Oathbreaker (6 page)

“
So you guys are pretty serious,” Jackson was watching Trevor intently. “You living here?”

“
Yes, we're very serious,” Trevor practically glowed when he said it, which made Jackson's expression lighten a little. “At least I am.”

“
And yes, we're living together,” I clicked my glass against Trevor's and shot back the tequila. It burned when it hit my stomach and I gasped a little. “And you know how I feel about you, honey-eyes. You don't need to fish for compliments.”

“
Ooooh, groovy pet names,” Tristan was relaxing again. “
Must
be serious.”

“
We're bonded,” Trevor brushed my hair back. “Well, I'm bonded to her.”

“
Bonded,” Jackson frowned. “That doesn't sound good, V. Why didn't you tell us all this before, when we were urging you to do him?”

“
It wasn't my secret to tell and as far as the Binding, I've found it has its perks,” I winked at him. “But it is what it sounds like. Werewolves, like real wolves, mate for life. When a werewolf couple decides they're in love, they go through a ritual. One offers their life to the other, the other refuses, then the first denies the refusal. I know, confusing, basically you have to give your life to your mate and they have to free you three times before you've proved that you love each other enough to be bound forever.”

“
The Law of Three,” Tristan was a witch as well.

“
Exactly,” I nodded. “Trevor attacked me. I won but I let him live, so he vowed his life to defend mine. I refused it of course. I'm not down with the whole life for a life thing.”

Jackson groaned, “So you started a magical ritual without meaning to.”

“Correct,” I jabbed my finger in the air at Jackson. “Trevor figured his life was mine anyway and when I gallantly,” I smirked, “refused him, he decided to leave it to fate.”

“
Fate happens to love me,” Trevor laid an arm across my shoulders, “because twice more I offered my life to Vervain and twice more she refused it. Now she has a piece of my soul inside her.”

“
Wait, wait, wait,” Jackson rubbed his temple. “He's bound to you but are you bound to him?”

“
No,” I sighed. “The bond isn't complete. We're not even sure I could complete it, being human and all.”

“
So you’re married to a werewolf?” Tristan was starting to like the idea.

“
Not exactly,” I turned my attention to my empty shot glass.

“
I’m married to her,” Trevor jumped in. “She still hasn’t decided.”

“
You haven’t
decided
?” Jackson took a deep breath and poured tequila into my sad empty glass. “He's bound to you forever but you haven’t
decided
?”

“
It wasn’t like I had much of a choice,” I grimaced, hoping this wouldn't upset Trevor all over again.

“
And yet, here he is,” Tristan said it like it was something wondrous. He shared a look with Jax.

“
I just told you I had no choice.” I glanced at Trevor. “No offense, babe.”

“
Exactly,” Jackson pounced before Trevor could say anything. “And what do you do when you feel trapped?”

“
I bail,” I made a sound of self-disgust. “You’re right. I don’t like being backed into a corner.”

“
Vervain worries too much,” Trevor was annoyingly calm.

“
She does, doesn’t she?” Jackson shared a moment with Trevor. How sweet.

I frowned at them both. “I just like to know where I’m heading, unlike you two lemmings who’d just follow everyone else over the cliff at a dead run.”

“You should try it sometime, baby,” Trevor nuzzled my cheek. “It can be very freeing.”

“
Yeah for about thirty seconds, and then you hit the ground,” I muttered.

“
So you finally found a good man who’ll stick around forever but he’s not a man at all, he’s a werewolf,” Tristan snorted. “Go figure.”

“
Go figure what?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

“
The only good man’s a wolf,” he smiled, “well besides my man that is.”

“
Thank you,” Jackson said in a clipped,
you're exactly right,
kind of way.

“
Yeah, yeah,” I leaned back into Trevor. “All the good
human
men are gay.
”

“
Yes, we are,” Tristan leaned into Jackson, who'd been lifting his glass.

Jackson stopped, mid-lift, and glared at Tristan. “I've got a perfectly filled shot here and you're about to disrupt my meniscus.”

“That sounds vaguely dirty,” I smirked, eying the trembling surface of the tequila.

“
Only you would use that word in a sentence while drinking tequila,” Tristan groaned and sat back in his own chair.

“
Hey,” I poured some for myself, stopping way short of creating my own meniscus. “At least he used it properly.”

“
There is simply no other word to describe the outwardly curved liquid surface of a glass of tequila,” Jackson huffed, then shot it back without spilling a drop. “Any other way would take too much time.”

“
That's how I feel about a few curse words,” I laughed.

“
Has Vervain ever told you how she hates it when people call her Vivian?” Jackson raised a challenging brow.

“
No,” Trevor looked a little confused. “Why would people call her Vivian?”

“
Oh, I love you,” I kissed Trevor on the cheek.

“
Because no one is named Vervain and people hear what they expect to hear,” Jackson was undaunted.

“
Leave my name alone,” I whined. “So my mother's a witch and she thought naming her daughter after one of the most powerful herbs in magic was a good idea. So what?”

“
Don't you mean
leaf
your name alone?” Tristan interjected.

“
Har, har,” I grimaced.

“
I think it's a beautiful name,” Trevor kissed my forehead and Jackson groaned while Tristan made his
Awww
face. “Besides, it's obviously worked.”

Okay, so maybe I could get used to this Binding thing.

Chapter Five

Thursday night I threw on some jeans and a tight black shirt, slashed in a few strategic places. Trevor drove me to Moonshine on the back of his Harley. Don’t ask me what kind, all I know is that it didn’t have those stupid looking handlebars that made grown men look like five-year-olds on their first tricycle. Concerning a bike, it was all I cared about. Oh, and that it ran. Though he sure did spend a lot of time tinkering with it.

Seems to me that if you pay a lot of money for something, you shouldn't have to keep messing with it and spending more money on it. I’m told it’s all the vibrations on a Harley that makes things rattle loose so it needs to be fixed all the time. I say either improve the really freakin’ expensive bike, or people should just get a Honda… and by people, I meant Trevor.

Trevor loved the bike though so I didn't pressure him too much about it. I just hated when he insisted on driving me somewhere on it because I secretly despised riding motorcycles. I'll never admit it because it just seems so uncool. Like I lose tough points for not enjoying riding around on a two-wheeled death machine that screws up my hair and prevents me from wearing a dress. Also, the wind hurt my face at certain speeds. Guess I'm not as tough as I'd like to think. I don't care, I like my Jaguar(yes, I still have Ku's car...Ku ku k'chu) so much better.

We pulled around the back of Moonshine and parked in Trevor's reserved stall. It’s good to be the boss. Then we went around front to go in. There wasn’t a back door for Moonshine, just the Family Room for tracing in from the Aether. We could’ve traced in but Trevor really wanted to ride his pride and joy. So there we were, him happy and me having to undo my braid. It was the only way my hair would survive the trip.

Oh right, tracing. So after consuming lots of energy from us, the gods grew powerful enough to create their own realm. This realm is basically laid over our own with the Aether running between us, kind of like a parfait. A parfait, not an onion, because parfaits are delicious. The only way to get to the God Realm from the Human Realm, is to travel through the Aether, an act referred to as tracing.

When I first discovered the existence of gods, I also discovered a great spellbook, which explained tracing to me and listed numerous chants for specific locations in the God Realm. Certain places in the God Realm, such as a deity’s home, are fully warded and inaccessible without the proper chant. Ku's book gave me an in and I was able to sneak into the homes of gods. Also murder them in their sleep. I know it sounds horrible, pretty much because it is, but it was something I felt I had to do to save mankind. It's not like I enjoyed beheading Atlanteans. So I did it and the rest is, as cliché as it sounds, history.

Unfortunately, I'm not quite as gifted as my god friends when it comes to tracing. They can jump in and go anywhere they please(as long as it's not warded or they're made welcome) while I am limited to going in a straight line. By this I mean that I can only jump from here to the God Realm or from there to here and only with the proper chant. I can't jump in all willy-nilly and jump out wherever I please, like say Bermuda. Technically, I should be able to since I house a lot of god magic now but I've been hesitant to try. Mainly because if I screw up, I could be stuck in the Aether forever.

Now, the Aether is a pretty awesome place. It's basically pure magic. As a witch, I use it for manifesting spells. There's vast amounts of knowledge stored there, gathered up every time someone touches it. I feel it a little when I trace, since my body has to basically become a thought-form in order to flow through it. Now ask me if I want to be a thought forever. No, I don't. So I haven't tried it alone yet and don't plan on trying it anytime soon. It's a good thing I have a lot of god friends who can piggy back me. Yes, even riding along with a god can be risky but I still would have preferred it to riding that damn bike.

It was 6:48 pm and the club was already getting ready for the night. The bouncers were sitting at the bar, having a quick dinner, but the bartenders and waitresses were bustling about. TryggulfR was there too. He came walking up when he saw us.

“Hey, Brother,” he hugged Trevor fast and rubbed his face, cheek to cheek, a quick touch that came across as oddly masculine. It's a Froekn thing. “What happened to you the other night?”

“
Long story,” Trevor rolled his eyes to me, “I’m better now.”

“
Glad to hear-” Ty suddenly grabbed Trevor’s head and turned it to the side, so he could see the bite mark better. “Well it’s about fuckin’ time!” He looked over at me and I grimaced. “I thought you were never going to get around to it.”

“
Is it really that big a deal?” I sighed as I rolled my eyes. I mean come on, what business was it of everyone else if I wanted to give my boyfriend a love nip or not?

“
Ah,
yeah
,” Ty looked at Trevor like maybe he could explain why I didn’t get it.

“
I told you guys she just didn’t understand,” Trevor’s smile was triumphant. “She’s human, she’s different.”

“
She’s Froekn,” TryggulfR sniffed imperiously and frowned at Trevor like he’d just insulted me.

“
I’m still human,” I patted Ty’s arm. “You guys need to remember that. You have to give me some guidance once in awhile if I’m going to be a good Rouva.”

“
Of course, Rouva,” TryggulfR did a head bow. “I should also tell you that Odin is awaiting you upstairs.”

“
Well you didn’t have to go all stiff on me,” I pouted.

“
You just gave him a command, Minn Elska,” Trevor pulled a lock of my hair. “His reaction is normal.”

“
Oh, sorry, sweetie,” I smiled apologetically and pushed at Ty’s arm. “I didn’t mean for it to be an order, just a request.”

“
Okay then, Sis,” Ty was instantly back to his normal, easy going self. “Have fun with Odin,” he turned and sauntered off toward the bar, stopping to flirt with assorted waitresses along the way. That boy needed to find a mate. Or at least a steady girlfriend.

“
Ty never found a mate either?” I remembered Trevor telling me about how the Froekn began with half-siblings mating. I was a little shocked but they were all they had. Trevor never found his mate though.