Chapter 90

“I am tired of my entire world being turned upside-down by people trying to take what is mine. Because Maya, you are mine! My mate! I may share you with three other people but in my heart, you have always been mine. I am tired of people coming into our lives and pulling you away from me. You are a part of me, and every time you slip through my grasps a part of me feels like it dies. So, no. I won’t let you go! Not now, not ever!” Tommy says standing and moving toward Maya and pulling her to her feet.

“Tommy I…” Maya begins to say but her words are lost when Tommy leans forward and brings their lips together.

When he pulls away, he looks her deep into her eyes.

“You need to promise me though, that from here out we have no secrets, and we do this together. Promise?” He asks.

“I promise.” Maya says with a whisper.

“Then I guess it’s decided.” Noah says with a clap. “Now we need to know everything about Will and your brother’s plan.”

Maya turns to look at him and offers him a weak nod. She tries to step away from Tommy, but he holds her firmer to him.

“We will give you two a minute to talk.” Thomas volunteers giving the others a look and the stand and head toward the stairs.

Once Maya and Tommy are alone, he buries his face into the side of her neck and holds her tight.

“Maya…please can we just stay like this for a minute.” Tommy asks with a whisper.

“Ok.” Maya says back wrapping her arms around him as well.

“I feel like I have lost you a thousand times. Please don’t ever leave me again, Ok?” Tommy asks his voice cracking slightly.

“I won’t leave you Tommy, I promise.” Maya replies wiping a stray tear away and letting her head rest on tommy’s shoulder.

The pair stood holding each other like that for some time, letting their voices fall silent. Maya felt safe in Tommy’s arms. He was right, they had been mates before the others and there would always be a special bond between them. So much had been going on and Maya had noticed Tommy pulling away from her little by little, and she assumed out of all of them he would be the one who would want to walk away.

“Tommy…” Maya says softly.

“Hmm?”

“I’m so sorry! You have had to deal with all of this and feel like everyone is taking me away, and I have been so focused on everything that I didn’t even realize you were hurting so badly.” Maya swallowed as her throat tightened with the urge to cry. “I have really missed you.”

Tommy smiles still holding Maya tight. “I have missed us. That short time when it was just the two of us. Even though for a minute there I created a huge mess, it was us.”
He pulls away enough to look at his mate and Maya smiles up at him, reminding him of all those moments they shared that seemed so long ago. She had changed so much since then, and he could see it in the weakness of her smile. She was tired, so close to breaking apart. When had things become this bad where he too hadn’t seen how bad she had become. He had been angry, brooding to himself about stuff that now seemed pointless and selfish.

Pride and possessiveness had filled him with anger toward Maya and his friends. He tried his best not to show it, but he was ready to walk away, the struggle to not lose himself had become too hard. Yet here he was with the girl he had fallen head over heels for holding up the entire world on her shoulders. Fighting at every turn to just make it out of this alive, and all he had been thinking about was not getting enough attention from her. How stupid he felt when he thought of the way his thoughts had become so selfish!

She was apologizing to him when all she had wanted was to be free and live happily with him and the others. Why had he let himself think she would ever want anything more than just to live peacefully? Had he really forgotten who she was deep down? Her powers and everything she had grown into in such a short time hadn’t changed her, she was still the girl he met all those months ago. He realized he had been the one who had changed. The one so willing to give up right when his girl needed him most!
It was time to grow stronger together and fight for the life they all wanted. Their enemy may have changed, but the goal was still the same.

“I think we should call the others down now so we can talk about what we are going to do.” Tommy placed his hands on Maya’s face and leaned down to kiss her gently.

“Let’s end this finally. Yeah?”

Maya let out a sigh. “Please.”

Tommy nodded and kissed her head before pulling her in for one last hug.

****

“So, after Freddie had spent a few months working from my uncle he learned that our father had been used by the Fae council as well. They had agreed to his father’s terms because they had hoped a child would be born that could undergo the soul bond. When they heard that my mother was trying to escape with the man she really loved, they used that chance to see if the line of Fae-werewolf hybrids had produced a child strong enough to withstand the process. Somehow, they were able to perform the bond with my brother inside my mother as well without harming him. Maybe they figured he could be their back up plan if I died during the bonding, I don’t really know. Their plan this whole time seemed to be creating well me. Someone who would be seen in the supernatural world as someone powerful enough to rule them all and bring peace. Or so they claim. My uncle isn’t convinced and thinks they created a leader that they would mold and control into doing what they want.” Maya explains to her mates.

“So, his plan to temporarily remove your powers what will that do?” Noah asks.

“Well, my father lost his power over time. He wants me to claim that I had noticed some of my powers fading until one morning I woke up and they were gone. He thinks the council will panic and their focus on trying to recover their plans will leave them vulnerable to attack. He says they have a few in the Fae world on their side, and ready to open the portal as soon as the Council is distracted.” Maya sighs and takes a moment before continuing. “The danger is that I am not sure what will happen once my powers are gone. There is a chance it could be permanent, there is just no way to know. The witch we spoke to said she can do it, but it has never been attempted before. The spell had been a fail-safe in case previous rulers became too dangerous, but it’s never actually been used.”

“And if your powers are gone there is a chance it can break the bond between us?” Eli asks hesitantly.

“Not exactly. The Fae did create the bond between us, but the longer we have been together the stronger that bond between us has grown. It will take more than the loss of my powers to reverse it.” Maya replies.

“What do you mean, didn’t your brother say it would be reversed?” Noah asked face furrowed in confusion.

“Yes, but he didn’t get a chance to really explain everything in depth. From what the witch said, the Fae bound our souls. Have you heard of the thread of fate? In some cultures, they believe two people are connected by this thread, but when they meet it takes far more for the relationship between them to grow and mature. The thread holds them to each other, but they are still two people who have to work for their bond to grow. We were all tied together, but our bond was solidified as our relationships grew. That kind of bond can’t be easily broken, it would have to be reversed as my brother said. There is a way, but it would be extremely painful and dangerous. The way the witch described it was like having a piece of you ripped from your body while you are wide awake, but if a bond between us were to weaken by one of you no longer wanting to be bound to me…then the process would be less painful.” Maya tried her best to explain, but it was a little over her head when the witch explained it to her.

“Ok. Well as we have all agreed, none of us are interested in breaking up our little group. I sure as hell do not want to go through some witch voodoo that will make me feel like I am being torn apart. Do we all agree on that?” Tommy asks looking to the others, sounding a lot like his old self again.

The others nod.

“So, the only thing left to worry about is what this witch plans on doing to you. How long is this spell supposed to last?” Tommy asks looking to Maya.

“She said a day or two at most. So, the plan is to meet with the Fae long enough for them to see that my powers are gone. My brother will get me out of there as soon as my uncle arrives with his men.” Maya replies.

“No.” Thomas says suddenly, the others turning to look at him.

“What?” Tommy asks.

“I mean I don’t want your brother being the one who pulls you out. I’m sorry Maya, but we don’t know him well enough to entrust your life to him completely. I don’t know about you guys, but I want to be there to be sure Maya is safe.” Thomas says, words firm with no room for negotiations.

“I agree. We all go.” Tommy says.

“I agree too! We are not splitting up, not anymore! We all go in and we all come out!” Eli adds.

“I am with them. We are stronger together, and if you are going to be weakened by the spell you will need all the help you can get!” Noah chimes in, bringing them all into agreement.

“There you have it. So, when do we leave?” Tommy asks looking to Maya.

“Two days. We leave in two days”