Page 19 of The Bell’s Toll (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

chapter twelve

Raziel

I stand in front of another portal, my hands stuffed in my front pockets, staring at the destruction. This time, instead of my portal exploding, it collapsed in on itself. The brick wall looks as if it’s been sucked into a vortex.

“This is worse than the other one,” Khiva says. “I don’t even know how they were able to do this.”

I turn to face the druid. Her long locs are pulled into a bun.

“Can you fix it?”

She shakes her head. “This will take me weeks to figure how to undo the spell that was used. Hell, at that point it will be faster to create a new one.”

I tap down on my rage. This shit couldn’t have come at a worse time. Ever since I showed Nasiah the truth about her fiancé two nights ago, she’s been in her feelings. Feelings that have been rubbing off on me.

Had I known showing her what that asshole was up to would cause her to pull away from me, I would have kept his secret longer.

However, having her in my arms at club greed and seeing that desire in her eyes for me only to be replaced with guilt, pissed me the fuck off.

Knowing she was withholding my pussy from me because of loyalty to that bitch, sent me off the deep end.

I wanted to kill his ass, but that is against the rules without proper cause.

Khalid hated humans, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t strict about exterminating their asses. Even the king had to follow the law.

For two days, Nasiah has been locked in the bedroom. She’s been eating and showering, but she won’t get out the bed or talk to me. Her absence is driving me fucking crazy. Then, I get the phone call about this. I’m doing everything I can to not fly off the handle.

“In order to get another portal up, I’d have to go through Rojun and Roth to get it cleared. I can’t do that.”

She sighs, placing her hands on her hips. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Maybe if I can get one or two other druids in here to help, we can fix this within a week or two.”

Not the best news considering I now have two portals not working. But it is my only option.

“Get the help you need. I’ll double your pay.”

She nods. “I got you. I should have a crew together by tonight.”

I don’t respond to her. Instead, I nod my head while staring at my broken portal.

“Something else is bothering you.”

I turn to look at her. “What do you mean?”

She shakes her head. “Your energy is off. I’m getting multiple readings from you. It’s like you’re feeling two different emotions.”

This is the problem with employing a druid. I started not to tell her anything, but at this point I’m desperate. I need all the help I can get. Quickly, I explain my issues with this bond and with Nasiah. Khiva listens intently, never interrupting me.

“Well, you’re right about one thing. You did mess up the mate-bond.”

“Shit.” I run my hands through my hair. “What did I do wrong?”

“Everything,” she chuckles. “You didn’t form a mate-bond.”

“Well, what the fuck do I have?”

“It sounds like you formed a soul-tie. Somehow you connected Nasiah and yourself on a deeper level without the kiss. Raziel, she is your light.”

Her words nearly knock me over. I’ve heard of soul-ties.

Bonds formed when fallen or forsaken kiss humans.

I didn’t think I had to worry about it since I no longer had a soul.

The day I was tossed from heaven, I lost my soul, or soul light as we call it.

The fallen still have pieces of their light left, but I don’t.

“What does that mean?”

She shrugs. “She is your redemption, your better half. Basically, the part of you that keeps you sane. Without the human, you would turn into a mindless, bloodthirsty killing machine. She is your anchor. If you die, so does she.”

No wonder I feel her so deeply and have this desire to be near her at all times. She’s everything I need.

“Be careful,” Khiva warns, placing her hand on my shoulder. “If this information gets into the wrong hands, they could use her as a weapon. Keep her safe.” She didn’t even have to tell me that. I was never going to let Nasiah go.

“As far as the ex-thing, give her time. But let her know you’re there for her.”

I thank Khiva for her advice and helping me understand this bond thing. If anyone knew about this bond stuff, it would be her. She’s a high-level druid.

Khiva creates an opening into the void before disappearing.

The moment she leaves, Conah steps up beside me.

“This shit is getting worse. Whoever is behind this is working hard to take you down.”

I roll my neck on my shoulders and grit my teeth. I clear my head of all thoughts of Nasiah and focus on my job.

Whoever is behind this is playing a chess game. They aren’t coming for me, that would be too easy. They are coming for my reputation.

Since I was given this job, my district has never had any issues. In fact, I’m always receiving good reports. Hell, I work hard to make sure of it because I know how badly the others want me to fail. They want me to look weak and to make Khalid question giving me this role.

As a dominus, I am protected, but as a dominus selected by Khalid, I’m damn near untouchable. However, if you make my ability to do my job questionable, then you take away my safety net. Whoever is behind this knows exactly what they’re doing.

“Any updates from your spy about Gadiel?”

“As of right now, she says he hasn’t shown his hand. He’s been talking a lot of shit about you and blames you for his suspension, but she has no proof he is behind this.”

I know this is Gadiel’s work. I don’t know how he’s doing it or who’s helping him, but I know this is him. However, I’m at the point where I’m willing to question everyone.

Turning to Conah, I say, “I have eight more functioning portals. I want knights at those portals around the clock. If anyone gets close to them or looks suspicious, I want them to detain them and notify me.

“Also, I want new travel laws in effect. Everyone needs to be searched before he or she goes through my portal. If you find anything that doesn’t look right, you confiscate it and get it to Khiva.”

Conah nods. “I’ll get the knights ready and tell Unina to make the new rules known.”

Turing back to my ruined portal, my shoulders slump. “If one more portal goes down, I’ll have to answer for that. Three unworking portals in my district is bad for business.”

“Don’t worry, Boss. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure this shit doesn’t happen again.”

Although I knew Conah couldn’t make that promise, I appreciated it. Whoever is trying to ruin me is not done. I’m pretty sure he’s going to strike again if we don’t catch him.

Leaving Conah behind, I slip through the void. Even though I have a lot going on and she’s not even speaking to me at the moment, there is only one place I want to be. Only one place that will calm the darkness and anger inside me. I needed to be near my soul.

Slipping through the void back into my apartment, I’m met with silence.

“Welcome back, my dominus,” Erazel says behind me.

I turn around to face him. He dips his chin in respect.

“Where is she?”

He sighs, folding his arms over his chest. “In the room. Still hasn’t come out. When I took her lunch today, she was crying.”

He didn’t have to tell me that; I could feel her tears as if they were coming down my face. Her sadness felt like a heavy wet blanket covering me. It made me feel irritated and annoyed. I hated this fucking feeling.

“Did she eat?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing this morning. Took two bites out of her lunch before leaving it.”

This was pissing me off. I don’t know if I was madder that she was punishing herself and not eating, or that her love for this man made her sad.

I didn’t want Nasiah to care about him. He didn’t deserve her tears or sadness. It pissed me off that the human had that much of her heart. A heart that belonged to me.

When I first created this bond, I did it to save myself. I couldn’t care less if she loved me or not. Hell, I didn’t care if she liked me. However, now it’s different. Now she’s mine, and I refuse to share her with anyone else. Even the memory of anyone else.

Turning on my heels, I head toward the bedroom. Without knocking, I enter the dark room. The lights are out, and the blackout blinds are down. If I didn’t have perfect eyesight, I wouldn’t have been able to find her. However, I spot her form lying under the covers.

“I’m not hungry, Era,” she says with a raspy voice that tells me she’s crying.

I flip on the lights and march over to the bed.

“Get up,” I demand.

She tosses the covers off her head and glares at me with puffy, red-rimmed eyes.

“Leave me alone, Razzy,”

Every fucking time she calls me that name, I get this weird feeling in my chest that almost makes me believe I have a heartbeat.

She tries to bury her head back under the covers. I snatch them back and toss them off her.

“What are you doing?”

For a moment I couldn’t think. My eyes fell to her bare thighs and the tiny pink underwear. It takes a got damn miracle to pull my attention away from the way her hip rises like a damn mountain and drops like a valley into her waist.

“Get up,” I finally say, focusing on her face.

She tries to reach for the covers again. I snatch them completely off the bed. She sucks her teeth.

“I’m not in the mood.”

“I don’t care. I don’t do depression.”

Her eyes flare with anger. It doesn’t bother me, I just need her to feel anything other than this fucking sadness.

“Leave me alone. You don’t understand.”

“I understand you’re lying in this bed smelling like wild onions and crying over a muthafucker that never gave a shit about you.”

I was lying, she didn’t actually smell like wild onions. I can tell that even though she’s been sad, she’s had the hindsight to shower.

She sits up, her eyes narrow. “I don’t smell.”

I fight the smirk that’s trying to appear on my face. I just wanted her to feel anything but what she was feeling.

“You sure about that?” I taunt.