Chapter 114: Grace
I was standing outside in the cold with Rhys. It was warmer out than yesterday evening, but the wind was cutting straight through my hoodie, making it feel like I had on nothing. We had gotten ready slowly. Rhys had worshipped my body, massaging a good portion of the kinks out of me from the lots of ‘exercise’ I had gotten yesterday.
Rhys was convinced that if I made myself one with nature, my Lycan would be more inclined to break through. I wasn’t sure if the bristle I felt in my chest was my Lycan or just anxiety about what we were trying to do, but it was something.
“So what exactly do you want me to do here?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to stave off the cold.
“Well how is your Lycan feeling?” Rhys asked a little uncertainly. It seemed he was just as lost as I was with this even if he was faking confidence.
“I feel cold.” I told him sarcastically.
“No, not you, your Lycan. Does she like being out in nature?”
“Rhys, I have no idea.”
“Well, let’s go for a run. Maybe that will help bring her out.”
“If she’s bound, I don’t think she’s going to just come out because we’re in nature.” I argued.
“But she started to break free when Ethan tried to take you, which makes me think she’s breaking out of her bonds.”
“And before you told me that would be bad if she did that.”
“Well, that was then, and this is now. We’ll face the consequences of her breaking free when it happens, but you have to allow her to take over Grace.”
“I don’t feel anything to take over.” I responded.
Rhys sighed in frustration, but I did as he said. We went for a long run that warmed me right up but had no effect on my Lycan. We then tried meditating by the fire, but again, all I felt was a slight inkling that I wasn’t alone, a bristle of something else inside of me, but nothing more. I didn’t even want to tell Rhys that I felt anything because I knew he would feel hopeful, and I didn’t feel hopeful at all when I could be imagining the whole thing.
After both of those failed attempts, Rhys decided we needed to eat, and he made nearly raw steaks for us. I knew that was another attempt at trying to draw my Lycan out, but again it failed.
After we spent half the morning and most of the afternoon trying to pull my locked away Lycan out, we settled in from a movie. Rhys said it was vacation, but so far it felt like a lot of work.
On the third day, Leon had set up a little art studio for us to take our minds off the failed hypnosis we had tried late that night. I hated that I was letting Rhys down. With each failed idea, he became a little more dejected. I knew how bad he wanted this to work, but I had known that this was exactly how it was going to go. I wasn’t new to the game.
Rhys and I painted our canvases, looking out over the snow-covered landscape out our back door. We both knew it would be prettier if we actually went outside and looked at the view he had proposed over, but neither of us wanted to actually go outside anymore.
A knock at our door drew both of our attention away from our painting.
“Were we expecting someone?” I asked with a frown.
“Not this early, but yes.” Rhys answered cryptically.
I furrowed my brow, but didn’t say anything as Rhys walked over to the door. His eyes glazed over, and I knew he was talking to someone before finally opening the door.
To my surprise, Leon stood there with what looked like a young girl, who looked to be no more than 12. And my confusion only grew.
“Grace,” Rhys called me over to him, “This is Sandra. She is a witch, and she says she’s ready to unbind your Lycan.”
I swallowed hard. He really wasn’t giving up on this issue. I hadn’t thought that he was being serious either when he said that he was bringing in the witch he had been telling me about, but clearly, I was wrong.
“So how does that work?” I asked nervously.
I hated the inkling of anxiety that was growing in me. What if she rebounded my Lycan instead? What if all of the progress I had made, if you could call it that, was suddenly wasted because trusted the wrong person?
“It’s a ritual to the Moon Goddess. If she favors you, it will be simple. If you are not in her favor, it is still possible, but much harder on the mind and body. You will lay on those cushions, and I can begin.” She said simply, brushing off my concern like it was nothing.
“Yea... I need to talk to my mate for a second, excuse us.” I smiled politely at Sandra and dragged my mate to the only blocked off space in the whole damn place, the bathroom.
“What’s wrong?” Rhys asked, his eyes scanning my face for something, but what I wasn’t sure.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked bluntly.
“Well, I don’t have another solution. I’m back to fearing if you break out yourself, you might do damage to yourself since nothing is working like I hoped it would. And I’ve worked with Sandra on occasion before. This situation is just the first time I had ever needed her in person...”
“And how much do we trust that she isn’t working for Red Blood again?” I asked, unable to contain my fear.
“She said before she hadn’t worked with them since binding you all those years ago.” Rhys said dumbly.
“And you trust that?” I pressed.
“Grace, what is this really about?” Rhys asked running his hand tiredly over his face, the way I had seen him do so many times before.
“How much are you paying her to do this?” I ignored his question.
This caught his attention. “What?”
“How much are you paying her to do this?” I repeated.
“More than I care to admit,” He answered uneasily. “Her price is high.”
“Double it.”
“Grace, I don’t understand what’s wrong right now...” He said in an exasperated tone, which was only emphasized by our harsh whispers.
“I am not risking being bound again.” I told him flatly. “I don’t want her to act like an alliance while they are paying her more to do her dirty work.”
“I thought we discussed that they need you. I don’t think they would do that.”
“I don’t care.” I answered firmly. “We don’t know why they need me. It could just be to subdue me again. I’m not doing it again, Rhys. So, double whatever you are paying her to make it harder for her to double-cross us.”
“But if they already paid her our money isn’t going to do shit.”
“Then offer her something that isn’t money.” I told him firmly. “But I’m not doing it unless we offer her something to guarantee she isn’t going to bound me again.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
