“Hang on, baby! We’ll be there soon.”
FIFTEEN
ALLIE
“Why are you doing this?” Allie shouted at her mom and dad. She was reaching the point of having a full-blown panic attack. She had been home free after she had killed the witch. After all, the witch had said that her parents were gone. Allie had almost made it. If she would have only jumped out of her bedroom window rather than running down the stairs and through the front door, she would have been free of the people who had raised her and now were hell-bent on destroying her.
“Because we know what is best for you, and being mated to a piece of trash is not the path we will allow you to go down. It’s a shame you had to go and kill the other witch, but Helena won’t make the same mistakes. She is much more powerful than you can imagine, and she won’t fall for your tricks,” her father said.
“I don’t know what you are planning, but my mate has already claimed me, and I’ve claimed him. You can’t keep us apart! Not when the fates have decreed it.”
“That’s what Helena is for. She can easily break a mating bond and erase that piece of trash from your memory,” her mother growled.
“Mom! You can’t do this. I love him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.” For the first time in her life, Allie truly feared her parents. They had gone off the deep end. There were no ands, ifs, or buts about it. They had sunken to a whole new level of low that Allie had hoped to never witness. Not only had they threatened to break her mating bond, but they also threatened to take her memories of Marc.
Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, Clinton Hollingsworth stepped into the room. “Clinton! What are you doing here?”
“Allie.” His smile was genuine. He’d always seemed like such a sweet guy, but there had never been a spark between them. Not even a tiny one.
“I’ve tried to woo you. I’ve tried to get you to agree to be mine. You are the one for me, Allie. You always have been.” His voice was soft and soothing like always, but his look was one of sheer menace.
“No! Clinton, you’re a nice guy. Do not let them drag you into this. I’ve found my mate. My fated mate and we’ve claimed each other. Please don’t do this. Please!” she begged.
He ran the back of his hand down her cheek softly before wrapping his fingers tightly around her throat. “You will be fine. Helena will make sure of it. As soon as your bond is broken with the trash you think is your mate, I will make you my mate, and we will be together forever.”
If her arms weren’t chained to the chair, she would have ripped his damn throat out. He was no better than her parents. “I should have known you were a piece of shit. So help me, God, when I get out of these chains, I will kill you.”
“So much sass. It will be fun to bend you to my will,” he growled, his eyes flashing.
Alonzo nodded to Helena. “We need to get this over with before that beast of hers shows up. She’s probably been talking to him through their mating connection the whole time.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t broken down the door already,” Helena said and closed the distance between her and Allie. “Sorry, child, but this will hurt.” She placed her hands on each of Allie’s temples and began to chant in some strange language.
Pain shot through her head and quickly consumed her entire body. She let out a horrifying scream as the witch’s chants grew louder and louder. Allie’s head felt like it was going to explode from the pain.
Images of her first meeting Marc flashed through her mind and slowly disappeared. As soon as one image vanished, another of her time with him popped into her head, then disappeared just as quickly. She could feel her memories of him fading. Seconds later, she saw them in bed together. Saw the moment she turned her head and submitted to Marc’s bite. It was the single best moment of her life, and like the others, it quickly disappeared into oblivion.
“Stop! Stop! Don’t do this, please!” she shouted, but the witch kept chanting, never slowing the words spewing from her mouth. Allie fought back, trying to push the witch out of her mind, but nothing seemed to work. She rocked back and forth, trying to break the chains or the chair she had been strapped to. It didn’t matter to her which broke first so long as one of them did. She couldn’t let the witch finish her spell. Couldn’t let her break her connection with Marc or the love she had for him.
“Hold her still,” her father shouted.
Clinton came around behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve got her. She’s not going anywhere. Finish this, now.”
“No! Let me go,” Allie cried out again. An image flipped into her mind. This time it was her fangs sinking into Marc’s neck. She tried to hold onto the memory, but the witch yanked the thought right out of her brain. Her chest warmed. It felt like a flame had been lit and was being sucked from her body. She felt it travel from her heart to her mind.
“No! No! No!”she cried to her tiger, who fought the magic just as hard as she did.
The witch suddenly stopped chanting. The room went quiet. The thick magic surrounding Allie subsided, and she tried to remember what she was so damn upset about.
“What happened?” she asked her parents, who stood nearby, looking concerned for her.
“Allie! Oh, Allie! Are you okay?” her mom ran to her side.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What is going on? Why am I chained to this chair? Dad, please say something.”
“It is done,” Helena said and took a step back.
“What’s done? Why are you all looking at me like that?” Allie couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on and why her parents were acting so strange.