Page 101 of Tethered Fates

“Fuck this!” Vidar roars. “Summer and Emma don’t get to come into our home and destroy it.”

“Vidar is right,” I bite out.

Luc puts an arm around Ramy, who’s staring at the fridge like he lost a friend. “And our plan is?”

I glare at him. “We’re fucking vampires, Luc. We rip out throats.”

“Finally,” Bran smirks. “A plan I can get on board with.”

I lunge over the island. I’ve never been one to hide, anyway. But more than anything, I want to make something bleed.

At incredible speeds, I dart towards an unsuspecting mage who dared bring their filthy stink into my home, grab them by the throat, then rip out their jugular with my fangs before they even have a chance to scream.

The mage’s blood sprays out in an arc that Vidar and Bran dart under, my Maker’s fists punching through the chests of two others.

I rush outside, thirsty for mage blood and hungry for violence, to find Bran with three bodies already at his feet. A bone-chilling smile stretches across his face.

But more blood means more ammo for our enemies.

I dodge multiple spears—crimson and sharper than any metal—then yell out as one pierces my stomach. The pain shocks me, like being dropped in ice water. But Luc is by my side, ripping out the sharp point just as it turns back into thick liquid.

“Just a flesh wound,” I say with a wink, then take out the mage who threw the spear, all within the few seconds it takes my wound to heal.

The scene before me is chaos: mage bodies on the ground, blood everywhere, the front of the mansion in ruins, and Summer standing between the wrought-iron gates, two large swirling shadow bombs hovering in her palms, the awful blood mage tome at her side. Her eyes resemble a moon eclipsing the sun, tinged red.

But there’s something else I notice.

“Where’s Emma?” I shout to Vidar as he twists the neck of a mage.

We both look around, but she’s nowhere to be found, and my stomach begins to sink. If she isn’t here, then…

Summer and I lock eyes. My expression must show my growing realisation; she doesn’t flinch or move, but she has an apologetic look mixed with steadfast determination, and my stomach plummets.

Teagan.

I don’t make a choice.

Even if my brain cells weren’t drowning in panic, nothing would change—I run, leaving my family behind in the wreckage of our home to get to Teagan. I don’t care where he is. I will always find him.

Summer throws her swirling balls of shadow.

Pebbles, bodies, my family, me, and all sound and light are sucked towards a swirling vortex.

I fight against the incredible force, but with an enraged yell, I’m inhaled towards the dark centre, watching as the last of the mages scatter like rodents to save themselves, and Summer drops into her shadow with an air of confident finality—disappearing just as the vortex implodes and we’re shot outwards.

I collide with my car, my nose breaking as my head smashes into the hood. I crumple to my knees as blood leaks out of my face. Uncaring that my bones are healing and pain drags claws over every inch of my body, I jump up.

“Teagan’s in danger!” I shout, half-broken and so desperate it cleaves me in half. “This was a distraction!”

Terror makes it impossible to pick out a single thought as each one rushes through my mind. All I know is my soulmate is in danger, and I have to get to him. Like an idiot, I trusted what Emma told us, and it might’ve been laced with some truth, but there is more to this.

Vidar moves to my side, phone in hand. Yellow and purple bruises litter his face, but are slowly fading like ink being soaked up as he heals.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Luc yells. “We have to get to Golden!”

“Kai put something on our phones so we can track each other,” Vidar barks out, every shred of patience burned away.

I pace back and forth, my panic and dread rising.