Chapter 40 - Above Cursed Winds

A psychic scream echoed her audible one, Zia’s horror abounding as she watched her mate leap off the tower and plummet from the fatal height.

Beside her, Sehrin gripped her arm roughly, yanking her to her feet. Zia wobbled, losing what sanity she’d reclaimed, but her eyes were fixed on where she’d last seen Jeremiah.

Now, all that remained was an opening, shattered glass frosting the edges as a lick of wind kicked back in her face.

In her need to see Jeremiah removed from danger, Zia had unwittingly killed him. Not purposefully, but she’d pulled the trigger all the same. As her heart sputtered and adrenaline raced through every inch of her trembling frame, Sehrin’s grip tightened painfully.

“—listening to me?” Snarling now, the male Raeth ruthlessly jerked her back and forth, attempting to secure her attention. “You belong to me, Zia! Not anyone else! Remember that, you useless wench.”

Something within Zia snapped.

Ignoring the absolute agony in her wing, her body worked on autopilot. Fingernails digging into her palm, she launched a punch into Sehrin’s face, howling in outrage and anger. When he staggered back, her psychic assault caught him off guard, and he instantly sank to his knees beneath her abilities, bound by her force of will.

Nero, having heard her psychic scream, teleported to her. “Zia?”

“Sovereign,” the title was a plea on her lips, “please bind Sehrin. I—I need to see to Jeremiah.”

Wordlessly, Nero complied, and though he grimaced at the state of her wing, he asked no further questions. Every step down the metal staircase saw her anguish growing. Feathers brushed along the ground, but the pain of her broken wing had compartmentalized itself behind a wall of her growing dread.

Trailing behind her, Nero dragged Sehrin by the neck, taking Zia’s word at face value. Myko’s father was silent, locked within himself and psychically gagged.

Zia didn’t know if her mate would be lying broken as his currently mortal body failed him, or if he was minutes away from true death. She had to get to him, had to hold his hand and see him perhaps for the last time.

Filling her lungs with courage, she stepped into the brilliant sunlight at the base of the stairs.

“Hold him, Gideon!”

Luna’s shrill voice was the first thing that barraged against her senses, and once her eyes adjusted, she stood dumbfounded.

Before her stood a vampire, an Elemental monarch, and a Raeth healer, all three of them trying to restrain one red-haired Elemental dead set on pulling away from them.

Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was alive and … attempting to escape?

Blinking, Zia stood frozen, trying to understand the picture in front of her. Lightning-quick, roots coiled around Jeremiah’s legs, anchoring him to the earth. Rona grappled with his arms, holding them behind his back as Luna rounded to press her fingers into his temples.

Struggling to shake them off, the wind Elemental whipped his head back and forth, only to be foiled by Gideon’s incomparable strength.

As soon as Luna’s fingertips connected and she’d taken hold of his psychic energy, the Elemental stilled, and the potent punch of Luna’s power exploded out from her. In a flash, Zia was at Jeremiah’s side, but didn’t know if she should assist in restraining him or tearing the earthbound roots from his legs.

As if sensing her confusion, Luna spoke urgently. “He’s been coerced, Zia. The compulsion is exceptionally strong, and he’s been programmed to jump until he’s dead.”

Gasping in shock, Zia brushed her fingers along the smooth skin of Jeremiah’s upper arm. Fear pumped through her blood, and fury followed just as quickly. The man had been conditioned for suicide. He hadn’t jumped of his own free will.

And she didn’t have to think very hard about who’d done this to him. Only one person had access to him, and had been with him only moments before he’d jumped.

Sehrin.

Zia had never known he had the power.

Slowly, the roots uncoiled from Jeremiah’s legs, and Rona gradually loosened his arms. The Elemental continued to stare unblinking into space, and Luna persevered in healing the coercion that’d gripped him so desperately.

Steadying him as Luna finished, Zia’s heart pounded. She burrowed into his chest, inhaling his scent. Even though his arms weren’t around her, she clutched at him, needing the anchor of his soul.

Nothing in her immortal life had prepared her for the turmoil of watching her mate leap to his death, nor the vengeance she still needed to met out. Seeing Jeremiah blank-stared following the coercion had been her breaking point. Tears salted her cheeks. Each droplet wet his shirt, leaving a lingering stain of sadness on him.

None of it mattered when his arms circled around her.

“Zia.” His voice was a gentle purr swathed in a deep timbre. “You’re okay. You’re okay, Z.”

Softly, his fingers sifted through her hair, massaging her scalp in an attempt to soothe her. Hearing his comforting tones only lit the building fire within her.

“You jumped,” she squeaked into his chest, barely audible. “You jumped off—and I couldn’t stop you.”

Another sob tore from her throat. All the years of prevention, holding herself apart from any romantic interest, had dissolved after one week of being in Jeremiah’s company. All her careful planning and resistance to courtship had failed spectacularly, and Key’s prediction had come true.

Now, it’d happened, and Jeremiah was still alive.

“I know—I’m so sorry, Z.” Pain infused every syllable. “I tried to stop; I tried so hard. I tried to tell you it wasn’t your fault, that I didn’t want to go. That I love you.”

As the words sank in, her wailing turned bittersweet. Slowly, she raised her chin, desperate to see those gorgeous eyes. Finding them already fixed on her, Zia whispered, “I love you too, Jeremiah.”

An explosion within her soul had her clutching him closer. Vibrant emotions colored their thoughts as the mating bond between them solidified with a single, final push. Their souls tugged together; an invisible knot tied in an unbreakable connection that’d never waver.

As the ghosting link transformed, Zia laughed through her tears. Her world had spun on its axis, realigning so that she’d never be alone again. The Elemental was her fated mate, eternally bound to her now and forever.

Her hands sunk into his hair, and his mouth captured hers seconds later. Kissing him urged her onward, sinking into his chest as strong arms pulled her in.

Everything had changed. While gravity was still realigning, Zia had found her center. Jeremiah had taken her life by storm, and there was no way she’d ever let him go.

The taste of his lips was sweet, and the glutton inside of her yearned for more. Her mind, however, knew they had an audience. Though she revolted at the thought of parting from his kiss, it was Nero’s pointed cough that brought them out of their intimate embrace.

Unfortunately, the claim they both desired would have to wait.

Zia reluctantly stepped away, but when Jeremiah’s arm cinched around her waist, she could only beam at the possessiveness.

“Happy Mating Day.” Nero’s grip tightened on Sehrin as he knelt in the grass beside him. “We do, however, have other pressing matters to attend to.”

Jeremiah suddenly paled, his hands retreating from her waist to reach toward her back. “Your wing!”

She grimaced, but Luna was already placing hands on her, gently conditioning the healing waves into her twisted appendage. Instantly, the wing ceased its agonizing ache, replaced by the warmth of Luna’s mending gift.

“How are you alive?” Zia asked her new mate. “I watched you fall.”

“Rona.” Almost breathless, Jeremiah’s cloudy gaze shot over to where the vampire was clasping hands with Gideon. “When she took my blood, she borrowed my ability. Rona stopped my descent, saving me from falling.”

“How did she even know you were falling?”

“Your scream,” Rona answered. “When I heard it, I saw him falling. The element reacted instinctively and caught him, stopping his descent, and depositing him safely on the ground up here.”

“And then I tried to jump again.”

Rueful, Jeremiah pursed his lips and blinked over at Sehrin. Bitter hatred darkened Zia’s vision. Baring her teeth, she looked to her sovereign, but Nero was already glaring at the man who was on his knees.

“Atonement must be made.”