Chapter 64 Chapter 64
Fear rose into Suki’s chest.
“Oh no,” Suki whispered.
Reynard and Brendan looked her way, immediately alerted by the change in her tone.
“What’s wrong?” Rey asked.
Not responding, Suki continued to stare at her phone long enough for another text to come through.
ERIN: I’m almost at your place. We need to talk.
Suki frantically rushed around, grabbing her clothes off the floor, and slipped them back on. She fixed her hair in the mirror, the panic painted across her face only worsening.
Brendan looked at Reynard, who shared the same worried expression. The two stood and quickly put their clothes on, too.
As Suki hastened over to the door, Brendan sped in front of her, blocking her way, and held onto her shoulders. “Love, what is going on?”
She looked up at Brendan, her mouth twitching ajar, trying to let words out, but nothing came out.
“Is it your father?” Reynard added, “Is he on his way home?”
She shook her head.
“What is it then?” Brendan held her chin. “Talk to us.”
Knowing it would be useless to keep this from them, she sighed and handed Brendan her phone.
He skimmed over the messages, his eyes widening when he read the one daunting message. “I fucking knew it,” he muttered.
Rey furrowed his brows. “What’s happened?”
Brendan handed Reynard the phone.
He looked over the messages also and inhaled sharply. “Shit. She didn’t say anything else?”
“No.” Tears streamed down Suki’s face. “I’m so sorry. My gut instinct was leading me to believe this was meant to be. I rushed us into sealing the bond, and now Erin is going to come here and tell me how I’ve ruined everything.”
“You haven’t ruined anything.” Reynard moved over to her and held her face. “It might be nothing.”
Brendan rolled his eyes. “Be realistic, Mr Perfect. You read the message, Suki’s own protector is telling her not to seal the bond.” He shook his head. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
“Will you stop being so negative?” Rey raised his voice.
“How else am I meant to be?” he hissed back.
Suki sniffled, “Guys, please stop it. Not now. Erin is almost–”
“Suki?” Erin called from downstairs. “Suki, are you home?”
“Stay here,” she whispered. “Let me go talk to her.”
Her mates silently agreed and got out of her way. She dusted herself, making sure her clothes were straight and made her way downstairs.
She forced a soft smile. “Erin, hey,” she held out her arms for a hug, but Erin didn’t reciprocate. Her arms dropped to her sides as fast as her smile faded.
“Where the hell have you been? Why didn’t you answer my texts?”
Suki sighed, “I got back not long ago, and I was just getting my stuff together to unpack.”
“I’ve been worried sick,” Erin exhaled a sigh of relief. She took Suki’s hands and squeezed them tightly. “I’ve heard many rumours about the dangers within Nighttide, I thought maybe–”
“Nighttide was lovely, the rumours are wrong,” Suki interrupted. “The people are friendly and welcoming. They’re vigilant and protective, they will fight for their people, but they’re not as vicious as other packs have falsely shared.”
Erin smiled. “I’m so glad.” Her gaze dropped slightly, and in an instant, her smile vanished. “Suki, what happened to your neck?”
Her eyes rounded. She tried to move her hair to hide the marks, but it was too late.
“Oh no,” Erin muttered. “Suki, what did you do?”
Suki couldn’t hold back any longer; the tears poured down her cheeks again. “I got your warning too late.”
Erin examined her friend’s face with so much dread and concern on her own.
“Reynard and Brendan marked me not long ago.”
“Oh, Goddess… no.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I thought if the Moon Goddess chose for me to have two mates, then it would have to be fine. I told them both to mark me and… and–” she whimpered into a puddle of sobs.
Stepping closer, Erin embraced Suki into a tight hug. “It’s okay, it’ll be okay.” She moved back slightly to look at her friend seriously and breathed, “Where are they?”
“U-Upstairs,” she sniffled.
“Shh, it’s okay, we’ll handle this together,” she comforted her. Taking her hand, Erin led them back up the stairs and to Suki’s room. “Focus on your breathing right now, okay?”
Suki nodded.
Erin pushed open the bedroom door and yelped when she saw both men – Brendan was flicking through random books by Suki’s bookshelf, and Reynard was leaning against her desk. They both froze when they saw her.
“I… I don’t understand,” Erin blubbered. “You’re both alive?”
Suki blinked. She paused before looking at Erin. “What?”
Wide-eyed, she couldn’t look away from the two equally confused men. “The elder witches and I did the research, and we found tales of werewolves that tried to seal a bond with multiple mates. Every tale ended the same way: with the werewolves that marked their chosen mate dying a horrific death.”
“What?!” Suki exclaimed. “How? When?”
Erin looked at her, bewildered. “The death is meant to be fairly instant, maybe within a few hours. It’s nature’s way of retaliating for trying to break the balance of the bonds.” She shook her head. “How long exactly have you all been bonded for?”
Suki shrugged. “Like I said before, not long. Maybe no more than 2…? I don’t know.”
“And neither of you feels… weird? Sick? Anything?”
“No, I feel fine,” said Rey.
“Me too.” Brendan hummed, seeming unamused.
Erin frowned, scratching the back of her neck. “I don’t understand… What happened after you sealed the bond?”
“Um…” Suki blushed.
Brendan chuckled, “I don’t think you want to know that, little witch.”
“I’m Suki’s protector, of course I want to–” she paused the instant she realised. “Oh…” She looked at Suki, then Reynard, and then Brendan. “Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Okay, this is fine. So neither of you has died. That’s great!”
Reynard crossed his arms. “Thanks for the excitement, although it would have been nice to have had a warning well in advance. Do you have any explanation about all of this?”
Erin swallowed thickly and pulled out her notebook full of research. She chewed on her lip as she skimmed her scribbles. “Research showed that those who previously tried to seal bonds with multiple wolves weren’t actually mated to them; it was essentially forced bonds.”
“Well, that’s not the case for us,” Suki replied. “I felt the pull of the bond with both of them.”
Flicking through the many notes in her notebook. “There are no other records or tales.” She tapped her finger on the book over and over. “Hmm, I wonder…”
“Wonder what?” Brendan asked sternly.
Her gaze moved to his. She felt uneasy with the annoyance emitting from him.
“Go easy on her, she’s trying to help,” Suki said protectively, pulling her closer. “It’s okay, what is it?”
Taking a moment to pull herself together, Erin exhaled, “There is this one story that’s been passed down through all the generations of witches, but it’s been told for centuries; no one believes it to be true.”
Suki leaned forward eagerly. “What is it?”
“It’s about the destruction of magic.”