Page 34 of Brave Spirit (Bound Spirit #6)
Nolan
A n all-consuming urgency overwhelms me, my heart racing to the beat of, “Faster, faster, faster!” I’m sick with fear, my stomach rolling like I was just punched in the gut, but it’s not quite mine.
It’s as if the sensation is vibrating down a tether that’s deep in my chest, and somehow, I know Callie is on the other end.
Having used my vampire speed to get to my car, I now sit in front of the school, tapping an impatient beat against the steering wheel as I wait for Connor to get into the damn car.
Within the urgency and fear is the heavy weight of guilt.
Callie needs me. I don’t understand how I know this, but going to her means leaving Donovan and Kaleb to the demons.
Sure, they have shifters and witches to help, but will that be enough?
Then I remember I’m not the only fucking vampire in this town.
I scramble to pull my phone out of my pocket, only to find I have several missed calls from my parents. I hit the call back for my mother’s cell.
“Nolan, honey, are you okay?” my mother shouts, picking up on the first ring.
At this moment, that’s a really hard question to answer, so I try to stick to the most basic response. “Right now, I don’t have anything worse than some cuts and bruises.”
“Get somewhere safe,” my father yells, followed by the roar of an engine. “Mildred called us, and we’re on our way.”
Relief washes through me, knowing that Donovan and Kaleb are getting backup soon. Callie must have called her grandmother before she disappeared. Where she went or why she left, I have no idea, but she made sure that help was coming.
Connor finally slides into the passenger side, and the urgency inside me skyrockets.
“Hurry,” I plead, my hand shaking as I hold the phone to my ear. “Donovan and Kaleb need you. Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”
Before they can respond, I hang up and stuff my phone back in my pocket. It immediately starts vibrating with a return call, but I ignore it. My parents are needed at the school, and I can’t wait to explain. The tires chirp as I floor it, speeding off before I know where I’m going.
As if he can read my mind, Connor directs, “Tune into the pull you feel to Callie. It’ll guide you to her,” with a slurred lisp around his elongated wolf teeth.
“What the fuck is going on?” I yell, heading toward the main highway that leads north out of town. How I know to go this way is baffling, but it feels like I’m taking a route I’ve driven so many times that my motions are automatic.
Connor grimaces as he fights to fully return to his human form. “Mate bond with Callie.”
“Need more explanation than that,” I insist, taking a corner so fast that the ass end of the car drifts out. I use the momentum to slide around a car daring to do the speed limit.
Connor’s legs bounce, clearly filled with the same intense urgency as me. “That’s how she saved you. She connected her spirit with yours. Her magic keeps you alive.”
“She told you this?” My mind reels as I try to understand what this means. I vaguely remember her telling me that we’d be connected forever or something like that, but I was also dying, so my memories are a bit fuzzy.
Connor shakes his head, strands of his slicked back hair breaking free to fall around his face. “I felt it when she did it.”
My eyes widen as a concerning thought crosses my mind. “Does that mean you and I are bonded too? Not that it would be terrible…” I backpedal, realizing how that came out. “You’re one of my best friends, and I love you, but this whole thing with Callie’s emotions—”
“No,” he interrupts while he sniffs the air like he’s trying to catch an invisible trail. “We are bonded to Callie. Shifters can only have one mate bond, but she isn’t a shifter.”
I blow through a red light, dodging cross traffic to a symphony of blaring car horns. “How come I’m only feeling her emotions now?”
He glances at me with a look that implies I’m intentionally being an idiot. “You’ve felt them the whole time. It feels like intuition when you’re close. Too far away, and we only get extreme emotions. Tells us our mate is in danger.”
Finally getting on the highway, I shift gears and accelerate to speeds normally found on racetracks.
I sift through my recent interactions with Callie—the times I had a feeling she was upset and needed a distraction, or the love and joy flowing out of her when the rose petals cascaded out of her locker.
Tonight, before this whole insanity started, I felt this overwhelming pull to kiss her, like her desire was a siren song I was desperate to share.
“You feel this all the time?” I ask, beginning to understand why Connor is so intense when it comes to Callie.
“When we are close, yes,” he answers, his gaze shifting to the sky as a crack of lightning shoots across the atmosphere, followed by the boom of thunder. “We’re close.”
I make a sharp turn onto a long dirt road that leads deep into the forest. Callie’s fear is as strong as ever, but now there’s more nuance.
There’s panic, despair, terror, and a strong undertone of helplessness.
Since Callie has gained control of her magic, the last thing I would describe her as is helpless.
Fear that is all my own wraps its clawed hand around my throat.
Callie is likely the most powerful witch on the planet.
I can’t fathom anything that could possibly stand in her way…
except us. The five of us are what often bring her back from being fully consumed by her magic.
She’s proven time and time again that she’d do anything to protect us, even sacrifice every part of herself if it meant saving us.
And Felix is missing.
Heavy rain begins pounding the roof of my car, and violent wind rips branches off the surrounding trees. I’m forced to slow down, the dirt road quickly becoming a muddy death trap. Rocks and forest debris slam onto the passenger door and along the hood of the car.
Connor vibrates under the strain of needing to get to Callie.
As if he can no longer stand wearing clothes, he frantically starts stripping.
His clawed hands tear the suit jacket and delicate buttons of his dress shirt as he rips the articles of clothing off and throws them behind the seat.
I keep my attention focused on maneuvering around road obstacles when he starts on his belt and pants.
As soon as he’s free, he doesn’t bother to ask me to slow down or pull over. Using his alpha strength to fight the wind, he opens the passenger door and leaps out of the car. While shifting in midair, he slams into the trunk of a massive tree.
I skid to a stop, mud flying from underneath my tires. Panicked, I leap out of the car, half prepared to see his broken body unconscious on the side of the road. Instead, I watch the asshole roll to his feet, give his wet, muddy coat a hard shake, and then bound up the road.
“Use your fucking words!” I shout after the giant wolf leaping over a particularly thick branch blocking his path. Even with his super hearing, I doubt he catches my words over the roaring wind.
Cold and soaked to the bone, I duck back into the car to turn off the engine, and then I slam both doors closed. Pocketing my keys, I follow the fluffy asshole in quick bursts of speed, attempting not to slip and break every bone in my body.
The constant beat of urgency doesn’t stop. It only gets louder as each wave of Callie’s distress slams into me. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get to her, but regardless of whatever waits for me on the other side, she won’t face it alone.
Despite Connor’s head start, I’m the first to arrive outside the dilapidated cabin.
Cracked, weathered, wooden shingles fly like projectiles in the wind.
The boarded up windows creak and rattle as the icy fingers of wind grab hold and try to yank them free, and low light leaks through the cracks of the door and windows.
Even without her car parked out front covered in debris and the bond that acts like a homing beacon, I’d still know Callie was inside. Only she could create such a localized storm and still keep that piece of shit building upright.
As I try to strategize how to get in without being noticed so I can get an idea of what’s going on, Connor comes barreling out of the forest. I wave at him to get his attention so we can make a plan, but he runs right past me and straight toward the front door.
He leaps up and slams his whole body against the brittle door. It gives way, splintering at the hinges, and falls to the ground beneath him.
“Fuck!” I hiss, racing after him.
I guess we’ll figure it out inside and hope no one dies.