Isobel sank back onto her heels. Theodore caught her hips and pulled her fully back into him again. She crossed her legs, cradling her bound wrist as Maya brushed past a roll of bandages on the table beside the bed, picking up a small pair of pliers. They must have been left by whoever added the links to her chain. She held out her hand, but Theodore pulled Isobel’s wrist back, holding out his own hand first.
Maya snapped the chain deftly, and the pain was immediate. Sharp, hot, warm, and wet. It felt like a knife straight to her chest. She gasped, pressing her hands against the hospital gown, surprised that no blood flowed over her fingers. The pain speared all the way through her body, making tears spring to her eyes. Her toes curled, her body hunching inward, trying to curl into a ball.
Maya paused, eyes on Isobel. She didn’t look triumphant that she had been right about the chain being some sort of soul artefact, only sympathetic over Isobel’s pain. Thin lines bunched between her elegant brows as she waited for Isobel to recover.
“J-Just do it quickly,” Isobel chattered out through her teeth, lifting her shaking hand.
Maya quickly cut the chain, but it seemed to come alive suddenly, glowing furiously and immediately wrapping around Isobel’s wrist again, digging painfully into her skin. Isobel’s breathing turned harsh. Theodore didn’t seem to be breathing at all. Kalen and Niko both surged forward a step, Niko’s eyes widening in astonishment. Kalen whipped out a hand, holding the other Alpha back from coming any closer.
Maya put the pliers to the chain again but pressed down much slower, her grip experimental. The chains glowed and vibrated in warning, but the further Maya adjusted the tool away from Isobel’s hand, the less of a reaction she got. When she was far enough away, she quickly made a cut, and the end of the chain whipped up, striking Maya’s hand and leaving behind a welt, blood already welling up to the surface of her skin before it recoiled to wrap contentedly around Isobel’s wrist. The end of the chain settled down over the back of her hand, nestling against her skin.
Sophia rushed forward, quickly wrapping her mother’s hand in a bandage while Maya just stared at her torn skin, brows pushed high, mouth slightly parted. She seemed to be breathing faster, but she held her composure well.
“It’s still alive,” Maya eventually stated, turning slowly back to Isobel.
Isobel rocked in Theodore’s hold, her arms crossed over her chest as she tried to swallow down the pain. It seemed unbelievable that all this feeling had been held back by a chain. A chain that had seemed at least somewhat ordinary until Maya had cut it.
Her fingers shook violently as she gathered up the rest of the metal, holding it out to the Guardian. It felt cold and heavy, like all the magic had escaped from it to burrow into the short length wrapping her wrist, leaving only plain, expired gold behind. Maya took it hesitantly, relaxing only when it did her no harm as she turned and poured it into the small bag that Sophia held open.
“If there’s anything you want to know about the soul artefacts or if any more of them appear …” Maya backed toward the door, arching a brow in an expression resembling surprise as Kalen easily stepped out of her way. “I live in the small residence behind the chapel. You can also find me in the chapel in the mornings.”
Isobel nodded. It was all she could manage.
“I will inform the nurses that she is awake. You should have a few minutes,” Maya added, aiming the statement at Kalen before she ushered her children out ahead of her.
Sophia popped back into the opening before Kalen could shut the door, her mahogany eyes lighter than her mother’s, her Delta rank ring making them appear a tarnished bronze. “Or me,” she said to Isobel. “You can come talk to me if you ever get sick of these Ironside posers. See-ya.” She gave a weird, dorky salute before disappearing.
Kalen snapped the door shut, leaning against it again as his eyes settled back onto Isobel with a heavy weight. The lighter, translucent hue of his gaze dripped into molten gold, simmering with fierce intelligence. He had the eyes of a predator, always scanning for weaknesses in the flimsy disguises people wore, digging out chinks and dints until all their efforts to appear perfect were in vain, leaving behind only primal fear for what he might do with what he discovered about them.
The only thing was … he didn’t quite have that effect on her.
Everything about him that had made him seem so intimidating now made her feel safe. He was a victim of this situation as much as she was, but he had protected her at every turn. He had saved her life.
“You took me to the trail?” she asked, her voice muted by the pain that still thrummed through her. “Where is my light?”
He dipped his head, nodding once. “Cian told me to put all the strings back inside you. I did what I could and then I took you back to the fire trail. I couldn’t heal you completely. Too many people had already seen your wounds. I just healed them enough that the light strings were hidden again. They were already searching the mountain when I got there so I had to leave you pretty far out from the trail. I stayed with you as long as I could. The officials searched the trail and Eve’s house for your threads but then decided they must have disappeared when you teleported.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He didn’t ask what had happened at Eve’s house. None of them did. She glanced at Niko, who was still staring at the chain on her wrist, his expression now arranged into mild curiosity.
“I didn’t … the bond didn’t …” She struggled to put it into words.
“Cian, Oscar, and Kilian were all too far away from you when you were cut,” Kalen answered. “You’re still only half bonded.”
Theodore was keeping himself under control despite the utter turmoil that was trying to hammer into her body from his direction. He was drowning out the emotions of everyone else in the room, and there were too many competing thoughts and feelings for her to even attempt to decipher them with how scattered she already was. One of his hands stroked lightly up and down her spine, as the other wrapped around her legs, keeping her balled up against his chest.
Kalen eventually stepped away from the door, tilting his head like he could hear something on the other side. “You’ll want your space to process all of this,” he said. A statement, not a question. She wouldn’t have thought Kalen knew her that well, but he seemed to understand that she preferred to process things on her own, in her own way. “But we should have a meeting with everyone as soon as possible. Can you manage?” He fished a set of contacts out of his pocket and handed them to her.
She had a feeling he wasn’t asking after her health. He was wondering if she was ready to face all of them after finding out that they were all her mates.
After kissing Sato, even if she had been under the influence of the glowing chains.
After snuggling all over Kalen in his bed, even though she had been under the influence of the beautiful light patterns beneath his skin.
Especially after she wondered if the bond really was influencing her, or if it simply lowered her inhibitions.
And Eve … and the strings …