Chapter 7
Ciyrs woke up and felt the bed beside him. The sheet was cold, and he jumped up in a panic. She was gone. He stormed through the cabin and roared. The windows shook and pictures crashed to the floor shattering the glass. The front door was open and he glared out into the sun. There was a strange silence as if the land was scared.
He raced to the Great House and pounded on the door without stopping. The king opened the door and the smile he had on his face fell immediately.
“No!”
“She’s gone. I don’t know how. I stayed with her all night. But she’s fucking gone, and I’m terrified.”
The King closed his eyes and sent a message. He was able to call to the warriors. In a matter of a few minutes, every warrior was climbing the stairs. Pyra and Eden attached by each other’s side came to him. Eden threw her arms around him. She felt his pain and he sobbed into her hair. “She’s gone baby doll. I failed.”
He pulled back and looked at his feet. “You were right. She needed a warrior, not some useless healer like me.” He couldn’t take it, and when the king went to speak he shook his head and he was gone. It was his fault. His stupid possessiveness put her in danger, and now he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t a warrior. He was just a healer. He had magic, but it wasn’t enough to bring her back.
He went into the infirmary where he belonged and fell to the floor sobbing like he never had before. It was bad enough he always felt this way, but now his own uselessness had been reaffirmed. He would never be strong. Not like his brothers.
It wasn’t long before the doors opened and every warrior and the king filed into his space. The infirmary was his.
It was the king who approached him. He wrapped Ciyrs in his arms and held him.
“You are not useless, and if we have in any way made you feel inferior then we apologize.”
The rest of the warriors all agreed with loud voices. When Criea pulled back he saw the others waiting expectantly.
Eden was the only woman, but she was who he needed. She stepped around Pyra and took his hand. “You can find her. You’re connected, I can feel it. The bond has started and your eyes are still orange.”
He nodded. They’d begun the bond all right.
“Then focus, just like you taught me when healing. Focus on her. Her scent, the feel of her skin, the sound of her heart. Listen to your heart; it will lead you to her.”
He nodded again and closed his eyes.
It was so dark, so cold. I shivered and tears soaked my skin and shirt. It wasn’t him. “I feel her.”
“Go back Ciyrs, find your mate.”
The sound of the lock made me shake in fear. They were back and he was going to touch me again. Get inside my head. He’d tricked me before, and now I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. This time when he came he looked like—ME
Ciyrs’s eyes shot open and he gasped. “Illusions. Those fuckers have her!”
The room erupted in loud shouts and promises of retribution. “The Klimnu are stronger than we knew. Those things can take on our appearances. It’s why they can walk through the compound without much notice. How the hell do they do that?”
Eden sobbed. “She’s so scared.”
“You feel her?”
“Yes, she—she doesn’t understand. She thought it was Pyra at the door, she let him in.”
Pyra froze. “I didn’t fucking go to her cabin.”
“No, but one of them knew she would trust you. How are they getting so much information on us?”
“They’re here somewhere we haven’t searched. They have to be,” Pyra replied and he growled anger taking over.
It wasn’t going to be good if all the warriors lost it right now. They needed to be calm and work together to find Eliana.
Eden stomped her foot and yelled. “STOP!” the whole building shook with her rage and her eyes glowed with anger. She fisted her hands and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Focus, Ciyrs’s mate is in the hands of one of those slimy bastards. We can’t let them do to her what they did to me. I feel her. She’s terrified. I don’t know why I feel her, maybe it’s because of our bond, but I literally feel like my heart is being ripped from my chest. So buck up Warriors you’re going on a mission. Get our fucking mate back!”
The men were all stunned to silence. She was commanding, and no one wanted to cross her. They all shut up and the king smirked, “Well, if I need to get them in line again I know who to call. But now Eden you need to focus too, between you and Ciyrs you should be able to find her.”
She nodded and grabbed his hands and closed her eyes. He let his eyes close too. The feel of her hands in his reassured him, but there was only darkness, and in the distance he thought he heard whimpering.
‘Tell me girl!’
‘I don’t know. I’ve only been there one day.’
He cackled and she cringed. ‘How are you so close to the healer then?’
She shook her head refusing to speak.
Pain tore through her shoulders as his claws dug into her skin, sinking into her flesh, ripping, tearing. She screamed a blood curdling scream, but it did no good.
Eden gasped and yanked her hands away from him. His body shook. “They’re hurting her. Trying to get information. She refused.”
Eden paled, and then she vomited all over the floor. He caught her before she fell to the floor. He carried her to the table.
“I felt it.”
“No more, you can’t take the stress. We have to think of the baby.”
“I need to help find her.”
“No we can’t risk you baby doll. I’ll have to focus harder on my own.”
Despair filled him. He’d felt her pain too. They were going to torture his mate, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. It seemed like the damned Klimnu were always one step ahead of them.