90
Ivy
Iwasn’t alone in the darkness. But I wasn’t with Sable or Nyx, either.
Around me, one by one, my mates appeared. Orion first with his silver white hair and furious violet eyes searching the darkness. Then Elias, skin rippling, eyes glowing with the proximity of his wolf as he furiously stalked towards me. When I turned, I found Adrian, golden hair mused and confusion dark in his emerald eyes. Maeve, claws ripping free of her nails and fangs dropping, the mask of neutrality slipping for a moment to reveal the beast of bloodlust.
Rowan appeared next, wide eyed and flushed, breathing hard like he just ran a marathon. Damon stepped into the darkness beside him, eerily calm despite knowing they should not be here. Out of the fog that seemed to surround us came Hawk, hand on his belt like he could pull a weapon. My heart pounded as I spun to find Xerxes standing tall and uncertain, dark eyes flickering over a place so familiar to me, I knew it likely worried them.
And last was Thor, confused and panting, brows furrowed as he looked around.
All my mates, with me in the darkness Nyx and Sable trapped me in after I completed a bond.
There was something deeply wrong with this. They should not be here. This was a place entirely made of my connection to Nyx.
“Nyx!” I shouted, turning in a circle, panting as I searched for her. But all my mates looked confused now. “Where are you?”
“Ivy, what is going on?” Maeve asked carefully, her claws disappearing. “Where are we?”
The others stepped in around me, forming a barrier. But their presences only made my heart pound harder, air lodging in my lungs as I tried to suck in breath.
It took me too long to realise I was on the brink of a panic attack, and I couldn’t understand why. Why were they here in this place only Nyx, Sable, and I met? How could they have gotten here?
Unless completing my bond with Thor had really done it. Had really saved me.
But when my hand went to my throat, I felt the heavy, dark reminder still locked around my neck. In my dreams, I usually escaped it.
Not now. Not here.
I dropped my hand and turned again, seeking the Goddess—I’d even take Sable—over the heads of my towering mates. But as they closed in around me, trying to offer some sort of comfort, I felt only pressure building in my chest.
Panic. It flooded me. Coiled tightly around my heart like a snake, twisting until I couldn’t breathe. I clutched at my throat, wishing I could rip the collar off.
I’d been so sure that by completing my bonds, it might finally release me from its grasp. That maybe the ancient magic would finally just…disappear.
But I’d been wrong. So, so wrong.
It felt tighter somehow. Pressing into my windpipe.
Arms wrapped around my middle, a hand taking mine and prying my fingers from the collar. When I breathed in, it was spun sugar I scented.
“Breathe,” Xerxes murmured, lips brushing my ear. “You need to breathe.”
The next breath I took in was shaky, but it filled my lungs.Spice, smoke, pine. The wind as it rolled over the ocean. Mint tea freshly brewed. All the scents of my mates mingled together, surrounding me as I calmed part of the panic. Just their familiar scents alone were enough to slow my racing heart.
“Where are we, Ivy?” Maeve repeated, her voice calmer—softer. “What happened?”
I drew in a sharp breath and released it slowly. “Thor and I completed the bond,” I said, glancing over at the bear shifter who still looked confused. “When we did, I passed out again. I didn’t think it would bring you here, though.”
“It?” Adrian asked warily, stepping forward.
“Nyx. Sable. My magic.” Tears burned my eyes. “I don’t know. This is where I usually go after a bond is completed. Where Nyx or Sable find me and give me vague premonitions.”
There was a beat of tense silence that followed my explanation, which only made my skin crawl.
“I don’t know why we’re here,” I whispered, looking around my mates. “I don’t know how this happened.”
“Thor says he remembers a voice right before he passed out,” Rowan said, eyeing the bear shifter before looking at me as Thor dropped his hand from Rowan’s shoulder. “He panicked. Didn’t understand what happened. Then he heard a voice tell him you’d be okay, and then he was out, too.”
