Page 10 of As Darkness Fall
And to add to that, I don’t want to let myself learn to lean on him for help. That would be a dangerously seductive path for me to take, especially given how the Soulbond would amplify it.
No, I needed to keep my distance. I wasn’t sure what the unbreakable Soulbond meant or how I was going to go about severing myself from Vir, but itwasgoing to happen, and in the meantime, I wasn’t about to let myself fall for him. Besides, I’d thought the bond between Johnathan and I was unbreakable as well until Vir had shown me otherwise.
There was a way, and I was going to find it. Iwasgoing to be free. Somehow. I just had to get rid of Vir. Now, there was an idea. What if I sent Vir back to the Direen? Being in a different realm wouldhaveto split us…Wouldn’t it?
I don’t know, but it seems worth a try. First things first, though…
“Help him,” I said quietly, making it an order.
Vir looked ready to protest, but a firm glare quieted the unspoken words. He sighed.
“Very well,” he rumbled, caving. “I’ll do what I can, but I make no promises. He’s very badly hurt. He might never recover.”
“Just try,” I said. “That’s all I’m asking of you.”
“More like ordering,” Vir said with a human-style pout, but he waved a hand over Johnathan, his signature blue energy flowing from his palm and into Johnathan.
Nothing outwardly visible happened, but I could hear that his ragged breathing had eased. Johnathan was sleeping peacefully now.
“There. I have done what I can,” Vir said. “Healing was never my specialty, and I am limited in my abilities to help. But I think he will live if he makes it through tonight.”
“Thank you,” I said, fighting back a reaction to reach out and rest my hand on his arm.
Enough, I snarled at my Soulbond, tired of its interference.
My wolf stirred at the mental lashing but quieted again quickly when I didn’t direct anything more her way. A brief stab of jealousy at her ability to sleep ran through me, but I shoved it aside. Sleep would come soon.
“Aaron,” I called, knowing he wouldn’t have gone far.
“Still here,” he replied, striding into the chamber, looking silly in boxers, boots, and nothing else. “What is it?”
“Where’s the rest of the team?” I asked, starting to push my exhausted mind into forming a plan.
“Out in the quad,” he said.
I stared blankly.
“Uh, the flat area outside, with all the big statues on either side?” he said.
“Right,” I said, tiredly, remembering the scene I’d witnessed as I’d run from Johnathan.
It was a flat space the size of a football field, lined with giant statues on either side. I’d raced past the area in my attempt to find what had been calling me. In the end, I’d ducked into the opening beneath the single statue at the end of the field, the only one not on either side.
“What are they doing?” I asked, pulling myself back from the memory.
Focus. Give some orders. Then, you can pass out.
“Maintaining a perimeter,” Aaron said immediately. “In case Lars or any of his friends try to come back.”
“I don’t think they’ll be a problem anymore,” I said. “Pretty sure they got what they wanted. At least, the part that wasn’t me.”
“I got that feeling, too,” Aaron remarked. “They didn’t seem too interested in sticking around. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Fair,” I agreed. “Besides, nothing we can do about them at the moment. We’re in no condition to go after them.”
“I can see that,” Aaron said. “What’s the plan then, boss?”
I could feel Vir looking at me, too. Though he might be a god, this was my realm, not his, and he seemed to be deferring to me, for now at least. Being in charge of a god and someone who was most definitely more experienced and aware of the paranormal world that I was only just discovering was a jarring experience, to say the least. But I was determined to show them that the chick from nowhere could do the job just fine.
