Chapter 29: Chapter 29

“I want someone with her at all times.” Thorin briefed the guard as he finished his coffee in the kitchen. Even with his clean, tailored clothes, he reminded Thorin of Shaw, and he couldn’t help but pat the big man’s shoulder like they were already the best of friends. “I don’t want her to feel smothered. Just keep her company.”

He tipped his head a bit as he backed out the doorway. “Yes, of course, Mr. Parker.”

Ben kissed Imara’s forehead and pulled the covers up under her chin. “I love you, Baby. I’ll see you later.”

Each step away from the bedroom made him a little sicker, and he glanced back to the guard sitting outside their door. There wasn’t a cell in his body that didn’t ache to crawl back in bed, but if he wasn’t ready for Selvin this time, they’d have to relive the whole nightmare all over again.

After his foot hit the landing, a hand with a blueberry muffin wrapped in a paper appeared before him. “How’s she feeling today?”

“Still sleeping.”His eyes rose to their window before he stepped down into the street. “We’re going to have to cut it short today. I don’t like leaving her like this.”

“I agree.” Thorin’s dark hair bounced in the breeze as they stepped up into the park. “We’ll come home at lunch.”

***

As memories of her sweet baby came flooding back to her with the scent of jasmine that swept through the courtyard, Imara slapped her hand against her mouth.

With her teeth clenched tight to stop the sound of her crying, she hugged herself and rocked against the hot breeze on her skin.

She breathed one last noseful of it and pushed herself up from the bench. An empty smile met her guard as she rubbed the fear away from her arms. “Um, I think I’d like to go to my room now.”

While the guard flipped through a magazine outside her room, she sank into the desk chair and tugged on the drawer pull. The pencil she found tapped back and forth on the desk as she twisted it between her fingers while she thought about what she wanted to say. The

weight lifted from her as the lead hit the paper, and everything she felt came to life so easily.

After she folded the note, she tucked it into her belt as she looked out across the park. “Alright, then.”

As she approached her dresser, Imara wiggled the doubts from her fingers. She touched the glass knobs a few times before she opened the top drawer. She looked back to the door as her guilty conscience got the best of her, but she shook the vile loose from the paper bag Andre gave her, anyway.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she pulled the stopper and dumped the liquid down her throat as she licked her lips clean.

A witchy cackle of a laugh came from somewhere deep inside her as she tugged at the covers. “Go to hell, Selvin.” Her muscles twitched as she fumbled her way into bed and collapsed against the mattress. She patted the note on her waist and placed her hands on her tummy. “He won’t get us this time, Sweet Pea. I love you. I love you, Ben. I’ll love you forever.”

Her breathing slowed, and a smile curled up on her lips as a familiar form came into view in the distance of her failing vision. “Ben, is that you? No, it can’t be.” While the poison claimed the last beats of her heart, Imara’s eyes fluttered closed as the man in black held out his hand. “Alright. Are you sure?”

The scent of Imara’s hot skin blew across his face and knocked the air from his lungs as her voice echoed in his head. ‘I love you, Ben.’ Gasping for air on his hands and knees in the ballroom, Ben clutched at the pain in his chest.

A pair of well-dressed knees came to his side, and an arm wrapped around his back. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Ben pressed his forehead into Thorin’s chest. “My heart.”

The approaching sounds of shoes hitting the marble floor came to a stop as hands grabbed at their shoulders, and in an instant, they were standing on the stairs at Thorin’s home. “She took something. I saw her drink something from a vile.” Too shaky to even work the doorknob, Haldir’s shoe smashed through the door.

The whole world stopped for Ben, and all he saw was the whirls and smudges of bodies passing him by as he made his way through the home. Muffled sounds surrounded him as he cleared the staircase and turned the corner to the hall to find Thorin on his knees before Imara’s doorway. He saw Haldir shaking Imara on the bed, and the universe collapsed on him. Leaping across the distance between them, he sent the old Viking crashing to the floor. “No! Don’t you fucking touch her!”

The beast crouched low and growled a warning to the man pushing himself up from the floor. Haldir’s freckled hand came between them, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ben. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Thorin squeezed around Haldir and slid two fingers around the vile. His eyes pinched together and turned from the delicate stench of nightshade. “Belladonna.”

Another failed vision doubled Haldir over until his teary eyes met Thorin again. “She kept her back to me. I couldn’t see it until she’d already set the bottle down.”

Purple fingers hung from the bed and grazed Ben’s pants as he backed away. “Un-un, no!”

The vile smashed against the wall, sending glass through the air. “She’s gone, Ben.”

Dark eyes shot to the door while his mind plotted its escape, and his lips pressed together as he shook off the truth rubbing against him. “Un-un!”

The witch’s finger pointed at him, and his eyes narrowed above his sneer as he inched across the room. “Don’t you shut this out again, goddammit?” His hands grabbed hold of the hair on Ben’s head as Thorin pressed his forehead against him. “Don’t you dare forget her

again? Look at her!”

His nose skimmed down Thorin’s when Ben dipped his knees and reached out with his fingertips. When his trembling hand met her soft, cool skin, his knees gave way and sent him crashing to the floor beside her. “No! What did I do?”

***

“I suppose I’ll be seeing you again soon.” He wrapped his finger in her hair and brought it to his nose. “To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to find you and fall in love with you all over again. I want you to know that loving you and Eliza was the best gift I ever had, and I’m sorry I didn’t take better care of you.” His lips pressed against her icy mouth, and he pushed the lock of hair back in place.

Before he shut the door behind him, Ben closed his eyes and spoke to whatever remained of his family in the spaces between this world and the next. “I promise you next time I will. I love you.”

He tossed the note Imara left him on the marble-topped table before he sank into a leather chair. Before his tremoring fingers grasped the message between them, Thorin hesitated. Little pants came from his throat before he snatched it up and flicked it open.

‘I’m afraid. I’m sorry. I love you.’

He closed his fist around it and pressed it against his forehead. “I’m sorry, Sweet Girl.”

The evening sun left trails of dust in its wake as Haldir stepped away from the window and scratched under his beard. “He’ll be coming for you soon, Ben. That fucking coward will show up the minute he senses you’re alone.”

Ben nodded and pushed his hands into the armrests. “It’s alright; I’m ready.”

“Ben, listen to me.” Thorin threw the paper on the floor and rose from his chair. “We lost too much time because the two of you wouldn’t remember. Tell yourself, right now”- Thorin tapped his fingers against Ben’s chest- “that you’ll remember.”

His hands grabbed hold of Thorin’s shirt. “Please find me. Please. I need to see her. Tell her I’m sorry.”

“I will, Ben, I swear.” Thorin kissed Ben’s forehead and looked him in the eyes. “Wherever you end up, you come back here. You go to the Order. I’ll have people watching out for you if you can’t remember.”

An itch started under his skin as the wolf clawed and chewed at Ben, and his fingers wiggled as he set Thorin free. “Yeah. I, I think I’m going to go out for a run. We’re ready to go now.” As he backed away from them, he stretched out his neck and shook out his hands. “Got to see about my girls.”

Thorin pushed the tears from his eyes, and his finger pointed to Ben. “Don’t show him any fear. Look him in the eye and tell him to go to hell.”

Ben slipped his shirt over his head, then folded it and left it on the hall table. As he unfastened his belt, he smiled. “I’m on my way.” He pulled off his pants, kicked off his shoes and underwear, then put them in a pile on the floor. “I love you, Imara.” Ben closed his eyes, and his teeth clenched as his bones and muscles snapped and his body contorted.

The massive black wolf shook out its fur and howled out low. “Oowoooo.”

Haldir walked out into the foyer and opened the door. “I’ll see you in the next life, Ben.”

The wolf ran out the door and ran full measure down the street as it dodged the cars and trucks that drove by. Ben followed the scent of water until he came to the riverside and sat down at the water’s edge. The sun was setting behind the trees, so Ben shifted back and let his witch eyes take in the sunset one last time. “Anytime now, asshole.”

A rush of wind and brimstone blew over his back, and the snooty voice came from above. “So nice of you to dress for the occasion, Ben.”

“Yep.” Ben rocked forward and swung his arms to stand, then he turned to face Selvin. “Let’s get this shit over with. Got a girl waiting on me.”

“So.” With his hands on his hips, Ben glanced away and shrugged his shoulders. “How are we going to do this? Knife in the heart again?”

The blade dropped from Selvin’s sleeve, and he tapped the tip against Ben’s scar. “I was expecting more from you, Ben. I do hope you make it more interesting for the next time.”

With his hands in the air to his sides, Ben shrugged. “Don’t worry about a thing. Next time, I’m going to crush your fucking head in these two hands right here.” His eyes shut as he dropped his head back and waited for the end. The thud came to his chest, and his eyes snapped open to the red star. “I’m coming, Baby.”