Chapter 165: Stolen Control

Maddie Pov

The dirt under my fingernails was completely dry and cold. Calix kept his arms locked around my waist and he lifted me right off the river rocks until my boots were back on the safety of the grass trail. My chest was heaving up and down very fast because the air felt thin.

"Marcus, double the guards on the east ridge," Calix said and his chin was tucked hard against the top of my head. "Nobody goes near the tree line alone."

"We will set the perimeter stakes now, Alpha," Marcus said and he ran back up the path toward the cabins.

I tried to lift my right hand to touch Calix’s chin but my fingers did not move at all. They stayed flat against my thigh like two heavy weights. My own skin did not feel like it belonged to my brain anymore and the gold power was still humming right behind my eyes.

"Maddie, can you move your toes?" Calix asked and he sat me down on a flat pine log near our tent.

"No," I said and my jaw was very stiff.

Calix dropped down onto his knees in front of me and he started rubbing my ankles with his big palms. His hands were shaking a little bit and his gold eyes were full of a dark look I had never seen before. The mate bond between us was pulling very hard but it felt like something was blocking the current in the middle of my chest.

"He did something to your blood," Calix said.

"I can feel him," I said.

"Where is he?" Calix asked and he looked up at the grey hills.

"He is not near the creek anymore," I said and I looked down at my own boots. "But his mind is still inside my head. It feels like a cold thread pulling on my neck."

"We are going to find a way to cut it," Calix said and he squeezed my knees tight. "I will call the elders from the south valley if I have to. They know the old northern tricks."

"The old tricks will not work on me, young Alpha," a voice said.

I did not see Kai step out of the bushes but suddenly my head snapped to the left without my permission. My neck muscles went completely tight and my chin pointed straight toward the large pine tree near the water barrel. Kai was standing there with his hands tucked into his long grey coat.

Calix jumped to his feet so fast his shoulder hit the tent pole.

"How did you get past the guards?" Calix roared and his claws came out from his fingers.

"I did not walk past them," Kai said and he took two slow steps forward. "I am still sitting on the ridge two miles away from your camp, Calix. You are looking at a projection of my spirit because the gold light allows me to project myself directly to her mind."

"Get out of her head," Calix said and he launched his body forward to strike the shape.

His fist went straight through Kai’s shoulder but there was no meat there. The grey coat just flickered like a candle flame in a hard wind and Calix stumbled through the empty air before he found his footing on the logs.

"You cannot hit a spirit with your teeth, boy," Kai said.

Suddenly, my body stood up from the pine log on its own. I did not want to stand up because my legs were very tired, but my knees locked straight and I walked three steps toward the empty projection.

"Calix, help me," I said and my voice came out high and dry.

Calix turned around and his face went completely dark. He grabbed my left arm and he anchored his boots into the dirt to hold me back, but my right arm lifted up anyway and my fingers pointed directly at Kai’s face.

"Stop doing this to her," Calix said and he bared his teeth until a small line of red blood came out on his lower lip. "She is my mate."

"She was mine first," Kai said.

The whole clearing went totally quiet and the wind stopped blowing through the pine needles.

"What did you just say?" I asked and my own tongue felt like wood.

"Your mother did not just borrow my power, Maddie," Kai said and his spirit shape grew a little bit brighter under the grey sky. "A blood ritual of that size requires a permanent anchor. She had to tie our souls together when you were three years old so your body would not reject the golden light."

"You are lying," Calix said and he kept his arms wrapped tight around my waist to keep me from moving closer.

"I am not a liar," Kai said and he looked directly into my blue eyes. "We are spiritually bonded, Little Moon. A piece of my soul has been living inside your chest since the great winter. That is why I can command your muscles and that is why the light is waking up now."

"I have the mate bond with Calix," I said. "The gold bond belongs to him."

"The mate bond belongs to your wolf shape," Kai said and he shook his head slowly. "But your human soul is linked to mine. If you try to break the link without the bone key, your spirit will tear into two pieces."

"We will kill you on the ridge first," Calix said.

"If I die, the piece of my soul inside her chest dies too," Kai said and his thin lips turned up into a small smile. "And she will go into the dark with me."

The projection started to fade away like grey smoke in the wind. My muscles suddenly went loose and I fell backward into Calix’s chest with a loud gasp.