94 | SOUL SENSE

“Red?” A voice floats from somewhere far away, whisper soft in the back of my mind and right in my ear all at once. “Red, babe, open your eyes,” The voice becomes pleading, gruff and thick with emotion. I shiver as the foreign emotions slowly fill me, from a bond deep in my mind, soaking into me and warming me from the chill around me. “Fuck! Red, I’m serious!” I recognize it now, my brain finally breaking through the gauzy haze.

*Now he’s mad. Nice, Scarlett. Piss off your mate, why don’t you?* I mentally chide myself. At the same time, a surge of relief floods me from Blue’s side of the bond, wrapping me tightly in his suddenly overwhelming emotions. A headache begins pulsing to life and I hear myself make a noise of discomfort…though it doesn’t sound like the groan I think it should be.

“Don’t talk. Try not to move.” Blue growls at me aloud, his emotions retracting a degree, but the headache’s only getting worse. My jaw and lungs are burning horribly, each little thump of my heartbeat echoed with a stab of pain all throughout my body.

*What the fuck happened?* I silently wonder, the annoyed though prickling through my brain on a wave of the particularly sharp pain. *Did I get shoved through a meat grinder or something?*

“No, you screwed with-” Blue groans, and I can just feel something pressing into my neck, hot breath fans out over my mark. I slowly become aware that I’m in my mate’s arms…his lap more like. He’s holding onto me rather possessively, one arm around my shoulders, the other under my knees, in a cradle-hold.

I can’t move, even when I try to pry my eyelids apart to look at my mate, I find I just can’t. They’re not covered, from what I can tell, nothing’s restraining me, but I can’t move. As far as I can tell, I’m barely breathing. The slow crawl of my heart’s beat leats me know I’m alive and well, my body’s functional, but I have no control over my own body or voice. Panic starts to rise in me, fear that I’m either paralyzed or irreparably injured in some other way has me mentally freaking out.

“Calm down,” Blue soothes against my skin, nuzzling what feels like a five ‘o clock shadow against my sensitive skin. “You’re healing is all, don’t freak out.” He continues gently, his arm around my shoulders stroking up and down my arm.

I can feel each touch as if it were a normal day now. But I can’t move. I try to reconcile this with what I remember, struggling to make the mental-leap that will tell me what the hell’s happened and why I feel so weak-

And then everything begins to slowly fill in as my memories begin to come to the surface. *My Pack. The Revenant. The shit I pulled with the chords. The Command*. My body quivers violently and Blue’s arms tighten around me.

“Easy, Red.” Blue murmurs softly, mentally sending calm emotions through me, soothing thoughts and memories. Anything to keep me calm. The tension drains from me as I soak it in, taking the comfort and trying my best to let everything settle into it’s proper place in my head.

“Everyone’s fine. The Revenant’s been spotted back in Colton. Your cousins have been monitoring the situation and keeping the rest of us updated. You Pack’s back in their own territory, for now. I managed to get them settled while you were out - a week - almost eight days. I was- I thought-” His voice gets stuck on that last part and I can feel huge doses of fear and grief radiate off him. “I wasn’t sure you’d wake up, and then I could hear your heartbeat and-” He lets out a hitching breath. I think nothing as I mentally sooth him, trying to let him know I’m alright - for the most part - even if I’m not able to move just yet. “The bond’s been so quiet,” He murmurs, shivers wracking his body as he tightens his hold on me, rubbing his cheek along my neck and jaw.

When enough time’s passed that we’ve both settled back down, I dare to ask something that’s had me worried.

*Mom?* I ask through the bond, knowing he can feel my hesitation to ask about her condition. I’ve been away from her for two weeks now.

“She’s the same. Taking her tea and drinking the potions the witch left behind on schedule.” Blue replies aloud. “She did freak a bit when Your Pack brought you onto Azure lands after the Revenant attacked. I felt the fight in the bond, but I couldn’ sense where they were taking you until they crossed the borders into the territory.” He explains before I can ask. “Every time you use that vamp-gift the bond…I don’t know, glitches? I can’t feel you like I normally can. It’s like you disappear for a few seconds, and then there was nothing.” Blue shudders again and starts burying his face into my neck again. “I knew you weren’t gone but it was like you…went somewhere else. Somewhere I couldn’t go.” I mentally search through what he’s trying to explain, but there’s really no clear way he can describe it.

Really, the way he said it was as close to what he’d felt as I can explain. It had been like I was there one moment, and gone the next. As if my life-force had flickered or something. Cold creeps down my spine at the analogy as I recall the black-cloaked figure in my memories when I tugged too tightly on the chords.

“That…fuck, that doesn’t sound good, Red.” Blue hisses, his grip around me becoming almost painful before he eases up again. “That sounds a lot like-” He stops himself, a few curses fluttering from his mouth after a second as he cuts himself off.

It’s then my nose registers the scent of Death.

“Nikki,” Blue growls her name like a curse, though he keeps the bite from getting too sharp. “I’ve been trying to call you.” He grits out, and I can feel just how pissed he is that the Ancient hasn’t once answered the ‘call’.

“I am aware.” Nikki tells him warily. “I’m afraid I was…dealing with an issue. It has been resolved.” By her tone, I know she’s probably exhausted. “I see Scarlett’s awake,” Nikki announces in her calm, and airy voice. “How are you feeling, dear?”

“She’s in pain.” Blue tells the Ancient without me first clearing the subject of my well being to be discussed. “She can’t move, though. Can’t speak out load or move any of her muscles voluntarily. Her breathing is shallow and her heart’s slow.” Blue continues despite my annoyance at being talked about, but in all fairness, it’s not like I can expect him to play go-between for us. It’s best he gives Nikki everything before something comes up or gets in the way of important information.

“Hm,” I feel cool fingers trace over my forehead - from one temple to the other. My body shudders, almost reflexively, at the feel of the Ancient’s touch. There’s an odd soreness in me, so deep inside I can’t pinpoint what it is that’s sore, just that it’s there. “I see.” Nikki sighs after a moment, removing her hand. There’s along pause where I know both Blue and I expect her to continue. She doesn’t.

“What’s wrong?” Blue grits out, doing his best to be respectful to the being. There’s another pause, and I know Blue’s about to start yelling at Nikki soon if she doesn’t answer, when she finally speaks.

“Her soul’s…unhinged.” Nikki tells Blue softly, like she’s thinking of another word. “I can bind it, temporarily, but if she dies while the seal is in place…”

“She won’t.” Blue growls fiercely, almost desperately. “You have to help her. No one else knows how.” He insists in a more pleading tone. He loosens his hold on me incrementally as he speaks, as if offering me out to the Ancient.

“That is not a promise you can make for her, Zane.” Nikki chides gently. I know it’s the wrong thing to say to an Alpha, especially considering I’m his mate, no matter how true the words are, but Nikki either doesn’t care or isn’t aware of that fact.

“Just do it. We’ll worry about the consequences later.” Blue snaps at the Ancient, again, jerking my body in his arms as if he were offering me to the woman in white.

“Alright, but we, all three of us, need to have a conversation about her use of time.” By the way Nikki says it, I know she means the vamp-gift and not how I spend my time. “Scarlett, dear, this is not going to feel good.” She warns a second before her cool touch presses to my forehead and the world explodes.