Amelia opened her mouth to spit out her thoughts when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Am I interrupting?” Tristan asked, pushing the door wide open. He looked between Amelia and Josh with a smirk and then stepped into the room, and patted Josh’s shoulder. “Don’t take it personally. Amelia just likes to fight, but I’m sure you can break her in.” Josh mumbled something incoherent as Tristan scanned Amelia over from head to toe. “Did you show her yet?” Tristan asked.
“I’ve been busy trying to put her back together,” Josh snapped with barely controlled hostility.
Tristan’s eyes flashed red, but he never took them off Amelia. “Show me what?” she asked, hating the quiver that she heard in her voice. She had never felt so vulnerable before. Not when her parents died. Not when she met Mitchell. Never.
Tristan took a deep breath, most likely smelling her fear, which only made her shake more. His fangs popped down, and he darted towards her neck.
Amelia screamed. She couldn’t help it; it just came out. She glued her eyes shut, expecting the pain, but it didn’t come.
“You almost killed her last time,” Josh growled. Amelia pried one eye open to find Josh pinning Tristan against the wall by the neck. “I won’t let you feed from her again.”
“You’re walking on a very thin line,” Tristan snarled. Amelia opened her other eye. Tristan wasn’t fighting at all, and that made her stomach twist in knots. He had never seemed to be the passive kind, and watching him stand there, as if he was actually submitting to Josh, well, it freaked her out—just a little—and she started squirming, trying to loosen the restraints.
“You can play your little mind tricks on Cole, but I know what you are, a filthy bloodsucker,” Josh hissed. “Cole will see it, too. She’ll get into his head, and she’ll break your hold.”
Squirming was useless, and well, it hurt like hell. The magical chains bit into Amelia’s wrists and ankles, and she could have sworn that with each movement she made, they tightened. And on top of that, Amelia had never in her life been as confused as she was at that very moment. Listening to them right now was like listening to someone reciting riddles. Except, these riddles didn’t make sense. She knew they were referring to her, but the rest of it … well, she might as well been listening to someone speak in German. Her brain just couldn’t, or maybe it was that it wouldn’t, comprehend any of it.
Tristan laughed. It was a twisted kind of sound, full of mirth and cynicism, and it slithered over Amelia, turning her stomach and chilling her bones. “You really believe all that garbage, don’t you?” he said to Josh, but he sneered at Amelia. “She’s not your creator, and Mitchell really is her soulmate. That piece of trash didn’t make you. She doesn’t have the power to pull that off. It’s a myth, a legend, a ridiculous fairytale to help the baby hunters sleep at night. And she’ll kill you the first chance she gets.”
Amelia didn’t see Tristan move, but he must have, because all of a sudden Josh was flying through the air. He hit the wall, bounced off, and landed face first on the ground. He didn’t stay down long. In a blink, he was back up, but to Amelia’s horror, he kept his eyes cast down, refusing to look at Tristan as he slithered back over to Amelia’s bedside.
“Don’t you get tired of leading these fools on?” Tristan asked Amelia, taking Josh’s seat and leaning back, letting his arms hang over the plastic armrests. “You finally let Eric go, and now you’re messing with this one?” He winked at her and leered. “I’m guessing Mitch doesn’t take care of all your needs.”
“What does it matter anymore?” Amelia asked, and choked on a sob. “You’ve already killed him. Why don’t you just finish it and kill me, too? That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“Killed him?” Tristan asked, raising both of his eyebrows. He looked completely befuddled. “Josh, what is she blabbing on about?”
Amelia’s heart hammered in her chest. She wanted to scream and cry all at once. She eyed Josh as he shuffled back and forth. “I may have insinuated …”
Tristan threw back his head and let out a deep roar of a laugh, cutting Josh off. “That’s rich.” The laughter in his eyes made Amelia grit her teeth. “You really thought I’d kill my good friend, Mitchell, without making him suffer first?”
“I can’t feel him,” she said softly, and tears started to sting at her eyelids again. But just as quickly as they came, a thought hit her that made the tears dry up. She glared at Josh. “Seriously, doesn’t it bother you at all that the only way I’ll talk to you civilly is by using magic on me? Why don’t you take these chains off, and see what I really think of you.”
“Amelia, the chains and the charms are for your protection,” Tristan said, and patted her hand. “We can’t have you hurting yourself until it’s time, now can we?”
Okay, so that didn’t make any sense, Amelia thought, as she scanned Tristan who was clearly enjoying her confusion. Why would she hurt herself? If she hurt anyone, it would be one of them. “Why do you want to break the bond?” she asked.
“Mitchell doesn’t deserve the power you give him,” he said simply, as if it was a well-known fact, and then he shifted his gaze to Josh, who was now standing on the other side of her bed glaring furiously at Tristan. “Thanks for borrowing her magic,” he said. “It worked like a charm.”
Amelia’s eyes darted back and forth between Josh and Tristan, and a sense of dread filled her. There was something here, something that she just wasn’t getting. She could see something that resembled understanding floating around her brain with a great big look at me sign, but no matter how hard she tried to read it, she just couldn’t. It was as if it jumped back, just out of reading distance, every time she was close. Her gut was telling her she should be upset or scared even but, oddly, she wasn’t.
“What does he mean you borrowed my magic?” And why am I talking to them as if we are old friends? She shot Josh another glare as a strong scent of cotton candy drifted up her nose. “Will you stop it!” she shouted, suddenly understanding the strange calm that had settled over her.
“I don’t want you to re-break any of your bones,” Josh said, and squeezed her hand. Amelia wished she could jerk away from his touch. “You need to calm down.”
“What I need is some damn answers!” she shouted, because, really, a straight answer would have been nice right about then. It was as if they were talking in circles, but none of those circles fully connected, they just curved and twisted around each other.
“I used your magic to lift the spell you had placed on the bond between Tristan and his mate.” The words rushed out of Josh so quickly that Amelia almost missed it. Almost.
All the circles collided together with a brain-numbing intensity, and right then Amelia thought she was going to be sick. Erin, a voice in her head whimpered, and panic clenched at her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, and right then, she actually wished that Josh would use that infuriating charm on her, because imagining all the things that Tristan could, and most likely would, do to Erin through the bond wasn’t something she wanted to see.
Amelia racked her brain trying to remember what she had read about borrowed magic. From what she could remember about it, it was supposed to be painful. A witch had to merge their own power with the victim, and then drain off the needed energy until the spell they were trying to lift was broken. Depending on the complexity of the spell, it could feel like you were dying while it was happening. And Amelia didn’t remember any of it. Her eyes snapped open and landed on Josh.
As if reading her mind, he whispered, “The pain from your injuries masked the process. And, well, you weren’t completely lucid.”
“I would love to know how you make these men grovel like this. Frankly, I don’t see anything that amazing,” Tristan mumbled, eyeing Josh as if he was crazy.
Amelia opened her mouth to spit out something that she was sure she would regret, but she didn’t get the chance. Josh beat her to it. “Shut up, Tristan,” he seethed through clenched teeth.
Tristan raised a brow. “Josh, I think it’s time for you to take a break. Cole has been itching to help with her.”
Josh puffed out his chest, as if he was trying to make himself look bigger, and he narrowed his eyes to a ferocious glare. “I’m not leaving her.”
“I’m not asking,” Tristan said evenly. He stood up and started towards the door. “Get out, Josh, and send Cole in.”
Josh looked down at Amelia, and all the fight in him vanished. “Just try to do what he says,” he whispered, his voice was thick with emotion. “If you don’t fight him, he’ll be okay.”
Amelia looked at Josh, and for a minute, she almost wanted to comfort him and tell him that she’d be fine, but thankfully, she bit her tongue on the words. He’s the enemy, she reminded herself again, and she forced herself to look away from his sad puppy-dog eyes.
Tristan chuckled. “That’s something I’m going to have to stick around for. From what Erin has shown me, Amelia never does what she’s told.”
Josh bent down and kissed her cheek, ignoring Tristan, and letting his lips linger far too long. “Keep kissing me and Mitchell will cut off those lips when he finds you,” Amelia said, but to her dismay, the statement lacked conviction.
“I’m sure he will,” Josh murmured against her cheek, his sweet breath warming her a little. “Be good. Please.”
Amelia watched Josh walk away, and she had to fight the urge to beg him not to leave. She wasn’t sure if it was his charm, or the way Tristan was watching her as if she was seconds away from being a meal, or the fact that Cole seriously creeped her out that caused her heart to sink, but whatever it was, it was brutal.
Logically, she knew they were screwing with her. She could feel the pulsing energy all around her. They were altering her perception. Keeping her remotely calm and pulling the fight from her, but without any way to fight against it, it was a damn hard thing to remember, and Josh was looking better and better with every passing second. She hated to admit it, but there was something about him. Something gentle hidden behind the hard exterior he portrayed. Suddenly, Amelia found herself wondering if the gentle side was a figment of the magic or if it was real.