Haven 3: Forgotten Sins (13 page)

“What’s happening?” Phillip whispered, his eyes darting about them frantically. “This isn’t right. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen.” He grabbed at Nicholas’s shoulder, looking less like the maniac of moments before and more like a scared little boy. “Do something.”

Nicholas rolled to the side to sit on the grass beside his brother and shook his head. “I don’t know how.” When the first grisly specter appeared just feet in front of him, he really wished he’d had a better answer. Huddling closer to Phillip, Nicholas stared in wide-eyed shock as several more gruesome spirits appeared out of thin air, each more horrible than the last.

Looking past the angry ghosts, Nicholas stared at Jonas’s unmoving and lifeless body where it was still crumpled on the ground. His fierce defender was now nothing more than a shattered memory of the man he’d once been.

Grief and sadness welled up in his heart, and tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. He had no guarantee of what would happen after he died, but he hoped he’d be reunited with the man he loved. Jonas said death was nothing to fear, and in that moment, staring at his broken warrior, Nicholas welcomed an end to the pain ripping at his heart.

He couldn’t fight what was coming. There was no way out of the mess Phillip had created for them. Heartache over losing the man he loved had driven his brother mad, and for the first time, Nicholas understood the unrelenting anguish Phillip must have felt.

“I forgive you,” he whispered to Phillip as he closed his eyes and waited for the end.

“Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness. Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night.” Opening his eyes, Nicholas looked over his shoulder to find Torren struggling against the ropes binding him to the headstone as he chanted the words. How he could have forgotten that they had a powerful witch on their side, he’d never know.

Scrambling across the ground on his hands and knees, he unsheathed his dagger and began sawing at the thick ropes wrapped around Torren’s torso. Once he’d finished with those, he set to work on the ropes around the witch’s ankles and wrists.

When Torren was free, he jumped up from the ground and rushed forward to stand beside Phillip. “Get up and join hands,” he ordered, never taking his eyes away from the angry and advancing spirits.

Nicholas didn’t waste any time as he hurried to join him.

Grabbing his brother under the arms, he jerked Phillip to his feet and dragged him several feet back before shaking him roughly. “Join hands!”

Nodding dazedly, Phillip took Nicholas’s hand in one of his and Torren’s in the other. “Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness.

Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night.” Over and over, faster and faster, they chanted the words as the souls of the banished moved ever closer.

Thundering footsteps raced over the ground but stuttered to a halt just outside their circle as their friends and allies stopped and gaped at them.

“Join in!” Torren shouted at them, releasing Nicholas’s hand and reaching for Kieran.

“We’re not witches!” Ridley argued, yelling to be heard over the vicious wind.

“It doesn’t matter,” Phillip responded, finally coming out of his stupor. “Join in the circle, damn it!” Every man gave one look at the gruesome and grisly horde closing in on them and shuddered before moving quickly to join hands. Once the circle was closed, Nicholas immediately began chanting again, giving his friends a hard stare to get them chanting as well.

Then he closed his eyes and focused all the energy inside of him.

“Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness. Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night,” they all shouted in unison again and again.

The wind quieted, slowing diminishing in its strength, and the temperature began to rise. Nicholas’s palms heated where they met with Torren’s and Phillip’s. Without warning, a blast of wind exploded from the center of their circle, barreling into them with enough force to knock them all off their feet.

Landing on his back with a grunt, Nicholas rolled to his side and panted for breath as he searched the night for their enemies.

Everything was quiet, though. No ghosts, no howling wind, no dark, foreboding clouds—even the fog began to roll away.

The only evidence that they’d just fought for their lives and won was the presence of a brother he’d thought was dead, and a mate who really was.

“Do something!” Nicholas begged as he scrambled across the ground to his fallen mate. “Jonas, wake up.” Holding the tears back by sheer willpower, he cradled his mate’s head in his lap and stroked his hair back from his face. “No, no, no. Jonas, no.” The danger had passed, the rage at his brother had faded, and all that was left was the debilitating pain that gripped his heart and squeezed until it bled.

“Phillip, fix this!” he screamed. “You did this. Fucking fix it!”

The tears streamed down Phillip’s cheeks, and he shook his head as he eased to the ground beside Nicholas. “I’m sorry, Nicky. I can’t fix this.”

“Bullshit! You can. Do you really hate me so much?”

“I did,” Phillip whispered. “I never meant any of that shit, Nicky. It just hurt so much when Andre died, and I let the grief control me and pollute my brain. I didn’t just hate you. I hated everyone.”

“Fuck you,” Nicholas whispered. “I don’t want your fucking excuses or apologies! I want you to bring him back, goddamn it!”

“Nicky…”

“No!” Nicholas roared. “What happened with Andre was an accident. You…
You
took Jonas from me. It wasn’t enough that you kept us apart for all those years with your stupid curse, or tried to kill him with that gold dagger? No, you couldn’t let it go until you ripped us apart. Well, you can take your remorse and shove it up your ass.”

All he wanted was for Phillip to disappear again. Do not pass go. Do not collect two-hundred dollars. Just go straight to hell. Was that really too much to ask for?

Phillip started chuckling, quietly at first, but it grew louder and more maniacal with each passing second. “I can’t believe you were able to stay away from him for so long. I had to do something when you wouldn’t claim him, so I followed you two down to the pond. How else was I supposed to get my Andre back?”

“You’re crazy.” His brother had completely snapped.

Running one finger along the side of Jonas’s face, Phillip grinned sadistically. “I wonder how long it will take you to lose your mind. How long do you think you’ll last, Nicky? Was it worth it? Was his blood sweet when you sank your fangs through his neck and claimed him?”

“Would someone please fucking arrest him already?” Ridley huffed and waved a hand at Phillip.

Varik, Demos, and Devlin stepped forward and dragged Phillip to his feet none too gently. “Hands behind your back, asshole,” Varik snarled at him.

“Ha!” Phillip laughed. “Or what? Are you going to kill me? Haven’t you heard? I can’t die!”

Cian Murphy pushed through the crowd and marched right up to Phillip. Then he hauled off and decked him in the mouth. Phillip’s head snapped back on his shoulders, and Cian took the opportunity to jab a needle into his neck and depress the syringe. Seconds later, Phillip was out cold. “Maybe he can’t die, but that should be keepin’ him quiet.”

“What was that?” Varik asked, though he seemed unconcerned about the answer.

“Inhibitor,” Cian answered with a shrug. “It’ll keep the shifters from changin’, but wouldn’t ya know, it’ll knock anyone else on their arse, ya see.”

Nicholas vaguely registered the conversation in some corner of his mind, but most of his attention was focused on the man in his arms.

He’d never see Jonas smile at him again. They’d never make love in the shower or sit down to dinner together again. He’d never hear Jonas tell him he loved him, or call him Nicky.

Life as he knew it had ceased to exist, yet the world still continued to spin. “I need that book.”

“No,” Kieran answered firmly. Then he sighed and scrubbed at his face. “I’m sorry. I am, but he’s gone. It’s not right to try to bring him back because you can’t bear to let him go.”

“C’mon, Nicky.” Torren tried to pull Jonas from his arms, but Nicholas bared his fangs and growled viciously at the witch. “Don’t touch him, and don’t call me that!”

Torren held his hands up in surrender and spoke quietly and soothingly. “It’s time to let him go. I know it hurts. It’s always going to hurt, but it will get easier over time. Don’t make the same mistakes as your brother.”

The men surrounded him, forming a tight circle. Even Raven, Bannon, and the pilot, Carlos, were there, each being held up by one of their friends. “Let him go,” Varik whispered.

“No!” Nicholas clutched Jonas to him tighter and rocked him back and forth. “I swore I wouldn’t. I promised him!” Didn’t any of them understand? He’d broken so many promises and told so many lies.

Not this time, though. “I bound us together and told him I’d never forget him again.”

“You don’t have to forget him,” Demos said gently. “That’s not what we’re saying.”

Torren, on the other hand, zeroed in on another part of Nicholas’s statement. “What do you mean? How did you bind him to you?”

“I claimed him,” Nicholas whispered, shame filling him as he remembered the exact moment that he’d damned his mate to this fate.

Then he repeated the words he’d spoken in that moment of passion.

To his shock and disgust, Torren smiled from ear to ear then fell back on his butt and started chuckling.

“This is funny to you?”

Torren shook his head but continued to laugh. “I’m just relieved.”

Okay, that made no sense to Nicholas and only served to piss him off more.

“Is it my imagination, or is he looking a little less…dead?” Kieran asked, pointing down at Jonas and cocking an eyebrow.

Nicholas followed his gaze and gasped. Before his eyes, Jonas’s body had begun to fill out, regain its muscular definition, and take on a healthier look. His skin didn’t appear as gray and ashy, and the wrinkles were gone, restoring it to its previous smooth perfection.

Please, please, please. Oh, God, please don’t let me lose him.

Nicholas made all sorts of vows to any deity he could think of that might be out there in the universe and sympathetic to his plight.

The weight resting on his thighs increased, and Jonas’s hair took on a sleek shine, the strands turning silky beneath Nicholas’s palm.

“That’s it, Jonas. Open your eyes, baby. Come back to me. I’m not the only one who made promises. We’re going to be together forever, remember?”

When Jonas jerked in his arms and sucked in a huge, gasping breath, Nicholas couldn’t keep the tears at bay any longer. He didn’t exactly fall apart, but a few drops escaped out of the corners of his eyes as he squeezed them closed and shivered in relief.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he repeated as he rained kisses over the top of his mate’s head and down the side of his face.

“Nicky,” Jonas breathed against Nicholas’s neck. Shifting to his side, his long arms wrapped around Nicholas’s waist and crushed him in his embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Nicholas chuckled wetly and rested his chin on the top of Jonas’s head. “You’re the one who dies, and you’re still worried about me.”

“I’ll always worry about you.”

“I know, baby. I know. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Jonas kissed the side of his neck and eased away. “Don’t call me baby.”

“Not that I’m not thrilled, but would someone mind explaining how he’s alive?” Varik closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is insane. I’m going back to Wyoming, and I swear to fuck, I’m never leaving again.”

“Agreed,” Jonas said with a solemn nod of his head. “He’s got a point, though. How am I alive?”

Torren was still grinning from ear to ear when he stood and reached out to help Jonas and Nicholas up as well. “When a witch claims a mate, they’re bound together, much like shifters.” He dipped his head toward the shifters of the group, who all nodded their understanding agreement. “If a shifter dies after claiming a mate, their mate’s life is forfeit as well. It’s a pretty big deal, if you ask me.”

“You have no idea,” Ridley muttered under his breath.

“When a witch claims a mate, it’s the opposite. Your life forces become one, but you can’t die unless your mate dies as well.”

“Like the binding spell Phillip cast on Moonstar,” Nicholas whispered, mostly to himself.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but yes, like a binding spell, though permanent.”

“Wait.” Nicholas exchanged a look with Jonas then turned back to Torren. “So, unless a binding spell is between mates, it can fade away?”

Torren shrugged. “Well, yeah. The spell has to be renewed every year at the exact time on the exact day. Even magic has laws and limitations.”

“So, Phillip could die now?” Jonas asked bluntly, and he actually took a step forward as though he intended to dole out the sentence himself.

Nicholas grabbed his elbow and pulled him back, though. “Phillip will be punished, but I won’t have his blood on your hands.” His mate didn’t look very happy about it, but he nodded and leaned into Nicholas’s side. “Can you at least take his magic?” he asked Torren

“I could, but I don’t want it. What resides inside Phillip is dark and dangerous. Let The Council deal with him.”

“What about decapitation?” Raven asked out of the blue.

Everyone turned to stare at him in confusion, but he just waved a hand around as though they were all the crazy ones. “I mean if one mate gets his head chopped off, would he still come back to life if the other mate was still alive?”

Torren snorted and rolled his eyes. “Nice visual, and the answer is no. Like I said before, even magic has its limitations.” Raven bobbed his head slowly. “We should inform The Council about all of this before they attempt to execute Natalie Halstead.”

“I completely forgot about her.” Nicholas shook his head. “Do we have time to make it back to Wyoming before sunrise?” Varik glanced down at his watch and shook his head. “We would be able to just barely make it, but we don’t have a plane.”