Page 24 of Bonded

“I don’t think there’ll be many balls where every Champion is in attendance. Perhaps we should celebrate with a dance.” Reed offers me his hand. “If the beautiful princess would allow me?”

I look over at Blackfire storming through the crowd, heading up towards the alpha. His eyes trace back to me, and he nods. Blackfire is going to sweet talk Alpha Gaia into letting them stay, and Reed is a distraction with me. They work so well as a team; it’s surprising no one has noticed before.

“Don’t fight, you two.” I take Reed’s offered hand, running my eyes over his dark sea-blue shirt that clings to his muscular body and tight trousers. Reed pulls me into the middle of the dance floor, and he only has to look at the orchestra, and they immediately start playing. “I can’t dance very well, Reed.”

“I saw you dancing with Orion just fine. Let me lead you.” He wraps his arm around my back and holds me close to him. His eyes sparkle almost mischievously. “You look stunning in that dress, Mere, but I believe you’d excel in shades of blue.”

“Always so charming, Reed.” I sigh. “Is there anyone who doesn’t fall for your charms?”

“Apparently, just you,” he murmurs. “We need to talk about so many things. I’m not sure where we should begin, but I want to make something clear. I should have told you about my past before Orion did in that kitchen. What my family has made me do since I was a teenager is shameful, but you should have heard it from me. It’s not a choice…it’s expected, and for years I just accepted my life as it was until the Folkland. Until you.” He moves us softly to the music. “There’s nowhere in this world I’d rather be than at your side. I’ve not made that plainly obvious, and I’m doing a terrible job of trying to win you over. I’ve never met anyone like you, Mere.” He cradles me gently in a slight dip. “I’m asking for a second chance and for you to see me, not my past.”

“I’m still mad at you all for not telling me about Tannith and her fate. There are so many things I would have been able to say to her, so much time I could have spent differently if I knew there was an end so soon. But I’m not mad at you for her death. Not anymore. Orion told me about his suspicion of the goddesses, and I suspect the same. I felt their fury…and then she was so sick. That wasn’t any of you…but you did lie to me about things…but your past? No, Reed, what you did is not who I see when I look at you.” I squeeze his hand in mine.

His eyes soften. We turn slowly to the music. Other dancers have joined now, so it’s not so strange we are dancing. “I swear on the sea itself that I didn’t know she was dying. She would have had years, and my concern was getting you both out of the Folkland alive. I would have spent every moment with you—going through every book, speaking to every person with a history of magic and runes, every subject that scholars study on magic—trying to find a way to turn her back when we were free. No one’s really tried to turn them back before. They’re usually traitors, people that no one has any interest in trying to save, until Tannith. She will not be forgotten, not ever, while we all live. Tannith’s memory and love for you will be held in our hearts.”

My heart clenches. “Where does that leave us?”

He tugs me closer. “You gave up part of your soul for me. I really am not worth it⁠—”

“Reed,” I interrupt. “You are worth it; it’s why I did it in the first place. I see you, and I chose correctly back then. I have a feeling the goddesses would have hated me even if I had made the other choice, and punished Tannith either way. They didn’t want a creature of oblivion becoming the human Champion. Someone else did.”

We both know who. That dark god. Reed spins us along, leaning closer. “I’m going to dedicate my life to being worth it for you. You mean a great deal to me, Meredith. I’m proud of you. I don’t want you to think for a second that you aren’t everything I think of from morning to night, and in my dreams, I hope to see you.” The look on his face as he stares into my eyes is so sincere. “There are things I need to talk to you about to do with my pack. It’s⁠—”

“I’m tired of pack talk for now. It’s all we’ve really done since I got here.” I stop him. “This is my first ball, and so far, there has been a fight and no drinking.” I look up and clear my throat. “I’ve also found something.”

He follows my gaze to the swords. “So, they’re really here.”

“Orion says this place is locked, but he has a plan. A way of getting us back in after tonight, and we just have to play nice. I don’t know if it’ll be possible to get to them, but if anyone can, it’s Orion.”

“You’re not alone in this. The minute you gave up three parts of your soul, you made it so you’d never be alone again.” He leans his head close to mine. “We will get them together, Mere. I won’t let that god take you from me.”

“What if we fail⁠—”

I start stumbling over my words as a sharp pain nicks my neck, and I let go of Reed. He reaches for me as I lift my hand to my neck, pulling out a small red arrow with the symbol of the Crone Pack woven into the wings of the arrow. Something red—my blood but sickly sweet smelling—is dripping from it onto my fingers. Poison?

My legs buckle underneath me, and agony slams into my chest, burning through every inch of my veins. Reed reaches down, stopping me from falling to the floor. His hands dig into the lacing of the corset, pulling me up until we’re face to face. Every emotion is written on his face: worry, fear, and desperation. “You’re not dying on me yet, little human.”

He slams his lips onto mine, kissing me deeply as his magic washes over me like a wave at sea. I feel it flowing through my veins, washing out whatever poison was just injected into my neck. I kiss him back, clinging to him, until he pulls back, eyes wide, staring at me. I still don’t feel well. The room sways as he picks me up into his arms, and Zy is there, touching my neck. “She needs blood⁠—”

I don’t know what makes me do it, but my mouth slams onto Reed’s neck, as shadows build a wall around us and encase us in darkness. Reed groans as my teeth sink into his skin and his hot blood pours into my mouth, tasting like salt, the sea and something completely addictive. His hands tighten on me, holding me to his neck.

I barely feel Zy touch my cheek. “Let go now. You will kill him, and as much as I’d like to see that, you are attached to the fish.”

Reed growls protectively, pulling me tighter, but I let go, my body feeling like a rock in his arms. “I still feel her heart slowing. We need healers now!” Reed roars. “Orion!”

He looks at me as people hurry, wolves growl, and the world spins. Something crosses his face—shock? It’s the last thing I see before I pass out.

Chapter Fourteen

PRINCE REED, HEIR OF THE MAIDEN PACK.

Iwatch her, spread out across the green sheets, her gold hair in little waves across the pillows as she breathes in and out. I nearly lost her. The poison was designed to kill, and if she wasn’t a creature of oblivion, with the ability to heal by taking blood, she would have died. My magic wouldn’t have saved her; no one’s magic would have been able to stop her heart from going still and her blood burning her to death like intended. She would have died, painfully, and the image of her in my arms like that will never go away.

Even now, her veins glow red under her skin, far less bright than before, and she is so pale. There’s a small tube connected to her hand, pumping healing potions and blood from Orion and me to help her recover, as she isn’t strong enough to feed. I have hardly moved in the last two days while she has slept and recovered. Thankfully, this pack is well known for its healers, and Orion has been checking over their work every day while healing her himself to the point of exhaustion. None of us have left this room or taken our eyes off her. She has to wake up. We’ve eaten in here and shared the same bathroom in turns so that she’s never alone, because now no one in this pack, or any of our packs, can be trusted.

Orion has only left a few times—to investigate this incident and to speak to his mother and update her on Meredith’s condition while we are guests in her pack. As much as I’m sure he doesn’t want his mother here, the last thing Alpha Gaia wants is for Meredith to die in this court and bring down the anger of the fourth pack onto her land. She might be a bitch, but she is smart, and any smart person would not like the death of a guest like Meredith on her hands. It’s the single reason I don’t believe she has anything to do with it. The Crone alpha is a monster and an evil fuckhead, but he likes to see the people he kills at the end of their life. My mother would stoop to this level, but drowning is more her style than poison.

Blackfire sits at the foot of the bed, staring at his wife, willing her to wake. His wife, but she is my… “I’ll be back,” I tell him before walking to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I lean on the cabinet, staring into the huge mirror at my own reflection, before I start pulling up my shirt. I tilt, looking at the huge mark that runs all the way down my back. It looks like a hurricane made of shadows and water, ink made of swirls and beautiful designs. I’ve always heard that fated mate bonds were the most beautiful, that men are the only ones marked, and now I know it’s true.