Page 2 of Unbound

My breath leaves in a ragged huff, and I let the sigil fall from my hand, clattering to the ground. Xavier snatches it up, holding it safely inside his grasp, as if he’s afraid something could happen to it.

But what’s done is done, and there’s no going back.

“You made your bed,” I say, voice low and void of emotion. “Now lie in it.”

Clamping my jaw shut, I suck in a breath through my nose and turn. I’m walking in the opposite direction of where I need to go, but I can’t think straight right now. I just stomp off, knowing Xavier is only inches behind me.

“Wren,” he says softly, but doesn’t stop me. I go around a pile of burned rubble and close my eyes. I want to scream and summon energy and blow everything up. But I also want to sink down onto the ground and cry. Not just because the demon is free, but because there is no denying anything anymore. This has been planned since before I was born. My parents were murdered so their child could be used to unlock the very door their bloodline risked everything to close.

Slowing to a stop, I let my eyes fall closed as voices in the back of my mind start screaming all at once. Doing my best to quiet them, I shake my head and then feel Xavier’s hand land on my shoulder. Usually, his touch is welcome and instantly relaxes me.

This time, I jerk away, eyes narrowing as I look at him. The hurt on his face is almost palpable, but he keeps his shoulders back, refusing to regret what he did. He was well aware when he put the sigil in my blood hand it wouldn’t be good for us—for our relationship. And the logical part of me is yelling louder than anything else that my relationship status is the last thing I should worry about right now, but that abandonment and rejection wound is hurting.

But he didn’t abandon me. He didn’t reject me. It’s different this time, and I should be happy he loves me enough to risk everything to keep me. And yet, for some reason, I feel violated and disrespected. Maybe love really isn’t a desperation to keep someone. Maybe love is actually respect and consideration. Maybe it’s putting your own needs aside for the other person. Because it’s making me wonder, who does Xavier love more: me or himself?

It’s the same moral dilemma that came up when I brought Antonio back, and I knew I acted selfishly, no matter how much I tried to justify it. I didn’t want to live without my brother. I didn’t want to have to face the pain.

But is that true love?

“You’re on your own,” Antonio tells Marco, and I swallow back the lump in my throat, this time allowing Xavier to turn me around gently so we can leave. Marco stands there, stunned, watching us walk out of the charred remains of the warehouse.

The sunlight has faded to almost nothing, casting an eerie glow over the burned warehouse. The smell of smoke and fire hangs in the air, and I keep my eyes down as we walk, the three of us climbing into Xavier’s car. Antonio says something about the car we came in, and Xavier tells him not to worry about it . Their voices echo in my head, and I get into the front passenger seat, pulling the seatbelt into place on autopilot. The guilt of what I just did presses on my chest, and I fight against it by saying I don’t fucking care.

More people live in this world, not even knowing demons exist, than people who fight them, and they are very much okay. Most people live very normal and full lives, never crossing paths with a demon. Maybe this is a situation like when you have six cats. Is getting cat number seven even going to be noticeable?

We drive home in silence, and I get out before the G-Wagon is even off. Tears burn in my eyes, and everything I’ve been holding back the last few weeks threatens to bubble to the surface. I should let it out. I should cry, scream—anything to process.

Instead, I stomp angrily into the house like a dramatic teenager, not stopping until I’m in the front foyer.

“Wren!” Xavier says, voice desperate more than angry.

“You said I can hate you,” I spit, whirling around and staring right at him. I blink once, twice, tearing my eyes away from the vein in his neck to look back into his storm-blue eye.

“I did,” he says calmly, but I can tell he didn’t think I’d actually be upset with him. “You forced me to release the demon.”

“I forced you to save yourself,” he counters.

“You took that choice away from me.”

“Your choice was the wrong choice.”

“It doesn’t matter!” The light above us flicker, and I can hear Mabel, who’s been listening upstairs next to the banister, scuttle away. “It was mine, and you took that from me.”

“Should I be sorry?” Xavier’s eyes flash and a vein in his neck pops out despite his lack of heartbeat. I look at it, brain disconnecting from reality by thinking about how odd that is instead of what’s actually happening.

Because what’s happening is the man I love, who loves me, forced me to release a dangerous demon into the world, possessing Vivian Russo, gaining all the knowledge Vivian has. Which is a lot about me, about my siblings, and about how the Order works. And she knows what other demons the Order has been using—well, attempting to use—and knows where the keys are.

Which means Vaelric does now too.

I look back into Xavier’s eyes and blink. “Yes,” I say like it’s obvious. “Yes, you should be sorry. I didn’t want to release Vaelric.”

Xavier slowly shakes his head back and forth, unable to understand why I would do that. “You would have died, Wren.”

“Maybe,” I say, shaking my head again as tears roll down my cheeks. Xavier makes a move to wipe them away but stops himself, remembering how I pulled away at the last time he touched me.

Theo appears in the hall, stopping for just a moment, looking from me to Xavier. “We have a problem with the coalition.”

“You deal with it,” Xavier tells him.