Page 80 of The Maestro's Mates
“I…” Veronica’s face was covered with indecision as she took in the scene. Her gaze alternated between the body of her father and Justin. She was evaluating him, covered with blood and surrounded by dismembered limbs as he was.
“I don’t know if I can?—”
“Wolf!” a woman’s voice rang out, clear and commanding.
A sharp twang rang through the opera house, and Veronica twitched as a crossbow bolt sprouted in her eye socket.
Justin spun around, searching for the source, as he was confronted with the stares of the thousands of audience members. Theconsciousstares.
Of course. When Sebastian’s father died, his time spell had faded, bringing them out of the frozen moment and ushering the audience back to awareness.
He scanned the audience until he found the source of the attack. High above, on the edge of the fourth balcony, stood Wolf, a crossbow in his hand and a grim expression on his face. He had killed his sister.
“Witches, spread out!” Linda barked from the audience, and at least fifteen women and four men spread across the front aisle. Of course. She had ordered her son to kill her daughter. The woman was ruthless, Justin gave her that.
Justin assumed the witches would deal with the patrons somehow, with what they’d seen, but he didn’t care. He turned back to his mates. Sebastian had been staring down at the body of his older sister, but after only a moment, he stepped to Justin’s side. Their hands found each other as they faced their dormant gargoyle, not caring at all about what was going on behind them.
“We have to get him out of here,” Sebastian whispered. “Now.”
The witchesof the Bayonne Circle cast some spell to smooth over the audience members’ memories of the fight, but Justin was too busy to worry about the details. Instead, he and Sebastian convinced a confused stagehand to transport Pavel to the storage space on the basement level. With some quick thinking, a dolly, and a freight elevator, they got himoffstage before anyone realized the stone gargoyle wasn’t part of the set.
The witch and the vampire stood in the dim light of the basement storage room, staring up at their dormant mate. Justin was overwhelmed with fear and exhaustion, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the stone gargoyle. Despite Pavel’s inhuman visage in this form, he was still so handsome, his jaw set in the determined expression of the last moments of the battle against Sebastian’s father.
Had they lost him forever? Panic was building in Justin’s chest, a growing tightness that threatened to turn incapacitating. A strong grip enveloped his left hand, lending him warmth and a thread of connection to his dwindling hope.
“Do you think he’s gone?” Justin choked out the words through the lump in his throat.
The certainty radiated off Sebastian, and Justin soaked it up like the nourishing rays of the sun.
“Can’t you feel him?”
Justin shook his head, confused. He was having trouble feeling anything other than the mounting terror and grief.
“Take a deep breath and try,” Sebastian said.
Justin sucked in a large gulp of air. When he let it out, he released as much of the pain and worry as he could. He closed his eyes.
The connection to Sebastian was like a glowing rope of blue energy in his mind’s eye. It pulsed with the care and affection flowing between them, centering him and acting as an anchor to calm sanity.
But there was another connection. It was dimmer, flickering even, and Justin worried it would fade out, but it was there, still fighting for survival.
“I can sense it. But what if it snaps? What ifPavel?—”
A light kiss brushed Justin’s temple, and he leaned into it, wrapping his arms around Sebastian’s waist. One of the greatest surprises of Justin’s mating was how kind and loving his chaotic mate had turned out to be.
The sweet gesture unlocked something in Justin, and tears flowed freely down his cheeks. Maybe it made him weak, maybe it was ridiculous he was crying half an hour after killing Sebastian’s father and draining his blood, but he couldn’t help it. All he wanted was time. Time to be with his mates, to build their life together.
“My love,” Sebastian said, and Justin’s breath hitched at the words. “He’s our mate. We can call him back.”
Justin shook his head. “How?”
“The two of us can strengthen the bond.” Sebastian moved behind Justin, wrapping his arms around the shorter man and resting his head on the nest of blonde curls.
“Picture it growing stronger, brighter. Imagine pushing your energy into it and say his name. I’ll do the same.”
Justin took a moment to wipe away his tears and steeled himself. He didn’t know if this would work, but it was better than doing nothing. He had to trust Sebastian.
Closing his eyes once more, he imagined the flickering rope glowing brighter, stronger, strengthening into an unbreakable line between them. He did as Sebastian suggested, imagining his own life energy flowing into it as it took on a blinding brightness in his mind’s eye.
