CHAPTER SEVEN-THE BINDING

A whistle soaked in the stench of sulfur fell from the air in the foyer as the black ball of mist spread out like little fingers in every direction. As it faded away, the only thing that remained was Teddy with Tessa tucked tight against him. “I got you. We made it.”

The feverish hands tugged at his chest when they balled his shirt in them. A shrill whimper built at the back of Tessa’s throat as her fat bottom lip quivered. “They killed them.”

He gritted his teeth and blinked up to the ceiling to halt the sting of tears and hide them from her. They were twin flames, and when one lost control, the other followed along until the spark became an Armageddon.

With his hands on her shoulders, he bent down to look into her eyes. “Go grab our bugout bags and meet me right here. Find Momma and Daddy’s too. Go on! Be quick.”

When he heard her little feet start beating against the stairs, he rubbed his neck and took a deep breath through his nose. They practiced for this kind of thing at least a hundred times, and he knew the script by heart. “First, grab your fucking bags. Second, get everybody to safety.”

While the young man walked swiftly to the kitchen where the staff was still having dinner, one could see him becoming his father along the way as his kind and charming face became stern and demanding.

He strolled across the threshold like the Lord of the house, and it was as if Jasper stood there handing out orders to them.

“Listen to me. You’re in danger. You know what you’re supposed to do.” He glanced to the floor and shook his head. “Don’t come back here until we send for you.” His arms wove across his chest as he tilted his head to the door. “Go on, get out of here.”

He pushed the door shut as the last of them escaped to the secret tunnel in the wine cellar, then he turned to the security guard, Oliver. “When Haldir comes, if you can stay that long, tell him that my parents are dead. He knows where we’ll be.”

Finally realizing what tonight was really about, he shook his head as he grabbed Oliver’s shirt. “If anyone but Haldir shows up here tonight, you mist out immediately. They will kill you, Oliver. They’re here to take us all out.”

“No.” His face drew together, and he shook his head as he wrapped his hands around Teddy’s arms. “I’ll come with you until Haldir finds you.”

His fingers didn’t want to let go of Oliver’s shirt, but he eventually pried them loose and patted his shoulder. “You shouldn’t get mixed up in this. I don’t expect we’ll ever be coming back here again, so go be with your family. Stay the hell out of Savannah.”

The pause in his heart sent a cold shot through his veins as Tessa’s muffled screams filled the air. “Teddy, help me!”

The screams faded to nothing but warbled rushes of his pulse pounding in his ears as his legs carried him to the foyer. Trying desperately to stay on her feet, Tessa slipped in the blood pouring from her body and stumbled to her knees.

The soles of his shoes squeaked as Teddy skidded through the puddle and caught her in his arms. “He killed me.” Where her green eyes used to be was nothing but the spent black cells of the blood that left her tear ducts. Her whole body trembled and twitched as he tried to keep her from sliding from his grasp. “Why did he kill me?”

“No. You’re alright, Sugar.” He lowered her to the floor and pulled her up in his arms. “I got you. We’re a package deal, and I’m not ready yet, so hold your damn horses and wait for me.”

While she gasped and choked on the blood as she tried to swallow it away, her angelic face pulled down into a pouty frown like a toddler who got scolded by their mother. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen to Momma.”

He caressed her messy face with his fingers and shook his head. “No, Tess. It’s not your fault. You were just doing what the Fates made you do.” More than once, he’d chastised her heresy against their ancient gods, but he never would again. “They can just be cruel bitches sometimes.”

The fire in her eyes was only embers now, and their bond nothing more than a flicker, so he kissed her cold, bloody cheek and gave up. “I love you. When you wake up again, just sit tight and wait for me, Tess. I won’t be far behind.”

Too weak to even pull her sticky lashes apart, she went limp in his arms and breathed out her last words. “Okay. I’ll be waiting.”

While Oliver tried to keep up with the blood draining from her body as he wiped her face with his handkerchief, he broke Teddy from the shock he found himself spiraling towards. “She’s still alive. Take her to the human hospital outside town, the one we visited when we took flowers to that shopkeeper.”

His eyes flicked up to Oliver as the fight in him faded away like Tessa’s bond was. “They can’t help her now. No one can.”

Oliver shook his head as he reminded him that he wasn’t helpless. “You need to let the warlock come through. Call on him before it’s too late.”

Being so preoccupied with his dying sister, they never even heard the front door open.

When the bolt of the lightning flashed behind his dark form coming through the doorway, Teddy looked up to see Rafik soaked by the storm now raging outside. His shoulders heaved up and down, and he clutched at his chest as he staggered towards them.

While the blood pooled on the black-and-white checkered marble floor around them, Teddy glanced down at his sister. “Why did you kill her? She’s so in love with you.”

Collapsing before them, Rafik put his trembling fingers to her lips. His pained face turned into an ugly, angry scowl as he sobbed back his father’s betrayal. “Please, forgive me.”

A falling sensation started in Teddy’s shoulders and washed over his entire body as he came to understand when he saw the boy’s look of horror and regret. “You didn’t know he planned on killing her, did you?”

“No.” Rafik put his fingertips to his mouth and rubbed the sweet, metallic essence of her life onto his lips and tongue. He would savor the memory of her flavor all his life.

Bloody, foamy bubbles gurgled from her mouth as her last breaths tried to make their way through. Rafik kissed her and licked her blood from his lips as he glanced over to Oliver. “I think I can save her. Get me a knife.”

Oliver ran to the kitchen and took a knife from the wooden block. As his fingers wrapped themselves around the handle, he contemplated sinking it into the traitor’s back as he knelt over his mate, but Rafik may be the only chance she had left.

The cool blade met his hand, and Rafik blew out a breath, then gritted his teeth and slashed through his arm without a moment’s hesitation. A stream of hot blood poured from the wound as he lifted his chin. “Tilt her head back.”

While Teddy readjusted her in his arms and her head fell backward, Rafik held his wound over her parted lips and delivered his gift of salvation to her mouth. “Le do thoil cinniúint bheannaigh cibé cairde a thugtar dom, le do thoil a thabhairt di. Taimid ar ceann de na.”

The squelch of blood between his fingers echoed through the foyer as Rafik wrapped his wet hand around her jaw. He shoved her mouth closed to force her to swallow and smashed his lips to hers. “Blessed be.”

His teary eyes searched for even a spark of life in her face as he whispered against her lips. “We are bound now, my love. Until the end of all things, we belong to each other.”

“Give her Burdock Root as much as you can for the next few days. It will help her liver clear the poison.” Rafik took her hand and placed it on her chest as he backed away. He searched his mind for more as he smeared their joined blood across his forehead. “Fluids. She needs fluids, as much as her body will allow.”

His hands slid out from underneath him as he pushed himself up to his feet. With the bloody remnants of his mate dripping from his palms, the rage built inside him. “Take her now. Go far away from here and never come back.”

Teddy pulled her into his chest with a teeth-gritting grunt as Oliver and Rafik took his arms to help him lift her. They wrapped the straps of their bags around his neck and shoulders, then Rafik kissed her forehead and backed away. Pausing at the door, he placed his hand to his heart then kissed his fingertips. “Until the Fates reunite us, Rohi.”

Oliver put his hand on Teddy’s shoulder and leaned into his ear. “Go now before they come for you. Go!”

The blackness crawled over them, and the reality they were escaping from became a smudge of colors that broke into pieces and began to chip away.

Before the dark eyes at the doorway disappeared, Teddy called out to them. “I won’t forget what you’ve done for her. I won’t let anyone forget that.”