Page 8 of Bonded

I walk away, following the port—the creaky wooden boards echo almost as much as the sounds of sailors chatting and laughing, carrying crates onto the many ships lining the docks. All of them are fishing or trading ships, designed only to travel the edges of the districts. As far as people are aware, there’s nowhere to go except out to fish or trade. But now that Blackfire’s told me exactly where Meredith is, I know that’s not true.

I weave through the crowds before I find Blackfire talking to a captain, his hood pulled up. But anyone who’s met Blackfire before would know he’s not exactly easy to hide in a crowd. Even with a cloak covering his features, he’s too big, too imposing, and the fucker stands out. This is why he rarely risks coming to the port. Blackfire turns when he senses me getting nearer. He finishes his talk with the captain and waves the man away.

“Is the ship ready?” I look up at the dark wooden ship.

“Tonight,” Blackfire grunts. “It’ll be ready tonight.”

I’m not the only one doing badly without Meredith. We are all fucked up because we lost her. “Good. It’s been too long. Six long weeks.”

“I’m aware.” He rubs his hand over his chest, as though he could feel that marriage mark there between them. Biting jealousy swarms in my heart like a school of fish in the water. “Have you had any more dreams with her?”

I see the same jealousy I’m feeling in his red eyes as he waits. We both want her, whatever that means for us, and neither one of us is giving up. Except, the fucker has a marriage mark with her. One of the most intimate marks that can be shared between two people, but considering she doesn’t know about it, I don’t foresee Blackfire getting anything good from that mark. She is going to attempt to kill him, and I can’t wait to watch.

That dream, seeing her…it was a shot of light in the darkness. I cling to the memory, even if the heartbreak I saw in her eyes nearly killed me. “No. She’s blocking me out now. I’m not sure how she’s doing it.”

“The bat, I suspect,” he growls. I don’t disagree.

“Have you been able to get into her head?” I believe the dream is an aftereffect of the Folkland, the marks we all share on our necks. After that night, I could sense Meredith. Feel her in the air, in my blood and in my chest. With how Blackfire and Orion have been…it wouldn’t surprise me if they felt similar. All our powers are stronger now, our senses too, and I barely have to breathe to feel the control over water that sings in my blood. Just like I barely have to breathe to feel how much I love Meredith. I have to find her and do whatever is needed to get her forgiveness.

“No, but I’m working on it.” He scowls. “I sense the bat’s power, like a wall in between us. Even the marriage mark is shadowed because of him. It should be impossible.”

“He doesn’t matter, and he will be dead soon enough. Our ship will take us to her. It would be useful if Orion was—” I pause. Blackfire just shares a look with me. Orion is going to be no fucking use in his current state. I don’t think there is a sea big enough to drag him through and get him back to normal.

“Let’s go and find him.” Blackfire sounds more hopeful than me. We might as well just send Orion home…except for the small fact that he won’t leave and now he has the earth powers of a god. “He might need to be dropped into the sea a few times to wake him up.”

I whack his shoulder. “I don’t mind doing that at all. I promise not to drown the fucker…much.”

We go through the town until we find the old pub where we’ve been hiding. It’s not exactly a pleasant place. The roof has fallen in on one side, and it smells of mould and reeks of piss and beer, but it does a great job of hiding us with that awful smell. I walk in, looking over and nodding at Elizabeth, who’s sitting with Orion—or rather, sitting near him. Orion is slumped over the bar, his hair wet as if someone has thrown a drink over his head, which wouldn’t surprise me. The list of bar fights has been never-ending. I would know, considering I have to kill them when they realise who they have been fighting. Vines of ivy crawl up his legs even now, telling me he hasn’t bothered to rest his power. The ivy is all over the floorboards, too. Hopefully, the other patrons in here are drunk enough not to notice the sudden appearance of a plantation inside a pub.

There are several empty mugs lined up against the bar. “I want to kill him.” Blackfire shakes his head.

“Tell him to be ready for tonight.” I look up to the sky and pray to the Maiden to give Orion something to hold on to.

“I’ll try my best,” Blackfire grumbles, heading for the drunk mess. If I don’t let Blackfire deal with him, it’ll just turn into a fight. That means attention—the very last thing we need. No one looks at a drunk man twice in a place like this, but a fight? People come to watch and cheer. In some ways, Orion’s done a great job of hiding himself. I watch by the stairs as Blackfire tries and fails to talk to him, and predictably, he walks away after ten minutes.

With a sigh, I stroll over and pull the seat out next to him. At first, he doesn’t bother to acknowledge me, but when he does, his eyes cut through mine. I can taste his pain, feel it in the air. “It’s been six weeks, twelve hours, and ten minutes—nearly eleven minutes, to be exact—since I last saw her on that mountain range. We let her only family die.” His head smacks onto the bar. Fuck’s sake.

“Orion.” I shake his shoulder, waking him up again. He stumbles as he stands off his stool, drunk eyes finding mine. “Ship’s leaving tonight. We need you sober. Meredith needs you.”

I drag my eyes up and down him. The absolute state of him. He needs to be better than this. A laugh rings out from his throat. “She won’t even look at us again, let alone need us. We lost her!” He slumps his head back down and falls straight back to sleep, leaning against the damp bar.

The floorboards creak and I turn to Elizabeth as she moves to my side. We found her on the mountain range, unharmed, alongside my guardian. I sent my friend back to the Maiden court, but Elizabeth really has nowhere to go. She has been pardoned—in a sense—for her crimes in the Mother Pack, but she is not wanted there. No other district is going to give an alpha killer, even one now a guardian to a Champion, a home. I have no doubt the Mother Pack alpha, Orion’s mother, has a price on Elizabeth’s head. I just know keeping her alive will make Meredith happy; therefore, she can’t leave our sight.

Thankfully, Orion’s in no condition to remember he wants his sister dead for killing their father. “Anything I can do to help?”

“No, Elizabeth. You can see the state he is in.” We both walk a few steps away. “Blackfire and I have already made sure there is no alcohol on the ship, and we can sober him up at sea.”

“Is this all because he misses her?” Elizabeth watches her brother. Her broken, fucked-up brother. “I thought he hated Mere.”

“It’s complicated. Really complicated.” I shrug. I don’t think he ever hated her. Not really. He just hated that he was drawn to a human to begin with.

Elizabeth tilts her head. “Who knew loving a human would break the heartless Mother Pack prince?” Before I can even respond to that, chatter breaks out in the streets. People running, shouting, and all of it loud enough to rattle the very walls of this shithole. “What is that?”

“Stay with Orion. Make sure he’s safe. He’s in no state to protect himself if there’s an attack,” I ask of her, and I’m not surprised when she nods in agreement.

I walk out through the door, pulling it open. I hear Blackfire stomping behind me—he must have heard the same thing. “I’ll grab the first person I can.”

I pull an older shifter woman to the side of the pub, and her scared eyes bounce between Blackfire and me. She doesn’t dare growl at us. “What’s going on?”