AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Heeeeeeeeeey there . . . friend,” I finished awkwardly, throwing a hand up in a pseudo wave. “Pardon the intrusion. Oliver is going to close this portal and let you get back to sleep. Aren’t you, Oliver?” Extra emphasis toward Oliver, who took the hint, his hands coming up towards the portal. The golden shimmer of magic was already starting to coat his hands.
“Wait!” Callan shouted, the words almost getting lost as the portal started to shrink under Oliver’s practiced guidance. Callan disappeared from view, and I squinted, barely able to make out his back as he rummaged through the drawer on his nightstand, before he ran at the portal, diving face-first through it as the opening got smaller and smaller. He crashed through, landing in a heap on top of Nia and me with a groan.
“Get off of me, you disgusting animal!” Nia lashed out toward Callan, and he groaned in pain as she sank a fist into his side.
“Ow!” he roared, but rolled off of us, somehow still graceful as he rose up to stand near Oliver.
“Are you crazy?” Oliver’s gaze was serious, but a small trickle of amusement shone in his gaze as he took Callan in. His eyes darted to me briefly before they trained back on the shifter. “Do you know what can happen if a portal closes on you before you’re all the way through? You can’t be here, you don’t belong in this realm!”
Callan stood to his full height, towering over the shorter man as his icy alpha power radiated off him in waves. Even in his sleepwear and bedhead, my stomach did little flip-flops when I looked at him, so I glanced away, reinforcing my walls. “It was worth the risk. And I’ll fucking kill you if you try to send me back.”
I was sure mine weren’t the only eyebrows that shot up at his words. Callan whirled around, pinning me with a stern glare. I shrank back, doing my best to wish myself invisible. “You really thought following this witch through a portal would be a good idea? Have you lost your fucking mind?” When he was mad—which he usually was when he talked to me—his Scottish lilt came to the surface, clinging to his sharp words.
“So . . . about that . . . “
* * *
An hourlater Callan and I sat around the fire, sipping on a fuchsia tea Nia had concocted from some of the various fruits that surrounded us in abundance. I’d finished filling Callan in on our quest, and while initially he was upset, he had now settled into begrudging acceptance. The morning air was chilly, the sun just starting to rise, and I stared off into the depths of the fire, the crackling comforting sound as the sticks and fallen logs we’d made it with burned.
I watched Callan, for what exactly I wasn’t sure. He’d taken the information in stride, attention pinned on the fire as I’d shared what I had learned. His usual stoic face was in place, a hard mask that prevented me from gauging his reaction as he listened. Would he still accept me, knowing that I was half-Fae? Would the rest of the pack? There’d been no time to discuss or digest the information before I’d run through the portal. They could hate me for all I knew; it’d been my fault that Evie had died in the first place. Lily could never forgive me for that. I’d brushed the few tears that trickled from my eyes as I recounted my events of being kidnapped by Ruby, held in the in-between, and tortured.
By Lexi.
“Is everyone back at the pack okay?” I asked Callan softly.
He nodded, his midnight hair bouncing slightly with the movement. “They’re fine. Just extremely worried, after you left us there like that,” he replied, sourness edging his tone.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, and I meant it. I’d give anything to hop back into a portal to the mortal realm, to go live in the forest and learn how to use my powers, and to forget all about my fucked-up heritage. Yeah, I meant it. “But now you understand what’s at stake. I don’t feel like I really had a choice.”
“There is always a choice.” His knee bumped mine from where we sat around the fire, a harmless gesture that left a lingering heat where it touched me. “And yours was shitty. Lily is a frantic mess.”
“But she’s alive. I need to get my memories back so I can make sure she stays that way. All of you.”
“I know. And then we’ll go back.” Our eyes locked in understanding, and I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no judgement in his gaze, no hatred like I had expected.
“Why did you jump through the portal?” Our eyes met, and I stilled at the emotions swirling in their depths. He said nothing, the silence stretching a little too long. He broke eye contact as he stood, reaching into his pocket and sliding a familiar slender object from his baggy sweatpants. “I went back for this; I figured you might need it.”
I gasped in delight, snatching the dagger from him, the hilt fitting in my hand like a glove.
“I thought I lost it!” I exclaimed before I could hold my tongue, gripping the blade happily to my chest. It was stupid to be so attached to an inanimate object, but Callan had made the dagger for me from the remnants of my favorite car. Having it was like having a piece of her with me, and it immediately brought comfort and calm to my soul. Holding it in my hand feltright.
“You dropped it when Roxy kidnapped you.” A smirk played at the corner of his mouth as he watched my excitement, but I was too happy to be worried about being judged. “I shouldn’t have let her get the jump on us like that.” He stared into the flames, a tortured look passing across his face.
Flashbacks of that night with Lexi flitted through my mind, anger bristling in my chest.
“How is it that your mate is still alive?” I pinned him with a hard stare. I couldn’t ignore the voice in the back of my head that called out how suspicious that all was. His mate murders an entire pack, and he supposedly carried out the justice, but now she’s working with my evil family to destroy the realms. Something didn’t add up.
“I have no fucking idea,” Callan responded after a pause, raising his eyes to meet mine. “I gave her that scar on her face. Right before I ripped out her throat.” His harsh tone gave me pause, and I could almost taste the hatred wafting off him. He held steadfast, confident in his conviction that he had killed Lexi. Yet she was alive, and her throat was most definitely intact.
“Do you feel her? Can’t mates read each other’s minds or something?” I had no idea, but after all these surprises, I almost expected it to be a thing.
He snorted. “I haven’t been able to feel her since the night I killed her. Or thought I did. I held her in my arms, Rowan. I watched the blood pour out of her. I dug the grave I buried her in. There is no way she should be alive.”
“Guess that explains why you didn’t die.” At his confused look, I continued, “Lily told me when one mate dies, the other one usually does to.”
“When I killed her, I expected to die. I waited to die. But it never came. I guess now I know why,” he added, a bitter bark of laughter escaping him.
“You still have a bond,” I said, keeping my voice level and even when I felt anything but. “Fae can see magic, and I saw it back there. It was weak, and damaged in some places, but still intact.”
