Page 86 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

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Freya

“I’m serious,” I insisted. “Talk to him. Take his hand—touch is important for wolves.”

Every instruction was acid on my tongue, but Elle’s effect on Ryder was undeniable, though she no longer appeared intent on saving her mate. As she considered the affection required of her, her face crumpled. For the first time, I wondered if she felt the same longing toward him that he did for her. Getting closer might be more painful than keeping her distance.

As I realized how similar the chimera and I were, I choked down bile.

“I know he took you from your family,” I said softly, “but he did it tosaveyou. Think of this as returning that favor, not agreeing to marry the guy.”

I stole your chance at marrying him anyway.

Elle swallowed and approached Ryder. With shaking hands, she cupped his face.

“Ryder,” she said his name, and his eyes glowed like a wolf’s. “Come back. Come back to us now.”

As Ryder broke free from the sirens’ song, Walker groaned once more in pain. Blood leaked from his palms.

“Oh, Goddess,” I murmured and returned to him. “We have to pull him out of this, Cady.”

As she tried to unclench her brother’s fists, Cady’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“How?” she whispered then gasped. “Wait—didn’t Marie Laveau call you his Anchor?”

I had worked hard at forgetting that tidbit of information, but staring at Walker now, I considered it.

“Freya,” Cady said, “you can’t deny you two share some weird bond.”

“Bonded by blood,” I recalled the troll’s similar words, “and stronger than ore.”

Had I forsaken Ryder’s bond only to end up with one of my own?

My blood and my magic had been crucial in giving Walker his second chance at life. My power had called him back to me, but did any of that linger now?

“Your magic,” Cady said and gestured between the two of us, “it sings to each other. When one of you walks into a room, the other’s magic answers. It’s subtle, but I always thought it was cute.”

Cute.My mother would roll over in her grave to learn I had somehowbondedmyself to a man. Josephine would’ve laughed in my face.

I took a sharp breath.

They weren’t here anymore.

There was only me.

I had screwed up enough already trying to be like my mother. Trying to do everything for everyone else was exhausting.

As I cupped Walker’s face and willed his electric blue eyes to meet mine, I admitted to myself that saving him time and time again was selfish.

Saving him was like saving myself.

Over the last few months, he had become a part of me.

Walker’s gaze met mine, and I marveled at the magic in its depths, powerful even when dimmed by the sirens’ song. It was magic that called to my very soul. It was a call I had spent months trying to ignore.

Now, I answered it.

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