A Cursed Bloodline
Page 22

I couldn’t cry with them. Their tears didn’t make sense. One by one they released me, smiling despite their blotchy faces and smeared makeup. Taran clasped her hand over her mouth. “Shit.” She glanced over her shoulder at Koda. “Call Gemini. They have to let Aric know Celia’s alive before he hurts someone.”
They led me toward the couch and sat me near Bren’s feet. Koda didn’t move. He stood in front of the love seat, staring at me. “You died,” he said. “I felt you leave Aric’s soul.”
“How is he…?” I couldn’t finish the words.
Shayna wiped her eyes. “Not well, Ceel. We were with him when he thought you’d been killed. He started howling—freaking howling that you were dead.”
Taran blew her nose on a tissue. “Aric went berserk. No one could control him. Koda grabbed me and Shayna and raced us out of the Den. Gemini and Liam stayed to help the others trying to restrain him.” She lowered her head and shook it. “It was awful. I could hear and feel his pain.”
“I was at the main house with Misha when they arrived. He didn’t believe you were gone, but he was worried you might have been attacked, since no one knew where you were. He and his family are out searching for you.” She reached for her cellphone on the coffee table. “I’ll let him know you’re okay….”
Emme froze at the sight of Koda. He held his phone at his side, his nose flaring with rage. “Goddamnit, Celia. You broke your mate bond, didn’t you? You severed your sacred bond!” He stormed toward me. “How the fuck could you do that to Aric!”
Koda had appeared dark and menacing long before the deep-set burns riddled his face with scars. But at that moment, his vehemence threatened to devour me.
Shayna pushed herself between us. “Koda, stop it. Celia would never do such a thing!”
I clasped my hands over my eyes. But I had.
Everyone seemed to stop breathing. The drizzling rain against the windows was the only sound. I forced my hands from my eyes and faced my family, knowing there was no way to defend my actions.
Shayna carefully turned away from her mate, her cheeks wet with fresh fallen tears. “Celia, tell Koda you didn’t break your bond. Please tell him,” she asked, but she knew then that he was right.
The silence while they waited for me to answer was deafening.
Taran covered her mouth with her hands and gaped at me like she didn’t know me. “Why the hell would you do this?”
I wouldn’t answer. Koda let out a string of swearwords and tapped the screen on his cellphone. Aric’s dreadful howls filled the room the moment the call connected. I covered my ears, unable to stand his mournful ire.
Gemini spoke urgently. “I can’t talk. We’re hitting Aric with tranquilizers. It’s not working—”
“Celia’s alive. She’s with me now.”
There was a pause on the other end. “That’s not possible.”
“She broke their mate bond.”
“Why?”
Koda glared at me. “I don’t know. She won’t speak of it.”
Gemini’s voice tightened. “Is she hurt?”
“She looks like hell, but no, she’s not harmed.”
“There’s no blood or—”
“There’s nothing wrong with her, Gem. Goddamnit, she’s just sitting here looking at me!”
A brief stretch of time passed on the other end. This time when Gemini spoke, his voice lowered with anger. “I’ll tell Aric.”
Koda disconnected. Everyone watched me, waiting for me to scream, cry, laugh—something. But I couldn’t. I could barely stay upright.
Shayna stood over me. I lifted my chin.
And she slapped me hard across the face.
Koda shoved his way between us to protect her from me. It wasn’t necessary. My tigress didn’t so much as growl. After what I’d done to Aric, I deserved far worse.
Bolts of lightning sizzled from Taran’s perfectly manicured fingertips. “Son of a bitch. What the hell, Shayna?”
Koda growled, deep and challenging. His wolf sensed Taran threatening his mate and readied himself to attack.
I couldn’t move from the shame overtaking me.
I had caused all this hate. All of it.
Shayna gaped from her hand to my swelling face, her voice trembling. “I-I didn’t mean to hit her. I…”
Koda’s growls surged at the sight of the blue and white flames flickering above Taran’s head.
“Everyone, calm down.” Emme gripped Taran and Koda’s wrists and basked their forms with pale yellow light. Her healing touch soothed them only enough to prevent a brawl, but their anger remained.
Time stretched in the tension-filled quiet.
Then Koda’s phone rang. It rang six times before he finally answered it. Aric growled on the other end, his snarls mixed with tortured sobs. “How could you do this to me?” He knew I could hear. “I thought you were dead. Are you listening to me, Celia? I thought you were dead!”
I curled into a ball, saturating the couch with my tears as he continued to shout. “Don’t you dare cry. You did this to us. Goddamnit, why? Just tell me why!”
I shook from the force of my misery. There was nothing I could say. I couldn’t explain my actions. I couldn’t beg him to forgive me. I couldn’t do anything but weep. Emme rested her head against me and slung her arms around my waist. She cried, too. I heard her even above my own hysteria.
Aric eventually disconnected. But it failed to diminish my sadness. If anything his absence, however aggrieved, made my tears run faster. It was a reminder that he was no longer a part of my life. And that I had forced him out.
I stared blankly at the wall. Only Misha’s arrival finally caused me to stir.
Koda lunged at him. “You goddamn leech!”
Tim tackled him in midair, forcing him away from Misha. They fought viciously, striking each other with blow after blow and barreling through the living room wall. My sisters screamed, begging them to stop. I rose and staggered outside, trailing behind them and the mob of hissing vampires. My mind reeled with exhaustion and my weak muscles failed to sustain me. I nosedived onto the slate walkway. Michael barely caught me before my body smacked down.
“Master,” he said. “Something’s wrong with Celia.”
Misha gathered me in his arms. I could barely speak. “End the fight. End it now.”