at him reassuringly.
“You’re a descendant of the Crimson Calamitous. His name was Douglas before he became the willowy smoke you saw. He could take over your body so easily because of this,” she explained.
I gazed up at him, seeing him differently. “Is he a sorcerer?” I asked quietly.
“His powers are dormant. I don’t know the key to awakening them, but we don’t want it to happen, so Aiden, your memory will be erased and you will be placed back with your parents. You won’t remember anything or anyone you’ve met in the past year. Your parents’ memories and your own will be altered to ensure you don’t recall any of the Tabors, the fights, or anything else in your recent mind.”
My hand flew up to cover my mouth, and I let out a startled cry. Shaking my head, I grabbed his arm. “No, no, no!”
He caressed my hair as he locked our gazes. “I care about you so much, Sade. Don’t ever forget me.”
Pressing my body to his, I kissed him with abandon. My tears slid down my face, mingling with the kiss. When I pulled away, I took his face in my palms and stared deeply into his eyes. “I think I could have loved you, Aiden Rivers. Please remember me.” I whispered the plea as I heard Harlow casting her spell.
He was gone before anyone else said goodbye, and my heart left the cave with him. I wanted to kill Harlow and the rest of the council. Scott came up behind me, pulled me to his chest, and backed us away.
“Sadie, I want to hurt them, too, but now is not the time,” he hissed in my ear. Once we were far enough away, he released me and Liv took hold of my body, cradling me in a warm hug.
“You’re all excused, but don’t forget we will be watching you,” Harlow cackled as we turned to leave.
“Wait!” Mark called.
We all snapped our heads around, surprised he was here. He was with an older man who I assumed was his grandfather because they had the same eyes.
“I didn’t release you,” Harlow said, waving her hand at Aaron. He stepped forward, eyes locked on Mark, but suddenly stopped when he saw who was beside him.
“I freed him, Harlow, just as I’m freeing you and Aaron of your duties. This council hasn’t been as intended for years, but I’d yet to catch you in the act of breaking our laws. I now have evidence that you have abused your power to torture these people and wipe memories of an innocent human. You kept my grandson in captivity, as well as others I’m told, so you are released of your duties and are stripped of your powers, or shall I say you’re going to be bound?” the man said.
Her mouth fell open and I couldn’t stop the smile from taking over my face.
