Unbreakable Bonds- Part III
Tynan:
“First, we save them, both of them…” I glance to the side to meet Axel’s gray eyes, his stiff posture, stiff shoulders, and clenched jaw, I can read all over his body how arduous it is for him to talk to me, the half brother he never knew he had, the one who murdered his sister, I don’t envy him, I could taste how bitter this feels for him, alas, he needs me just as I need him if he wishes to cut his losses.
“Both of them, as in my mate who put herself and life in danger to prevent your evil witch from taking innocent lives and destroying the world’s order?” no matter how hard he tries, Axel cannot stop the knee jerk reaction of twitching and clenching his jaw to the point where I can hear his teeth, nevertheless, I applaud his self control for I would have snapped his neck if the roles were reversed, he glares at me with those glacier eyes for a second, his nostrils flared, a battle raging inside of him, between the seasoned warrior and the passionate mate.
“Yes, both of them, I will not be the hypocrite here and say I can defend Ciana’s actions or explain them at the very least, but she is still mine, my mate,I will not abandon our bond and I will not allow you or any other to harm her, if you want my help, which you need just as much as I need yours, than we save them both,we end this hell that would cost us both our loved ones, and then, only then, when they are both safe and sound, and far away from danger, we settle what is stuck between us, once and for all…”
“So no warm hugs for your little brother?” I ask sarcastically, noticing how stiff his shoulders are and how piercing his glare is, his now fully healed body standing proudly in front of me, ready to be shredded for the sake of his pride and his loved ones, and I hear the words he didn’t utter, we are not allies, let alone brothers, and we will never be, once our women are safe, we will instantly be enemies again, all jokes aside, this is exactly what I have in mind, for no matter how we ended up being brothers, no matter the turmoil my beast is having, he is still my enemy, and a threat to my little mouse, not to forget, the man whose sister I have killed not months ago.
What a great spot to be in, I tell myself as I try to shake some of the exhaustion off, breathing as calmly as I could, and cursing what ever higher force there is that lead me here, joining hands with the boy who stole Leora from me and the man who hurt her, I do not need a reminder for a truth that won’t cease to hunt me, but instead of entertaining such thought, I focus back on my task, the old temple, the cylindric structure of dark granite blocks, bare of any signs of life, even the few yards of land surrounding it are bare, a chill runs through both of our bodies, chilling our very bone marrow as we feel the intense melancholic aura surrounding it, like a giant red flag so obvious to even the blind, years of battle experience and dealing with dark magic warning me to stay put and stay away as if I am a step away from the fountain of all evil.
“Do you see them?” I ask Axel in a hushed tone as we both continue to watch the temple from afar, using the trees and bushes as our cover, Axel nods and squints his eyes even more, focusing on the shadows lurking around the temple, guarding it, but just like me, he fails to find the bodies which they belong to, “Where do you thing they are hiding?”
“Nowhere, there are no bodies if that is what you are looking for.” I wait for him to elaborate but the fucker doesn’t utter another word, so much for team work, I think to myself while trying to keep the rage and frustration at bay, using what little sanity I still have to hear the answer in his silence.
This is something he learned from his mate.
“And how are we supposed to get past them if they are nothing but ghosts?” how do you fight something you can’t touch? I look at him and wait for an answer, he remains silent, draining what little is left of my sanity with his silence, I glare right into his eyes, and I see something that I don’t like, he has an answer, one that he doesn’t like and I bet I would either, all mixed with a contagious desperation that threatens to settle in my heart, I grit my teeth and look away, back at the damned temple, the more I look the less I see, and all I can focus on is that she is right there, with him, with him of all people! I don’t have time for this, I need to get in and save her, no matter the means and cost, she is there, only a few walls and apologies away from me, the realization is maddening, she is so close after being so far for so long, and I can finally gather her in my arms and make everything right once again, that image grows in my mind erasing all traces of critical thinking and I rush towards the temple unable to think of anything else.
“You idiot! Come back!” Axel’s horrified roars follow me as I push my exhausted body beyond its limits, my feet digging in the ground as I make my way towards the gate, determined to take any attack head on as long as it won’t stop me, I tell myself I can take it, for her, I can take it, I can take anything if it means having her back by my side, what is a little more effort? What is a little more pain and exhaustion? She will heal it all, like she always does since the day we met, she will heal me, body and soul, and I will heal her, I…
“Careful!!” I hear the terrified warning first, but before it could even register, scorching dark whips appear from everywhere, I instinctively try to evade and duck but they are faster, I gasp as I feel the burn of their collision with my body, waves of blinding pain attack my mind with high frequency, rending me oblivious to my surroundings, I can’t think outside the pain, my whole body feels as if it is being shredded to pieces, and for a second I wish my body would just shut down and it would all end, for a moment the pain is so intense I forget why I am here.
You are here for me, Tynan, I need you… I hear her whisper just before something pulls me out of the whips storm, my body is thrown back and my back collides with something hard and rough, a tree, I think as the pain kicks in even harder, I try to breathe in and out to regulate it but I end up coughing mouthfuls of blood each time, my lungs struggling to expand and my bones unable to sustain the weight of my muscles and organs, my heart though? My heart urges me to get the fuck up and try again, she needs me…
“What the fuck was that for?” Axel growls beside me, and with great effort, I open my eyes to look at him, and nearly gasp at the sight of his arm, even with his wolf doing its best to heal him, his arm, the one he used to pull me out, looks like a pack of hyenas feasted on it for a minute or too, he notices me staring and scoffs while whipping the sweat off his face.
“Wait till you get a glimpse of your state in a mirror, and then tell me if you have any pity left to spare!” I resist the urge to tell him that I am not pitying him, that is a feeling I can’t have for him, all I am doing is assess the damages we both suffered in the two seconds we were there.
This is bad, and the odds are definitely against us, I think as I sit back with so much difficulty, my body feeling worse than it ever has, not even when I battled the master have I felt this bad, I try to brush the thought aside but it keeps coming back.
“Any thoughts on how to get past them?” I ask after spitting the remaining blood out, Axel shakes his head while inspecting my injuries, clearly sensing my anger, he sits besides me and looks at me with serious eyes, and I know I am not going to like what I am about to hear.
“For starters, those shadows are not random ghosts, they belong to the witches that gave their lives for their cause, their souls are stuck in the isthmus, but their magic is tied to the temple, waiting for their return, that is why we can’t fight them, it will be like trying to battle a storm with your fists, paddling asininity, we have to go right through them, take the assault head on and hopefully emerge on the other side.” I open my mouth and close it several times, trying to fight back the words I want to say, the fucker couldn’t say all of this before?
“And how do you suggest that we ‘go through it’?”
“Not we, you…” my perplexed expression makes him sighs and shift in his place, Ah, this must be the part he didn’t wish to share, “I can’t get past them on my own no matter how hard I try or how bad I need to, it is a physical limit I can’t surpass, you on the other hand, you are immune to magic, and that is what these shadows are, entities of free raw magic bound to the circumference of the temple, you can get us both past them.”
I look at him and just look, wondering when he will start giggling and tell me this is a joke I fell for, but his face remains serious and stoic, I close my eyes and bite my tongue, settling on the conclusion that he is just stupid.
“Assuming that what you have told me is true, and that I can get pass through them, which I just tried and failed, why we would I take you with me, as far as I can see, you are useless to me now, and I don’t need your help.”
“But you do.” He tilts his head to the side and inspects my wounds, unlike him, my healing is exceptionally slow today, my vision is hazy and my body is weak, and he sees it all, “You are clearly not in your best shape, your strength is drained, and your immunity isn’t quite working, I think we both know why.”
“You are not that stupid I see.” I give him this, the fucker somehow managed to conclude the reason for my weak state, I haven’t been feeding lately, with guilt and worry gnawing at my insides, I have neglected my basic needs and rarely hunted or drank fresh blood, my being is unbalanced, so unbalanced that my magic immunity is hardly there, “But that doesn’t mean you are smart either, for I can simply slit your throat and sate my thirst and then go on my merry way, not that I am eager to.”
“And I am less eager to feed you my own blood, Reaper, but you still need me, and even if you didn’t, my body is fully healed unlike yours, so unless you swear it on Leora’s life that you will not turn on me once I do this, I will be the one on my marry way, after all, it is not my girl’s life that is in immediate danger.” The challenge and determination in his eyes challenge me to get up and do exactly what I have threatened to do, but the fucker is right, his mate’s life isn’t in danger, at least not as bad as mine, and while he can wait, I can’t, and where will I find a blood stronger than a royal werewolf? with a sigh I nod and do as he said and swear to honor our alliance as long as it lasts, better get this over with already.
After all, there isn’t a level too low if it meant saving her.