Page 81 of Eternally Bound
“The pathways are opening,” she whispered.
He stared at her in stunned silence when she slumped listlessly back to the bed, unconsciousness claiming her once more. His heart hammered as he caught the much too faint thump of her pulse. He’d witnessed transitions before, he knew they were never pleasant, but he’d never seen anything like this. Never seen one go so smoothly before going so horribly wrong.
Through the bond connecting them, he felt nothing from her. He turned toward Declan. “What is going on?”
Declan opened his eyes to reveal their still black color. “Pain.” His voice came out gravelly. “She was in pain.”
“What do you meanwas?”
“I don’t know. It’s… it’s quiet now.”
“Too quiet,” Ronan murmured as he gazed down at her parted lips. He ran his fingers over her forehead, brushing back the hair sticking to her pale skin.
“Have any of you heard or seen anything like this before?” he demanded of the others.
Killean and Saxon shook their heads. “No,” Lucien answered.
“Get the records,” he ordered.
“I’ll go.” Declan spun and fled from the room as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels.
***
Saxon sat in the chair beside the bed, flipping through one of the numerous books that contained much of the vampire’s vast history. Declan had disappeared after returning with the records. Uncomfortable with being near Kadence in her current condition, Lucien and Killean had retreated to the hall where they were flipping through more annals, but Saxon was studying her reactions and trying to find something in the records to match.
The records were the only things Ronan had maintained full custody of after the war with the Savages. One of the selling points of this place had been the vault built into a wall in the gym. If one didn’t know the vault was there, they would never see it.
Some of the records were so old they were written on parchment and had to be handled with the utmost care. They’d focused on those older documents first, the ones written before Ronan was born.
“Anything?” Ronan demanded when Kadence remained unmoving before him, her hand cold as he held it within both of his. He’d ordered the others from the room earlier and slipped a nightgown on her, but she was still far too exposed for his liking.
“Not yet,” Saxon murmured.
Lucien’s head emerged at the bottom of the doorway, where he sat with his back against the wall. “No,” he said and ducked back again.
Declan walked into the room with a book clasped to his chest.
“Declan?” Ronan asked.
“I discovered nothing in the books I went through,” Declan said, his eyes once again a silvery gray color as they met Ronan’s. “In all your many years, a hunter has never been turned, and it doesn’t seem to have occurred before you were born either. I think if ithadoccurred, it wouldn’t have been a secret, but full-blown knowledge. We’ll find nothing in these journals, Ronan.”
“I didn’t think we would,” he murmured as he turned his attention back to Kadence.
Rosy color tinged her cheeks once more. Her heart continued to beat within her chest, and her breath warmed her lips when she exhaled, but she hadn’t moved in the three hours since she’d collapsed onto the bed again. The transition should be over by now, but it still held her within its unrelenting grasp.
“She will survive this,” Saxon said.
And become what? Had he destroyed her? Turned her into something different? What pathways were opening and where would they lead her? His hands tightened around hers at the possibility of something terrible awakening within her. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head. He had no idea what she was going through as the bond remained oddly closed off on her end.
“Get the crossbow and weapons ready, in case she doesn’t survive,” he ordered.
“Ronan—”
“If you don’t put me down immediately, I will kill you all,” he interrupted Lucien.
“I’ll get them,” Killean said and Ronan listened as he rose to his feet.
“Wait,” Declan ordered. “She’s awake.”
