Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3)

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opyright
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over design
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F
or every person
who has chased their dreams, this is proof you can catch them.

H
e was here
. As he’d promised, Aidan came for me. Just days after the ordeal in Cresthaven, we met in our forest, in the dreamscape that had kept me sane and unknowingly connected me to him while we were apart.

I had so many questions, but right now, all I could do was feel. Our magic twirled and tugged at each other playfully, and the relief of our bodies and souls being together again was more than I expected — almost more than my body could take. I had been fighting the Keeper for so long, it was all I could do to stay upright.

He smelled of citrus and woods, like always. I tucked my head under his chin, remaining quiet. I wanted the confirmation of his heart beating under my ear. I needed to hear it and feel the light
thump, thump
under my cheek to know this was real.
He
was real. I worried I had concocted this fantasy in a desperate attempt to hide from the Keeper.

When Aidan exhaled, I felt my hair lift and then float back down. The deflation in his chest created more room between us than I wanted, so I pulled him tighter to me. His hands traced up my back to grip my shoulders. He pushed me away from him slightly, then tipped my chin toward his face to look in my eyes.

“Hey, there, doll.” His voice was barely a whisper. His fingertips moved from my chin so his hand could cup my cheek. I leaned into him for a brief second, closing my eyes. I still hadn’t spoken. I didn’t trust words right now. I didn’t trust anything but the power racing between us and the tingling sensations igniting where our skin touched.

I should have been explaining. We should have been figuring out a plan. I couldn’t do any of that right now. I opened my eyes, wrapped my hands around Aidan’s neck, and pulled him down to me. His eyes widened and passion overtook his hesitation. He pulled me closer as our lips slanted across each other. The kiss began gently, an exploration of a person you knew so well, but who still felt unfamiliar. It was a confirmation that this was indeed where we should be. So much had happened in such a short time. We could have become different people and this shared moment could have been awkward and strange, but it wasn’t.

It quickly grew more heated as the fears of the past few weeks bubbled to the surface. The realization that we were here, alive and together, stoked a fire inside us. Our connection was strong, our thoughts and emotions unfiltered and shared. As soon as I needed to be closer, Aidan lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and threaded my fingers through his hair as his tongue swept inside my mouth. He pulled away to trail kisses along my neck. I arched my back and leaned away to give him better access. I didn’t want him to stop. I didn’t want to leave this place. “I want to stay here forever,” I murmured as he continued.

Abruptly, Aidan pulled back. His hair pointed in all directions and his breathing was ragged, but compassion filled his eyes. “You know we can’t stay here forever, Amelia,” he said softly as he touched his forehead to mine. “This is everything I’ve wanted, but there’s more at stake here than just us.”

I released my ankles and slid down his body. As I stepped back, Aidan grasped my hand, maintaining our connection. I felt stronger for having it, but I already missed his closeness.

“Amelia, talk to me,” he said, pleading and demanding all at once in the way only Aidan could. I couldn’t refuse him.

“I remember the last few days like they were a dream,” I started. “More like a nightmare, really. A place I’ve been that seemed too real at the time but so far away now.” I paused and looked out into the trees.

“Look at me.” This time, it was a demand.

I turned and his blazing blue eyes caught me off guard. “I will protect you, Amelia. I will stop it from hurting you.”

“But how, Aidan? Do you even know how? Right here, right now, I’m safe. I don’t know what this place is or how we found it, but this is the only place she isn’t torturing me trying to get to you. They were right, Aidan. We are the subjects of the prophecy. Something inside us is drawn to each other and the Keeper understands how to unlock the power we have. If she succeeds, if we can’t stop her and figure out how to use whatever this is for good, I will lose myself to her. And you don’t understand who I become when she is in control. I don’t want you to ever see that,” I finished, turning away from him. I took a few steps, but couldn’t keep going.

Dropping to sit on the ground, I brought my legs into my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Since Cresthaven, I had been huddled in that same ball in one form or another, but Aidan wouldn’t have it. He sat beside me and pulled me onto his lap, my back against his chest and his mouth next to my ear.

“What I have seen is you using her power for more good than anyone has ever known. You freed those women, Amelia. We got them out — all of them. And one was reunited with her son. Elias and Nell are together again. More families will be together as the rest of the pack gets here. The Keeper needs to be controlled, I agree, but you are stronger than you think. What Cole did for you…”

I had started to smile, his words the reassurance I needed, but when Aidan’s voice gave out, fear tightened every muscle in my body.

“What? What is it?” I asked. I tried to turn, but I was lifted and set on my feet. It was one swift motion human Aidan could have never pulled off, but AniMage Aidan acted like I weighed nothing at all.

“That’s it! Amelia, that’s how we’re going to do it!” Aidan paced, clearly still reasoning through his revelation while glancing at me excitedly every few seconds. “Yes. Cole is the key. He helped you handle her, right?” He gnawed on his bottom lip as he stared at me for confirmation.

I stood there, confused and clueless. “Yes, he did, but, Aidan, she’s too much. And I got to a point where I couldn’t control how much I took from him. I don’t want to hurt my brother. He and my father are all I have left.” The instant the words were out of my mouth, I felt dread whip through him and knew something was wrong. His elation dropped to a crushing pain I didn’t want to feel, even secondhand. Aidan’s mouth flattened into a thin line and his jaw tensed.

“Tell me,” I demanded, steeling myself. The emotion around Aidan only grew darker.

He stepped in front of me and tried to take my hand, but I recoiled. “No, just tell me. You aren’t my crutch, Aidan. I have to stand on my own and start handling my life.”

His head jerked to the side in obvious disagreement and he gripped my hand anyway. “You don’t need a crutch, but you do need to know you aren’t alone.”

He paused and the hesitation drove my anxiety higher. Then, he spoke quickly and calmly. “Your father was killed in a fight with Rhi at Cresthaven. We were trying to get you out after the Keeper took over. I was holding you in my arms when Rhi came for us and Nathaniel tried to talk to him, but Rhi was so angry. He came at us, so they fought. We thought your father killed him, but Rhi faked his injury to get Nathaniel closer and caught him off guard.”

I closed my eyes as the scene Aidan described played behind my lids.

“Your father was protecting you, Amelia. He died a hero — saving you and the rest of us. If he hadn’t injured Rhi, there was no way any of us would have gotten out.”

His words sliced through me, but I remained standing, my body frozen in shock. My hand itched to rub the soreness in my chest, to comfort the ache building. I never got to tell him I was sorry, or that I understood why he made the choices he had. I never told him I knew he loved me and I loved him as well, now more than ever. I never heard his stories of my mother, or what their lives were like before Queen Julia took over and our world collapsed.

A vision of Rhi invaded my thoughts. His fiery eyes and twisted lips as he sneered at me, always gloating. First, he took my mother, and now, my father. Anger overtook my grief in one sweeping wave.

“We have to find Rhi. I want him. I want to end him in the longest, slowest, most painful way possible. I need out of here. We need to find him,” I hissed out past my teeth, clenching my jaw tightly.

He tried to pull me to him, but I refused, too angry to be tamed. I paced back and forth in front of Aidan while he stood still, his eyes following my movements.

I couldn’t connect the dots. I couldn’t reconcile that my father was gone. I couldn’t stop the pain exploding in my chest or the tears pouring steadily down my cheeks into the dirt beneath my feet. I only just got my father back and now he was gone. Just another person Julia and her desperate need for power took from me. Cole was all I had left.

“Where is Cole? I need to get to him. He can’t go through this alone. He knew Dad wasn’t who we thought he was before I did. He was reestablishing their relationship. You have to take me to him!” The words came out as one sob-wrecked mess as I balled Aidan’s sweater in my fists, clutching his chest.

“He’s at Derreck’s, just like everyone else.” Aidan pulled me into his chest as I continued to cry. His arms wrapped around me and his power layered over mine, an attempt to calm the inferno of emotions I couldn’t contain.

“Tell me about them,” I said into his chest. “Tell me about everything there and what’s happening. I just…I just need you to talk to me.” It was a plea. It was me begging for distraction, anything to focus on outside of my own pain. The father I had known was selfish, delusional, and devoid of love. But that wasn’t him at all, and I never got to know the real man beneath Rhi’s binds. Now, I would never know him. I needed a reason not to run back into the depths of my own head where I’d been hiding from the Keeper. I needed a reason to fight.

“Tell me about your idea. Tell me how you’re going to get her out of me.”