Vanish (Firelight #2)(56)

It’s not just him holding me. I clutch him closely. Our legs tangle and slip between each other’s.

It’s as if we are actually cleaving to each other in this moment . . . as if we’re diving toward our deaths. And I guess that’s the point. The act is meant to symbolize the death of our independent selves and the start of our union as one.

I don’t breathe. Can’t even if I wished to. We move at an incomprehensible speed, the air too fast to draw into my constricting lungs.

Suddenly, the clouds ease and clear. The mist and fog loosens. Inches before crashing into the earth’s hard skin, we spread our wings, pull up and set down gently within the ring of stones.

Together. In each other’s arms. Draki bonded.

I don’t spot my sister anywhere during the festivities that follow. I’m constantly surrounded, toasted, plied with food and well wishes.

As if I did not stand at the block a short time ago with cutters at my back. Now I’ve proven myself. Bonding with Cassian convinces my pride, at last, that I’m one of them. Even if they don’t fully trust me yet, they trust the bonding process . . . and they trust Cassian.

Through the festivities, I search for Tamra, but find no sight of her.

I need to see her. Need to make sure she’s all right. That we are. My face feels tight, eyes achy.

“Come,” Cassian murmurs, rising from the long table where we sit. His large hand encloses mine, the palm work-roughened against my skin. “It’s late.”

Over merry protests we leave the celebration together. But not before I spot Severin, drinking and smiling. Apparently his thoughts for his daughter are forgotten. His gaze meets mine and he lifts his glass in silent toast, happy to have me in his family, in his grasp at last.

He thinks he’s won. That I’m beaten.

“Leaving already?” Corbin steps in our path.

“Jacinda’s tired. She’s had a long day,” Cassian replies in a voice that reveals nothing.

Corbin glares at his cousin, his pupils vibrating slits. “And I’m sure you’re eager to tuck her in.”

My breath escapes in a hiss. Alarm fills me as the implication sinks in. Cassian and I are bonded now.

“Watch your mouth,” Cassian warns, his voice thick, his hand around mine tightening faintly. His anger comes to me full force, heavy as a great gust of fog. And it’s more than anger. It’s possession, need.

I flinch at the bombarding sensations and tug my hand from his, desperate to sever the contact, anything to lessen the link between us. Is this it then? What Mom spoke of? The connection? Are we forever each other’s emotional barometer? Great.

Corbin smiles widely and steps aside. “Of course.”

Reclaiming my hand, Cassian walks a hard line past his cousin, leading us away.

I follow him, sealing myself in a cocoon of numbness, hoping to keep him out—and me in. My legs move automatically. Only when we step on my porch, do I realize where we are.

“This is my house,” I say.

“My father said we’re to live here.”

I blink and glance around. I’ll live with Cassian here? At the home I grew up in?

And then I get it. No one else lives here anymore. No more Dad. Tamra’s with Nidia. Severin saw to it that Mom is out of the picture. It’s just me here. And now my bonded mate.

I stare at the front door like I don’t know it. And I guess I don’t. The house is no longer mine. It’s Cassian’s now. And by extension Severin’s, too.

A strange new world waits on the other side. A future with Cassian.

My stomach rebels, roils with acid. No. My future isn’t this. It’s not something foisted upon me. My future is mine. Something of my choosing. Something, I realize, that includes Will. I know that now more than ever.

I shake my head. How could I have told him that we didn’t belong together? He’s it—the one. The only one. No matter what he is, what I am. . . .

I’ll find a way to be with him again.

Cassian opens the door and together we enter the house.





Chapter 24

Despite the late hour, I take a bath, letting the warm water ease and soothe my tired and abused muscles. I linger, soaking in the water long after my skin shrivels to a prune, and I admit to myself that it’s more than relaxation holding me hostage in the bathroom.

I hear nothing outside the door. Rising from the water, I dry off and dress, leaving the sanctuary of the bathroom, ready to face Cassian. A hundred different words burn on my tongue, ready to spill free.

I peer inside my bedroom, glad to find him not there. With a shuddery breath, I move down the hall into the living room. He unfolds himself from the couch when I enter the room.

His gaze glides over me, lingering on the wet fall of my hair. Before I can say anything, he asks, “Which room do you want me to have?”

I blink even though that’s so very Cassian. Straight to the point.

He continues, “I imagine you’ll still want to sleep in your room. I can take Tamra’s or your mom’s room.”

Relief floods through me. I can’t deny that I worried about this moment, wondering at his expectations. Wondering at my reaction to him with this new . . . thing between us.

“T-Tamra’s room,” I supply. Having him spend his nights in my sister’s room strikes me as somehow fitting.