14. Chapter Fourteen
Proud of myself for an entire morning of peopling that didn’t include a bloody snack, I thought I deserved a reward. Not anything sexual this time. I wanted to see Winter. The rest of the Sables were off recruiting troops, and she was all alone.
Ewan was against the idea initially. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea right now.”
“The protection bond won’t let me hurt, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t,” I reminded him.
He and Birch exchanged glances. “It’s not that,” Ewan said.
“So what’s the problem?” I demanded.
Ewan’s teeth ground together. “You can see her later.”
“Yeah, but we’re out now. And she’s by herself. Please?” I gave him a sugary smile. “If you let see Winter, I’ll do that thing you like with my tongue.”
Birch cleared his throat. “I’m still here.”
Gold flashed in Ewan’s eyes. “I like everything you do with your tongue.”
“And, yep, still with you guys,” Birch said.
“Just for a few minutes,” I practically begged. I could feel Ewan starting to relent and I pressed forward. “I’ll let you tie me up. You like that.”
“It’s starting to feel like neither of you cares about my presence,” Birch said.
Ewan and I ignored him, caught up in a conversation that was turning on both of us.
“You like that, too.” Ewan wiggled his eyebrows.
“Obviously, or I wouldn’t offer.” I batted my eyelashes. “Now, can we go see Winter?”
“Only because Birch is with us. See, man. I do care that you’re here.”
Birch made a skeptical noise in the back of his throat but didn’t comment.
The Sables were staying in a large house just beyond the Taurus fae village. Apparently, the elders had insisted, claiming it was an honor to host such an important contingent of supernaturals. I would have preferred them closer. Not that I didn’t trust the Taurus fae but, well, I didn’t. Neither did Ewan, which didn’t help my suspicions.
We wound down farther into the valley and up a sloping hill to the fae village. Faelings played in their yards, stopping to gawk as we walked past, like we were on parade. I shifted uneasily beneath their wide-eyed, slack-jawed expressions. All my life people had treated me like I was special because my father was their alpha. This was different. These people didn’t just think that I was special, they worshipped me. Well, and Ewan, who did a great job of pretending not to notice the way the fae looked at us but was hyperaware of it.
He also wasn’t surprised by the stares, leading me to believe Ewan had expected them.
“Is this why you didn’t want to go visit Winter?” I asked as we left the village on a path to a forest beyond.
“I told you it had nothing to do with your bloodlust. The Taurus fae have strong ties to the Infinites.” His mouth twitched as if fighting a snarl. “Not my first choice of ally. They will fight for us, though. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that.”
“When do I meet these Taurus elders?” I asked, already dreading the prospect.
Laughter rumbled in his chest. “You gotta walk before you can run, Synder.”
The use of his old nickname was a double-edged sword. It was no longer my name. I wasn’t particularly attached to it, but now that it was gone, I felt that tie to my family sever.
Concern replaced amusement in Ewan’s gaze. I forced a smile that he totally knew was fake.
“Isn’t the expression ‘you gotta crawl before you can walk’?” My fraudulent smile grew. “And it’s Wynn now, isn’t it?”
He clearly hadn’t given this aspect of our marriage much thought either. “It’s whatever you want it to be. Keep Synder. Take Wynn. Hyphenate them. Or don’t. You’re already mine. The name doesn’t make a difference.” He shrugged. “I’m a modern alpha.”
I actually laughed. “Too many options. Maybe I won’t have a surname at all. I’ll just be ‘Zara’.”
“From a branding angle, the one name would look nice on packaging,” Birch said, speaking up for the first time.
Neither Ewan nor I responded to the comment.
We would’ve reached the forest cottage much sooner, but we walked at a somewhat mortal speed. I didn’t mind it. The slower pace felt normal, and normal was good. It kept me grounded. Plus, I had spent so much time inside lately that it was nice to feel the fresh air on my cheeks. Wolves were meant to be outdoors; we didn’t do well with cages.
I felt the magic from the wards even before I saw the house. Someone in the Sable family had spelled the perimeter, as had Walter. I would have known his slimy magic anywhere. The scent of magic grew stronger as we approached the front entrance. My wolf bristled, not responding well to so much fae power.
Ewan knocked on the door. Concern creased his brow when Winter didn’t answer. Then, I began to worry. I should have spent the day with her up at the house instead of shopping. I was her protector, and if something had happened to her, I would never forgive myself. My ears perked up as I listened for some sign that she was inside the house since I couldn’t feel her through our bond—another reason I was starting to freak out.
“It’s the wards,” Ewan assured me. “That’s why you can’t feel her.”
“Or she’s not in there.”
Birch reached for the doorknob, cutting his eyes to Ewan for confirmation before twisting the metal. It didn’t budge. He took several steps back and lowered his shoulder, preparing to brute force our way in. A buzzing noise sounded, and the door popped open.
“Not ominous at all,” I muttered. “This is how horror movies start, you know.”
“I can see you on the security cameras,” Winter’s disembodied voice answered. “I’m in the back bedroom, first floor.”
Sliding past the guys, I pushed the door open wider, but Ewan grabbed my arm and held me back so that Birch could go first. I glared up at him.
“What?” I demanded. “Are you afraid Winter is going to attack me now?”
Ewan frowned. “Are we going to argue about everything today?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
He grumbled something that sounded like, “Gaia help me.”
Birch led the way, seeming familiar with the floor plan of the house. Like he had been spending time there lately. He knocked on the door. It opened on a whoosh of air.
The bedroom was large and airy, with tons of windows and high ceilings. Winter sat beside a hospital bed, with a gorgeous man lying beneath a thermal blanket. Machines were hooked up to monitor his vitals, including his magic levels.
Archer in the flesh, I thought.
“Walter had him brought here a few days ago,” Ewan said in a soft voice befitting a true hospital room.
The only thing that I knew about Winter’s soulmate was that she loved him very much. She was private and didn’t discuss their relationship much, but I also never asked, which made me feel like a shitty friend and protector. Especially now, seeing her crying beside Archer’s bed.
Winter waved from her chair, green eyes red and puffy. Her voice was nasally when she spoke. “Hey. What are you guys doing here?”
“We went to town so I could buy clothes. With everyone else away for the day, I thought you might want company.” I glanced around the bright room, gaze narrowed as I searched for even the slightest disturbance in the air. “I’m guessing you already have some, though. Where’s Archer?”
Birch’s eyebrows drew together, clearly confused by my question since Archer was right in front of our faces.
Winter pursed her lips. She knew exactly what I’d meant. “Behind me. Missy is here, too. In the window seat.”
My eyes made another scan of the room, like there was a chance I might suddenly share Winter’s ability to see ghosts and whatever Archer was.
“Which one upset you?” I asked. “I’ve never fought a ghost before, but I suppose there is a first time for everything.”
Winter’s throat worked up and down as she swallowed. “There’s no need for violence. I’m fine.”
“You’re not, though. It’s obvious you’re upset,” I said, glaring at a spot behind Winter’s chair since Archer was more likely to make her cry than Missy. “What happened?”
“Archer wants us to wake him up.” Her gaze went from me to the boyfriend only she could see.
“No,” I said firmly, sounding scarily like Ewan when he gave me orders. “Giving him magic will weaken you too much. No way. He can stay in that bed a little longer.”
Winter’s eyes went to her lap. “No, Zara. He wants to rise. You know, to turn.”
“Oh.” Totally not what I’d been expecting to hear. No wonder she was upset. If Ewan had told me that he wanted to turn, I definitely would have handled it badly. Tears would have been the least of it.
I tried to think of something supportive to say, but I actually didn’t believe Archer rising as an eternal was the worst thing in the world. For a lot of reasons. Some of them selfish.
Ewan caught my eye. The prospect intrigued him, most likely from a tactical standpoint. As of right now, we didn’t have any risen eternals on our side. We didn’t even know the location of any mortal eternals beside Archer and Winter.
“I know it’s the right move.” Winter twisted her hands in her lap. “His body still isn’t retaining magic.” Tears glistened in her eyes when she looked up at me. “We can be together.”
My non-beating heart broke for her. If anyone understood going to great lengths for love, it was me. The words left my mouth before I truly appreciated the offer I was making.
“If this is what you really want–”
Ewan put a hand on my arm. “Hold on, Zara. We need to think about this.”
“Why?” I spun to face him. “If this is what Archer and Winter want, what’s the problem?”
Ewan and Birch exchanged glances, while Winter wore an expression equal parts hopeful and terrified.
“There’s a power dynamic at play.” Ewan’s gaze turned inward. “If one of us turns him, that person becomes his sire. I don’t know what’ll happen. We should wait for the others to return to discuss this more.”
I started to protest, but he shot me a warning look. Annoyed, I clamped my lip shut. While I didn’t love him undermining my opinion, he wasn’t wrong about the tangled web of bonds we would create by turning Archer. It was already messy enough. I had three bonds with Ewan and one with Winter. Ewan was bonded to Enzo, Mat, and me. And Winter had her mate bond with Archer. So, yeah, either Ewan or I turning Archer would make the situation even more incestuous than it already was.
Winter wiped the heels of her hands down her face. “It’s okay. He’s right. There’s a lot to consider. Mom and Nana Essie should be here.”
So should Walter, I thought. I shared Winter’s wariness when it came to her father. Nonetheless, he had known several of us in our past lives, making him the closest we had to an authority on eternals. The thought made me shiver. Of all people knowing more about me than I did, I didn’t like him being so high on the list.
“Have you talked to your mom or Walter since they left?” I asked her.
Winter leaned back in her chair, hands gripping the arms. “No. Things are tense, though.”
I didn’t bother asking how Winter knew the situation with the Capricorns if she hadn’t spoken to her parents. Between Missy and Archer she had two spies at any given moment.
“How about with Essie, is my family cooperating?”
Winter shifted in her seat. “Things could be going better.”
No surprise. Once my father set his mind to something, changing it was impossible.
“Walter said you’re going to the Snake Mountains tonight.” Winter cocked her head to the side. “I wish I could go.”
“You can’t.” I crossed my arms, unyielding in my insistence that she stay in Taurus territory. In another life, I had trusted Diana implicitly. Drake, however, I didn’t know. I wasn’t worried about Ewan and me, but I wouldn’t allow Winter to risk her life.
“I know.” Winter sighed. “I just feel so useless.”
“Your time will come,” I said, which was unfortunately true. As much as I wanted to protect her and would have been happy if she never had to embrace her warrior princess alter ego, that wasn’t realistic. Winter was too powerful to sit on the sidelines for long. It would have been like a coach benching their starting quarterback for fear of injury. Or some other sports analogy.
Ewan’s phone buzzed. He swore when he saw the name on the screen and then stepped in the hallway to take the call. Birch leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, staring at Winter with interest.
“So you see ghosts?” he asked finally, awe evident in his question.
“Family gift.” Winter smiled wryly.
“Can you summon them?” Birch asked.
A tremble ran through Winter’s shoulders. “I can, yes.”
Ewan stuck his head back inside the door. “I’ve got to handle something with the fae.” His gaze landed on Birch. “Stay here until I get back.”
His kiss was quick, and he was at the front door by the time I called out, “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I prefer bodyguard,” Birch said. “Babysitter implies I’m cutting the crusts off your peanut butter and blood sandwiches. Which is not in my job description, just so we’re clear.”
“But fashion advisor is one of your duties?”
He shrugged. “No, but I have better taste than Charlie.” His gaze shifted to Winter. “How is that lotion working out?”
“Good. It’s helped a lot. Thank you.”
My gaze bounced between them. “Lotion?”
Winter wiped her palms down her jeans. “For Webber. His skin keeps getting really dry. Mom thinks it’s because he’s not from this realm.”
My eyes widened. “Webber’s here? How is he?”
I’d been so caught up in my own issues that I hadn’t given any thought to the man who’d risked his life to help Winter and me return to our world from the Cursed Realm. Gaia, I was a shitty person.
“Do you want to see him?” Winter asked, already getting to her feet.
“Um, yeah. Yeah, okay.”
She gestured for me to follow her, which I did.
We went two doors down. Birch elected to stay in the hallway. The room was half the size of Archer’s, but the curtains were open and a large candle burned in every corner. Webber lay motionless beneath heavy blankets. He too had machines monitoring his heart rate and blood pressure. The side of his neck was mottled blue and purple, like he had a giant bruise.
I felt sick to my stomach. It was worse than I had imagined. Then there was the smell, the stench of death that clung to the walls. Webber wasn’t doing well and I couldn’t help shouldering some of the blame for injuries.
“My mom’s been trying to get the venom out of his system, but it just keeps coming back,” Winter whispered like she was afraid Webber might hear her.
I crossed the room and stared down at the caster, truly conflicted. If not for him, Winter and I wouldn’t have survived the Cursed Realm. We’d made a deal, and he’d kept his end of the bargain and brought us home. I wanted to make good on my promise as well. Webber deserved it.
“There must be something we can do for him.” I ran my fingertips over the back of his hand. “Can you talk to him, is he here?”
“He comes and goes.” Winter remained near the door, a tickle of fear coming through our bond.
Does she sense death, too? I wondered.
“It’s different, though. Nana Essie thinks it’s because he’s not from this world.” Winter lowered her voice. “I’m worried about him, Zara.”
I intertwined my fingers with Webber’s and squeezed. “Me too,” I admitted.
Winter came to stand beside me. “Mom and Walter have been talking about turning him.” She reached out and smoothed the blankets. “If we do, he can’t return home, ever. Introducing a vampire into that realm, the consequences could ripple far beyond what we can imagine.”
Webber had gone on this journey with us to save his boyfriend Xavier. The thought of them never reuniting broke my heart. Not to mention, Xavier was a protector.
“What does Webber want?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Like I said, it’s different with him. I see him sometimes, but he never speaks.” Winter rested her hand on his leg and pulsed her magic. “It’s a temporary fix. He doesn’t have much longer. One of us is going to need to make the decision for him soon.”
Gaia, don’t let it be me, I thought. Condemning him to an undead life in a foreign realm wasn’t something I was prepared to do. In his position, I would have preferred death.
Then, something occurred to me. “Wait. Mat went to the Cursed Realm, and with the tears, maybe some regular vampires have, too. So, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to go home, right?”
“Mat’s only passing through and he hasn’t sired a regular vampire in centuries, so I doubt he’ll start while on a business trip. As for your hypothetical, everyday vampire, that’s actually a good point, but Webber would be a newborn vampire, sired by an eternal from a different world. That’s a science experiment gone wrong.”
When she put it like that, I couldn’t deny the situation sounded… messy.
“He could stay here, in our world,” I said, already considering a return voyage to the Cursed Realm to retrieve Webber’s wolf-less shifter boyfriend, who was very much of this world.
I hadn’t told anybody about him. It wasn’t a secret necessarily, more like a potential hidden advantage that I had yet to tell anyone about. Probably I should have said something the previous day during the meeting. Why didn’t I? I wasn’t sure.
Thoughts of Xavier reminded me of the horrors both of us had endured in the Cursed Realm, more so Winter than myself.
“How are you doing after our trip to hell, you know, after the magic loss?” I asked, speaking softly so Birch wouldn’t overhear the conversation from the hallway. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked when you came by the other day.”
“You’ve had a lot going on.” She tapped her teeth just in case I misunderstood her vague words.
“Yeah, still. I’m a shitty protector and an even worse friend.”
The amused expression that overtook her face made me want to flick her on the nose like a bad cub.
“What’s so funny?”
“Feeling sorry for ourselves, are we?”
I glared, sort of offended. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself. Well, I am, like, in general. Zosia wasn’t a great person, I don’t think, and the more time I spend in her memories… it’s made me realize that I’m not a great person either.”
Most of the amusement died away, her expression softening. “Hey, I’ve known you in many lives. My soul remembers even if I don’t. Just like with the soulmate bonds. I have trusted you with my life since I first set eyes on you. I didn’t understand it, but I knew.”
“But Enzo severed our bond,” I said, confused. When I first saw Winter, I already knew she was Nicasia, but I hadn’t felt the intense need to protect her then. Maybe a baby need to protect, nothing like how I felt after they restored my wolf.
“Our bond, like the soulmate bond, can’t be severed, only rejected,” Winter said. “He managed to dull it, but I still knew.”
“Is that true of all eternals and protectors?” I hadn’t realized she knew so much about the bonds. Maybe she’d been talking to Walter.
I had assumed the answer was yes and was surprised when Winter hesitated before shaking her head. “Our bond is different from the others.”
“Because you’re the only female eternal?” I asked, absently stroking Webber’s hand.
Winter blew out a long breath and smoothed the sheets on the bed. “We don’t think so. Only one pair of fae soulmates exists at any given time. Archer and I had already risen when you and Stavros were born.”
“So I’m a technicality? Why does that feel so fitting?”
The smile she offered me was tight and thin-lipped. “I think it might be why I picked you.” She picked at nonexistent lint on Webber’s blanket. “Back in the Valley, the soulmates supposedly held great power once united. Most of the stories we’ve found about bonded soulmates are more legend than fact, and there haven’t been that many recorded pairs.”
An itch developed at the base of my skull as I listened to her talk. Something she said stirred my memory, yet the details refused to surface. Worse, I didn’t even know if the memory was from this life.
“I think I chose you as my protector because a part of me knew what you were and thought you would give me more power.” Her eyes were shiny when they met mine. “So, who’s the shitty friend now?”
I wondered if I should be upset because I wasn’t. I mean, it would’ve been nice to hear she picked me for my fighting prowess or winning personality. Maybe it was because of the bond that I found it so hard to get mad at her, but I just couldn’t hold a decision she didn’t remember making, in a life that happened long before Colleen Sable brought Winter into the world, against her.
“The bond works both ways, right? Isn’t that what you keep telling me? So if I give you more power, you must make me more powerful, too. I think in your little human science classes they call that a symbiotic relationship.”
She frowned. “Do they not teach science in shifter schools?”
“They do. Sort of. Like, magical science, though. Supernatural biology. We learned about stuff like wolf anatomy and shifter genetics and reproduction. We didn’t make those exploding volcano models and take them to fairs like they do in movies.”
Winter rolled her eyes. “I never made an exploding volcano, either.”
I took her hand. “Look, a lot of shit is probably going to float to the surface in the coming weeks, and I don’t think any of us will like ourselves much by the time this is all over. Maybe we were the villains. But in this life, we have a chance to rewrite our story.” Squeezing her fingers, I made a decision that would surely bite me in the ass later, and not in a fun way. “I’ll drink your blood, so we can get the memory about Cassius. Ewan can’t know, though. And I won’t bite you. You’ll have to, like, put in a cup.”
“When?” she asked.
“Soon,” I said, not wanting to commit to a specific date and time until I worked out how exactly I was going to keep this secret from a mate who read my thoughts.
Silence filled the room, both of us turning our attention to the caster in the hospital bed. Even with the awful stench of death painting the walls, I was reluctant to leave. I hated the idea of Webber stuck in that room alone and vowed to visit regularly going forward, no matter what my growly husband thought.
Birch tapped softly on the door and then opened it just enough to poke his head through. “Alpha asked me to take you home, Zara.”
“We all know Ewan didn’t ask.” I gave Birch a small, polite smile. “But it’s fine. I’ll be good and go with you.” Turning to Winter, I heaved a dramatic sigh. “I’ll see you later. If you see Webber, tell him I said hi.”