Chapter 54

I jolted awake, a searing pain knocking the breath out of me. It felt like a knife twisting into my stomach. I panicked, and tore away the sheets, but there was no blood anywhere on the bed.

The room was pitch dark, and only a few stars were visible through the glass windowpanes. Wait, Caleb, is he alright? I thought, and reached over the bed for him.

“Caleb?” The mattress was empty besides me, and even when I flicked on a lamp there was no one else in the room.

Another wash of pain rocked over my body, and I convulsed into the fetal position. Every inch of my skin felt like it was on fire, but then the pain vanished just as soon as it had come.

In the past, when Lucas had been more actively fighting for the throne, I had sometimes felt this bonded pain after he had been injured. It was like a ghost memory that applied his wounds to my body, but it felt different from this.

In my past life the bonded pain had the same contours as Lucas’s body, and I could feel the shape of his hurt being thrust onto me. This was something new, it felt like a different person entirely.

Caleb? I didn’t know how to respond to the realization. What the hell is he doing?

I jumped. There were a few frantic knocks on the door before Daniel burst inside, holding a sweatshirt and a pair of my shoes. “We need to go, get up.” He said, yanking the blankets off of me.

“What? Daniel, what the hell is going on?”

He sighed, tossing me the clothes in his arms. “We’re going back to the palace, put these on.”

“The palace?” I slipped on my shoes as quickly as I could and raced down the stairs behind him.

“Lucas appeared a few minutes ago. He sent a message that he was going to launch a full-scale attack at dawn, but then arrived without warning demanding to fight Caleb one-on-one.”

I winced at another twinge of pain, like someone had just grazed my thigh. “Can you drive?” I asked, stumbling out of the front doors.

He flashed me a look of concern, but nodded solemnly in response.

When we finally pulled up to the castle gates, there were bursts of lightning erupting out of the front lawn and casting multicolored streaks of light into the sky.

Joseph was standing by the gates, and beckoned to us frantically as we ran by. “Get down!” He shouted, grabbing my arm and tugging me into him just in time to miss a falling brick from the palace gates. “They’ve been shaking since the fighting started, I’m afraid some of the weaker walls will collapse by the end of this.”

I stared in shock and awe at the scene before us, the two brothers locked in vicious sparring. I’d never seen the look of wild violence on Caleb’s face as he swung his arms at Lucas, landing blow after blow.

His fist connected with Lucas’s chest, and the strike sent Lucas flying backwards into the ground. He landed with a horrific sounding thud, a circle of dust bursting from the grass beneath him. It sounded like the crack of a whip, and another flash of bright red light appeared over their heads.

Caleb swayed slightly, and approached his brother, his bloodied, bruised arms swinging by his sides. He raised his foot over Lucas’s throat to stamp out his breathing, but Lucas rolled out of the way just in time. Leaping back to his feet, he kicked Caleb's off-balance leg to force him to fall to his knees.

Caleb kept his composure and grabbed Lucas’s punches at the wrist. He twisted his brother’s arm, making Lucas scream in pain. The sound was bloodcurdling, but I felt none of the bonded warning signs I had always felt when Lucas was injured. Instead I watched him struggle to hold his head up.

He thrust his knee into Caleb’s stomach and managed to break free before his bones shattered. For a moment the two men glared at each other, saying something I couldn’t hear over the rumbling thunder approaching.

I held my breath, captivated and terrified for what would happen next. Caleb’s lips moved quickly, he didn’t seem angry, just stern like he was reprimanding a child.

Lucas’s brows dropped over his eyes, and even from this distance the fury in his face was evident and boiling over. I saw something bright flash into his hands as he suddenly began sprinting at Caleb from across the field.

“He brought a knife,” I breathed, the truth hitting me just as I saw it dawn over Caleb’s face.

I didn’t have time to think, I barely had time to act. The sky opened up with a flash of lightning, pouring rain as I ran towards them. I could faintly hear Daniel and Joseph shouting behind me, but it didn’t matter. I had to do something, anything.

I scrambled through the mud, the dirt caking over my calves and shoes. “Stop!” I screamed, my voice drowned out by a clap of thunder.

The ground was too slick and I fell, grasping my hands out like I could grab Caleb and pull him away from the danger.

“Lucas!” I growled, forcing all my focus onto him as he leapt into the air to strike at Caleb.

I couldn’t explain the sensation that spread over my body then, like something was splitting apart and reforming into something new. I looked down to see a shimmering glow radiating out of my chest, illuminating my hands in the mud.

Caleb locked eyes with me, his attention pulled away from his brother’s attack. And just as our gazes met, the same light began glittering from his hands and face. I pulled myself up, the warmth building in my stomach like I was about to explode with the heat.

Is this… a mate bond? I looked down at my hands then back to Caleb, the feeling of connection and oneness surging as I looked into his eyes.

The light faded, and Lucas fell to the ground. His body was shivering in hurt. Our mate's bond was broken, his soul fractured when it was torn away from mine.

I couldn’t help myself from running to meet Caleb, wrapping my arms around him as he drew me into his. Even with my bond with Lucas in my past life, it had never felt like this. Had the cycle of pain and horror been broken? Was this the final piece that set me free from my past life?

“You, get up.” Caleb said harshly to Lucas, and I turned to see him struggling to his knees in the dirt.

“Bastard,” Lucas whispered, his eyes dark and hollow.

I could feel Caleb’s smirk, I could hear it in his voice even without seeing the expression on his face. “You’re banished. If you even think about returning to the Lycan Kingdom again, I will have my entire military might set on destroying you. Have I made myself clear?”

Lucas’s hands fell to his sides, the rain cleansing the debris from his face. I couldn’t believe how much younger and weaker he looked than Caleb.

“Where am I supposed to go?” He muttered, not to anyone around him.

Caleb shrugged, draping an arm around my shoulders. “Prenia? You could probably use the fresh air.”