Through Her Eyes - Austin

Through Her Eyes - Austin
Austin watched as Elara’s breath slowed. Her fingers trembled slightly where they rested on the open book, and for a heartbeat, he thought she had simply fallen back into another vision. But then her lashes fluttered, her eyes glazing over with that same faraway shine that made every protective instinct in him flare to life.

“Elara?” he said softly.

She didn’t respond.

Her breathing deepened, rhythmic and calm, and then—quietly, almost imperceptibly—tears began to roll down her cheeks. Not the sharp, frightened kind, but the kind that come from something deeper… something sacred.

Austin froze, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. He’d seen her strong, fiery, clever—but never like this. Whatever she was seeing wasn’t hurting her. It was changing her.

He leaned closer, his hand hovering near her shoulder but not daring to interrupt.

Then, suddenly, she gasped. Her whole body jerked like she’d been yanked out of the dream. Her eyes snapped open wide and filled with something between shock and awe.

“She knows me,” Elara whispered, breathless. “Lima—she knows I’m watching.”

Austin blinked. “What?”

Elara turned toward him, her face pale but determined. “I have to go back in,” she said quickly. “There’s more—she was trying to tell me something. I have to see what it is.”

The very thought made his stomach knot. “Not alone.”

She shook her head impatiently, wiping at her cheeks. “Austin, I’ll be fine. She’s not dangerous—”

He crouched beside her chair, his tone firm. “Elara, you were gone. You weren’t breathing right. I’m not letting you do that again without me.”

Her lips parted, a protest on her tongue, but the look in my eyes stopped her.

Austin took her hand and held it tight. “If you’re going back in, I’m coming with you.” He looked up at Marcus and Leo, who had both frozen mid-page, watching with wide-eyed confusion. “You two are staying here. If anything seems off, you pull us out. Got it?”

Marcus frowned. “Wait—what do you mean ‘coming with her’? You can’t both—”

Austin hesitated, then exhaled sharply. They weren’t going to understand unless he just told them. “Elara and I share a… connection,” he said finally. “It started in dreams, but it’s stronger now. When she opens her mind, I can see what she sees.”

Leo blinked. “You can—what, exactly?”

“See through each other’s eyes,” Austin said. “But it’s not perfect. We can be pulled apart if the other person forces it.” He met their gazes evenly. “It’s not something I can explain, and I don’t want to try. I just know I’m not letting her walk into that again without me.”

Marcus sat back slowly, still staring like he wasn’t sure if Austin was serious. “You’ve got some weird powers, Alpha.”

Austin huffed a faint laugh. “Tell me about it.”

He turned back to Elara. Her expression had softened—part frustration, part gratitude—and something else flickered behind her eyes. Trust.

“Alright,” she whispered. “Together, then.”

He sat down on the chair and gently pulled her into his lap. The book still lay open, the faint shimmer of its text pulsing like a heartbeat. Elara rested it across both of their knees, her fingers tracing the page’s edge.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded.

Austin wrapped one arm around her waist, grounding her against him. “You’re not alone,” he murmured. “If it gets too much, I’ll pull you back.”

Elara smiled faintly. “You’d better keep up.”

Then she inhaled deeply, steadying herself. As she exhaled, her breath rippled over the book’s pages. The air shimmered—then vanished.

The world blinked out.

And suddenly, Austin wasn’t in the library anymore.

He was standing beside Elara in the middle of a bustling marketplace. The scent of spices, herbs, and warm bread filled the air. Vendors called out in a language he didn’t know. Women bartered over woven baskets and bundles of dried flowers.

Lima moved through the crowd, her presence commanding yet gentle. She wore a pale cloak with the hood pulled low, her dark braid trailing over one shoulder.

“She’s shopping,” Elara said beside him, her voice echoing faintly in this half-real space. “She’s buying ingredients—herbs, oils…”

Austin followed Lima’s movements, noting the deliberation in every purchase. She chose things with precision—never too much, never wasteful.

“What is she doing?” he asked quietly.

Elara tilted her head, watching intently. “Preparing.”

The vision shifted. Lima’s hands placed the last of her gathered herbs into a satchel, the smell of rosemary and ash heavy in the air. She moved through a modest home, stopping near a basin where a few loose strands of hair clung to the side.

Austin’s stomach tightened as she carefully pulled them free—Nathan’s hair.

“Elara…” he murmured.

“I know,” she said softly. “She’s making something. A potion, maybe.”

They watched as Lima poured water into a clay bowl, added crushed herbs, and whispered under her breath. The words weren’t English—or even anything Austin recognized. But as the chant built, Elara began to repeat it.

Quietly at first, then more clearly.

Austin glanced at her, his heart stuttering as he saw the distant focus in her eyes. “Ella, stop,” he said gently.

But she didn’t. Her lips moved in perfect sync with Lima’s, her voice almost musical, tracing the rhythm of the ancient language like she’d known it all her life.

Lima’s voice grew stronger. The air around her shimmered. The potion pulsed with faint light. And then, as she lifted the bowl and drank, her eyes began to glow with fierce golden fire.

Austin’s breath caught.

Lima gasped, the energy settling through her body, and when her gaze lifted again, she looked calm. Peaceful.

The glow faded. The spell was done.

Elara exhaled slowly, her voice faint. “She cast something. But what?”

Before Austin could answer, the vision started to dissolve. The market faded, the sounds thinning into silence. He felt the pull of the waking world start to tug at them.

“Elara,” he said softly, reaching for her hand as the colors melted into light. “Whatever she did—it’s tied to us. I can feel it.”

She turned to him, her eyes still distant but her expression resolute. “Then we have to keep reading. We need to know what that spell does.”

And then the world blinked, and they were back in the library—both of them gasping in unison, fingers still interlocked over the open book.

Marcus and Leo stared at them from across the table, wide-eyed.

Austin met Elara’s gaze, his voice rough but steady. “Next time, we go in together from the start.”

Elara nodded, her lips trembling with equal parts fear and awe. “Agreed.”

The faint shimmer on the book’s pages pulsed once more—waiting.