Chapter 3 Soulmend
LYRA
Dean’s head snaps around at the noise, his eyes going wide, lips parting in horror. Roxanna freezes too, her face draining of color.
In a panic, she shoves him off her. Dean stumbles backward and falls onto the bed, his erection still hard and glistening. He scrambles to cover himself with his hands, staring wide-eyed at me like I’m a ghost he never thought he’d see.
Roxanna snatches a bedsheet and wraps it around her shaking body, her face contorting with shame and fear.
I shake my head, staring between them as tears stream down my face. I don’t feel anger or even betrayal yet. Just cold, consuming pain that claws through my chest until I can barely breathe.
“Lyra… wh-what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you.” Dean stutters. I watch silently as he scrambles for his trousers, dragging them up and tucking away the same dick that had just been inside my sister moments ago.
“Why?” The word escapes my mouth in a broken whisper. My voice sounds foreign to me. Hollow and empty. I’m not even sure I’m breathing anymore.
Dean gives a nervous laugh, running a hand through his messy hair. “Come on, Lyra, it’s not that deep.” His laughter only irritates me further. The audacity to find any of this funny!
He sighs, trying to sound calm, as though I’m the one being unreasonable. “You can’t really blame me. You’ve always been understanding. I don’t see why you’re making it such a big deal now. You were the one who said you wanted to stay a virgin, and I respected that. I didn’t push you. So why can’t I… you know, get it somewhere else until you’re ready?”
A hollow laugh bursts from my lips. “And that ‘somewhere else’ just happens to be my sister?” My voice shakes, but I don’t wait for him to answer.
I turn to Roxanna. She’s avoiding my gaze. I want to believe she’s ashamed and that she regrets it. But I know her too well. Roxanna has always been a sex-addict. Always ready to jump into bed with the next hot guy who comes her way.
Just that I never thought she’d reach this low. That she’d intentionally hurt me this way.
“I hate you, Roxanna,” I whisper, my voice trembling with quiet rage that’s building up inside me. I slowly get back up on my feet. “So much.”
And then, I storm out of that cursed room, my tears blinding me as I rush down the stairs and past the living room. My legs are trembling, my heart is cracking open, and I just need to get out.
The moment I step outside, I see Reid straighten from his bike. His eyes catch mine instantly. The concern etched across his face throws me off guard. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look that way.
“Lyra? What happened?”
I don’t answer. Instead, I shove past him, but he grabs my wrist, stopping me.
“Lyra—”
“Let go of me!” I snap, wrenching free and shoving him away. I’m a raw, sobbing wreck. Angry heat roars in my chest until I taste metal on my tongue. Reid’s face folds with deeper concern.
“Did something happen in there?” He asks. That only angers me even more.
“You’re one to talk,” I spit, tears blurring my sight. “You’re just like them. So fuck the hell off!”
I storm off at once. A cab happens to pass just then.
I flag it down and dive inside, sharing my resident address with him. I am too much of an emotional wreck to head to school.
The car peels away immediately and I sob until my throat burns.
How could they do this to me? Roxanna—god, that lying bitch. She said she was with her boyfriend, and I helped cover for her. All for what? For Dean?
How long has this been going on? Were there signs I missed?
I rack my brain. But nothing comes up. If anything, Dean and Roxanna were never close. All they exchanged were pleasantries, and nothing more.
I claw at my hair until my scalp screams. I want to tear them both apart. I want them to feel the same ruin they made inside me.
When the cab stops at the mansion, I throw money at the driver and rush inside. The servants gape, eyes wide, but only one asks if I’m okay. I don’t answer. I run up the stairs and slam my door.
I lock it and start ripping through boxes like a woman possessed.
Vengeance. I must make them pay.
Salt. A shard of iron. A red cord. A candle.
The things I need to burn their fucking world down.
I find Roxanna’s shirt she’d let me wear the other day, and Dean’s baseball cap I’d stolen from him the last time I visited.
“Revenge,” I whisper, like a deranged woman. “I will make those betrayers pay.” Tears fall onto the wooden floor as I draw a rough circle of salt around me.
I set the two possessions in the center, light the candle, then knot the red cord around my wrist. The other end I tie to the candle. My hands shake, but my mind is burning with hate.
I murmur the spell I learned in class. Thornbind. Thornbind. Let them know shame and pain.
But just then, the door slams open. Reid strides in like a storm.
“Lyra, what the fuck is going—” He stops when he sees me. My chest flips, eyes widening with horror.
“No! Don’t!” I lunge to shove him back, but we collide and tumble to the floor. I land on my back while he looms over me, breath hot.
Panic spikes through my entire bloodstream. My eyes race around us. We’re inside the salt circle.
My heart collapses and I almost forget how to breathe.
Professor Hudson’s voice flashes in my head like a radio turned on:
“The Thornbind ritual is risky. It can flip into a Soulbond Mend. If a former fated mate who once rejected you stands inside the circle, the magic seeks the closest compatible heart and repairs the mate link.”
My blood turns to ice.
No, god, no. Don’t let this happen to me.
Reid stares down at me, his face drained of all color. His facial expression mirrors mine, the same horror dawning on him. He glares at me with eyes that can kill, as he growls:
“What the fuck have you done?”
In one smooth motion, Reid gets off me. His eyes scan the spell work around us, his chest heaving heavily.
I scramble up after him, visibly shaken from shock. I want to believe that this is a dream, but it isn’t. Everything feels so real.
Especially the scent that now fills my senses. The scent of him.