Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

what she wanted to.
    “She is as good as she can be and ready to get back to herself. But, I need help to bind the Keeper and I also need to get Cole out of his room. He hasn’t spoken to me since we got here and I can’t do this without him.” I dropped my head into my right hand and pulled at the roots of my hair. Cole hadn’t come out of his room and I knew he hadn’t forgiven me for what happened to his father. It wasn’t actually my fault, but he needed someone to blame and I wasn’t going to take that from him.
    "I can help, he’ll listen to me,” Bethany said.
    I looked up at her, confused. "Since when are you and Cole buddies?” I asked.
    She shrugged and shimmied a bit to sit taller in her seat. "There are too many of you here and I needed to get away from him , so I went to Cole's room and we've been talking. Mostly about nothing, because the poor guy's daddy just died and I'm surely not gonna push him on life plans or expect him to cry on my shoulder, but we talk. And I'm the only one he will let in his room besides Onyx."
    I hadn’t realized Charlie’s brother hadn’t been around much, but clearly Onyx had his role. He seemed to be as vigilant over Cole as Charlie was over Amelia, and I appreciated that.
    “Thank you for the offer, but I don’t have time for you to do your magic southern thing and convince him without him knowing you did,” I said as she smirked.
    I gestured Bethany toward me and spoke quietly. “To get Amelia back, we have to bind the Keeper in the same way the Hunters have bound so many of us. And to do that, we need the Keeper to be weaker — tamed, if you will. The only person I know who can do that is Cole. I can’t even be a part of this because the Keeper can pull my power out of me. In Cresthaven, it took what I was trying to give Amelia and made itself stronger.” I stopped talking, the idea that I was the reason Amelia was being held captive in her own mind and body becoming too much.
    “Well, that must have been just a peachy experience.” Bethany’s sarcasm was actually welcome. I choked on the mixture of emotion and laughter. As I recovered, I looked up to find a half smile looking back at me and gave her a quick nod of thanks.
    “I’ll let you get to it, but I know Cole will come around, Aidan. Amelia is all he has left and she hasn't even had the chance to grieve. If he won’t help her, then what was all this for?” Bethany stood up and turned, stilling when I spoke again.
    “I think Micah may be here to stay, B. I know you don’t love that, but we need him and his Hunter.” I watched her back stiffen and then relax.
    As she walked away, Bethany tossed over her shoulder, “Here or not, he’s on my shit list and he's not coming off anytime soon.”

6
    H e was gone . I knew Aidan had left the room because she disappeared, leaving me to go wreak havoc on some other part of my physical body. She painted my veins and arteries with her dark brush of power, a stain in my blood branding my body from the inside out. I’d grown used to the constant pain; it was a low burn that cramped my muscles but gave me time to breathe — to regroup and attempt patience.
    The touch was light, a feather gently teasing my skin. I immediately assumed Aidan, but a light orange haze only broken by swirling eyes shimmered in front of me. He never fully took shape, but Baleon’s soft voice was a whisper in my mind.
    “Quiet now. Don’t speak to me or react in any way. I am here to heal, to feed your body and soul. But this will be a game of cat and mouse, and I am not typically the mouse. I must keep moving and discreetly do what I can. I will stay as long as I can. I will give you what you need.”
    I barely moved my head in acknowledgement. Bale and I had slowly started to build a relationship at Cresthaven. I wouldn’t call it a friendship, but he protected me from Rhi and made me feel less alone. Even now, his presence gave me even more hope that Aidan was right. We