Page 67 of Forced Bonds

They broke the kiss, both of them panting, Zar looked at both of us with a fond smile. “And I’m sorry as well. Today will suck, but after Isabelle has gotten what she wants, the rest of the day will be spent in our wing, just the three of us. We can even have your meals delivered.”

“I would love that,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. He grabbed me before I could step back, deepening the kiss and making me all weak in the knees.

“I wish we had time for some fun,” Chris said, sounding amused. “But we have less than ten minutes before they’re here.”

“Why are vampires so damn punctual,” I grumbled.

We got ready and dressed, and before we knew it, Altaur called us to the meeting. We’d agreed that he would call Zar’s phone once Isabelle and her goons were in the official meeting room. It was a room Zar had described as less cozy and would fit more people. It was at the ground level and as far away from the private rooms in the mansion as possible. This was where outsiders came for meetings, Altaur simply didn’t allow visitors further into the mansion than that.

We walked hand in hand to the meeting, Zar and Chris both tense with worry over what would happen once the book got opened. No one knew, and I doubted even the witch coven who’d guarded the book did.

Once we were in the right location, Zar opened the door, walking in first with me in the middle. I was glad I held both their hands, because as I watched a white-haired pale vampire and then one with black hair and dark skin, I suddenly remembered what had happened when they took me. Strangely enough, the worst of it was seeing Panu die. That had been a memory I had no idea I’d lost. I’d been too focused on avoiding my torture memories to think about all the other horrors I’d witnessed.

Altaur sat at the end, a black-haired woman next to him, her eyes were red with a golden ring that seemed to glow. It was unnervingly beautiful. She had red lipstick on and a black dress, very gothic, but then again, she’d likely lived longer than any other vampire and could very well be the whole reason for the aesthetic.

“Hello again, boys,” Isabelle said, smiling warmly as Chris closed the door behind us. There was a seat for everyone, and we sat on the opposite side of the Greenwren Coven. I remembered the names of the two goons who’d tortured me. Wisp and Barius. The other two I hadn’t met, or at least I couldn’t remember them. They were both women and looked like sisters. They were blonde and pale, and their eyes a lighter red than the other vampires. It was likely rude to ask why they looked different, though.

Once we were all seated comfortably, Isabelle went straight to the point, placing the book on the table. “I’ve followed this book ever since I heard of its existence. I don’t think any of you truly know what this book is rumored to hold.”

“We know about the rogue thing from Gabrielle, if you’ve heard of her,” Zar said. Maybe we would learn if her coven was responsible for what happened to her. We knew Isabelle had controlled the witches, but had she controlled Gabrielle, too?

Isabelle laughed. “Of course we did! We believed if we stole the book ourselves, we could die, we had no idea at the time if a sacrifice had been made or not. She was making us rogues and we hoped one of them could grab the book, they were cursed and should’ve been able to touch the book without dying.”

“But,” I frowned. “Why would you die touching it?”

“We thought a new sacrifice had to be made before we could move it,” Isabelle shrugged. “Like we told Altaur, we had no idea how much you knew about the book. For all we knew you’d either read it and knew all the information, then had it sealed away again and protected it against everyone else, or you hadn’t read it but were trying to destroy it.”

“Did Altaur tell you everything we know about the book?” Zar asked and Isabelle nodded.

“We were told what Benjamin had already said during his playtime with my men,” Isabelle said, like I hadn’t been tortured by them. My men growled low in warning, their possessiveness taking over even in the company of perhaps the strongest vampire alive. She ignored them completely as she continued. “And now we’ll all soon learn if all the rumors were true.”

She handed Chris a dagger with a leather handle, a blue sapphire was embedded in it. Even the blade had a blue sheen to it, making it look pretty and deadly.

“He won’t use that,” Zar denied, pushing the dagger back to Isabelle.

She quirked a brow at him. “Then how do you suppose he’ll bleed?”

He flashed his fangs. “In a painless sort of way.”

I swore Chris melted at the thoughtfulness, even if a small cut likely wouldn’t have caused him much pain.

Isabelle made the go-ahead motion and pushed the book over to Chris. “Remember, you are not to open it, just drop your blood on it and slide it back to me. Got it?”

Chris nodded and offered Zar his left hand. He bit into his wrist, then held it over the book. We watched in fascination as the book absorbed the blood. The front of the book didn’t even look to have gotten blood on it.

Chris pushed the book to Isabelle, but half way to her, it flew open, light pouring out of it. A female voice spoke from the book, loud and clear.

“You have freed our curses, be warned, for they are now no more, no more should be born, no more should be made, our curse is broken and those already created shall remain.

“Through trial and error, we forced it back, bonds and matings are no longer–” then pure gibberish none of us could understand “–for now the book has been opened and all revealed, as are our cursed bonds and those it obtained.”

There was a pause and I could tell none of us wished to be the first to break the silence, but then the voice spoke again.

“Our coven is no more, as was our curse, for creating this book and throwing unbalance in the universe, forgive us not for we have prevailed, in paradise we rest and forever we shall.”

The book turned its pages and landed on a page with the words, “Curses that have been broken.”

“Holy…” I whispered, staring at the words in front of me. All were-beings were no longer cursed, making Chris either cured or one of the last werewolves to exist. Then rogue vampires were listed along with the skinwalkers and some other species I’d never heard of.