Page 14 of Bonded

“I didn’t do anything. I don’t have powers like this,” I whisper back.

The creature, whatever he is, soon makes it clear who made this dream place. I’ve heard him before, like this, in dreams. He looks like nothing but a dark shadow outline of a man, tall and strong, but I can’t make out a single feature. I glance at Reed, seeing him staring at me instead, his eyes full of worry. Orion is frozen in place, staring away at the darkness.

“I am the dark god, the God of Oblivion, and there is no danger here if you do as I ask. It has been many years since your birth, Princess Meredith Duskmore, since I stood outside your castle and watched in another form. They say darkness rose for you, the sea danced for Prince Reed, the dark fire burnt for Blackfire, and for Prince Orion…oh, how the earth trembled and darkened. Each of you owes me for what power lies in your blood and soul, and Meredith owes me a debt far greater than any other. Each of you will help to pay this debt. You made a mistake in revealing your feelings—in showing the world and the gods your love of this dark child.”

My heart is beating loudly in my chest as the air seems to creep around me. I feel like I can’t move. I feel completely frozen. Reed growls low. “And if we decide not to let you coerce us?”

“She stays with me as my queen, ruling at my side, in darkness and fear forever, as it is destined to be.” I want to move, to run away, to use my powers, but I can’t.

“Like fuck she will,” Blackfire snarls.

“Now, Champions of the goddesses, here is a story you won’t be told by your alpha parents. The three goddesses took something from me a very long time ago, and you will return what has been taken. Once, the goddesses were just three human girls. They were nothing. Pointless until the day they found me. They began to worship me, as all should, but as time went on, they wished to be more than servants to a king. They wished for their own lives, and they knew exactly how to get them. There are three keys to my prison, each one a powerful weapon that they used to stay powerful and eternally alive.” The shadows shimmer slightly. “You are to return them to me, for I cannot leave this space until you do.”

“If they have these keys…how are we to get them from goddesses no one has seen in hundreds of years outside of the Folkland?” Reed demands.

“They are not keys to me but weapons, and you have seen them in the Folkland, yes, but that is not their home. The goddesses can only call on them once a year, and with them, they can absorb enough life from the deaths on the island to keep them alive until the next Folkland.” My stomach turns. They are feeding on the death they cause in the Folkland? Did they do the same with Tannith? “They each have something different, but let us start with the heart of the Crone Pack.” I remember the heart, the Crone goddess holding it in her hands. “You need to find it—each of them—and when you do, call for me. Call for your dark god and present me with your gift. When you do, all your debt to me will be repaid, and you will be free.”

“And you will be free too?” I ask. “What happens then?”

“I get revenge for all my years trapped and locked away. The goddesses will fight back, of course, but it does not matter. We will both have our sides of this war to come,” he answers.

I shake my head. “I don’t want to free you. I owe you nothing.”

His laugh echoes down my spine. “But you do. Once, when you were lying on a dirty floor, covered in blood from cuts on your stomach, you prayed to me. You begged me to help you.” The memory flashes into my mind of me doing just that. My mother was dead, my brother was gone, and there was no one but the stars outside the broken window. I remember it. I begged for the dark god, whom my parents taught me about, to save me. I gasp. “How do you think you hid so well among humans and avoided the wolves so well? It was I who protected you, over and over. Whose power do you think you’ve been using to stay so human and hidden, right in front of the goddesses? I saw an opportunity when you came into the Crone pack lands all those many years ago. Even as a child, your power was spoken of—whispered as legendary. But that mark they gave you would never have contained anything. I contained you. I bound you and I made sure that you were noticed at the right time so you could become Champion. Every step in your life, I have been there. Now you have powers, immortality, a link to each of the packs—which I need. You are my perfect weapon, Meredith Duskmore, and you will do as I ask.”

I feel myself falling through the clouds, screaming, before I wake up with Zyran’s hands on my face, his eyes searching mine as I come to and sit up. “What happened?” he asks.

Blackfire, Orion, and Reed are also on the floor. They sit up as well, eyes bouncing between each other before locking onto me. Reed rubs his face. “Well, we are all fucked.”

“You don’t have to help me,” I mutter. “I⁠—”

“Of course we do,” Blackfire growls. “As much as you hate us right now, you cannot do this without our help. You should have come to us first, before that fucked-up meeting in there. You don’t need the alphas’ help to test powers against the Wrath. We all would have done it⁠—”

“I did think of asking you,” I shout at him, sitting up against the wall. “But what point is it? You’re not alphas. If your powers work, we are going to need an army at the very least to stop the Wrath, and you can’t command them.” I stare at Blackfire. “I was so close to killing your uncle, but why the fuck haven’t you? The mark on your neck is gone, as is mine…so why? You told me you hated him and wanted him dead.”

Blackfire’s eyes tighten. “I do. I still want nothing more than to end him…but he knew there was every chance I’d come back from the Folkland alive…so he made a failsafe. If he dies, so does his child. He bound their lives, and the bastard knew there wasn’t a chance I’d risk her. She is innocent in this.”

“Many are,” I murmur and then frown. “What child?”

He shakes his head. “We can talk about it later; we have other problems, like these keys.”

I quickly explain everything to Zyran and Illyia as we all stand up. Illyia crosses her arms. “They could be anywhere or impossible to find.”

“You should come to my court first for three weeks. There is one. I’ve seen it.” We all look at Orion. “It is protected by my mother, the alpha female, but it is a start.”

Reed shrugs. “There is nothing I’ve seen before like the Maiden goddess crown she had in the Folkland.”

Finally, I look at Blackfire. My fucking husband. Nope, never calling him that again. I’m living firmly in denial village. “My father once spoke of something like it. He called it the heart of the Crone Pack, and he was going to show it to me when I was older. He died when I was five, and he never had a chance.” He looks at me. “We could find it if you stay with me. We could talk about what this marriage means, the conditions under which it was done, and how⁠—”

“What conditions?” I interrupt him.

He begins to tell me—about walks in the woods, about food, about marking me. My mouth opens and shuts a few times. “I don’t regret it,” he says firmly.

I feel the shadows leaving my hands before they pick him up and slam him straight into the wall. Whoops. His head hits the wall hard. I wince, moving back into Zyran’s arms.

“Well done,” Zyran laughs low. Blackfire’s chest moves up and down, and a secret part of me is relieved he is okay.

“I didn’t mean to do that. My powers—I haven’t had enough training yet. I don’t—” I try to explain to Reed and Orion, who are gobsmacked.