The Bonds of Blood (The Final Formula Series, Book 4.5) Read online

  James typically wore it when they sparred. It was made of iron and knocked his strength and speed down to something closer to human. Normally, it didn’t bother him, but today, he was edgy.

  “No,” he answered Rowan. “I’m not in the best frame of mind right now. You kick me in the wrong place, and I might go off on you. Then Addie will have my ass.”

  A faint smile appeared on Rowan’s face before he grew serious. “How’s the potion going?”

  “Nowhere.”

  Rowan frowned, but didn’t get to comment when the door to the gym opened and Doug walked in.

  James glanced up in surprise. He didn’t realize that Doug knew about this place. The exterior of the building didn’t even have a sign advertising that it was a gym—which made it a good place for Rowan to get away from all the publicity.

  “I guess we’ll take a break,” Rowan said to James.

  “I don’t mean to interrupt,” Doug said. Dressed in a suit, he clearly hadn’t come here for a workout himself.

  “You’re fine.” Rowan walked over to exchange a handshake with him. “I was getting tired of listening to James and Donovan whine.”

  “I said we could go again,” James spoke up.

  “I was the one who was whining,” Donovan said, getting to his feet and walking over to join them. Like Rowan, he exchanged a handshake with Doug. “Would you like a turn at him?” He waved a hand at Rowan.

  “Probably not. I’m not well versed on this martial arts stuff. I did a little boxing in college, but unlike His Grace, I never saw the need to kick someone when I could just punch them.”

  “I prefer to bite them.” James unclasped the necklace and his senses returned to full strength.

  “That’s why he wears the necklace,” Donovan said.

  Doug smiled, then held out a crisp white envelope to Rowan. “I would like to invite you, all of you, to the gathering I’m hosting.”

  “I’m honored to be invited,” Rowan gestured with the envelope, “but are you sure about this? Inviting us may anger some of the older members. It might put them off naming you Deacon.”

  “Recognizing me as Deacon is just a technicality. I have the linage and talent to back it up.”

  James marveled at the arrogance it took to say that and keep a straight face. Donovan caught his eye and smiled, perhaps thinking the same thing.

  “Besides,” Doug continued, “I think it’s time to make some changes.”

  “If that is how you feel, we will support you,” Rowan said.

  “Thank you. I hope all of you can attend.”

  “I assume you’re just inviting the Elements,” James spoke up. “You wouldn’t invite me to a gathering of necromancers.”

  “Ely told me she’s coming with her grandmother and cousin.”

  “When did she say that?”

  “Yesterday afternoon, when she returned my car. Era followed her over and—”

  “Before they went shopping?” he asked. Elysia hadn’t mentioned returning Doug’s car.

  “Yes.”

  James suspected his brothers had followed Era and Elysia from the Elemental Offices to the mall. How else would they have known to meet them there? He would have been concerned that their stop at Doug’s house would make him a target, but fortunately, Doug still lived in his townhouse and was only overseeing the repairs on his family home.

  “But I don’t think the car was Elysia’s main reason for the visit,” Doug added.

  James frowned, his concerns about his brother taking a back seat. “What was that purpose?”

  Doug didn’t smirk like he expected; his expression remained serious. “I’ve been debating on whether to say anything, but I think it only fair that I do.”

  “Go on.”

  Doug took a breath as if to steel his courage. “She asked me to take the bond—between the two of you.”

  James stilled.

  Donovan cleared his throat. “I might be speaking out of turn here, but James should be involved in a decision like that.”

  “Exactly,” Doug agreed.

  “Elysia doesn’t think she’ll survive this,” Rowan said, his tone soft.

  “No,” James cut in, his gaze locking with Doug’s. “If you take the bond, you’re letting her give up. I won’t let you do that.”

  “Easy.” Doug held up both hands as if to ward him off, and James realized he’d snarled the words. “I told her that the only way I would take the bond is if you agreed. The decision is one hundred percent yours. Even if she’s down to her last heartbeat”—his voice dropped to a whisper—“and she begs me to take you, I won’t.”

  James fisted his hands, struggling to hold his unreasonable rage in check.

  Doug stepped forward and gripped his shoulders. “I want you to know that if we ever find ourselves at that moment, you have a choice.”

  “I don’t want a choice,” James snarled. “I want her to live.”

  Doug finally seemed to notice how on edge he was and took a step back. “As do I.”

  “We all do,” Donovan spoke up. He moved until he stood between James and Doug. “Perhaps she was just having an off day when she asked Doug to take the bond. With your unique physiology, it may not be something you can appreciate, but when you’ve felt bad for a while, it can be very depressing.”

  A phone buzzed on the bench where Donovan had been sitting.

  “That’s me,” Rowan said. “I’d better get it.” He walked over to retrieve his phone and after a puzzled glance at the screen, brought it to his ear. “Hello.”

  “Your Grace, hi. It’s Livie.” James had no trouble hearing the other side of the conversation.

  “Hi, Livie. Call me Rowan.” He glanced up, still looking puzzled.

  “Might James be there?” she asked. “Addie said he was with you.”

  “Standing right here. I’ll put him on.” Rowan handed him the phone.

  “Hey, Livie. What’s up?”

  “We can’t find Ely.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I went to wake her this morning, she wasn’t there. I think she took a walk in the cemetery, but Grams and I walked all over and we couldn’t find her. You can soul track her, right?”

  “Yes, I’ll find her.” Oh God, what if George had found her? “I’ll be right there. Stay put.” He ended the call and handed Rowan his phone.

  “What’s going on?” Doug asked.

  “Ely is missing.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “If she’s had a relapse, you’ll need me.”

  James hadn’t considered that. What if it wasn’t his brother?

  “Take him with you,” Rowan said. Was he thinking the same thing?

  “Very well.” James shifted forms and pulled open a portal. Doug stepped through without hesitation.

  James landed beside Doug on the wet grass behind Grams’s house. The heavy overnight rain had slacked off, but the ground was now saturated, soaking his paws.

  “Do you see her?” Doug asked.

  James glanced around them, catching sight of Grams and Livie within the house, but no one else nearby. He turned his attention toward the cemetery, and there on the edge of his range, he picked up a flicker of the brilliant soul he knew well. Elysia.

  A wave of relief washed over him, even through the hound’s indifference. George hadn’t taken her.

  He trotted toward the gate that separated Grams’s backyard from the cemetery.

  “She’s out there?” Doug asked, hurrying after him. “I’ll get the gate.”

  James couldn’t acknowledge the comment. Instead, he walked the edge of the veil, becoming little more than a ghost on the mortal plane, and stepped through the gate.

  “Or you could do that,” Doug said. H
e pushed open the gate and followed him into the cemetery.

  James took off at a trot, heading for the older section of the large graveyard. Doug sighed and broke into a jog, the damp ground sucking at his expensive shoes.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the rain fell a little heavier, promising another storm soon. James increased his pace, determined to have Elysia inside before it hit.

  He stopped on a slight rise beside a gnarled maple tree that looked like it had withstood more than one lightning strike. Not a reassuring place to be standing at the moment. Using the hound’s sight, he pinpointed Elysia’s location. She was in a small mausoleum about fifteen yards away. Perhaps she had sought shelter when the rain started.

  “You find her?” Doug asked.

  A swish of his tail was the best James could do for an answer before he sprang forward, ghosting through headstones until he reached the mausoleum. When he stepped through the partially closed door, the dim interior posed no problem for his night vision, and he found her sitting on the floor, her back against the cement sarcophagus at the end of the little room.

  The door opened behind him, flooding the small space with more light as Doug joined them.

  James shifted forms and squatted beside her. “Ely?” He touched her cheek and found her skin cool and damp. She didn’t stir.

  “Is she asleep?” Doug squatted on her other side, and his foot bumped against what sounded like a glass bottle. He picked it up, and James saw that it was a bottle of whiskey. A nearly empty bottle of whiskey. “No, she’s not asleep,” Doug answered his own question.

  James sighed. “If you will carry her, I’ll take us back to Grams’s.”

  “Of course.” Doug moved closer, gathering her in his arms. They had done this once before, and James had hated it then, too, but he involuntarily changed forms when he traveled the land of the dead. He couldn’t carry her himself.

  “Hell’s blood,” Doug said. “She’s soaked.”

  Shifting into the hellhound, James pulled open a portal, holding it open until Doug joined him. A moment later, he stepped out into Elysia’s bedroom. Doug walked over to lay her on her bed while James crossed to her dresser. She had cleaned out a drawer for him, giving him a place to store some clothes, back when they used to visit Grams and Livie every night for dinner. Once they had learned Elysia was a soul reaper, the visits had stopped. They had stopped doing a lot of things together.

  James sighed, regretting that now. He had only been trying to protect her, but now he wondered if staying away had been the right thing to do. He remembered Donovan’s suggestion that she was depressed. Drinking whiskey until she passed out certainly supported that theory.

  “How is she?” he asked Doug as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.

  “Unresponsive. I suspect it’s the alcohol. But she needs to get out of these wet things.”

  “Grams and Livie are on their way up.” James could hear their footsteps on the stairs. “I’m sure they felt the portal open.” He pulled on the T-shirt.

  A moment later, Livie ran into the room, closely followed by her grandmother.

  “You found her,” Livie said, hurrying to the bed.

  “She was in one of the mausoleums,” James said.

  “I never checked,” Grams said. “I thought all the doors were locked or barred.” She came to a stop beside Doug. “What’s wrong with her? Please tell me it’s not another coma.”

  “No,” Doug answered. “I’m afraid this is whiskey induced.”

  “What?”

  “We found an empty bottle, and by the smell of her breath, I suspect it’s to blame for her current state.”

  Grams sighed and gripped Elysia’s hand. “She’s freezing.”

  “Was she out in the rain all night?” Livie asked, her brow wrinkled, and she pulled her lower lip between her teeth, the gesture reminding James a lot of Elysia. “Why didn’t she wear a rain coat or take an umbrella?”

  Elysia wasn’t even wearing a jacket, just a thin hoodie and a pair of yoga pants. The temperature had dipped down into the low fifties last night.

  “I don’t believe she’s thinking very clearly right now,” Doug said, his tone soft. “That or she got into the whiskey before she left.”

  Livie crossed her arms. “She’s not going to improve, is she?”

  “I don’t know,” Doug said. “She’s the only soul reaper I’ve ever known.”

  “If you boys would care to step into the hall,” Grams cut in, “Livie and I will get her out of these wet clothes and tucked into bed.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Doug agreed.

  James followed him into the hall, worry for Elysia leaving a sick feeling clenching his stomach. Grams had known another soul reaper: Elysia’s mother. How many of Elysia’s symptoms had she seen before?

  Doug stopped in the hall and turned to face him. “Why aren’t you here more?”

  “You know why.”

  “I think we’re well beyond any ill effect you might have on her magic. You need to be here.”

  “This is so surreal. Last time we met in this hall you”—James glanced at Elysia’s door and lowered his voice—“asked me if I wanted to fuck her. Those were your words.”

  Doug snorted. “I’d forgotten about that.”

  James lifted his brows.

  “You will allow me my wounded pride. She never looked at me the way she does you. Even then, when she had only known you a few days.”

  James shoved his hands in his pockets, oddly uncomfortable. “We thought it was the magic.”

  “I can’t speak for you, but necromancy doesn’t make you fall in love with someone.”

  “Love?” James repeated. Had she said something to Doug?

  “It’s part of what makes the bond between the two of you so strong—and unbreakable.” Doug smiled, the expression smug. “I’m good with bonds, remember?”

  James frowned at Elysia’s door. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because above everything, I want Elysia to be happy. More than that, I want her to live.”

  That sobered him. Doug was right, that was the important thing, but that didn’t stop James from asking what he most wanted to know. “Do you want her still?”

  It was Doug’s turn to frown at her door. “I like to think that we’re close and that we’ll always be friends. But do I still want to marry her? No, I don’t.”

  James stared at him.

  Doug laughed. “I know. It surprised me, too, but it’s the truth. These last few months have made me step back and really evaluate my life and what I always expected from it.”

  James made a sound of understanding. Like all of them, Doug had been through a lot. In a way, his trials may have altered his life the most. He might have ended up Deacon, as expected, but he had endured a major family upheaval to get there.

  “My father was getting more and more insistent that I marry and start a family. I had met Elysia while in med school, when she was an undergrad.”

  James nodded. She had once told him as much.

  “I knew her family was not well thought of within the Community, but she was powerful and beautiful—the most important requirements according to my father. I thought that once he met her, he would overlook her family connections.”

  “But you didn’t know she was a soul reaper.”

  “Neither did she. Of course, Father knew everything about her past—or rather, Alexander did.”

  “And once you learned the truth, you decided you didn’t want her anymore.”

  Doug smiled. “You’re still determined to dislike me, aren’t you?”

  “You have to admit, the timing is suspicious.”

  “I’ll concede that, but I’m telling you the truth. I had deceived myself into believing I pursued her for more noble reasons than family obligations.
”

  James frowned, still not convinced. What exactly had opened Doug’s eyes?

  Grams stepped out into the hall, Elysia’s wet things gathered in her arms. She eyed the two of them. “We have her changed and in bed. She didn’t stir.”

  “Whiskey will do that,” Doug said.

  “I would feel better if you would take a look at her.”

  “Of course, but you know I’m not a medical doctor.”

  “You’re the best we have for what ails her. I still wonder what would have become of her if you hadn’t been available to give her doctors advice.”

  “I’m a necromancer with a medical background. I had knowledge they didn’t have.”

  “More necromancers should be doctors.”

  Doug smiled. “That would be nice, but you know how it is. We tend to choose careers at the other end of the life cycle.”

  Grams returned his smile. “True.”

  Doug walked into Elysia’s room, and James began to follow.

  “James?” Grams stopped him. “Would you join me?”

  “Sure. Shall I carry those?” He nodded at the wet clothes she held.

  “I’ve got it. Thank you.” She started down the stairs and he fell in beside her. She glanced over. “You and Doug seem to be getting along better.”

  “He’s a surprisingly decent guy.”

  “Beneath the Nelson arrogance, yes, he is. It surprises me, too.”

  “Yet you once encouraged Elysia to marry him.”

  “I did. At the time, it seemed the only way to save our business and home.” They reached the first floor, and she led him toward the back of the house. “It was wrong of me, and I regret it now.”

  James glanced over, feeling guilty about his accusation. “You were doing what you thought best for your family. It’s not my place to judge you.”

  Grams smiled, but if she had a comment, she didn’t express it.

  They reached the laundry room, and she placed the wet clothes atop the dryer while she started the washer.

  He waited in silence as she loaded the clothes into the machine. Was there something she needed carried or moved? He was about to ask when she faced him.

  “I would like you to come stay with us.”