Page 52 of Forging Bonds: Part Two

“I would agree,” I start, “but whatever I chased definitely didn’t look like a person. It was just a shadow. At least that’s what I thought it was.”

The guys are all silent and frowning for a moment before Evander says, “There are some creatures that can shift into shadows, but they are rare.”

“There are also spells and potions that can allow the caster to disappear in shadows or look like they are,” Ransom adds. “So it is possible that it was someone who was listening in. If they were cloaking themselves though that would suggest that they were up to no good.”

“I don’t think there’s a way that we’re going to figure out who it was and what their motivation was in listening in,” Griff replies.

“Castle, can you let us know if the person who was listening is ever nearby while we’re still here?” I ask.

The fire flares.

“I’m going to guess that was a yes,” Reed smiles. “That’s probably as good as we’re going to get at figuring out who was out there.”

“To be honest, we have enough to worry about at the moment anyway. It’s not like whoever it was heard something that they shouldn’t have, and itwasn’t a member of the Draconian team, so I think we just leave it at that,” Evander suggests.

“Agreed,” Doc replies.

Coen

All I want to do is be with Neith and the guys. I want to know how the guy’s trial went today, and if Neith had one. I want to check on her, but Kylen seems to be watching me even closer than he usually is, and I can’t risk it. All of the other team members are off doing their own thing in their rooms or asleep since it’s pretty late. I very rarely sleep. Unsurprisingly, I get vivid and terrifying nightmares, and I wake up extremely violently because of them. I actually take a special herbal tea that was mixed specifically for me, but we got pulled in with no notice, and I don’t have it. Which means I have been sleeping very sporadically, if at all.

It's not exactly great to be doing something so challenging as the Choosing on barely any sleep, but I don’t have a choice, and I’m pretty used to working with practically no sleep. Kylen only lets me have the herbs when he deems it necessary.

In the long nights here when I should be sleeping, I have actually been trying to get back in contact with Dimitri. I want to see if I can help him and get as much information as possible about how it happened. If he knows who's controlling him and how, then I’m hoping that I will be able to figure out a way to help him.

Plus, I’m probably the only person who understands what he’s going through, except I haven’t been made to make Neith hate me yet.

My heart clenches, I know how much Dimitri loves Neith, and I’ve witnessed some of the shit that he’s said to her. He fell of the fucking sane train only a short amount of time before I did, so I wasn’t around for a lot of it, but I saw enough. Knowing, what I do now, I can only imagine how much that fucking killed him.

Somehow I have been left in the shared area of our room with fucking Kylen, I have no desire to spend any more time with him than I really have to.

As I start to get up though, a woman suddenly walks straight through the damn door. I have seen a lot in my lifetime, but I can honestly say that I have never seen that before. It’s thanks to my shock that I don’t really react, and I take in her uniform and the fact that she is dressed like the others who work here, which means I don’t immediately attack. Just because she works here doesn’t mean that she should just walk straight through the doors, especially not this late at night. None of the other staff have, and actually, now that I think about it, other than at mealtimes, I don’t really see them.

That’s probably due to Kylen’s winning personality, he doesn’t actually treat them with respect or even common courtesy.

He’s dick to them, but he is to everyone. No one would be surprised if they were avoiding us because of him. Opening my mouth, I quickly stop myself from saying anything as her eyes land on me and widen.

“Can you see me?” she asks and then quickly adds. “Don’t reply out loud.”

I incline my head slightly to the side, hoping that Kylen isn’t paying enough attention to me to question what I’m doing.

“Coen?” she asks.

I frown, how the fuck does this woman know who I am? I definitely haven’t ever seen her before, but nothing is screaming danger at me. I decide what the hell, and again incline my head to say yes.

“I’m Ribit, a ghost, and friend of Neith’s. She’s sent me here to get a good look at the necklace,” Ribit says. “She’s filled me in.”

Her eyes light with a rage that tells me all I need to know about her. If she hasn’t been in a situation similar to the one that I’m currently in, I will be incredibly surprised. Her reaction is so powerful that her hair lifts in a breeze that can only be felt by her, and the temperature of the room drops enough that even Kylen takes notice, but only enough to frown and shoot more flames at the already lit fire.

I am surprised that I can see her, and he can’t. I would assume that it was something that she was doing, but she seemed as surprised as I was that I could see her, so I don’t think so. She was sent by Neith though, and honestly, that’s all I need to trust her.

She smiles, “He shouldn’t realize that I’m here, although his instincts might ping at some point because I’m going to need to get pretty close to him. If that happens and you can distract him, that would be great.”

I nod again, I really want to ask her if there is anything else I can do to help, but I don’t want to risk alerting Kylen to her presence and then cause her to miss out on the opportunity for her to get a good look at the necklace, and mess up whatever plans Neith and the guys have to break the control. With this in mind, I stay where I am, picking up the book that I was putting down and pretending to read while I watch what Ribit is doing. She smiles and then approaches Kylen.

She gets so fucking close to him as she studies the necklace that is normally hidden, but is only visible now because we’re in private quarters and he likes to walk around with a shirt off. It works out in our favor, and is probably the only time that I have been grateful that he seems not to like shirts.

Kylen doesn’t even bat an eye, it would seem that no instincts whatsoever are warning him that there is a threat in his space, and make no mistake about it, Ribit may not be a threat to me, but she is very definitely a threat to Kylen.After watching for a few moments, it becomes clear to me that because of the way that Kylen is sitting, Ribit can’t see the whole thing.

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