Page 68 of Fortune Fae Academy
Rowan’s lips stretched into a slow grin. “I do love special treatment. But Axel’s in your head, huh? You must be getting the hang of the mate-bond telepathy. Maybe you can help me reach Zeke with it.”
My Beta’s tone held his characteristic mischievousness, as if we were going to play some sort of trick on Zeke, but I knew him well enough by now to spot the pain slicing through him like a blade.
Zeke had hurt him, although I wasn’t sure why I was so certain of that. A premonition lingered in the air, one I couldn’t quite reach but couldfeel. I fisted my chest as the ache throbbed in tandem with my heartbeat. “Do you know where he is?”
Rowan sat up, wincing as he eased himself against the headboard. Then he settled, taking a moment to catch his breath before he answered. “He was wearing those damn robes when I found him.” His playfulness dropped from his tone as he said the words.
My eyes widened. “Robes? As in priesthood robes?”
I didn’t know much about those who practiced the Way of the Web, but I knew it was a cult that had been growingin popularity. Even my mother had one of their ordained dreamcatchers in her living room.
But one thing I did know about the priests who resided in the House of Wisdom was that they did not have mate-circles.
Rowan’s red brow furrowed. “Something spooked him, Gina. He thinks if he talks to us, it’ll set off a timeline that’ll kill us all.” He fisted the bedsheets and the scent of burning silk tinged my nose. “From what I could tell, he was right, but that doesn’t make any fucking sense, does it?”
I chewed my lip, glancing down as I tried to think back.
Back…
Back when…
My gaze flashed up to Rowan’s when the memory returned. “Oh my Dust, Rowan.” I grabbed his arm, not caring when his tattoo burned me. I deserved it. “He was alone with Amell and Roderik. They’ve done something…”
He gently removed my hand and soothed the burn with a kiss. “Tell me the last thing you remember, gorgeous. It might help us get through to him before he does something we can’t undo. Where was Zeke? Where were you?”
I frantically tried to think back. “Zeke was with me… while I was Web-drunk on visions of time and all of existence. While I was dealing with two Alphas.” I stared into Rowan’s gaze, hating my own reflection. “I remembered Zeke. I realized someone had pulled him away from me, but the second my Alphas talked to me again, I lost focus.” Tears burned my eyes.
I wasn’t going to be able to handle this, was I? Two Alphas was too much for any Omega, even me. And now Zeke…
Now… Zeke is gone.
And it’s all my fault.
“This isyourfault,”I growled as I stalked Seifiek.
The powerful Alpha was ready for me, ready for more. He’d been taking my blows and attempts at teaching him a lesson very seriously.
I realized with a sinking sense of dread that Seif had been going easy on me. Maybe not when we’d been trapped in a cell together—but he’d been half-alive. Heshouldhave been dead. If not for whatever curse plagued him, his soul would have been gone from this world.
But after some time to recover and ample reconnection with our shared Omega, Seifiek was near full strength once again.
And he wasn’t taking any of my shit.
“You have only yourself to blame,” he snarled in return, twisting as he tolerated one of my strikes. My claws ran down his chest, drawing blood, but he immediately expelled the toxin I had injected him with.
He was strong. A flicker of worry stirred in my gut as the Web trembled with the promise of pain and blood.
Because this was what it felt like when I was about to lose a fight. I had my fair share of experience when it came to losses. It wasn’t victory that had made me strong, but enduring each failure in stride.
Failure against Seifiek, though, didn’t leave me with a predictable path. Every time I touched him, darkness engulfed me as if he didn’t have a future at all.
Or maybe hewasthe future, and only he could ever know what was coming now that he had fully awakened.
“Only a narcissist would reflect like that,” I growled as I paced around him in a tight circle.
I kicked away chains as I walked, ignoring the possibility of using them as a weapon. Seifiek would use any weapon I picked up against me.
As evidenced by the stab wound still bleeding from my leg. As well as the blossoming bruise on my side caused by blunt trauma of an escrima stick now shattered into splinters.
