Page 43 of Fractured Souls
Why?Why the fuck did they want to see that? It was one thing for Mr. Black to feel that way, but everyone here? All at once? It was too damn much.
A phantom voice echoed around me, nearly bursting my ear drums. “Today we have a special treat for all of you! A special auction for this beautiful creature—a mythical being that was long thought extinct.”
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Take this creature home as your pet if you win this auction today—bids starting at three million—”
My ears began to grow static as the toxic water seeped further into my lungs and body, subduing me like a tranquilizer. Three million. Someone was going to buy me for at least three million dollars? I didn’t even want to process that. What in the actual fuck was going on right now.
Then it didn’t matter.
A smile slipped onto my face as my entire body fell into a weird drugged-out state, a current of toxic water being pushed into the tank from the bottom, increasing the dosage of whatever was in here. I felt my eyes close as my body sank slightly, and I was relieved that I didn’t have to live in this moment. To see the results of the numbers being thrown around.
I couldn’t even feel my connection to Zander anymore.Where was he?Maybe it didn’t matter.
A part of me wanted to fight against the drugs just on principle considering everything I’d been through and how far I’d come. I wanted to fight against this fuzzy sense of reality, but it was like they had sapped every ounce of my magic, leaving my siren a dried up corpse on the floor, unable to move.
Suddenly the glass around me shattered, the water whooshing onto the floor, carrying my paralyzed body with it…only to be caught in two strong arms. Feeling like I was about to black out, my head tilted back to find Zander staring down at me.
Except…this wasn’t the Zander I knew. No, this Zander had absolutely lost it.
CHAPTER15
Lorcan
He had absolutely lost it,but all I saw was beauty. His eyes were streaked with a purple storm, and his skin was shimmering gold. The way he looked at me had my breath catching as I stared up at him, absolutely transfixed. So much so that I didn’t realize at first the chaos he was raining down on those around us—I didn’t realize that he was disrupting reality itself.
Maybe it was the sedatives, or maybe it was the rapid switch from being submerged in water to being in the open air while in my mermaid form, but everywhere around me was…color. Beautiful, vibrant colors. It was like a stunning kaleidoscope, and the screams around me were loud and painful but almost added to the effect of the music blasting loudly through my head. Or maybe it was through the room. I could feel Zander’s power slaughter everyone, but the way it cocooned and wrapped around me was so incredibly comforting and loving.
My soul was on full display for him. I couldn’t hide anything in this state, and his magic surged into me and touched every single part of me, infusing itself under my skin. My eyes fluttered shut as he whispered something to me, his body lurching forward as he began to move…somewhere.
I couldn’t focus on that though.
No, all I could focus on was the way our power interacted. The way our sirens and magic intertwined, not in a tight bond, but in a river of starlit water. It ran over each of our bodies, through our very veins, and where there were fractures in our souls, places where reality had been ruptured and we had experienced trauma, the water soothed it. The water filled and healed it. It bonded us together like two halves of a whole.
I think I recognized that this type of bond was something special and that it would be permanent, but that made me love it that much more. I shivered under the pressure of the soothing magic that enveloped both of us, and when I tried to open my eyes, it almost appeared that we were surrounded by water. I heard angry bellows and screams of agony outside of it as blood splashed onto the protective orb but quickly disappeared.
Zander was unleashing hell…the only thing I didn’t know was why we hadn’t left yet. The entire building rattled in response to my thought, and I buried my head further against his chest, waiting for what I could feel was coming.
A sonic boom of power blasted out from us—from Zander.
All at once, everything was silent, and I melted into his arms as his lips brushed against the side of my head gently. “It’s okay, starlight. We’re almost out of here, I promise.”
I absolutely trusted him. In fact, I trusted him with my life.
Zander murmured something against my temple, making me wonder if I had said that out loud, but my head was still spinning and my eyes flickered closed completely, my consciousness fading once again now that I was safe in Zander’s arms.
“We don’t have much time.”
That voice…that voice was so damn familiar. I couldn’t open my eyes though, not fully. I knew I was in a dreamscape, that much was clear from who I think was talking to me—the Cosmos god. That was the magical signature I recognized.
I tried to speak. “I can’t open my eyes—” My voice caught. “I was drugged.”
“I know,” he stated, sounding sad. “I know. I just need you to listen. You are being taken from the Elven realm—”
“By who?” I demanded, inhaling fresh air.
“Zander.”
