Page 31

SYLVIE

S ylvie's hands trembled as she gathered candles, herbs, and salt from her supply shelves. The shop felt unnaturally cold despite the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. Every candle she'd lit that morning had extinguished itself, their wicks curling into black, twisted shapes.

The bell above the door jangled violently as Nicholas burst in, cradling what had once been a white tablecloth. Now it resembled a bundle of midnight, pulsing with malevolent energy.

"That doesn't look contained," she said, keeping her voice deliberately steady despite the fear crawling up her spine.

Nicholas set the bundle on the counter, careful not to disturb the wrapped box inside. "It's fighting. Hard." Sweat beaded his forehead, and his amber eyes flickered with tiger gold. "I could hear it the whole drive. It kept saying?—"

"The bond is mine," Sylvie finished, feeling the words echo in her mind. "I know. I've been hearing it too."

"That's... concerning." He unwrapped the bundle just enough to show her the fractures spreading across the box's surface.

Sylvie reached toward it, then snatched her hand back as black mist curled eagerly in her direction. "My seal shouldn't have failed this quickly."

"Unless it's feeding off something." Nicholas glanced at her, his expression grave. "Us. Our bond."

The golden thread connecting them pulsed in response, and Sylvie felt it flare with protective warmth. Whatever lived in that box wanted what they had, the magic they'd created together.

"We need to get it somewhere uninhabited." She grabbed her emergency kit, a leather satchel filled with protective herbs and talismans. "If it breaks free completely?—"

"Echo Woods," Nicholas said. "The old mating circle. It's got natural containment properties."

"Where you found the relic in the first place?" Sylvie raised an eyebrow. "Seems counterintuitive."

"Trust me." He wrapped the bundle tighter as more black mist seeped through. "The circle was there to bind things, not just for mating rituals. It's our best chance as long as we are together fighting this. Last time I tried alone, it fought me, this time it shouldn't win."

The bundle gave a violent shudder, and a crack split the air like thunder. They both jumped back as the box inside broke partially open, black energy shooting upward before retracting.

"Fine. Woods it is." Sylvie grabbed her keys. "My car's out back."

Nicholas shook his head. "We'll take my truck. Better clearance for the forest trails."

They moved quickly, Sylvie locking up the shop with a hasty protection spell. The bundle seemed to grow heavier between them as Nicholas carried it to his truck, the whispers growing louder.

Mine, mine, mine...

"I don't think we have much time," Nicholas said as they sped toward the edge of town. The forest loomed ahead, ancient trees standing sentinel against the afternoon sky.

Sylvie clutched her satchel. "Just drive faster."

The truck bounced over the rough forest trail, jostling them as Nicholas navigated between trees. The bundle between them pulsed angrily, black tendrils occasionally escaping before retreating.

"Almost there," Nicholas muttered, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

The mating circle appeared ahead—a perfect ring of white stones set into the forest floor, surrounded by towering pines. Nicholas skidded to a stop, and they both leaped from the truck.

As Sylvie's feet touched the earth within the circle, the world... shifted. The forest blurred around them, time stretching like taffy. The bundle in Nicholas's arms exploded into darkness, the relic finally free.

It hovered before them, an obsidian disk inscribed with symbols that hurt to look at directly suddenly. Black energy poured from it, forming shapes that resolved into images. Them. But not quite them.

Sylvie watched in horror as a version of herself appeared, older, face twisted with bitterness, alone in the apothecary surrounded by dead candles.

"Don't listen," Nicholas growled, his body half-shifting as his tiger fought to protect them. "It's trying to make us afraid."

The vision shifted, showing Nicholas wild-eyed and feral, fully tiger but wrong somehow—twisted, rabid, attacking everything in his path.

"This isn't real," Sylvie stated firmly, reaching for Nicholas's hand. Their fingers intertwined, the golden bond between them flaring defiantly. "This isn't our future."

The relic shuddered, spinning faster, throwing more images at them. Their bond shattered, their lives in ruins. Sylvie's magic corrupted. Nicholas's tiger lost forever.

"None of this is true," Sylvie shouted over the howling wind that had risen around them. "This is fear, not fate."

She squeezed Nicholas's hand tighter, feeling their bond pulse between them. Whatever the relic wanted, it couldn't have this—couldn't have them. Not when they'd finally found each other.