Chapter 113

Eight: Joselin Joselin's P.O.V.

The darkness had never looked more appealing than it did at that moment. Either that or I openedthe door before me and faced the man I knew was standing on the other side. I didn't need to hearhim or see him to know that he was there.

I could sense his beast, his aura.

He was lying in wait patiently, like he was waiting for the perfect moment for him to pounce on hisunsuspecting prey. Only I knew Tobias was on the other side of the door.

My heart was beating rapidly, giving me away as well. He knew I was here, and I knew he waslistening to the erratic thumping in my chest. He had been for the past five minutes that I stoodthere, staring at the doorknob.

Was he the lesser of two evils?

Knowing he was willing to wait for me to leave my tower instead of walking right in to confront memade me even more anxious.

The darkness I would need to teleport through gave me enough pause, but being unable to walkfreely down the hallways made me angry. This was my home. I didn't even know where Tobias slept,but it wasn't in the castle.

Yet, he was preventing me from doing my job by cornering me.

After a long internal debate during my shower, I finally decided to talk to Killian about mysuspicions. But to do that, I would need to get through the wall of muscle that had gone fromignoring me the past few months to avoiding me the past two weeks to torturing me.

On the other hand, I hadn't traveled through the empty realm on my own since my near-deathexperience. Every time I considered it, a shiver would run down my spine, and I felt the nails clawingat my skin again.

They had wanted me to stay last time. A knife was sticking out from between my shoulder bladesfrom Talia. She had helped raise me, but as soon as she had the chance, she had thrown that daggerwith deadly precision and lodged it into me. It wasn't surprising. She had always held grudges andwas vindictive, but she was also one hell of a teacher.

What had caught me off guard were the sudden presences in the darkness. Before, it was alwaysquiet and empty. I could travel through to anywhere I desired in the blink of an eye. But at that time,there were others.

Demented voices, hands, and claws pulled at me, tearing my clothes and skin, trying to drag meaway from Aurora and Agatha as I fought to get them to safety. I had done my best to get them outof that darkness quickly, but one creature trapped in that world scared me above the others.

I had felt their warm breath on my exposed shoulder only a second before their rough tongue slidacross my skin, tasting the blood that dripped down from one of the scratches they inflicted on me.In my mind, I had seen the exit of their world. I was ready to leave and take my people to safety, butas my blood coated their tongue, the low growl of satisfaction made me freeze with terror. Everyhair rose as I felt my mouth open in a silent scream.

If it hadn't been for Aurora pushing what little magic she had left to me, I don't know if I ever wouldhave come to my senses.

Yet, now that I was stronger, it seemed easier for me to zip through that world to get to where Ineeded to go rather than facing Tobias.

I counted in my head to one hundred, taking long and calming breaths as I tried to decide if it wasworth the risk.

While Tobias wouldn't kill me, I needed a break from his mind games.

My hand turned the knob as I settled on ignoring the man as I let my feet carry me to Killian's office.Tobias was leaning against the wall across from my tower entrance, his arms crossed and eyesglaring at me impatiently.

"Wrong choice,” I whispered as I let myself go, flickering into the darkness that filled my soul withunease. I watched through the first two flashes as Tobias lunged forward, grabbing my hand beforewe were sucked in and prepared to travel.

My hand tightened on his as I silently thanked the Goddess that Tobias had come with me, even if Iwasn't ready to speak to him. It took everything in me not to stop and glance around in the vastemptiness as I felt eyes on me. I knew Tobias could sense it too, as he let out a warning growl.

It only confirmed that I was not ready to travel there again. Whatever had gotten a taste last timewas still there.

Killian. Get to Killian.

As quickly as we had entered, we were free, standing in front of Killian's open office door. The kingraised an eyebrow at our joined hands, and I pulled away from Tobias aggressively, shoving mineinto the back pockets of my jeans.

"Joselin, Tobias,” Killian greeted respectfully. I flicked my hand back, not bothering to look at Tobiasas I shut the office door in his face. I knew I didn't have much time. As soon as I closed the door,leaving the two of us alone in his office, I had probably set off some alarm bell somewhere. Wewouldn't be alone for long.

"We need to talk about the war." I started, moving forward to stand before his desk, not botheringto wait for his permission before slumping into one of his visitor's seats like I used to when we wereyounger.

"Natalie is extraordinary, isn't she? I haven't ever seen that kind of power before, let alone that kindof unpracticed control.” He picked up the paper he had before him as he muttered, scanning overthe words before grumbling in annoyance and setting it to the side.

"Not the point,” He let out a distracted chuckle as he continued to work, so I waited for him to lookup at me again before speaking. "Someone survived. At least one witch, and by the feel of it, she ispowerful.”

"Can you deal with it?" He asked, and my eyebrows pulled together as he continued to shufflethrough his work. I knew he had been busier than usual lately. Still, I wanted to snap at him for howhe dismissed me when I was discussing a threat to his mate and possibly to myself. Perhaps, I wasn'tso far off on my theory of not being needed or wanted around anymore. "Natalie is still training. Ido not think she is ready to face off against another opponent so soon."

And there it is.

Once she was trained and felt confident in her abilities, she could handle the threats herself, andthere would be no need for me.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I have it covered.” In no way did I sound convincing, but he seemed toodistracted and busy to notice. Either he trusted me greatly or didn't care about what I had to say. Atleast he couldn't say I didn't warn him. Still, it didn't make missing my best friend any less. "lan, whatdo you say tonight we sneak into the kitchen after dinner and grab a couple pieces of pie for oldtime's sake?"

It was one of my favorite past times with him. Until this most recent year, after a hard day, we usedto sneak into the kitchen and steal a few bites of whatever dessert the cooks had made that day. Wewould climb up on the kitchen counter and stare out through the large window at the back garden.It didn't matter if we were twelve or twenty-five. The tradition had been long-standing.

The cooks knew about it. Even when they didn't bake anything that day, we always found peanutbutter and jelly on the counter or a pudding bowl in the fridge just for us.

Then I had a vision about finding his mate, and our traditions crumbled. While building hisrelationship with her, I had given him space. Now, I could barely work in the same room as himwithout something or someone causing us to go our separate ways.

Killian had Natalie, and while she was also my friend, there was no room for me to join as a thirdwheel. They enjoyed spending all of their free time together and alone. I was at odds with Tobias,unsure where we stood, but I was positive our friendship had probably been ruined.

Charlie, Killian's sister, had been the only other real friend I had here. She had left to visit her mate'sfamily to ensure their health and safety after the war. No one had heard from her since she left, andshe usually went anywhere from a few months to years before she would come back home to visit."I'm kind of swamped tonight, Josie. What about tomorrow? Natalie and I can come down for ashort bit." He glanced my way, and I forced a smile as I nodded.

Looks like it would be all three of us.

"Sounds great. I'll just leave you to it then.” I glanced at the clock on the wall as I walked out of theoffice. Seven minutes. That had to be a new record.

The thought was cut short as Natalie's smiling face appeared at the end of the hallway. She wavedas she approached, and I lifted my hand halfheartedly in response. The petty part of me in the darkpart of my mind wanted to tell her that she was late to interrupt my conversation with Killian, but Iforced it down.

There was no need to take my bad mood out on her when I just needed more sleep after last night'shorrific events.

"Hey, I was hoping I would see you again today," Natalie exclaimed, but her feigned excitement wasmasked by the nervous way she tugged at the wolf pendant around her neck.

"Here I am," My palms smacked my thighs as I lifted my hands slightly and let them drop.

"It's so weird to see you walking around instead of popping everywhere.” She laughed, but itsounded uneasy. I held still as she moved up to my side and tilted her head closer to my ear, onceagain reminding me that she was a good friend as she kept her voice low. "Rona was just tellingeveryone who would listen in the sitting room about what happened...

about your parents.”

My jaw clenched as I stared straight ahead down the empty hallway.

"I advised her to watch what she says, but that woman is just..." Natalie trailed off, knowing sheneeded to be careful when speaking about others in public. Even if we thought no one was closeenough to hear her, we couldn't be sure.

"Thank you,” I said, storming away from her, down the stairs, and to the main sitting room. I wantedto wring that witch's neck.

The fireplace was sat cold and empty, and the windows were open to let in the afternoon air. Atleast half a dozen people were present, but I didn't bother to see who they were. My gaze waslocked on the man who had shattered my heart as he sat on the couch with Rona beside him. Herlegs were thrown over his thighs as she spoke to him with a seductive smile.