Chapter 406

A mating bond…?

Yes. Even though Nicholas and I had never talked about the love between us, I had still felt it grow over these months together. Nicholas had never made a bonding bite on my neck, yet inside of me, that bond had cultivated. Our hearts were bound together, mating bite or now.

There was no denying it.

I felt a distant heartbeat echoing beside my own.

Nicholas.

The presence of that heartbeat, as far away as it seemed, gave me as much comfort as if Nicholas had been standing right beside me.

From that comfort, I drew strength.

In the past, Nicholas or Julian or both had come to my rescue when I needed them. But now, they were thousands of miles away. Unless I wanted to die – which I didn’t – I needed to find my own way out of this, and fast.

Reaching out, I placed my hands on the bars and gave them a little shake. Despite everything else down in this cellar that was old and decrepit, the bars seemed new and were fairly well installed. They didn’t have any give.

“What are you doing?” Joyce asked.

“Can you shift?” I asked him. “A human can’t do a thing about these bars but an alpha wolf might be able too.”

Joyce hung his head. “I haven’t shifted since… before…”

He didn’t need to finish. The underground’s manipulation of him seemed to have left him weakened. I wouldn’t push the issue.

But that certainly didn’t help the issue. Even if I could shift into my wolf, I wasn’t sure Miracle and I would have the power to bust through these bars.

An alpha wolf could.

And maybe… a bear.

Still holding the bars, I closed my eyes and began to meditate. It was difficult, with the fear pounding in my chest and the occasional sniffle from Joyce.

“Miracle…” I whispered in my mind. “Please… whatever is happening, I need you… and I need our bear…”

I listened intently to the voice within myself, trying to hear what I couldn’t before. Pushing out all other thoughts and sounds, I focused as hard as I could.

And that was when I heard it, a whisper from a far away place.

“Call for me…” It wasn’t quite Miracle, but it wasn’t not Miracle either. It was like a different part of us both, somewhere near and far.

“Miracle…” I said in my mind. Then, aloud, “Miracle!”

At once, my body shifted, adding mass and fur. In a flash, I had shifted from my regular human self into a large bear.

“Whoa!” Joyce cried, immediately stepping back from the bars between us.

The energy needed to maintain such a fierce presence was nearly overwhelming. I wouldn’t be able to hold this form for very long. Knowing that, I lifted my massive paws and slammed them into the door, smashing through the lock.

The door swung open at once. Outside, I turned to Joyce’s cell and did the same.

As soon as his door also hung free, I let Miracle slip away and shifted back into human form. I stumbled. Joyce hurried and caught me. Catching my head in my hands, I leaned against Joyce a moment, catching my breath.

“Are the enemies coming?” I asked. I’d just made a hell of a noise.

“The room is soundproof,” Joyce said. “Most likely, they didn’t even notice.”

He kept his hand on my shoulder, even as I steadied myself.

“That was a hell of a trick,” he said.

“I couldn’t maintain it. It was so draining... I’m lucky I did what I did.”

“We’re both lucky then,” Joyce said. “When you’re ready, we should try to get out of here.”

“Let’s go,” I replied, not wanting to spend one more minute in this hellhole.

Joyce seemed suspicious of me, holding his arm out as if I might fall over. When I didn’t, he followed me together the door. This one, thankfully, was unlocked. They likely never expected that we’d make it this far.

We slipped into the hallway easily enough. The lights were off, so we stuck to the shadows. We didn’t go far when we started to hear raised voices.

“I want to know if Piper was telling the truth.” It was Jane.

“You cannot mean to trust her more than me,” that was Hawk. His cold voice sent shivers running up and down my spine.

“I do not,” Jane countered. “That’s why I’m asking you. Are you only using me to gain more power?”

Hawk was quiet for a long moment.

Joyce and I inched closer to the open doorway their voices were coming from.

“Careful,” Joyce whispered, as we drew close.

I inched toward the door, but was careful to stay hidden in the shadows. Leaning over slightly, I peeked into the room.

A fire burned in the fireplace, casting eerie dancing lights in a library. Hawk was facing the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest. Jane was standing behind him, arms outstretched.

“You aren’t answering me!” Jane snapped.

“I do not speak to anyone who takes that tone with me,” Hawk replied.

“To hell with all of that,” Jane said. “You should be listening to me! I am the princess!”

“Your sister is the princess,” Hawk said, voice icy cold. He swiveled on his heel, suddenly facing Jane.

In surprise, she stumbled back a step.

“You are nothing, do you understand? Nothing, unless I dictate it so,” Hawk’s voice dropped lower, now barely more than a cold growl.

“I am a princess of the North!” Jane said, recovering her nerves and her indignation at once.

Hawk narrowed her eyes.

“You are the one who is nothing without me,” Jane said. “When I am Queen, I could snap my fingers and have your head lopped off. It is only by my good nature that you will be allowed as advisor at all.”

My heart quaked for Jane. As far as she had drifted, she was still my sister. And she could not see how she was prodding a shark right there in that moment.

“You are not a queen yet,” Hawk said.

Jane lifted her chin. “I might as well be. And you would do well to bow while I am still feeling generous.”

Pompous as she was, Jane’s lifted face kept her gaze upright and away from where Hawk’s hands were curling into fists.

“You wish me to bow,” Hawk said.

“I demand it,” Jane replied.

Hawk stood still for three full seconds. Then, in a blur, he was suddenly on Jane, with his fingers curled around her throat, and with her falling down onto the ground. He crawled over her, sitting on her chest as he squeezed and squeezed. She clawed at his hands as she gasped, suddenly devoid of breath.

Instinct pushed me, and I started to move.

Joyce grabbed my arm, fiercely yanking me back before I could enter the room.

“Stop,” he whisper-yelled in my ear. “You will give us away!”

“That is my sister,” I growled back, trying to keep my tone soft even as rage swelled in my heart.

“She wouldn’t do the same for you,” Joyce said.

He was right. But I wasn’t my sister. I was me. And I would always try to save her, no matter how far out of reach she felt.

Yet before I could pull myself free, a deep thud sounded throughout the building. It shook and rattled. Dust flew free from the nooks and crannies that had been uncleaned for years.

And in my heart, I felt the string stretching between Nicholas and I suddenly become much shorter.

Somehow, Nicholas was here.