Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) Read online

  Bound by Prophecy

  Stormy Smith

  Perfect Storm Publishing, LLC

  Contents

  Title page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Epilogue

  A note from the author

  New book preview

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Where you can find me

  Bound by Prophecy

  Book three in the Bound Series

  By Stormy Smith

  Copyright ©2015 by Perfect Storm Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved worldwide.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover design by Toni Sarcone

  Editing by Monica Black of Word Nerd Editing

  For more information about this book and the author, visit http://www.stormysmith.com

  Created with Vellum

  For every person who has chased their dreams, this is proof you can catch them.

  1

  He was here. As he’d promised, Aidan came for me. Just days after the ordeal in Cresthaven, we met in our forest, in the dreamscape that had kept me sane and unknowingly connected me to him while we were apart.

  I had so many questions, but right now, all I could do was feel. Our magic twirled and tugged at each other playfully, and the relief of our bodies and souls being together again was more than I expected — almost more than my body could take. I had been fighting the Keeper for so long, it was all I could do to stay upright.

  He smelled of citrus and woods, like always. I tucked my head under his chin, remaining quiet. I wanted the confirmation of his heart beating under my ear. I needed to hear it and feel the light thump, thump under my cheek to know this was real. He was real. I worried I had concocted this fantasy in a desperate attempt to hide from the Keeper.

  When Aidan exhaled, I felt my hair lift and then float back down. The deflation in his chest created more room between us than I wanted, so I pulled him tighter to me. His hands traced up my back to grip my shoulders. He pushed me away from him slightly, then tipped my chin toward his face to look in my eyes.

  “Hey, there, doll.” His voice was barely a whisper. His fingertips moved from my chin so his hand could cup my cheek. I leaned into him for a brief second, closing my eyes. I still hadn’t spoken. I didn’t trust words right now. I didn’t trust anything but the power racing between us and the tingling sensations igniting where our skin touched.

  I should have been explaining. We should have been figuring out a plan. I couldn’t do any of that right now. I opened my eyes, wrapped my hands around Aidan’s neck, and pulled him down to me. His eyes widened and passion overtook his hesitation. He pulled me closer as our lips slanted across each other. The kiss began gently, an exploration of a person you knew so well, but who still felt unfamiliar. It was a confirmation that this was indeed where we should be. So much had happened in such a short time. We could have become different people and this shared moment could have been awkward and strange, but it wasn’t.

  It quickly grew more heated as the fears of the past few weeks bubbled to the surface. The realization that we were here, alive and together, stoked a fire inside us. Our connection was strong, our thoughts and emotions unfiltered and shared. As soon as I needed to be closer, Aidan lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and threaded my fingers through his hair as his tongue swept inside my mouth. He pulled away to trail kisses along my neck. I arched my back and leaned away to give him better access. I didn’t want him to stop. I didn’t want to leave this place. “I want to stay here forever,” I murmured as he continued.

  Abruptly, Aidan pulled back. His hair pointed in all directions and his breathing was ragged, but compassion filled his eyes. “You know we can’t stay here forever, Amelia,” he said softly as he touched his forehead to mine. “This is everything I’ve wanted, but there’s more at stake here than just us.”

  I released my ankles and slid down his body. As I stepped back, Aidan grasped my hand, maintaining our connection. I felt stronger for having it, but I already missed his closeness.

  “Amelia, talk to me,” he said, pleading and demanding all at once in the way only Aidan could. I couldn’t refuse him.

  “I remember the last few days like they were a dream,” I started. “More like a nightmare, really. A place I’ve been that seemed too real at the time but so far away now.” I paused and looked out into the trees.

  “Look at me.” This time, it was a demand.

  I turned and his blazing blue eyes caught me off guard. “I will protect you, Amelia. I will stop it from hurting you.”

  “But how, Aidan? Do you even know how? Right here, right now, I’m safe. I don’t know what this place is or how we found it, but this is the only place she isn’t torturing me trying to get to you. They were right, Aidan. We are the subjects of the prophecy. Something inside us is drawn to each other and the Keeper understands how to unlock the power we have. If she succeeds, if we can’t stop her and figure out how to use whatever this is for good, I will lose myself to her. And you don’t understand who I become when she is in control. I don’t want you to ever see that,” I finished, turning away from him. I took a few steps, but couldn’t keep going.

  Dropping to sit on the ground, I brought my legs into my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Since Cresthaven, I had been huddled in that same ball in one form or another, but Aidan wouldn’t have it. He sat beside me and pulled me onto his lap, my back against his chest and his mouth next
to my ear.

  “What I have seen is you using her power for more good than anyone has ever known. You freed those women, Amelia. We got them out — all of them. And one was reunited with her son. Elias and Nell are together again. More families will be together as the rest of the pack gets here. The Keeper needs to be controlled, I agree, but you are stronger than you think. What Cole did for you…”

  I had started to smile, his words the reassurance I needed, but when Aidan’s voice gave out, fear tightened every muscle in my body.

  “What? What is it?” I asked. I tried to turn, but I was lifted and set on my feet. It was one swift motion human Aidan could have never pulled off, but AniMage Aidan acted like I weighed nothing at all.

  “That’s it! Amelia, that’s how we’re going to do it!” Aidan paced, clearly still reasoning through his revelation while glancing at me excitedly every few seconds. “Yes. Cole is the key. He helped you handle her, right?” He gnawed on his bottom lip as he stared at me for confirmation.

  I stood there, confused and clueless. “Yes, he did, but, Aidan, she’s too much. And I got to a point where I couldn’t control how much I took from him. I don’t want to hurt my brother. He and my father are all I have left.” The instant the words were out of my mouth, I felt dread whip through him and knew something was wrong. His elation dropped to a crushing pain I didn’t want to feel, even secondhand. Aidan’s mouth flattened into a thin line and his jaw tensed.

  “Tell me,” I demanded, steeling myself. The emotion around Aidan only grew darker.

  He stepped in front of me and tried to take my hand, but I recoiled. “No, just tell me. You aren’t my crutch, Aidan. I have to stand on my own and start handling my life.”

  His head jerked to the side in obvious disagreement and he gripped my hand anyway. “You don’t need a crutch, but you do need to know you aren’t alone.”

  He paused and the hesitation drove my anxiety higher. Then, he spoke quickly and calmly. “Your father was killed in a fight with Rhi at Cresthaven. We were trying to get you out after the Keeper took over. I was holding you in my arms when Rhi came for us and Nathaniel tried to talk to him, but Rhi was so angry. He came at us, so they fought. We thought your father killed him, but Rhi faked his injury to get Nathaniel closer and caught him off guard.”

  I closed my eyes as the scene Aidan described played behind my lids.

  “Your father was protecting you, Amelia. He died a hero — saving you and the rest of us. If he hadn’t injured Rhi, there was no way any of us would have gotten out.”

  His words sliced through me, but I remained standing, my body frozen in shock. My hand itched to rub the soreness in my chest, to comfort the ache building. I never got to tell him I was sorry, or that I understood why he made the choices he had. I never told him I knew he loved me and I loved him as well, now more than ever. I never heard his stories of my mother, or what their lives were like before Queen Julia took over and our world collapsed.

  A vision of Rhi invaded my thoughts. His fiery eyes and twisted lips as he sneered at me, always gloating. First, he took my mother, and now, my father. Anger overtook my grief in one sweeping wave.

  “We have to find Rhi. I want him. I want to end him in the longest, slowest, most painful way possible. I need out of here. We need to find him,” I hissed out past my teeth, clenching my jaw tightly.

  He tried to pull me to him, but I refused, too angry to be tamed. I paced back and forth in front of Aidan while he stood still, his eyes following my movements.

  I couldn’t connect the dots. I couldn’t reconcile that my father was gone. I couldn’t stop the pain exploding in my chest or the tears pouring steadily down my cheeks into the dirt beneath my feet. I only just got my father back and now he was gone. Just another person Julia and her desperate need for power took from me. Cole was all I had left.

  “Where is Cole? I need to get to him. He can’t go through this alone. He knew Dad wasn’t who we thought he was before I did. He was reestablishing their relationship. You have to take me to him!” The words came out as one sob-wrecked mess as I balled Aidan’s sweater in my fists, clutching his chest.

  “He’s at Derreck’s, just like everyone else.” Aidan pulled me into his chest as I continued to cry. His arms wrapped around me and his power layered over mine, an attempt to calm the inferno of emotions I couldn’t contain.

  “Tell me about them,” I said into his chest. “Tell me about everything there and what’s happening. I just…I just need you to talk to me.” It was a plea. It was me begging for distraction, anything to focus on outside of my own pain. The father I had known was selfish, delusional, and devoid of love. But that wasn’t him at all, and I never got to know the real man beneath Rhi’s binds. Now, I would never know him. I needed a reason not to run back into the depths of my own head where I’d been hiding from the Keeper. I needed a reason to fight.

  “Tell me about your idea. Tell me how you’re going to get her out of me.”

  2

  One hand slid under Amelia’s hair to her neck, slowly massaging the base of her skull as I tried to get her to release her rigid stance. I made my breaths a little deeper and louder, encouraging her to breathe with me and slow the quick, sharp intakes that would lead her to a panic attack.

  It was strange to feel her power alone. Previously, I always felt the taint of the Keeper inside and around Amelia. Now, the bright pulsing violet light emanating from her core and filling the space around her was breathtaking. Her signature purple smoke wafted in the air around us, heaviest near her palms but spiraling up like the trail of smoke from a cigar on a still night, billowing outward in patterns I couldn’t describe.

  Neither of us understood why the Keeper couldn’t find us here, but I was still hesitant, and kept my power restrained. The air was charged around us, our power constantly reaching for each other. So I allowed the blue and violet smoke to intermingle, but not in the way my power wanted. My wolf howled in my mind, demanding dominance and a closeness between us I knew Amelia wasn’t prepared for.

  “Aidan?” My name, coming from those lips, said in a way only she could, drew me out of my own head. She tipped her head up as I looked down and I couldn’t stop myself from brushing my lips over hers. It was only a quick kiss, but I needed it. She had come and gone from my life more times than I wanted to think about, but there were no more half-truths between us, not anymore.

  “It isn’t a perfect plan, it isn’t even a full plan, but I do think I know where we need to start,” I said. I slowly pulled away from Amelia and took stock. She wasn’t crying anymore, and while I could feel her internal battle, she was calm. I pulled her toward a large log and we sat facing each other, both of us straddling the fallen tree.

  I couldn’t let go of her hands or miss a moment of contact. The electric current of power bounced between us and the pinpricks of heat I felt everywhere she touched were becoming necessities. The wolf continued to howl inside my mind and a growl built in the back of my throat. No one would take her from me again.

  Amelia must have sensed my emotional spike. She gripped my fingers tighter, and said, “I’m not going anywhere. It’s you and me, Aidan. We’re in this together. Talk to me. Tell me how I can just be me again. I want to see my brother, Bethany, and the women. I want to make sure the people who matter to me are okay. I was wrong. We can’t stay here. I have to get out.” Her gaze was so focused, so intent, I couldn’t look away.

  “With Cole’s help, I think you can temper the Keeper and Baleon can place binds in you to restrain her. We just have to keep her distracted for long enough.” I paused, then leaned in, looking Amelia directly in her eyes.

  “I need more time to handle the details, but once we have her bound, then we can find a way to fulfill the prophecy. I don’t know what it is yet, and I won’t lie to you, or sugar coat it. But, I know I can at least get you back to yourself so that we can figure it out.” I stopped talking and waited for her reaction. She had always wanted instant action
and I asked for patience.

  But this Amelia was not the same girl who left me only a few weeks ago. She was less impulsive and more thoughtful. Her eyebrows pulled together and her conflicted emotions clouded my mind. Her shoulders suddenly lifted and dropped back down as she shook her head back and forth in a short snap, as if needing to clear her mind before she spoke.

  “Yes, let’s do it. I have to do something, and I believe, together, we can beat her,” she said, nodding. “The only thing I’m worried about now is how long it will take. I don’t know what she will do to me when I’m back, or if she even knows I’m gone. All I know is she is relentless in trying to get to you. You have to stay as far from all this as you can. Get Bale to do it. Make Micah help. I don’t care. But you have to stay back.”

  Her grip on my hands increased. She smashed my fingers together and pulled me toward her. I felt her anxiety and her need to be close to me. She rose up off the log to meet me in the middle. She settled into my lap, her arms around my neck. We hadn’t disconnected for even a moment.

  I grasped her hips and realized again this wasn’t a dream. She was actually here. We kissed, inhaling and exhaling the same air, recycling the heat between us as our tongues circled and we pulled each other closer. I needed her. Maybe this was part of the prophecy, but my soul called for hers. My wolf howled, a longing sound I’d never heard, and it was all for her.