CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE（Untitled）Naomi

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Naomi

I grip my necklace tightly and raise my other arm. Then I slam to a halt, my hand wavering in the air between Wranth and Zephyr.

“What do I do?” I ask. “When I took Wranth to the waterfall, we were touching, so I assume that’s necessary for me to teleport someone. How do I take you both?”

Wranth takes my hand and presses it to the unicorn’s neck. “Concentrate on taking Zephyr. If you don’t take me along this time, it matters little. The tether will pull me to you.”

I purse my lips. It should work, but I don’t like it. He said the purposeful teleport felt a lot gentler, and I know I felt a difference when we did all the experiments to find the length of the tether. A purposeful teleport feels as easy as taking a step—you’re in one place, and then you’re in another. Being yanked by the tether, on the other hand, feels like a giant picked you up and hurled you across the room. It’s survivable but far from pleasant.

“I’m going to try to take you both,” I say. He opens his mouth to protest, and I hurry to add, “I won’t know what I can do if I don’t try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll focus on Zephyr.”

Wranth scowls down at me, but I see it for what it truly is—worry, not anger. The big grump is worried and not about himself.

He’s worried about me, in a way that speaks of the kind of care I’ve always dreamed of. It makes all of Matt’s past protestations of concern seem hollow in comparison. Matt worried about me because I was an extension of him and his reputation.

Wranth worries about me because he cares for my sake.

The intensity of his gaze makes me catch my breath, and my heart gives a little flutter. A girl could get really freaking addicted to being looked at like this.

“Hold on to me,” I say.

“Always.” He packs volumes of promise into that one word. Tether or no tether, mated by the goddess or not, I know with sudden clarity that Wranth will never leave me.

It cracks the shell I didn’t even realize I’d built around my heart when Matt left me all those years ago. I’m a confident person. I know I’m pretty great, but a little voice always whispered: what if I wasn’t? What if that’s why it was so easy for Matt to leave?

I haven’t dated anyone seriously since, using college and Mom’s health and the bookstore as my reasons. But really, I was afraid. Afraid someone else would find me easy to leave.

Wranth locks his hand over my shoulder, his grip so firm and solid and fully present that it brings tears to my eyes. The bond between us vibrates like a plucked string, the anchor point in my chest humming with a deep, comforting vibration that reminds me of the big cats’ harmonizing from the night before.

Gripping my crystal, I close my eyes and whisper, “Tell me about Moon Blade Village. Describe where it was we teleported to that first day.”

His deep voice rumbles through me as he paints a picture of the open village green ringed with heart tree cottages and full of the welcoming faces of friends to be.

The scene fills my mind, and I reach for my magic. The crystal heats in my hand as energy spirals through me, rising up from the ground. I press my palm harder against Zephyr, willing my power to wrap around her, too.

It balks.

Sweat beads on my brow as I push harder, straining. I can feel the way open in front of me. I could step through now and be in the village, but Zephyr’s greater mass pulls me backward, an anchor I can’t detach from the seabed.

It reaches for Wranth, wrapping around him easily, and I rein it back, shoving it toward the unicorn. “Her,” I mutter under my breath. “We’re taking her.”

Wranth’s fingers tighten on my shoulder, and he sucks in a breath. He’s going to protest and try to call this off.

I shove with every last bit of my will, forcing my magic into Zephyr in a push that sets my nerves burning. I pull up the image of the village pub, the wide tree with the welcoming, open door. The sound of orc voices. The yeasty smell of ale.

There, there, THERE !

A faint pop echoes through me with a flash of fire as my power crests.

My eyes fly open. The pub stands before me, several unknown orcs staring from the window with wide eyes.

I get one glimpse of white in my peripheral vision—Zephyr came with me!

Then black rushes in from every side as the world tips sideways and goes dark.