Bound by Duty (Bound Series Book 1) (29 page)

I stood back with tears falling as I watched the moving scene. In the depths of my mind, I knew what was coming, what had to be coming. But, nothing could have prepared me for the storm of Hunters that swept into the area. There had to be a dozen of them, orange eyes blazing, bright white and orange balls of fire erupting from their palms. Elias shoved Nell behind him and with a roar, shifted into his bear form. I hadn’t a clue what his native form would be, but a mammoth black bear stood protectively in front of the love of his life. She shot her own small blue blasts from around him, but it was clear to me that magic was not their strong suit.

Elias fought valiantly, attempting to slice Hunters open from root to tip when he was able to get his huge paws close enough. Within minutes, the group suddenly stopped and parted, allowing the largest Hunter I’d ever seen to walk between them and stop just feet in front of Elias.

“You think that your stinking bear hide means anything to me, vermin? You are not part of us. You don’t belong here or anywhere. I will be damned if I allow you to weaken our race and pollute our people with your vile ways.” The man stood at least seven feet tall. He wore black leather from head to toe, the only things in contrast being his bright white hair and the silver collar he wore around his neck, signifying his oath and allegiance to Queen Julia.

Nell took that moment of silence as her opportunity to try to hurt the Hunter and shot a blue flame in his direction. The Hunter laughed an evil, booming laugh and with a wave of his hand, the flame dissipated in mid-air.

“You are nothing to me, half-breed. I see you cowering behind your mate. Do you think he can keep you from me? And, I hear that little heartbeat. You will die together, as a family.” The Hunter was so focused on intimidating Nell that he didn’t see Elias jump, shifting yet again, this time into a black panther and slashing him across the face. The Hunter roared in pain as blood dripped from his cheek. In the same instant, he froze Elias in mid-air and then pinned him to the side of the cabin with nothing more than a flick of his wrist.

“For that, vermin, you will watch. You won’t die today. You will live to remember what your worthlessness caused.” The Hunters eyes glittered with evil joy and a sick smile replaced his scowl as he turned back to Nell. Without moving from his position, he lifted her from the ground. She screamed in agony as welts appeared on her arms and legs and blood dripped from wounds no one had physically made. The Hunter was torturing her without moving a muscle. In his panther form, Elias shrieked as if he were being beaten himself. Elias struggled against the power, scrambling for any kind of purchase against the coarse cabin exterior. He yowled and screamed, suddenly shifting back and forth between human and panther.

The Hunter simply laughed as Nell whimpered from above him. Elias hurled curses and vengeful promises in his direction. “I wish I had time to draw this out, but I have places to be. So, beast, remember my face and what I’ve done. Remember this feeling because it is the feeling I will evoke in every single one of your kind. Go and tell them that Rhi the Hunter stole your woman and babe. Tell them how you couldn’t move an inch to save her broken, battered body.”

I was thankful the scene went dark before I had to watch the rest. I couldn’t let myself imagine what that Hunter had done to poor Nell. What he had said echoed in my mind. That was Rhi — the same Hunter who murdered my mother.

When Elias removed his hand from my cheek it was all I could do to not crumple to the ground. Bethany caught me as I bent over. The hurt, pain, and despair that cascaded through me was more than I could handle. Elias’s leftover emotions charred my heart as I tried to separate myself from him. I reached up to place my hand where his had been only to realize I couldn’t move as the sobs wracked my body. I cried for that poor woman and Elias’s heartbreak. When I looked up at him, the tears were falling from his eyes in slow rivers. He didn’t move to wipe them away and neither did I.

“Is that what you knew?” he asked, sorrow seeping from his words as the blood had from her wounds. I could only shake my head. Nothing Cole had told me prepared me for what I had just witnessed. I, too, would never be able to erase her screams from my mind.

“There is more, Amelia. So much more. I hold so many truths that you need regarding how to control what’s inside you. About the prophecy. About your mother.”

My head cleared at his mention of my mother and the power I had done my best to hide. My curiosity peaked, but I had no reason to believe he knew anything more than Derreck had. “And, why is it that I’m supposed to trust you, Elias? You just finished telling me how everyone lies to me. Constantly. Why would I trust anything you say over them? Your story is terrible and I am so sorry for what you went through, but what makes you different?” I leaned heavily on Bethany as I finally stood tall and fixed my stare on his.

His tone was grim, but determined. The tears gone. “Because I started our relationship with truth. I haven’t lied to you. I manipulated you to get you here, but I didn’t lie. I don’t lie.”

He stepped back from me a few paces and gestured to the beasts around him. “These are all people, Amelia. People who have been running their whole lives. Who, like me, watched their friends and family murdered, or worse. I am not Julia. I don’t want to use you. I want to help you. I want you to help me — us. But, the choice is yours. You can always find one of us here, in this place. I know that you cut off the communications to your brother and the prince, and they are likely to come for you soon. You should go.”

Bethany and I reacted simultaneously. “The what?” I yelped at the same time that she said, “Who’s a prince? Prince of what?”

Elias smirked and looked far too smug for my liking. “Another half-truth, Amelia. Ask him. You know exactly who I’m talking about. I just thought you realized. Ask him why he’s really here, Amelia. Then, come back and we’ll talk some more. Just be careful with what you share. He, like so many others, is not what he seems.”

Bethany and I watched, our hands still gripping each other’s, as Elias, Melinda, and all of the animals melted back into the tree line. In mere seconds, it was as if they’d never existed. Bethany turned to me to say something and I interrupted her before she could ask. “Not yet. There’s so much I have to tell you, and I will. Just give me a minute, okay?” She swallowed and nodded, standing silently next to me while I tried to slow my racing heart and make sense of what had just unfolded.

Thankfully, Bethany was quiet as we made our way back toward the apartment. My mind was swimming. Micah was the prince. He had to be. There weren’t any other options. That meant I was betrothed to Micah. And, judging from what Elias had just said, Micah knew it.

I felt the dark magic rising within me and forced my thoughts away from Micah and back to Elias. To his words, his excruciating memory, and the promises he had made me. He used the only thing he knew would sway me — the allure of truth. And it was working. I wanted to deposit Bethany in the apartment and run back to where he had stood. I had so many questions. Everything I’d learned in the last twenty-four hours was a convoluted mess in my brain. It seemed like the only thing anyone agreed on was the fact that I couldn’t go to the castle. I couldn’t play into the queen’s plan. But, outside of that, no one seemed to agree on anything.

Uncle Derreck wanted me to find my mate. Elias wanted me to help the AniMages. And, then, there was Bethany, to whom I owed a lengthy explanation. Everywhere I turned, someone needed something from me. What I needed, was time to think. To sort all of the madness out in my head. I needed more than just a few minutes between catastrophes. Somewhere in this mess was a choice I had to make, but at this point I didn’t have a clue on where to find it.

As we neared the complex, Cole and Micah burst from the back door. Bethany went running for Micah and he swept her into his arms. For a millisecond, I was happy for them, then Elias’s words came back and squashed any joy I held for my friend. Cole came toward me a little more tentatively.

“Ame? What’s wrong? I can’t get a read on you, there’s too much going on.” He gave me a sideways look that said he could tell that she was taking hold of me. “What happened up there? Why did you shut us out?” I could only stare over his shoulder at Micah. Pure, unadulterated hate was all I had for him. I had trusted him. I had thought we were friends. My limbs started to tremble. I made the conscious decision to stop fighting her off and stood taller as the layered effect of her power gave me the necessary strength.

“Amelia,” Cole said slowly. “What is going on? I can feel it. This isn’t good. Talk to me, Ame.” He tried to reach for me and I flinched away, shaking my head.

“I need to talk to Micah. Alone. Now.”

Micah pulled his head up from being bent into Bethany and his eyes widened when he met mine. I saw the instant he realized I knew. Apologies reflected back at me, but I wouldn’t acknowledge them. I wanted him to feel badly about what he’d done.

Cole looked between us, and when Micah asked him to take Bethany inside he agreed, but didn’t look happy about it. He took a step toward me. “I’ll be just in there, Amelia.” I nodded, my eyes never leaving Micah’s. “Stay in there.” I waited for Cole and Bethany to go inside before I spoke.

I found it hard to form the words; to put the accusations into syllables that would make sentences. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I could even do it.

“You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me from the beginning, haven’t you? You never wanted to be my friend. You asked me to trust you and
I did!
” The more I spoke, the stronger my voice became. My violet smoke surrounded me. My breaths became shallow and the pressure inside me quickly became too much to bear. I couldn’t stop the eruption. After everything I’d just been through, I wanted someone to pay. To feel as beaten and twisted and tortured as I felt in that moment. I had no idea which way was up or what I was supposed to do. So, I funneled all of that into Micah.

“I thought we were FRIENDS!” I shot a blast at him, not giving it everything, but trying to give myself a release. He was ready for it. Sadly, he understood my power probably better than I did, at least the parts he had seen, and he countered. Red and violet crashed into each other, electricity popping and snapping as the two magic’s battled between us. I held both hands up in front of me, pushing at him, wanting him to do something. To say something.

Sweat popped on his brow as Micah finally yelled over the sound, “We are friends, Amelia. I came for you, but not for the reasons you think. I came to help you. To protect you.”

That only set me off further and I pushed harder, forcing Micah to take a few steps back. “To protect me? How? By figuring out exactly what I could do so you could report it back to your demented mother? I’m nothing but a puppet to her. A means to an end. I won’t do it, Micah. She doesn’t understand what I am. No one does.”

Suddenly, I was exhausted. Drained of hope and will and the energy to even hate Micah the way I wanted to. I slowly backed myself down and Micah did the same. I doubled over, my hands on my knees as I fought for air. I looked up at him from under a curtain of hair, happy that he was at least visibly exhausted, too.

“Amelia, it isn’t what you think. Really.” He coughed out between deep breaths.

“Isn’t it, though, Micah? Is that even your name? Who are you really?”

A deep voice came from behind me, sending chills up my spine. “He is Prince Mikail. You would do well to remember that, girl. Keeper or not, he is your prince.”

I turned around. At the sight of him, my world spun. Standing feet from me was Rhi. The Hunter who murdered my mother and Nell. Elias’s scar still remained a thick line running from his temple to his chin. I should have killed him. I should have maimed him. There were so many things I should have done. Instead, I passed out.

I woke up on the couch in the living room of my apartment. As I squinted my eyes open, sending a little jet through me to dull the pain in my head and the aches in my body, I saw Cole and Bethany sitting at the kitchen table. I looked around and Micah was gone. Or Prince Mikail, I suppose.

As soon as Bethany saw my partially-opened eyes she was next to me, helping me sit up. “Hey there, girl. What can I get you? Tea?” I nodded weakly and she disappeared into the kitchen. I turned myself so that I wasn’t taking up the entire couch and found myself eye-to-eye with my very irritated brother.

“Would you like to explain what the hell just happened, Amelia?” His anger was at new heights, but I didn’t have the energy for the argument.

I laughed a broken laugh. “Only if I knew where to start, Cole. I wish I could.”

“Well, honey, why don’t you start with what you’ve been hiding from your best friend?” Bethany stood in the kitchen, filling my mug with water and refusing to look at me. “Then, you can tell me what in goodness gracious I just witnessed out there, and you can end with why you were trying to kill my boyfriend! After that, we can get to why he brought you in here comatose before he disappeared. Those are really the high points we need, isn’t that right, Cole?” Her sarcasm was tinged with hurt and it killed me to know that I had done that.

I stood up from the couch and took a few steps toward Bethany, taking the tea mugs from her and then yanking her in for a hug. I held on for dear life, for my sanity, and to try to show my friend in some small way that none of this was to hurt her. The realization that I had done exactly what had been done to me — lied to protect her — was a bitter taste in my mouth.

I finally let go, picking up our mugs and taking them to the couch.

“This is the short version, B, because it would take days to explain the long version. It’s probably pretty clear that we have some…uh, different abilities than you do.”

She snorted, “Really, Ame? Abilities? Your crazy magic business pretty much takes the cake.”

I laughed at little. “Well, you seem to be rolling with it pretty well. Yes, we have some crazy magic business. Both Cole and I. Mine is a little different from his. I’m…uh, special. And I have some power other people don’t. The people who took you are AniMages. They are a kind of Mage that has less power, but the ability to shift into animals. You saw what they can do.”