Page 84 of Immortal Burden

“Yes,” I admitted, at long last.

Good, it was out there.

One weight off and so much more to come during this talk of ours once Ryker returned.

“Rather extreme,” he spoke. “It wasn’t in effect in the phantasmal plane.”

“No,” I confirmed. “My magic, along with Ryker’s, was neutralized in that place.”

“I wonder then whether what you expressed there was your true desire after all.”

“I’m wondering about that too,” a voice came from the doorway, as Ryker sauntered in, sliding his phone into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

Suit jacket? It wasn’t like him to be so dressed up. “Were you on a date before all of this happened?” I asked, before I could reel it in. After what had happened, and the extremely awkward conversation with Lucian, my emotions were running wild, difficult to check.

Ryker started at the brazen question. His gaze darted to Lucian briefly, before he then shifted his weight and, with a clear of his throat, he reported, “That call I took was from Jaxon Silver.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

He gave me a sour look. “Your mate, apparently,” he ground out.

“Ryker, I—”

He held up his hand. “Let’s just stay on track.”

“Agreed,” Lucian said, with a noticeable edge.

Shifting his weight, Ryker went on, “He’s not well. A well-known Healer has told him he’s suffering from some sort of magical affliction, an attack. But she’s been unable to pinpoint a precise diagnosis and a cure is beyond her. He’s been trying to locate you, but he says there’s something blocking his tracking ability. For an Alpha of his caliber, that would have to be something incredibly powerful, especially if we’re going with the assumption of him being your mate. Nothing outside of Immortal might could block an Alpha's ability to seek out his other half.”

“Cornelius.”

“Yep,” Ryker said, taking a seat beside Lucian on the couch. “Anyhow, the wolf’s in a bad way. The Healer gave him my name. I’m gonna head on out shortly and check it out. It’ll also give me the opportunity to find out why Cornelius is so hell-bent on keeping you guys apart. Jaxon was there in that plane, meaning he's a part of this whole Covenant thing. So much so that even Cornelius couldn’t keep him out.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No.”

“No?”

Lucian sat forward, telling me, “The Immortal is determined to keep you both apart. To achieve that would mean he has innumerable measures and alerts in place to notify him if either of you come close to the other. Thus, you entering Jaxon’s territory would be sure to alert him. It would put both Jaxon and Ryker, who would be assisting him with high-level magic without Guardian sanctioning, in danger.”

I cursed under my breath.

The idea of Jaxon or Ryker suffering turned my stomach. Knowing I could do something to help, yet I couldn’t be the one to go to Jaxon, distressed me fiercely. But it was impossible to deny the soundness of Lucian’s argument. Plus, if I had to trust anyone beyond myself to help, it would definitely be Ryker. He was the next best thing. “All right,” I conceded. “But I need to know how he is.”

“I’ll report back with everything,” Ryker assured me.

Lucian pushed the conversation along, past the contentious topic of Jaxon, saying, “That interruption to the plane was likely the work of Draco. The Hellfire, for one, something synonymous with him. Then the timing, right when all four of us were on the verge of… joining. And the way in which the place was so brutally torn apart. If it had been a result of Cornelius losing control—which is hard to imagine in the first place given his experience and level of ability—the plane would’ve merely slipped away.”

“He didn’t bring the place crashing down because of Jaxon’s presence then,” I murmured, thinking aloud.

“I don’t believe so.”

Since the two of them had unceremoniously shown up here just moments after I’d awoken from the phantasmal plane, I’d barely been given any time to reconcile it. But Lucian’s reference to the fiery invasion, the Hellfire, it was one of the known marks of Draco.

As much as I didn’t want it to be the case, perhaps more than anyone, given what it meant for me, it was impossible to deny. “If it truly was his doing, then he now knows who the four of us are, and Cornelius’ intentions to use us to form a formidable power against him.”

“He’ll come after us. Real fucking soon, Mia,” Ryker surmised.

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