Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Jaron's heart beat a million miles a minute—roughly the pace he was going—as he rushed back to the office, his mind consumed with worry for Apollo.

Damn it, this was all his fault. If he hadn't left work early, Apollo wouldn't have gone on that mission in his place. Apollo was always fearless, never backing down from danger despite being a mortal —and Jaron respected that— but sometimes he took it too far.

Bursting through the doors, Jaron found the office in chaos. His colleagues were all visibly frantic with the news of Apollo's disappearance, some of them audibly blaming each other for not stopping him from going in the first place.

Ceska seemed to be taking it very hard too. She sat in a corner with Ianair, fussing over the dragon while wiping at her eyes.

Jaron went over to them.

"Are you okay?" Jaron asked, noticing Ianair's pained expression. "I came as fast as I could."

"Probably got a few broken ribs," Ianair admitted, wincing.

"You should have gone to see a healer!" Ceska scolded.

"No," Ianair protested. "I had to come back here and report about Apollo."

"You were out with him?" Jaron asked.

"Yeah." Ianair took a deep breath, features contorting. "We were out guarding a young mortal," he recounted. "Then this mage attacked us out of nowhere. He took Apollo and the mortal. I tried to stop him, but…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "It's my fault," Ianair said. "If I'd reacted a little bit faster…"

"No," Jaron said, disgusted with himself. "I should have been there. It should have been me and you, not you and Apollo. If I hadn't ditched you to go and see Keegan…"

"That's why you left?" Ianair shot him an incredulous look. Jaron was sure, if not for his broken ribs, he would have grabbed Jaron by the shirt.

Ceska rested a hand on Ianair's shoulder to calm him down, but she didn't look amused herself. "You went to see the vampire?" she asked. "The one who's been feeding us false information?"

"He didn't do that on purpose," Jaron argued for Keegan's sake. After all, what reason would Keegan have to mislead them like that? "Besides," Jaron added, "he did predict today's victim."

"Yeah, and then he made it so Apollo would get kidnapped too!" Ceska's features darkened.

The accusation left Jaron speechless. Almost speechless. He still found the breath to defend his mate. "He didn't! What happened to Apollo is not his fault!"

"Isn't it, though?" Ceska argued back. "Didn't you leave work for him?"

"It was an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?"

That was a good question. Keegan had never quite told him why he'd called Jaron over so urgently, except… "He thought I was in danger."

Ceska and Ianair shared a look.

"What?" Jaron asked.

Ceska and Ianair shared a look.

"What?" Jaron asked, barely hiding his annoyance. Keegan wasn't a bad guy because he'd worried about Jaron, and Jaron wasn't going to let them make him out to be a villain.

"Keegan is a seer," Ianair said as if that explained everything.

"Yeah, so?"

"If he saw what would happen if you stayed, don't you think he also knew what would happen if you didn't?"

Jaron clenched his fists, a hot surge of anger mixing with the gnawing worry in his gut. He opened his mouth to defend Keegan, but something about Ianair's words resonated with his own doubts—with the complaints he had about Keegan's evasive behavior.

The implication hung heavy. Could Keegan have known this would happen? Could he have seen Apollo's fate and chosen to risk it?

"Keegan isn't like that," Jaron said, but the conviction in his voice wavered, just a fraction.

"How can you be so sure?" Ceska asked.

"I just know." It wasn't the most convincing thing Jaron could have said, but it was the best he had. He would stand by his mate, no matter what.

Ianair shifted, grimacing with the movement. "You believe in him that much?" he asked.

"Yes," Jaron said immediately, because someone needed to believe in Keegan, and Jaron knew that Keegan had acted only out of care for him.

He'd seen just how hard Keegan worked trying to forge a better future for them.

Keegan didn't know everything. If he did, he wouldn't have to exhaust himself trying to look at the future from a million different angles again and again.

"Give it a rest, Chess," Ianair said, taking a labored breath. "We can discuss whom to blame after we bring the boss home."

He was right, of course. Ceska could see that too. "First, I'm getting you a healer," she said.

"It's really not that bad," Ianair said, but she'd already walked off.

"You can stop pretending to be tough now," Jaron said. "She already likes you anyway."

Ianair waved him off. "We've got more important things to talk about, like figuring out who the fuck is behind these kidnappings and why they're targeting people's fated mates."

Jaron could only agree with that.

Before he got to work, though, he made a plan to go back to Rubyville that night. He needed to have a serious conversation with his vampire. From here on out, he would demand to know every detail of Keegan's visions.

If they were going to be a couple, they needed to be able to trust each other.

And Jaron needed to know what fate Keegan was trying so hard to fight. He wasn't going to let the vampire get away with hiding crucial information any longer.

When Keegan reached Altair's office the room was thick with tension. Mordyn was pacing like a caged animal, his usual devil-may-care facade shattered by the gravity of the situation.

Altair stood by his desk, face grim. "We'll bring him back," he promised. "Anything this coven can do to help you, we will do."

Mordyn turned on his heel, fists clenched so tight his knuckles blanched. "I can't let anything happen to him," he said. "I won't."

The weight of Keegan's earlier decision pressed against his chest, suffocating. He had known there was a risk in drawing Jaron away, but he had accepted it.

He would have ensured Jaron's safety at any cost.

That didn't mean he didn't feel bad about the way things had played out. He'd never wanted for Mordyn or his mate to suffer. Being who he was, Keegan had never found it easy to make friends, not even within his coven. Sure, they were friendly to each other and loyal to a fault, but the other vampires respected Keegan as 'part of the coven.' Not because they liked him. Most of them felt at least a little uncomfortable around him.

Mordyn had never given him that vibe. Mordyn didn't give a shit about Keegan's powers. He hung out with Keegan, joked around with him and put him in his place when he needed to be put in his place.

In short, he was a real friend.

Today, Keegan had betrayed that friendship by looking out for himself first.

He'd allowed Mordyn's mate to be kidnapped when he knew exactly how hard that would hit Mordyn.

"We'll find him," he promised Mordyn.

Mordyn turned sharply, eyes boring into Keegan. "Did you see this? Did you see any of this coming?"

Keegan hesitated, words tangled in his throat. The truth felt like barbed wire around his tongue. "I… There was a very small chance."

Mordyn's eyes flashed red. "A very small chance?" He closed the distance between them, hand fisting in the front of Keegan's shirt. "You knew and you didn't warn me?"

Keegan stumbled back, but Mordyn's grip was iron. He could have broken free, but he didn't. He deserved this, even though he knew Mordyn's rage wasn't really for him. He was just the person who was there, who could be blamed.

"I didn't think it would happen," he said. "A hundred other things could have happened."

"Well, you thought wrong." Mordyn shoved Keegan away, sending him stumbling back into the wall. Keegan could have caught himself, but he let himself hit.

The pain was nothing compared to what he was putting his friend through.

"Get out," Mordyn said, turning away. "I can't deal with you right now."

"Mordyn," Altair said, voice quiet but firm. "That's enough."

Mordyn rounded on him. "Enough? Apollo is gone. Taken by some lunatic because he," he jabbed a finger at Keegan, "didn't think it was important enough to mention."

"I know you're upset," Altair said, holding up a placating hand. "And we will find him. But this? Tearing into each other? That's not how we do things."

"I don't care how we do things. I care that my mate is in danger."

"Keegan is not the one who took Apollo," Altair reminded him. "He's not responsible for every little thing that happens in the universe just because he has the power to observe it happening."

Mordyn blew out a breath. His fists were still clenched, but Keegan didn't get the feeling his friend was going to swing them at him anymore.

He fixed Keegan in his stare again. "If Apollo gets hurt, I will never forgive you."

"I understand."

"Do you?" Mordyn studied him for a long moment. "That dragon, is he your mate?"

Keegan froze. He didn't want to discuss his mate with Mordyn, not now, not like this. But after everything that had happened, didn't he owe his friend the truth?

"Yes," he said eventually, the word dragging out of him like it had hooks. "He is."

Mordyn's gaze bored into him, intense and searching. "Then why haven't you completed the bond?"

Keegan looked away. "It's complicated."

"Uncomplicate it for me."

Keegan's jaw clenched. "I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

"Does it matter?" Keegan snapped, frustration boiling over. "It's not happening."

"It should," Mordyn said. "You know what will happen if you complete the bond. You'll be more powerful than you've ever been. Powerful enough to see who's got Apollo."

Keegan didn't know how to respond to that. Mordyn was right. Once they were bonded, drinking from Jaron would make Keegan more powerful. He might be able to see things more clearly than he had before. His predictions would become more accurate.

But Keegan remembered being a freshly turned vampire and how much his powers had overwhelmed him during those early years, constantly showing him things he didn't want to see, even when he wasn't trying to look, starting with the vision of his own death.

He'd gotten his powers under control, for the most part, but it had taken a long time, and an increase in base power might just wrest control away from him all over again.

Frankly, he didn't want greater powers than he already had.

But how to explain that to Mordyn when Mordyn only wanted him to find his mate?

"It's complicated," he said again, lamely.

"You're gonna stick with that?" Mordyn stared at him. "My mate is missing. Taken by some psychopath doing gods know what to him. And you're telling me you have the power to find him, but you won't use it because it's complicated?"

"Mordyn," Altair said again, warningly. "Keegan is doing what he can. We will all do what we can."

Mordyn wasn't pleased. "Fuck that," he bit out. "Fuck both of you." With that, he stomped out of the office, looking as if he was going to charge right out of the building as well, even though the sun was still up.

Keegan wanted to hurry after him, but Altair stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Leave him."

Keeagan's fists clenched. That was probably sound advice. Mordyn needed to cool off and there was nothing Keegan could do to help with that. But still… "This is my fault," he admitted. "I have to fix it."

Altair raised an eyebrow at that. "Did you kidnap Apollo?"

"Of course not."

"Then it isn't your fault."

Keegan huffed. It wasn't that simple, but Altair wouldn't understand and obviously didn't want to understand. "I'm still going to fix it," Keegan said, because he knew that it was his fault, and because Mordyn was his friend.

"What are you going to do?" Altair asked.

"I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out."

Altair nodded. "I'll leave you to it, but do keep me updated on any useful information you uncover."

"Of course." Keegan turned to leave but paused in the doorway. "Alt?"

"Hm?" Altair had sat back down at his desk, and he looked as if he was about to call in some other vampires to coordinate their search for Apollo.

"I think it would be best if you and Sven stayed at the club."

Altair's gaze narrowed. "Do you think he's in danger?"

"I think everyone with a fated mate is in danger."

Altair took this in with a grim expression. "What do they want with fated mates?" he wondered.

Keegan had an idea, but not one that he wanted to voice at this point. "I don't know," he said and left it at that.

Keegan returned to the library where he'd been researching how to change fate and opened the book he'd been in the process of reading earlier when he'd fallen asleep. A knot of dread twisted in his gut as he considered the kidnapping and everything else that had been happening lately.

What if…?

No, it couldn't be.

The worst suspicion nagged at him, a possibility he didn't want to entertain but couldn't shake.

Forcing himself to focus, he read the text again. The words seemed to mock him from the page, stating that changing fate was no easy matter and required a great amount of cosmic energy. The kind of energy that could be released when a fated couple was torn apart, their destiny altered by the hands of another.

Keegan stared at the page, worrying his lower lip.

Did the kidnapper also want to change fate the way Keegan did?

Were they collecting fated mates to sacrifice them, using their bond to steer the future in a certain direction?

Why, though?

And how would they know about fate's plans the way he did?

Unless…they were also a seer.

The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. It would explain how he had gotten the first set of victims wrong, if someone was playing chess with him without his knowledge.

They would have to be another vampire or a highly trained magic user.

Keegan's hands trembled slightly as he closed the book. He didn't want to go up against another seer. What a fucking headache that would be. Especially if they were more powerful than Keegan.

Could they be?

And what event did they want to change?

Closing his eyes, Keegan tried to sense if there was anything unusual going on with the threads of the future. He reached out with his mind, seeking any anomalies or disturbances in the delicate web of fate.

It was no use, though. He couldn't sense anything with how drained he was.

Should he tell Altair about this?

No, not until he knew more. Right now he had nothing more than a suspicion.

He left the library in search of blood. A bottle or two should fill him up enough for him to be able to see if anyone had been messing with the future.

Best case scenario, he'd find nothing.

If the kidnapper had already acted on their plan… they would already have sacrificed someone.

Keegan shoved the thought aside. He needed to get blood and then he needed to look at Apollo's future and though he was not a religious vampire, he prayed to every God he knew that he would find something other than impending death there.

Apollo's connection to Mordyn was incredibly strong after everything they'd been through with Apollo being the reincarnation of Mordyn's first mate. Severing that bond would release a lot of energy.

What evil villain could resist such power?

Keegan opened the door to the lounge. Usually the room would be deserted at this time of day, but a couple of vampires had woken up and abandoned sleep today, no doubt because of what had happened to Apollo. The mortal wasn't officially a part of the coven, but since he belonged to Mordyn, he might as well have been.

Vitra approached Keegan while Keegan went straight for the fridge and grabbed the first bottle of blood his fingers touched.

"What's going on?" Vitra asked. "Do you know who took the mortal?"

"No," Keegan said a little more sharply than he'd meant to. "But I intend to find out." He uncapped the bottle and emptied it in huge gulps. It was mage blood. AB negative.

Not Keegan's favorite, but at this point, he didn't care.

He grabbed another bottle while Vitra watched him with an expression of mild concern. "Are you even tasting anything?"

"Nope." Keegan emptied the second bottle as well.

There, that should get him through one or two sessions.

He wiped his mouth and handed the empty bottles to Vitra. "Put these away for me, will you?"

"Are you going to look at the future?"

"Yes, and I'm going to lock my door. Please spread the word that I don't want to be disturbed for any reason at all."

"What if the club's on fire?" Vitra asked.

"Then put out the fire instead of bothering me with it."

Vitra shot him a disbelieving look but accepted his response after another minute. "What if that dragon of yours shows up again?" she asked just as Keegan was about to leave her standing there.

" Then you may knock."

"So that's how it is."

"Yes," Keegan confirmed. "That's how it is."