Page 93 of Bound By Fate

“And that mission was to hunt and collect stones. Stones that helped our ancestors defeat the demons. I’m not sure how they helped; I just believe they did.”

They all exchanged a look as the safe clicked. She pushed down on the handle but didn’t open it.

“Over nearly five hundred years, I’ve located each of the stones, except one. After we retrieved the ninth, I started receiving better visions of the final stone, but I still wasn’t sure where the tenth and final one was. Yesterday I described what I’d seen of the tenth stone to Asher. That’s when he told mehemight know where it is.” Brie’s gaze settled on Willow. “Can I see your sword?”

Willow shot a look at Declan, who dipped a hand into his pocket. “It’s yours,” he said.

But Brie could tell he wasn’t thrilled about this as he stuck a lollipop in his mouth. Willow stretched a hand over her back and removed the sword from its sheath.

Carefully and with a reluctance Brie recognized as what she experienced with the release of her broken sword, Willow set her weapon on the table. Brie’s breath sucked in as an unexpected rush of tears stung her eyes.

There it is! There it is!her mind screamed.

The tenth stone, thefinalstone, shone in the dim light spilling through the small, rectangular windows above the bleachers.

“That’s it,” she whispered.

The awe in Brie’s voice and the way her shoulders slumped drew Asher closer to her. He’d been determined to let her have her moment; she’d worked relentlessly for it and sacrificed so much, but he couldn’t stay away from her.

He kissed her temple. “Be proud of yourself.”

“I’m still not sure what we can accomplish with them,” she whispered. “But theyneedto be together.”

Ronan broke the protracted silence following her words. “What’s in the safe?”

Brie took a deep breath to steady herself and, opening the safe’s door, reached inside. Her stone was in the back. She would save it for last.

“Can you bring the sword closer?” she asked Willow as she removed the first stone, a blood-red one with a yellow center.

She set the stone on the table, and Willow placed her sword next to it. Then, Brie returned for another stone. It was the one she and Asher found in the Connecticut house.

Next came a pure white stone whose color could rival freshly fallen snow. It settled onto the table with a small clink. The navy blue stone from the cave followed, then a rose pink one, a pure yellow one, and one the color of citrine. The next stone she removed was the pure black one also set into the handle of a broken sword.

She only had one more to go when her hand found the hilt of the broken sword andherstone. She removed it from the safe and went to set it on the table, but her hand hovered above it as she surveyed the beauty of all the stones laid out before her. Finally, she carefully set it down on the other side of Willow’s sword.

She only had a fraction of a second to take in the beauty of seeing them all together before a flash of light erupted simultaneously through all the stones.

They blazed so hotly all their colors mingled as they spilled across the table and illuminated all those gathered around. Everyone at the table, except her and Willow, stepped away as those colors became a kaleidoscope that twisted together.

The men all stepped in front of their mates, but they refused to move when Asher and Declan tried to pull her and Willow back. Asher attempted to nudge her behind him, but Brie wouldn’t relent; Willow did the same with Declan.

“Holy shit,” Lucien breathed.

The light flared until it illuminated every corner of the cavernous gym before abruptly extinguishing. For a while, no one spoke as the rapid rhythm of their hearts sounded like drumbeats, and they all gazed at the stones with fear and awe.

“What was that?” Ronan finally asked.

“I have no idea,” Brie said. “I’ve never seen it happen before, and I’ve never had a vision of them doing anything like it. This is the first time I’ve ever seen them all together. I do know whatever just happened, it wasright.”

“I’ve seen what Willow’s sword can do; I’m not so sure about that,” Killian said.

“I am,” Willow said. “She’s right. Whatever that was, it wasmeantto happen. The stones belong together… they belong tous.”

“No,” a deep, gravelly voice said from behind them.

Asher and everyone else had been so focused on the stones that no one heard Saber enter. He stood only a few feet away from the table, staring at the stones like they were a ghost rising from the grave.

“They belonged to the demons,” Saber said. “The stones were forged by the demons, stolen by our ancestors, and lost to history. And now they’re back together when that was believed an impossible feat.”

His cobalt blue eyes burned when he lifted his head to gaze at them. “I know exactly how to use them against the demons and who we need to help us do it.”

“Then bring them to us,” Ronan commanded. “And we’ll use them to bring down our enemies.”

Beside Asher, Brie shivered, and a current of apprehension ran through the bond connecting them. War loomed on the horizon, and it was coming soon.

Then, Saber’s eyes landed on Brie, and he frowned. “Do I know you?”

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