Page 15 of Unwanted Bonds

Although spirits couldn’t breathe, Angelique had only been dead for a few days and hadn’t gotten the memo that she was dead, so her breathing was very audible.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before asking tentatively. “Angelique, what do you see?”

Angelique answered in an awed tone. “Time . . . really stopped . . . It’s a monster! It has a wolf’s head, arms, and claws, a human’s body, and it’s standing upright like a human. Aurora, it’s moving again . . . Help me . . . Help me!”

But her call for help was the last thing we heard from her as Levi crumpled to the floor, slipping free from my grasp and withdrawing his hand from Angelique’s forehead.

I wanted to check on him but I knew better than to do that without cleaning up the deadly energy Angelique’s spirit left behind and closing any open doors between the spirit world and ours. I did this by saying the spell that a Mage Necromancer in the Supernatural Council had specially taught me while keeping a close eye on the temperature in the air, which would tell me if the spell had worked.

Thankfully, when I said the last words in the spell, the icy feeling in the air faded and the darkness that had surrounded Levi and me also faded.

I rushed to where Levi was lying on the floor and placed my index and middle finger on his pulse. The rhythm was a little faster than usual because he had probably over-exhausted his magic reserves to extend the time for questioning Angelique. It was a relief that he’d let go on time though, because if he hadn’t, things could have gotten complicated.

I released a deep breath of relief because our first summoning outside the Supernatural Council had been fairly successful and complication-free, even though we hadn’t been able to get a lot of information out of Angelique.

“Aiden, please help me,” I said, as I put one of Levi’s arms on my shoulder.

After Aiden came over to put Levi’s other arm on his shoulder, we rose to our feet. However, the disparity in our heights made moving Levi this way hard to balance.

“Um, I’ll carry him. Don’t worry about it.” I said after we placed the unconscious Levi back on the floor.

Before I could attempt to carry Levi in a bridal hold, however, Caden moved to stand behind me. “I’ll carry him for you.”

Considering that Levi wouldn’t like me carrying him in a bridal hold, I stepped aside to let Caden and Aiden help Levi to his feet with his arms over both of their shoulders.

“Are we taking him to the hospital?” Aiden asked.

I shook my head as I pulled out the car key in Levi’s back pocket. “No, please help me move him to his car. He’ll be fine. He just needs to rest for a while.”

10

Aurora

After Caden and Aiden helped me carry Levi to his car, they went back into the police station to get their devices.

I stayed behind and pulled Levi’s car windows down and opened the doors to the backseat where he was lying so he could benefit from as much fresh air as possible. Then I made sure that he was lying in a comfortable position and that he wouldn’t wake up with a crank in his neck.

By the time I was done, I looked around and found that Caden, Mateo, and Luna Eleanor were standing by a shiny black car while Aiden was far away from them, standing beside an unfamiliar car, talking on the phone with someone.

Seeing them so far away from each other made me remember the distance I’d sensed between Aiden and his family members, especially the distance between him and Caden, who was his twin. I’d noticed that he ate his breakfasts alone at Kate’s café in the mornings and always seemed hesitant to return home in the evenings with requests to ‘stay overnight and cuddle’.

I was trying to dismiss the desire to question Aiden when I was startled by Alpha Owen gruffly clearing his throat from behind me.

“By the gods! I thought you’d left, Alpha Owen.” I said, pressing a hand to my racing heart as I turned around to face him.

Alpha Owen cleared his throat again. “Sorry for startling you.”

I shook my head to indicate that it wasn’t a problem.

“I came to inform you that you can stay in the pack and continue your investigation for the Supernatural Council. I’ve spoken to Chief Perez. He’s going to talk to all the staff members that heard about your identity during the questioning and they’re going to keep it a secret. Of course, I also need you to continue to follow Crawford Pack’s rules. Using a spell today doesn’t mean I permit you to use spells arbitrarily. If you are going into a situation where you would need spells, I expect to get a call from you before then. I’ve put my phone number into your phone. Here’s your phone . . . If your life is at risk, you may use spells to get away but you’ll still need to report back to me and—” Now that Alpha Owen’s voice was no longer filled with reproach and threats, his voice was a nice, calming bass that was just a little deeper than Caden’s with some gruffness to it.

“I can’t tell you Supernatural Council classified information,” I said, lowering my head to look at my reflection on the dark screen of my phone, which he’d just given to me.

“I don’t need you to tell me Supernatural Council classified information. One of the contracts we signed with the Supernatural Council before permitting them to send their people into Mac Tire City included clauses that required them to send us regular reports on the real-time progress of their investigation. The only thing you’re reporting to me is when and why you’d want to use spells in my territory. Right now, you’re the only Supernatural Council member whom I have permitted to use spells without penalty in Mac Tire City’s territories.” He paused for a minute as if to help me register that he was giving me special privileges.

I nodded and thanked him earnestly. “Thank you very much, Alpha Owen.”

“It’s fine.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, something that seemed to be his nervous tic. “Your father was right. I shouldn’t have gone so hard on you, trying to ban you like you committed a crime. Giving you this privilege is my apology.”

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