∞ The Tethered Ones ∞

Chapter 16

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• Luna •

Standing under the sprinkler, the shower water came on like a perfect rain, warm and steady, and cascaded over Luna's skin in all the right ways.

When she bathed, it was like her little cocoon; a place for relaxation and self-care.

Her smile grew as she thought of the last twenty-four hours. Her husband had her under his protection, and he was slowly coming back to the realization of their life together. She didn't know what tomorrow brought, but she was sure as hell thankful she was cooped up under Chase and Dr. Kim's watchful eyes with Amir. She wouldn't be able to endure this place without him being there for her, even when his mind was practically blank.

Let's make new memories together, he told her.

She wanted to do just that from the moment he uttered those words. Of course, it would be better and less restrictive if they were in a safe house with Sarah. She couldn't wait for him to get to know their daughter again and see her face light up whenever he was in the room.

Rinsing her scalp, she thought about her telekinesis. It wasn't some party trick one saw at a magic show. It was an ability that could be valuable for her survival. She needed to get a handle on it and use it properly and for the right reasons. She didn't quite comprehend how it worked, but then again, who asked a plant how it developed?

She accepted it as a natural ability and hoped she'd understand it before she ended up causing more havoc in the world.

Stepping out of the shower, she quickly threw on an oversized shirt Amir had grabbed for her that probably came from Dr. Kim's wife. After getting dressed, she quickly opened a hygiene kit and brushed her teeth. She smiled to herself, grateful that Amir thought of her needs.

Spotting a book on the floor, she swiped it up and headed for the bedroom. She hadn't read a novel in forever and figured it was a quick way to pass time. The news channels were full of depressing images of calamity, and she didn't want to watch that.

Flipping over the book, she read the blurb and laughed a little, reminiscing the time she started to write her story about learning who she was. She even gave it a title and summary, adamant about writing a novel. Stepping through the doorway, she looked toward the bed.

Her heart pounded when her eyes collided with Chase's.

The book slipped from her thin fingers, landing on her toes. If there was any pain radiating in her foot, she didn't feel it. Her focus was on being alone in a room with her mortal enemy, his phone in his hand.

She was so relieved to be fully clothed. He was the creepiest person alive.

Bringing his legs to the side, Chase sat up. "I take it you weren't expecting me?"

Of course, she wasn't. She thought he was in the meeting in the main house, the one that Amir was attending. She was wondering what was happening in there, but she knew she'd get her answers later.

"Why are you here?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Chase stared back for a long moment before exhaling a breath. "You know the answer to that. You're here. No other explanations needed."

That she knew, but it didn't explain why he was sitting on the bed in the guest house. 

"I did plan to come up here and get you away from your . . . boy toy," he said, giggling. "But I decided to let you two talk."

"Oh, how thoughtful. It's funny the only moment you ever care about someone else is when they aren't in your life anymore." She tsked, highly disgusted by his sudden appearance. "And for the record, my husband is more than half the man you will ever be. He is not my boy toy."

He shook his head. "You can't tell me you don't miss how things used . . . to be . . . between us? Come on, we had some good moments."

Luna choked. "In your dreams. Everything with you was a lie."

"Not everything."

Her hands curled in her sides.

"It didn't have to be that way." A slow smile crept along with his mouth as he brought his hand to his lips. "Days would go by when I studied you," he continued, staring up at her. "When I fell in love with you, I didn't care what my objective was. I worshiped you." He stood to his feet and placed his phone back into his jean pocket. "My life had meaning with you and our daughter."

"No, Chase! Sarah is not your daughter! She never was!"

He shrugged. "She didn't look at it that way. In fact, from what I hear, she still calls me 'Daddy Chase.' I think it's adorable."

Her jaw clenched. "What is your point?"

He stepped toward the door, then turned around. "Trying to figure out a way to win you back."

She gaped. He couldn't be serious. He had to be the most delusional man on the planet if he thought she'd take him back. When he stayed still and stared in her direction, waiting for a reply, that was when she realized he was serious.

He was absolutely serious about wanting her to forget all the pain, torture, and torment he bestowed on her. And she was already married. She had no plans to divorce Amir anytime soon.

Chase was one sick psychopath.

She snarled. "You've got to be joking. Like that would ever happen."

"You must hate me that much," he said pursing his lips. "I really didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted us to get married and live happily ever after."

She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. "Things happen for a reason. I'm glad I saw the light at the end of the tunnel."

His eyes met hers. "Don't you think I know that?"

She snorted. "No, because I'm happily married and here you are, groveling like you have no sense."

He stiffened. "I do have sense. But I know what I feel for you is true love."

Sighing heavily, she replied, "Then you have a funny way of showing it."

Crossing her arms in annoyance, she rolled her eyes. "Are you done here?"

"No."

Her brows shot up. "Why? You know I don't love you."

"I don't care! I'll make you love me!" He slammed his fist against the wall, rattling the door. "We just need time to reconnect. That's all. But we can't. It's because of Amir. You were supposed to take me back after he lost his memories of you. You were supposed to remember the love we had together."

"But I don't. It's in the past."

"No!" Another fist hit the other side of the wall. "I . . . I should've left him for dead! I shouldn't have revived him!" His anger rolled off his tongue, his spit spewing everywhere. "Why did I do that?"

She just stared at him, not giving into the reaction he wanted. "Why? Because your pathetic need to capture our species is what you give a damn about. Not love."

"You're wrong. It was because of my love for you that I caught you again."

"You make no sense, Chase. Not a lick of sense."

"Don't pretend I had never meant anything to you," he spat. "You can't just wash away six years together like that."

She looked away and then faced him. "Five and a half years. Those years were stolen from me. From my daughter."

"God, I miss her."

"And?" Her gaze drifted toward the window and then back at him. "Am I supposed to care?" Yeah, she was being a bitch, but she felt no sympathy for him or what he was rattling on about. He deserved to be alone for the rest of his miserable life. "You're so pathetic. The only thing I feel for you is disgust."

"You've gotten so cocky, Moon." Her stomach rolled when he called her that. "When we were together, you didn't do those things with your mouth." He smiled and cracked his neck.

"You're so disgusting. I don't know how you can live with yourself."

"Easy," he said, standing against the wall. "I have a life with you to think about."

And there went her patience. "You still don't get it? I don't want you. Like at all."

"For now." His words were as smooth as butter. "I'm sure you won't feel like that if I told you someone you care about is in trouble."

Her eyes widened as she clenched her fists again. "What did you do?"

"I know where the Khans are." His smug smile came off as a grimace. "I had them followed once they flew back home. I knew it would be a matter of time before you exposed Tethered Souls."

"No. You couldn't have captured them. They were safe."

"Were . . ." he uttered slowly. "When the shit hit the fan, I took action."

She watched him place a hand on the doorknob and twist the lock. Her nerves locked up, and she tried hard to connect to Amir telepathically, but it didn't work. When she swallowed, a familiar taste flowed down her throat. It reminded her of the time she'd realized Chase had drugged her on the way home from her studio. He couldn't have done it again. She hadn't drank or eaten anything since Amir had left.

Her gaze flicked to the bathroom, and then reality just settled in.

He did something to the water.

Staring at her, he laughed. "You looked scared, Lu. Is there something wrong?"

She snapped at attention. Nausea growing further in her stomach.

He met her gaze. "If I had to pick what I liked the most, it would be capturing you and getting to have my way, again." He stepped away from the door and strode forward, his cold stare sending a shiver down her spine. "I want to make your beloved suffer, to live with knowing that I've been inside you even after y'all got married, but . . . that's not going to be enough to send him into a frenzy, right? I think if you baring my child would be the cherry on top!" He popped the p with that last word.

"You . . ."

"I'm what?"

His intentions sunk in quickly. A buzzing filled her ears as her throat became parched. He wanted them to have a child together. At times like these, she was grateful she took birth control with him. She didn't want to have a child with somebody who was heartless and had no soul.

She was shocked when he pulled out his phone, then turned on the screen to reveal Amir's family sitting in a large-sized cage tied up. She gasped.

Amir, baby, come to me, she pleaded.

"Please. Tell me what I am," Chase said, not taking his eyes off her.

"That can't be real," she said, refusing to give in to his antics.

"Oh, it's very real." He took a breath and then pulled a gun out from underneath his shirt. "Once I'm through with you, Lu, I'm going to sit here and wait for Amir to come crashing through that door. He'll see how real I am with killing his parents."

"Someone should kill you."

She snickered as she tipped her neck up.

"You don't have it in you to hurt me, Chase," she said, not falling for his tricks. "You won't hurt my husband. You want us alive for more experiments or whatever it is you were planning to do with us. And you're certainly not going to harm one hair on my in-law's heads. Not if you want us to cooperate."

Chase lifted his gun, aiming for her forehead. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"Really? You're wanting me to have a child with Amir because we're Pure Souls, and you want a child with me for your sick and twisted fantasy." She took a bold step forward, itching to use her new power. "Come on, Chase, you know you're not going to win over my heart in the end. Especially from your empty threats."

"You will if there are other souls on the line."

Calmness swept over her, and her lips spread into a small smile. "I'll never bow down to you. You might as well give that up."

She tried to show no mercy, but it was nearly impossible with someone like him. He wasn't going to give up on her until he had his way. It didn't matter what her wishes were or her marital status with somebody else. It could have been anyone else she had married and Chase would still pester her to give him another chance.

A chance that was never going to happen.

And now, he'd threaten her in-laws over a fantasy.

"No matter what you dangle over my head, I'll never give you what you want, Chase. Never." She glared into his eyes, her lips pinched. "I think you really need help. Like, psychological help if you think I'll just forgive everything you've ever done to me, to my daughter, and my husband. You probably had a special serum developed that may cause my memories to be erased, but deep down, I'll know. I can feel that no matter what you do to me, our history together will be forever engrained in my conscience. And for that, you will never have another chance with me."

The hand around his gun twitched. "You don't care about the safety of the Khans, huh? That just shows who you truly are. Soulless."

Her bottom lip quivered. "No, I do care. But just for them, not you."

"I think I need to teach you a lesson," he hissed.

Stepping next to the bathroom door, she eyed the gun. If she could run in there and slam the door shut, she would. But he could easily barrel through it and get her that way. She didn't have it in her to test her powers and dodge a bullet from hitting her body. She was like a rock stuck in a hard place.

He had her at a checkpoint.

"You do that, but you still won't achieve anything," she said. "I don't think you want to go down that road and kill people who have done nothing wrong. You do realize that Karma's a tool, right?"

"You're such a whore!" Spit flew between his chapped lips. "I'm going to kill your new family, then fuck you, and kill you slowly. But that's after you have my child. I'll keep Amir alive just so he can watch you giving birth to a baby that's not his."

Her humanity clicked off, and she was beginning to lose patience with him.

He sniffed. "You suddenly don't have anything to say, Lu?"

Amir, I love you. She prayed he heard that.

Her gaze dropped to the gun, and she felt the source of her power soaring over her skin. With her fingers splayed, her tips tingled. Drawing it in, she focused on his hand. The gun swayed, and the trigger finger twitched.

Then, glaring deeply into his eyes, she thought of choking him. His throat tightened as if he felt her wrath.

"Is . . ." he gasped out as she threw his body against the wall, his back smashing a lamp. "Is that the best . . . you . . . got?"

She lifted her gaze, giving him a grave smile.

His bloodshot eyes swelled with tears. "You're not . . . that strong."

As she waved her hand, several things happened at once. A bolt of electricity came down her arm and oozed its way out. The gun in his hand flew to the other side of the room, directly aiming at his head. The one window in the room above his head blew out, the pieces of it slicing his skin.

"Like that's enough . . . to get me . . . down."

Luna's power strengthened, and a stream of whitish-gold light from her hand hit Chase's shoulder, causing him to shriek.

Bringing her hand up, she rotated her fingers and turned his body upside down as he was still gasping for air. He made no sound when she let go and he hit the floor, his forehead cracking. That was it. He was finished. No more worrying about what he was up to or him coming after them again. That part of her life was closed.

But then, reality set in.

Amir's family.

Chase knew their status. Chase knew where he held them captive. And Chase knew what he could do to get her to crack. He'd planned this. He'd planned for her . . .

Luna's thoughts came to a halt when she knew something was off. She stood still and couldn't move an inch as her eyes traveled around the room, the room she and Amir had reconnected in.

Air got stuck in her throat, in her lungs, and when she dragged in a deep breath, a burning sensation rose.

And then she looked down.

A red inkblot darkened over her borrowed clothes and slithered between her fingers, slowly spewing out of her wound. Blood. Her blood. It was damp, and warm, and it had a strong tangy smell.

Reaching for a towel, she pressed against the circle on her side, trying to stop the bleeding. 

Her head swam, and her body went numb.

"Amir," she whispered.

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So, shall we get the storyline started? Chase has one demonic soul who continues to prove he is far from redemption. Let's see what happens next.