The Immortal Bond (The Immortal Mark Book 3) Read online

  “Only the members of Embrook know the truth about this made up spell. I forgot other immortals believe it. Apparently, even with her power, she’s still afraid of a few Greek words.”

  “I wonder how she got that name,” I say, pulling the blanket over both of us. “Is she royalty?”

  “I’ve never heard of her.” Theo kisses the top of my head.

  “She seemed to know who you are,” I say through a yawn.

  “Everyone knows me,” he says softly.

  My eyes are heavy with sleep, my head resting softly on his chest, but I look up at him anyway. “Why’s that?”

  Theo smirks. “Because I’m a fucking badass.”

  “A badass who’s currently trapped with no way out,” I say, poking him in the chest.

  He kisses my hair and tightens his hold around my waist. “A badass who will get us out of here. I promise you that, love.”

  Chapter 3

  For the first time in three days, I wake up to darkness. Total, pitch black, darkness. I blink a few times, push up on the carpeted floor and rub my eyes. There’s no light switch in this prison room, and the lights never dim when it’s dark outside. Is it really dark in here or did I go blind? The darkness swirls around my vision. Frantically, I press my back against the wall and look around. There’s not a single shred of light in this room. I bring my hands up to my face, so close they touch my nose. I can’t see them.

  Am I blind?

  How did this happen?

  My breath hitches, and thoughts of spending the rest of my short life not being able to see flash across my vision. I savor the memories I have of my life, all of the things I used to see. This is not happening. Leaning to the side, I run my hand along the carpet, feeling for Theo’s sleeping body. The last two days I’ve woken up in this bright room with him lying next to me, his arm draped over my side, his breathing steady and soft and reassuring. But now I feel nothing but the empty floor.

  Reaching for my blanket, I pull it up over my knees and pull them to my chest. I drop my forehead to my knees and squeeze my eyes shut, praying that when I open them again, I’ll see the room that has become my prison. The painted tan walls, the crisp white molding along the baseboards. The table that’s slowly running out of snacks and bottled water. Minutes pass and I get the courage to open my eyes again.

  Everything is still dark.

  Tears well up and pour down my face. I whisper Theo’s name but he doesn’t reply.

  In the darkness, I can hear the ragged hitches of my breathing, the thump, thump of my heart. I hear my socks sliding across the carpet and the sound my head makes when it rests back against the wall. Being unable to see really does heighten your other senses.

  For this reason, I know Theo is gone. The door opened while I was sleeping, and someone took him. Did Lady Em take him? Did she take away my vision, too? Is this a joke to her?

  I press my lips together and breathe in slowly from my nose, willing myself to calm down. If Lady Em made me fall asleep, she could probably make me blind as well. I woke up from that, so there’s a good chance my vision will come back. I grip the blanket to my chest and hope that my suspicions are right.

  I close my eyes for a while, because leaving them open is pointless. The room feels colder now that I can’t see anything. Almost breezy, like the air conditioning was left on too long. I wrap the blanket tighter around me and wait. That’s all I can do lately—wait.

  Only a few minutes have gone by when all of my senses light up like a bonfire. My breath catches in my throat. I hear something.

  The overwhelming silence has broken. It’s the sound of footsteps, careful and calculating, like someone is sneaking up on me. Weird, we’ve been in here three days and haven’t heard anything from outside this room. I kind of figured it was soundproof.

  My teeth dig into my bottom lip as the footsteps grow closer. I breathe very slowly. The footsteps stop when they sound just a few feet away from me. Shoes slide across the floor as the person shifts to face me.

  I may be blind, but they can probably see. Do I look like a pathetic loser? All curled up in a blanket, my eyes wide and unfocused, my lip trembling?

  I should have stayed on the floor, pretended to be asleep this whole time. Even evil villains have trouble kicking someone when they’re down. Now I’m a sitting goose. A target. They can see me but I can’t see them.

  The footsteps shuffle closer to me, just a few feet away now. Instinct tells me to run, but with no vision, I can’t go anywhere. I’d slam myself into a wall and that wouldn’t help anything.

  I hear the intruder draw in a breath. “It’s just me,” Theo whispers.

  “Holy shit,” I cry out as tears spring from my eyes. “Holy. Shit.” I gasp for air because it feels like I’ve spent the last ten minutes holding my breath in fear. “It’s you?” I whisper.

  “It’s me,” he whispers back.

  “Dammit, Theo.” I put a hand to my chest, trying to steady my breathing. “Warn a girl next time.”

  He chuckles. “Sorry, I thought you were sleeping. I was about to bend down and scoop you up.”

  “Theo, I’m blind.” My voice cracks and tears flow. “I can’t see. What is going on?”

  “Baby, you’re not blind,” he says, kneeling down to the floor. His hand reaches out and brushes against my arm as he feels his way up to my cheek. “It’s dark as hell in here.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “Are you sure?”

  “The power went out. There’s a storm outside, and the power was flickering for half an hour.” His hand leaves my cheek and then he takes my hands and pulls me up to standing. The world feels different when I can’t see what I’m doing. Theo takes my hand and squeezes it. “Guess what doesn’t work when the power is out?”

  “No…” I say, unable to believe our luck.

  “Yes. The door unlocked on its own. I found a way out of here, so let’s go.”

  I don’t say another word. I hold onto his hand and follow him as he feels our way to the door that used to be a crack in the wall. We walk through it and into someplace that smells old and is about ten degrees lower than it was in the room. Our shoes echo off the walls, so I think it must be a small hallway or something.

  As we walk, a glorious thing happens.

  I start to see.

  Dim gray light appears ahead of us. It’s so far away, but it’s there and it’s real. As we press on, the light grows bigger, illuminating the path before us. I can see now that we are in a hallway, or maybe more of a tunnel. The walls are made of big slabs of concrete, the mortar between them is all squished out of the sides like it was built a long time ago. The floor slowly angles upward and I realize Theo was right. We were underground. As the tunnel rises up to land, I hear the crash of thunder, see the quick flashes of light from lightning. It’s daylight, but the sky is darkened from the storm. The air grows humid and cold, but I press on, walking even though my socks are wet and I forgot my shoes back in the room.

  At the end of the tunnel, we reach an iron gate. I wrap my hands around the railing and peer outside. The land is green and stretches on for as far as I can see. In the distance, there’s mountains, but it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen in Texas. The storm blurs the landscape, and little drops of water splash on my face. I have this sudden appreciation for the outdoors, and for what it means to be free.

  “It’s locked,” I say, turning to Theo. The look on his face tells me that we didn’t come this far only to let a lock hinder us. My heart flushes with gratitude for Theo finding a way out of here. He’s a man who keeps his promises, but I won’t feel better until we’re far away from here.

  “I’ll break it quickly,” he says, grabbing onto the lock from the other side of the gate. “I’ll use as little energy as I can.”

  “Just do it,” I say, knowing that any extreme energy he uses is drained from me, his lifeblood. “I’d rather die out there than in here.”

  Theo’s eyebrow quirks, like maybe he wants to say s
omething about that, but then he turns his attention to the lock and twists it so hard the veins on his forearms pop out. I feel a little lightheaded, but I stand tall, not wanting him to see that.

  There’s a crash of thunder, and then the most glorious sound.

  A lock breaking.

  Theo shoves it off the gate and then swings it open wide, releasing us into the storm. I’m drenched within seconds, my feet muddy as we run across the little dirt trail that leads away from the tunnel entrance. All around us, the grass is up to our knees. It’s hard to see beyond that because the world has been blurred by the torrential downpour. This is the kind of thunderstorm that gets warnings on the news for people to stay indoors and off the roads. It’s dangerous out here.

  But I don’t care about the rain. We are finally free.

  Chapter 4

  “I don’t think she’s there,” Theo says, his voice nearly drowned out by the loud thunder above. “The whole place seemed empty.”

  We’ve been running for a while, and I’m nearly out of breath. I’m also sick of inhaling rainwater. I turn around, my hand breaking free from Theo’s. As much as I want to leave, I’m curious to see where we’ve been held prisoner. Lady Em’s house is a castle.

  It’s small and made of stone, like a miniature version of the gorgeous castles in Europe. You could probably fit four of them into the clan’s mansion in Austin. Speaking of Austin, I have no idea where we are right now, but it doesn’t look like Texas.

  “Let’s hurry,” Theo says, reaching for my hand again. “We have to get far away, and fast.”

  We reach an asphalt road, the kind of country road that probably stretches on for miles. Through the rain, I see nothing but green grass on both sides of the road. Theo goes left. I don’t know why he chooses that way, but I jog along beside him, ignoring the ache in my side and the burning of my leg muscles. He’s right. We need to get far away from here.

  After a short while, the headlights of a truck approach. They slow down as it nears us, and Theo steps protectively in front of me. It’s a white Ford that’s seen better days. It rolls to a stop and the driver rolls down the passenger window just a crack so the rain won’t ruin his truck.

  “You two need a ride?” he calls out.

  “Please,” Theo says. “We can ride in the back so we don’t get your truck wet.”

  The driver, a middle-aged man with red hair and a big, bustling beard, nods once. “Where you going?”

  “Anywhere,” Theo says.

  “You,” the guy says, pointing at me. “Come over here for a second.”

  I look up at Theo and he nods.

  I jog over to the driver’s window, hoping this guy isn’t some kind of pervert. He studies me for a moment before he says, “Are you in trouble?”

  Hell yes, I’m in trouble, I think. But he wouldn’t know anything about that. He’s talking about Theo and me being stranded on the road in the rain, not the immortality thing.

  “Our jackass friends sent us on a scavenger hunt,” I say, making up the lie as I go along. “We got lost and then it started raining.”

  He looks at me like he’s trying to decide to believe me or not. He leans forward, his voice low. “This man isn’t kidnapping you or anything?”

  I smile. “No, sir. He’s my boyfriend.”

  “Alright then,” he says nodding toward Theo. “You two jump in back. Going anywhere in particular?”

  “A gas station,” Theo says. “As far away as you’re driving.”

  ***

  The rain has stopped by the time our driver drops us off at a gas station. It’s still cloudy and the skies are dark and threatening, but at least it’s not drenching us more than we already are. Theo helps me climb out of the back of the truck and he thanks the guy before he drives off. I shake out my hair, but it’s no use. I’m soaked from head to toe.

  Luckily, this is a nice gas station. It’s more like a tourist rest stop than some hole in the wall, because there’s two fast food restaurants connected to it and they have a gift shop in front. All of the T-shirts and novelty items say California.

  “We are not even close to Texas,” I say, looking up at Theo because anywhere else I look has someone staring at us. We probably look like shit, but come on. That’s rude to stare.

  “Let’s get some clothes,” he says, eyeing a rack of hot pink T-shirts. He reaches for his back pocket then curses under his breath.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  He exhales. “I forgot I don’t have my wallet. The bitch took it from me.”

  My heart sinks. Not only are my current clothes soaking wet, they’re filthy. I haven’t had a shower or clean clothes in four days.

  “Then let’s just go outside and dry off,” I say, curling my lip.

  “Excuse me.” The voice is scratchy, and it fits perfectly with the wrinkled woman behind the counter. She has tanned skin and plastic curlers in her hair. “You two pick an outfit and some sandals, on the house.”

  “Wow, really?” I say, feeling hopeful about something for the first time in a long time.

  She nods. “You two look like you could use it.”

  “I appreciate it,” Theo says. He chooses a black shirt and black swimsuit shorts that have the smallest possible California logo on them. I get the hot pink shirt because it’s cute and a pair of short running shorts that make me yearn for a trip to the beach. The only shoes they have are flip flops, but that’s fine with me. After changing in the bathroom and thanking the woman profusely for the free stuff, Theo and I look halfway decent again. We could pass for a carefree couple going out surfing for the day.

  And now that I’m not fearing for my life as much as before, I ask the woman if I can borrow her phone. She hands me a cell phone and then gives Theo some coupons for free food at the McDonald’s next door.

  I lean against the counter while I dial Riley’s number, even though I’d rather have this talk in private, but I don’t want this kind stranger to think I’m trying to bail with her phone.

  Riley answers after a few rings. “Uh, hello?” she says, her voice curious.

  “It’s me,” I say.

  “Oh hey.” The music in the background turns down a little. “What’s up?”

  “It’s Cara,” I say.

  “Yeah, I got that part,” she says with a laugh.

  I frown. “You haven’t seen me in four days and then I call from a new number and you’re not freaking out?”

  “Well you’re with Theo, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re fine!” She laughs. “Seriously, what’s up with you? You sound kind of weird.”

  I sigh. “Here I am thinking you’ve been worried sick about me, and you don’t even care.”

  “That’s not true, Cara. I love you! But you’re with Theo, so I figured you’re fine. Like you went off on a …mission or something. A love mission, I mean.”

  She’s definitely in the mansion because she’s talking in code. I put a hand on my hip. “What if I had been kidnapped and tortured and you didn’t even care because you assumed I was fine?”

  “Did you?” she asks, her voice slightly more serious now.

  “Not exactly, but kind of,” I say.

  “Are you okay now?”

  “I will be,” I say. From across the gas station, Theo smiles at me while he waits in line at McDonald’s.

  “Good. Hurry home. I miss you.”

  “Is anything going on over there?” I ask. “Anything…suspicious?”

  “Nah. I mean the girls are sad about Jayla, but everything is normal here.”

  “Wow.” I take a deep breath. “No one’s talking about Alexo?”

  “I don’t think so. Haven’t seen him, though. He’s probably on a trip.”

  “Yeah,” I say. There’s no reason to tell her everything now. I need to get with Theo to figure out what our plan is now that we’re free from Lady Em’s makeshift prison. “Well I’ll see you soon, I hope. Stay safe.”

  “
Will do. Love you!” she says all cheery and totally like herself. When she finds out what happened to us, she’s going to feel bad about her lack of worrying.

  “I love you too,” I say, and then I hang up.

  When I find Theo, he hands me the bag of food he got. He’s talking on a pay phone near the restrooms. I didn’t even know pay phones existed anymore. I wait until he finishes his call and then we walk back into the store as if we’re normal people without a million secrets to hide.

  Theo and I share lunch at a small booth in the eating area. There are kids everywhere, all running around and playing with each other. It’s annoying. These kids, with their blissful lives, and these people working menial jobs and doing menial things. They have no idea how lucky they are.

  “So what’s our plan?” I ask.

  “I’m still working on that,” he says, reaching for a fry. “Kyle said things are fine there. He seemed to think me and you went off for a lover’s vacation without telling anyone.”

  “Riley thought the same thing,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  Theo’s dark hair falls in his eyes and he jerks his head to knock it back. He really is gorgeous even in situations like this. The black clothes look good on him.

  “Some friends we’ve got.”

  I shrug. “So the guys don’t know about Alexo?”

  “Nope.” Theo bites a fry.

  “So… no one has gone outside and seen him there?”

  “How often does anyone walk around that side of the house?” Theo shrugs. “Kyle did say something interesting, but it doesn’t have to do with us. He said a member of Embrook called the house. Apparently one of their members was murdered recently and their stone was taken.”

  “Did you know who it was?” I ask, suddenly not feeling very hungry.

  Theo shakes his head. “Kyle didn’t know his name. Not that he would care, he’s a member of Rosewater. Anyway, that’s kind of unusual because murder is rare in the immortal world.” Theo’s brows pull together and then he looks at me, a small smile tugging at his lips.