Chapter 365

“Oh, Ari,” Daphne murmurs, leaning close to me and plopping Mittens into my lap before putting her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in for a hug. “Why on earth could you possibly be worried about Jackson now? He’s fine!”

“He’s not fine,” I sigh, leaning against her for a pleasant moment before sitting up straight and shaking my head at my friend. “The last thing I remember before I passed out was Jackson throwing up at the sight of me –“

“He what!?”

I nod vehemently. “He got sight of me, Daphne – or scent or something - and just threw up all over the hall –“

“Oh my god.”

“I know,” I moan, letting my head tilt back. “I’m just…terrified. What if he can’t stand to be in the same room as me anymore? What if I make him physically ill because I bear someone else’s mark?” I hang my head, starting to tremble a bit at the idea. “What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”

“Oh, Ariel, that can’t possibly be true,” Daphne murmurs, stroking a hand soft over my hair. “That boy is obsessed with you.”

“He was. It’s – what if it’s different now?”

“It won’t be. A mark or a lack of a mark isn’t going to change everything he adored about you.”

I bite my lip. “But what if he…what if our being mated was the only reason he liked me? What if now that things are different with me he realizes how boring and silly I am –“

“Oh, you stop that right now,” Daphne snaps, her voice harsh. I look up at her in surprise. “You are not boring and silly, Ariel. And I understand your concerns, but you’re letting your fears run away with you. I bet you anything – I’d even bet Mittens here –“

The little cat spins to look at her, appalled.

“- that Jackson is in his wolf form, all curled up at the bottom of your bed, missing and worried about you –“

“Why do you think he’d be in my bed?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

Daphne smirks a bit. “Jesse’s got a lot of great traits, but his pillow-talk habit of spilling secrets is very good for me and very bad for everyone else. Come on, Ari,” she says, smirking and raising an eyebrow at me. “I know where Jackson sleeps.”

I gasp but then laugh despite myself, my best friend tumbling into laughter with me a moment later.

“God damn it, Jesse,” I growl, shaking my head a bit. “What else do you know?”

“I know,” Daphne says, smiling at me quietly, “that Jackson loves you, Ariel. Bond or not, mark or not. I have every faith in the world that he’s just sitting, miserable, worried as hell, waiting for you to come back. You should text the boys,” she says, nodding to the kitchen where I know the phone is. “I’m sure they’ll confirm it.”

“Yeah,” I say on a sigh, looking that way too. “I suppose I should.”

But then I frown, because mom and Cora’s faces are…very serious.

“All okay in there?” I call out.

Cora and mom look up at me and then at each other.

“We’re going to take this in the bedroom for a second, girls,” mom says, picking up the tablet and carrying it away to the other room. “Nothing to worry on, so don’t freak out. Just…taking a minute.

Despite my mother’s words, I feel my blood go icy with fear.

“What are you talking about, Dominic?” Ella says, frowning at her mate as she closes the bedroom door and flicks on the light. Cora stands close by, arms crossed, likewise waiting for an answer.

“Let’s go over this again,” Dominic says with a sigh, Roger peering curiously over his shoulder. “You brought Ariel to this spa and she cried the whole way on the helicopter. You healed a couple of cuts and bruises during the trip, but then you gave her some sleeping medicine and she slept for sixteen hours, and then you fed her ice cream for breakfast and she got a facial? And she’s…fine?”

“She is not fine, Dom,” Cora says, shaking her head at her brother-in-law, her lips drawn into a thin line. “The girl is devastated –“

“No, you don’t understand,” Dominic snaps, interrupting, harsher and less patient than he usually is.

Cora and Ella, look at each other worried.

“When I broke the bond with Lydia,” he continues, “I was shattered, Ella. And not just emotionally – physically.” Roger nods solemnly behind Dominic, remembering those days, even if they hadn’t been close. “I didn’t eat anything but broth for two weeks – I lost about fifty pounds – for the first few days my legs didn’t function –“

Ella’s and Cora’s mouths drop open in shock.

“I was under the assumption, Ella,” Dominic says, leaning forward towards her, “that you would see Ariel and realize that she needed to be taken to a major medical facility for rehabilitation. Not a spa. It’s – god, Ella, but it should be impossible for her to be sitting on a couch drinking a glass of wine and laughing at her friend’s jokes!”

“But she is, Dominic,” Cora says, shaking her head at him. “The girl is a wreck but she’s nowhere near close to that description. Could it be because the bond was newer? You and Lydia were together for years –“

“No,” Dominic says, shaking his head as he looks at each of them in turn. “I’ve spoken to others who have experienced breaking a mating bond – it’s always the same no matter the length of time. The physical effects are always devastating as well as the emotional.”

“What the hell is going on,” Ella breathes, looking towards the door and running an anxious hand through her rose-gold hair. “Why is my girl different?”

“Have you considered…” Roger hesitates now, glancing down at Dominic.

Dominic looks up at his brother, clearly inviting any insight.

“Look, I did a lot of research on mating bonds back when we were young and Dominic and Lydia’s formed theirs,” Roger says, glancing at each of his listeners in turn. He sighs. “We don’t need to go into the reasons why – I was devastated.”

Each of the listeners nods, remembering that Roger and Lydia had been engaged when Dominic turned sixteen and his bond with Lydia snapped into place.

“But I do remember,” Roger continues, “reading about rare cases in which bonds weren’t fully broken but instead…bruised? Or drawn quite thin? Shredded and damaged but…intact.”

Ella gasps a little, a hand flying to her mouth.

Dominic curses low under his breath, turning back to the camera and glaring hard into it. “If that boy didn’t even have the courage to give her a clean break,” he snarls, “I’m going to kill him, revive him, and kill him again just for the pleasure of it.”

“D-do you think you can tell, Ella?” Cora whispers, looking at her sister. “You’ve checked on her bonds before –“

“Yes, I can try,” Ella says, passing the tablet to Cora and striding for the door. “You stay here and…let me see what I can suss out.”

Cora sighs, anxious, and watches her sister pass through the door.

“All right, chickens,” Ella says with a happy sigh, hiding her worry under a kind motherly smile as she quickly crosses the room to stand behind Ariel on the couch. “Have we thought about what we want for dinner?”

“Oh, cut it, mom,” Ariel says, anxious, looking up at her. Ella’s face bursts into a real smile as she looks down at her daughter, reaching out her hands to stroke over her pretty hair. “We know something is up, the way you skittered off to speak in private.”

“Nothing’s up, trouble,” Ella murmurs, continuing to pet her baby. “Your dad’s just worried and we didn’t want you to hear him getting all snappy. You need a calm and relaxed atmosphere. Plus, he didn’t want you drinking any wine and I had to tell him how I felt about that. You didn’t want to see mommy and daddy fight, did you?”

“I know you’re lying,” Ariel sighs, rolling her eyes.

“No, I’m not, I’ve never lied a day in my life,” Ella coos, gently using her fingers to turn Ariel’s face back down. “Now your beloved papa is very concerned and wants me to do another magical sweep to make sure you’ve got no more cuts and bruises. Is that okay?”

“I mean, I’m fine,” Ariel says with a sigh and a shrug. “But all right.”

“That’s my good little peanut,” Ella murmurs, shutting her eyes and letting the lavender light of her gift spill out of her, sweeping down into Ariel’s being and looking for anything amiss.

“I’ll never get used to this,” Daphne murmurs, quite awed.

“Yes, you will, she’ll be giving you your own scans every two weeks now that you’re part of the family,” Ariel murmurs. Ella smirks at this truth but doesn’t comment, looking further and deeper beyond Ariel’s physical body, searching her soul.

And…there. Yes, right at the center, where she knew they’d be, are Ariel’s bonds – stretched long and silver in several directions. The faded and sleeping bonds that are standard between a child and her parents are there – so vivid in early life but dormant as the child grows. And then the unique ones with her brother and her cousin. And then, beyond those…

Ella fights the urge to gasp at what she sees.