Page 6 of Gift from the Source
My eyes tear away from the tree line that slightly conceals my still living nightmares home and lands back on the one that started it all.
Not only for me, but for my mom.
Time has changed its appearance, but nothing can hide the horrors that happened inside.
I release one last lingering breath and turn to face my family waiting anxiously behind me. My men’s expressions say it all. The house at my backis no mystery to them. They know where we are, but the rest of our group stare at it in pissed off confusion.
“This is Franklin’s estate. This is where I was raised for the first eighteen years of my life before I was moved over there,” I say, nodding in the direction of Donald’s estate. “I don’t know if it’s this house or the other, but somewhere behind these walls is my blood supply. We need to get in, get my blood, and get out.”
“We find your blood…” Trex whispers, still mindlessly rubbing his chest.
“We find your brothers. Whatever you’re feeling is the call of their bond, but it’s being interfered with somehow.”
“Ry, get a body count of this estate,” Tillman orders, laying a hand on Trex’s shoulder to stop him from walking forward.
Codi latches onto him and gives Tillman a nod as my men step up beside me. We turn around to watch Ry, Oakly, their whole Nexus move a few feet forward.
“Primary.”
“I’m okay,”I say as Cas’s shadows crawl around my body, soothing my soul.
“I know that. You did so good,”he mumbles softly, running his fingers down the side of my cheek.
“We’re so proud of you, princess,”Corentin adds when he steps in front of me, pulling my face back forward to his.
“I didn’t expect being back here to affect me that strongly, but that’s the last time they’ll ever have any power over me.”
Tillman’s chest plasters to my back. His strength has my spine straightening and confidence blooming in my bond.“You’re a formidable fortress, little warrior. Mind, body, soul. No one can have power over you without your say so.”
“It ends here. The use of my blood, taking things from me unwillingly, the panic they make me feel. It all ends now.”
“Say the word, little wanderer. We’ll burn it to the ground. Together,”Draken rumbles from beside me and his warmth soaks into myskin.
Every ounce of doubt and shame I feel for fearing this place flees me as their unyielding love and faith in me consumes my very being. They pump their bonds so full with it, I could float away.
The haunting memories may dredge up unpleasant thoughts and feelings, but it’s nothing in comparison to what my men create within me.
They will always overshadow the demons that lurk in my mind.
“Fifteen bodies for certain. There’s a path underneath the house, but I can’t get an accurate reading under there.” Ry’s voice cuts through the moment and we each turn back to the estate.
“I never knew there was a path beneath the house. That’s where we need to go.”
With that declaration, my men nod, parting the way for me.
The air in my lungs empties. It clears out the lump in my throat, and the pressure of my past that was weighing on my chest.
I take my first step toward the gilded prison that held me hostage my entire life.
The air is thick with tension as we travel the distance from the tree line to the back of the estate in a matter of a few deep breaths.
The lingering anger and anticipation surrounding everyone don’t stem from concern over the fifteen clueless individuals inside the estate, but from me. One way or another, my family knows what I faced inside these walls. They’re hurt on my behalf and ready to exact some vengeance.
Yet the monsters who deserve my rage aren’t even in there.
I’m not sure if I know the staff that now takes care of this place with Franklin dead and Donald and the Summum-Master in another realm.
“Cas, you take Draken and the two of you—”
