Page 58 of Expensive

What have I done?

The song burns in the woman’s chest, filling the air with its power. Andrew’s convulsions are more violent now. Someone should be holding him down—making sure he doesn’t bite his tongue.

“Can you go to him? Keep him safe?” I ask the man holding me down. “I promise I won’t try to interrupt. I just want him to be safe.”

That’s what I’ve always wanted, ever since I heard his story. And look at how poorly I’ve protected him.

“Neither of us can touch him now. It won’t be long,” the man says gently, as if I’m the one who needs help.

The song goes on for what seems like forever. I feel every movement in Andrew’s body as if it were my own. I can sense that something is wrong. Whatever the woman is doing to him isn’t good for him. When she finally stops singing, Andrew’s body becomes unnaturally still.

The man rolls off me and lets me run to my boy. I tear across the beach and crouch down beside him. He’s lying on his back, and his chest isn’t moving. He isn’t breathing. I lay my head on his sternum, hoping to find the beat of his heart. For a moment, I think he’s gone, then I hear the softthump,thump,thump.

It’s too slow. He’s dying.

“What have you done?” I ask the woman.

“I got rid of his bond ache. Only way to do that without removing his memories is to create the bond he was aching so badly for.”

The man who held me down walks toward us. “You bonded him to a dead man?”

The woman smiles. “That’s right.”

No. My poor boy. I gather him in my arms and kiss his forehead. It was never supposed to end up like this. I was supposed to make his life better. I was supposed to make him happy.

The man crouches down next to me. “But you can’t. Magic wouldn’t allow you to use the power of his own sacrifice to deliberately kill him.”

“Oh, I didn’t kill him. I left a fun little loophole. Creating a bond through magic alone is unstable. If another alpha were to bite his neck, even in his human form, the bond could be transferred. Then he’d live. What do you say, Howard? Want to take a bite?” She laughs.

Oh, God. If only I had my real teeth. But I don’t.

Andrew is going to end up tied to a man against his will all over again.

“You knew we were coming, didn’t you?” Howard says.

“Took you long enough to figure that one out. The Monroes called me and told me you were on your way to my island. They will be the ones to actually pay me from the sizable fortune that used to belong to this poor fellow here. Unless you want to bond to him? From what I understand, the boy’s lover doesn’t have his real teeth anymore, so it’s just you, Howard. I love the idea of you bonding to an omega you can never keep satisfied. Gives me joy. Enough joy that I wouldn’t mind giving up my casting fee from the Monroes to see it happen”

Howard clenches his jaw. “I’m already bonded, Kim. And I do satisfy my omega. Probably a lot better than you satisfy yours.”

Kim’s eyes widen. “What?”

“That’s right. You just performed a spell that will kill Andrew. And you can’t blame the death on anyone else through one of your infamous loopholes. Magic will take your life for this. You know the rules.”

“But we can take him to a surgeon,” I say. “Get the bond removed,” If Andrew has a bond, there’s hope now.

Kim sighs. “He’ll never make it. The spell was too traumatic for his body. He has fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. It will take you at least thirty to fly him to shore. I suppose I’ll have to fix this. How annoying.” She folds her arms across her chest and turns to me. “What are you willing to pay to get your teeth back?”

“What?” Surely, I didn’t hear her right.

“Your teeth. You’re muzzled, are you not? If you want to bond to your lover, you’ll need your real teeth, which means you’ll need to make a sacrifice.”

I look to Howard, who seems to have our best interest at heart here. “What does that mean?”

He glances back and forth between us. “She can’t use the power of Andrew’s sacrifice to kill him. Not without some kind of loophole or exception that would allow her to blame the death on the inaction of someone else. So if he dies tonight, she’ll die with him. That’s why she’s trying to keep him alive. I wouldn’t trust her, though. I’ll do the spell for you if you’d like. You’ll need to sacrifice something precious for a new set of teeth. I won’t have enough power to cast the spell if the sacrifice isn’t equal to what you’re asking of Magic.”

It never occurred to me to ask a warlock for a new set of teeth. Why did none of the social workers mention that this was an option?

Maybe the casting cost is more exorbitant than most of us could afford.

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