What the hell is going on? I look around to see if I can find the source of what’s happening, but I don’t see anything.
“The bond,” Zeph chokes out, pointing to Treno before whatever is happening to us steals the last of his ability to speak, or move, or do anything other than start to die slowly.
The bond is doing this to us? I ask myself as I try to make sense of it all. I feel my brain starting to grow more sluggish, and it gets harder to grasp the threads I’m trying to hang onto. Is someone doing this to us through the bond? I blink slowly and start to feel my body relax in a way that makes me even more terror-stricken. My body is giving in, when I want it to battle. But battle against what, I scream at myself as I fight futilely against the black specks now dotting my vision.
8
A flash of light explodes to my right, blinding me, and by the time I blink my eyes back into focus, I spot a man standing over Treno like he’s looking for something on his body. Alarm joins my panic, but it’s getting hard to keep my thoughts focused. Everything is starting to feel fuzzy and muted, and my body just lets go, all fight officially sapped from every cell in my body.
“Fuck!” the man growls. “How is your brother getting to you again?” he demands, frustration bleeding out of his tone.
Lazza? Lazza is doing this?
“Where is it?” The man with the cropped white hair and Cristal-colored eyes grumbles. “I took care of the Vow. Lazza shouldn’t be able to get to all of you still,” he defends.
He took care of the Vow. Who is this guy? When did he take care of the Vow?
“Where is the rune Lazza is using right now?” the tall beautiful man demands of Treno, but Treno can’t answer as his arms fall limp and his head starts to loll back.
“By the stars, of course your bloodline has been sneakier than they should have been. Why didn’t I see that though?” he asks himself, oddly. “Where’s your other mark, Altern?” he frustratedly snarls again before he flips Treno onto his other side and searches his body.
“If I have to touch your cock to look for this thing, I’m not going to be pleased,” the unfamiliar man grumps. “Where are you hiding your sneaky little rune?” he sing-songs, and then his eyebrows shoot up with knowing.
He abandons his efforts to untie Treno’s pants and brushes the white strands of Treno’s hair back from the side of his head. He looks behind his ear and then shouts. “Got ya!”
The man presses his hand over Treno’s left ear, and a glow comes to life under his palm.
All at once, the crushing feeling in my lungs, throat, and limbs abates, and I gasp to pull oxygen into my body. I hear the others doing the same, coughing and heaving as we all try to recover from whatever the hell Lazza just tried to do to us.
I keep my eyes trained on the stranger as he pushes away from Treno and looks around at the rest of us while shaking his head. His champagne-colored eyes seem to be debating something as he takes us in, and then his gaze lands on mine. His concerned eyes soften, and he comes nearer.
I wheeze and stiffen.
“Pidge, I may need you,” I tell her, checking in quickly to make sure she’s okay. I feel her observing everything intently, guarding and assessing the situation, but she doesn’t seem to feel threatened by whoever this is, so I take that into consideration as I refocus on him.
“Don’t be afraid, Falon. I’m not here to hurt you. I’ve been watching your threads closely and saw you were in need of me again. That’s the only reason I’m here,” he explains, but I have no fucking clue what he’s talking about.
Watching my threads?
“I hoped, when I took care of the Altern’s Vow, that you would be able to make it to me on your own—and that maybe all of you would be in a better place when you did—but I think given what just happened again, it might be best to let go of those hopes and just get the group of you to safety.”
“Who are you?” I croak, rubbing my neck as if that will make it all better. Damn, between my throat being slit and whatever Lazza just did to phantom strangle us, I’m worried my vocal cords may never fully recover.
Zeph would be so pleased.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been watching you for so long it makes me feel like we’re old friends,” he tells me on a laugh. “I’m Wekun,” the strange champagne-eyed man declares, offering his hand.
I give it the side-eye. There he goes with that whole watching thing again. I scan his chiseled frame and take a moment to study his handsome face and stunning eyes. Nope. Still not okay with the whole watching me thing.
Before I can say anything about how not cool stalking is, Wekun looks to the side. “Now, now, Syta, is that any way to thank the person who just saved your life?” Wekun asks, and I follow his stare to find Zeph crawling to his feet with murder in his golden gaze.
“For all I know, you’re the one who tried to kill us in the first place, Ouphe scum, and you’re just blaming Lazza so we fall into your trap. You seem to have a habit of showing up when tainted magic is in the air and claiming that you’re there to help,” Zeph growls and then spits on the ground, punctuating exactly how he feels about our visitor. Surprisingly though, Zeph doesn’t make
