November Reign (Northarbor Coven #3)

13. Tether

Tether

Thyme

In the safety of my room, I broke down. Internally I raged at Basil for taking someone I cared about from me again. First it was our parents, then it was Fern and Damon. Now it was Oak. I was so sick of it!

Outwardly, the only sign of my pain were the silent tears that I let run freely down my cheeks. They landed on the hardwood floors unchecked.

“Prow?” Hela made a familiar noise outside of my door. I hadn’t seen her with the others, but it made sense she had returned to the mansion now that Cody and Toth were here. It was surprising she had come to me. I liked her, we just hadn’t formed a bond, not like her and Oak.

Just the thought of him hit me with a pang to the chest. I should be in my room packing to go with him, yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave Damon, not now that he knew everything. The coven was in such a state, I was shocked he hadn’t had challengers come to fight him.

I let Hela in, only for her to rub up against me, demanding pets. I rubbed my hands over her fur, careful of her barbed ears and tail. Her purrs were so soothing. I dropped to my knees so I could wrap my arms around her. She rested her head against mine, purring louder.

“Thank you,” I whispered against her fur.

Hiding in my room while Oak was likely packing was cowardly, I just didn’t know what to say to justify staying behind. Over the last few days, we’d bonded, even though we hadn’t talked all that much. Being there for him at night, the physical closeness was just the baby steps towards what I really wanted.

Somehow I ended up lying on the floor, using Hela as a pillow as she purred up a storm. The sound was so relaxing, I think I must have fallen into a doze. I hadn’t been getting all that much sleep when I was with Oak, too caught up in my feelings for him and the situation with Basil to really relax enough to rest properly.

The door, which was already ajar, pushed further open.

“Thyme?”

I looked up and met Oak’s eyes. For a brief second there was a look of tenderness on his face before he shoved it back under the stoic mask he wore.

“Is that… are you ready to go? ”

“Yeah.” He took a step into the room and closed the door. “I just wanted to ask a favor.”

I tried to get up from the floor, but struggled. Oak held out a hand to me. When I took it, he yanked me up with such force I crashed into his hard body.

“Sorry!” I stood paralyzed against him. This close I could feel his heart beating fast.

He took a step back. “Could you help me with something? It’s a lot to ask.” Oak looked beseechingly at me.

“Uh… sure. I’m… uh… sorry about before. With Damon. I feel like I should be going with you.”

Oak huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Why let Basil ruin your life too? I mean, it hurts, I thought…”

The tension in the room ratcheted up with all the words unsaid.

“You need to be here to look after them. I get it, I really do. I just wish…” Oak looked so sad.

I needed to do something, anything, to let him know he only had to call. He wasn’t alone.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Read these.” He thrust his phone at me, unlocked it and opened his texts.

My gasp startled Hela who had moved from the floor to wind herself around Oak’s legs.

“How? He can see you? What the hell?! ”

“Basil has some of my hair. I think he’s scrying for me.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. He can’t do it all the time because the hair burns away in the spell and he only has so much, a small lock of it he cut awhile back.”

“True, there are some limits to this spell. It’s only for a glimpse. He can’t hear anything, can’t see much of the others around you. Still, it’s highly invasive. You never get to choose when he can see you.”

“I think he’s been saving it. Using it then was just to show his power over me.”

“Did he call you?”

Oak just nodded.

“What did he say?”

I saw his barriers go up bit by bit.

“Just that he misses me, which is bullshit. He misses sex maybe, but I’m sure he’s getting that elsewhere. He loves having power over me. Making me feel small and helpless.”

“Shh,” I soothed, going closer and rubbing his arm. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.”

“He was trying to convince me to come back to him. I won’t. I’d rather—“

“Don’t! Do not invoke fate by finishing that sentence. You don’t ever give up, understand. No matter what, you LIVE and you fight another day. ”

Oak wrapped his arms around me. “Can you help me? Make it so he can’t see me whenever he wants?”

Thinking back to my education, I thought I had something to stop Basil peeping. It would take a lot of trust on Oak’s part.

“Come to the workroom with me. We’ll need the space.”

“Okay,” I said, gearing myself up to explain the process. “You’ll have to stand in the circle. I’ll draw runes around you to protect from outside influence, but you’ll need a tether for the spell.”

“What’s the tether?”

“Because you are trying to block a person from seeing, you’ll need to be tethered to another person.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think of it like renting a car and then buying a car. So Basil is borrowing your image, using your hair as the payment, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So anyone with that hair could do the same. Unless you are tethered to an owner. ”

“I dunno, this is sounding kind of like a demon contract.”

“That’s where this is different. In the circle you offer up some of your hair and a tiny bead of blood.”

“Blood magic, really?”

“Yes, and also no. I don’t use the blood and it has to be freely given by you for it to have any magic. So the blood, it binds the hair, then I put my blood over it, giving my share of the price. Then we are tethered together. Each time Basil tries to scry you with the hair, he will be blocked by our joint magic.”

“Can you see me, if you want to?”

“I would have to burn the entire thing. It would be a one time only spell. Instead I would have a sense of you. A sort of mental connection. It can be draining, so it isn’t done often.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He still looked uncertain. What part of it worried him?

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t want to. Think of it this way, it’s an insurance plan. If anything happens to you out there, I’ll know straight away. Then I can come help.”

“Will you?”

“Of course. I understand why Damon is doing this, it doesn’t mean I completely agree. He hasn’t seen those texts or heard the full story. I trust you, Oak. So will Damon, eventually. ”

Oak smirked. “Eventually. Maybe once Basil is dead.” He winced. “Sorry, he’s still your brother.”

“No. He isn’t. My big brother died a long time ago. This is a power-hungry monster in his place. He can’t be stopped. I’ve made my peace with it.”

I found myself in Oak’s arms again. He pressed the gentlest of kisses to my forehead.

“Do the spell, please. I think I like the thought of you knowing how I’m feeling.”

My face heated at the grin stretching across his face. “It’s not that powerful a spell. It’s not like it can read minds.”

“Probably for the best.” I caught the suggestive look and my blush deepened.

The spell didn’t take long to perform. I drew the runes in chalk, asked Oak to take his place and gave him a pair of silver scissors. The chunk of hair he cut from the back nearly made me cry. There was a lot! Luckily he had thick hair and the missing part couldn’t be seen .

With the tip of the scissors he said the words I asked him to repeat, and pricked his thumb. He coated the hair with his blood then gave it to me.

I used the same scissors to cut my finger, adding my blood to the lock of hair. With the final spell words, the tether was complete.

Straight away I could feel his anxiety.

“It’ll be okay. D’you know where you’ll go?”

“I’ve got an idea. I just—“

He closed the distance between us, took me in his arms, dipped me like in those movies, and kissed me.

Pretty sure I swooned for a second until I came to my senses and kissed him back. I clutched at his strong shoulders as I licked my way into his mouth.

The kiss stole my breath. It was perfect. I didn’t want it to end.

When we finally broke apart, we were both panting.

Oak pecked another kiss to my swollen lips.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while now. I couldn’t leave until I did it.”

The reminder that he was going was a shot to my heart.

“Promise me that won’t be the last time you kiss me.”

“I promise. Next time I kiss you, I’ll be back where I belong; by your side.”