Page 25 of Tethered Fates

“Teagan, we need to help you,” Vidar tells me, coming closer.

Hurried footsteps approach, and Sen runs in with the dark-haired man.

Flinging my arms out, I grab hold of a tall lamp and swing it around. “No one comes near me!”

“Sen, what the fuck happened to him?” Kai demands.

With my other hand, I snatch up the curtain and haul myself up on shaking legs.

“Let me go—” my body seizes as searing shivers tear through me, like my skin is being flayed, the lamp I was holding clattering to the ground.

“TEAGAN!” Kai screams as I throw back my head and howl as fresh agony tries to tear me into pieces.

Kai runs over, and I collapse into his arms, unable to keep standing as more pain razes over me. I cling to my big brother, terrified and needing him to help me ride out whatever’s happening.

Then the pain floods out of my system as quickly as it came, and Kai falls to the ground with me in his arms.

“K-K..ai…”

“I have you. I have you, Teagan.” He pulls me as close to him as possible. There’s the sound of more footsteps entering the room and Kai demanding answers, all the while his protective hold remains firm as I whimper into his chest.

For the second time that night, my world goes black.

Chapter Eleven - Sen

Kai carried Teagan away into his adjoining bathroom with Vidar’s help. Lucero’s soulmate, Golden, straightens the chairs that’d been knocked over in the confusion, and my youngest brother, Ramy, cleans Teagan’s blood from the carpet.

My muscles tightened with each passing second, my teeth clenched. The strain only recedes in slight increments when Teagan returns in Vidar’s arms, Kai at his heel.

I should’ve calmed when Vidar placed Teagan under his covers, Kai getting in beside his prone brother to wrap him in his arms and looking ready to attack if anyone dares to come close.

My jaw ticks.

Teagan shouldn’t be in Vidar’s bed. He should be in mine.

I take a step forward, and the glare Kai levels my way could scorch the earth. My molars grind as I step back, choking down the possessive jealousy dogging me ever since I was ordered to stay away from Teagan.

Staying away was for his own good.

He’d be safer.

And look how marvellously that all worked out.

Despite my frustrations, I don’t resent Kai for anything. Teagan getting hurt is on me. I knew something was wrong the second I sat down at the pub with Kate. Teagan needed me, and if I’d only been a few minutes sooner, he wouldn’t be…

“What spell was Summer trying to cast?” Lucero asks, his intense blue eyes dark.

“I have no idea, and we won’t until Teagan wakes up,” I bite out, staring at Teagan’s bloodless face. Too small, too quiet, and with not a single drop of paint on him. Washed clean in a way reserved only for the dead.

I hate it.

Hate that his curious gaze that tried to peel back my layers has been stolen from me. Hate that the last time I heard his raspy voice, it was twisted into a scream. Hate that he’s barely dipped a toe into our supernatural world, and already he’s come back bloody.

Golden sits beside the bed on the floor, legs crossed. His knee jitters, causing his loose dark curls to bounce. “We gotta talk about the spell she did do,” he says, glancing over his shoulder to Lucero and me. “Teagan got hurt when you hurt Summer. Either something went haywire or worked. Either way, we have to break it.”

“This was a mistake,” I bite out. “That type of surprise on Summer’s face can’t be faked.”

“Maybe it’s time we call Astra Roth,” Ramy remarks quietly, standing behind Golden and staring down at Teagan, his dark hair brushed away from his face.