Back To You

Chapter 26

Gavin stood in the empty alleyway with his panicked heart moments away from bursting out of his chest, surveying the signs of a scuffle around him. An overturned recycling bin with its contents strewn all over the ground. A blood-stained cobblestone path, the coagulated rusty puddle an indication the injury was more than just a scratch. Worst of all, no Aidan anywhere in sight.

The sudden ringing of his phone jolted the wolf out of his sinking dread, and Gavin immediately answered, "Where's the backup, Tyler? I can't search the whole city on my own!"

Tyler's voice crackled over the speakers. "Gavin, I'm sorry, man, I'm on my way to you, but no one else is coming."

"What do you mean no one's coming?! I need to find Aidan. He's still alive. I know he is!"

"The Chieftain disallowed it. She won't be risking werewolf lives for a human," the tall man replied, genuinely regretful and guilty.

Gavin was furious. "If she won't help, then she's lost one very powerful wolf. Me."

Tyler knew it would end this way. Too bad Emerie refused to see eye to eye with him on this. He answered his friend, "I know, man. Listen, you do what you've gotta do. In the meantime, I'll help you get the word out to the city folk to look out for your brother."

Gavin hung up, the panic running in his veins not receding one bit. He stared at his blank phone screen for a long while before scrolling through his contacts list and calling a number. It rang twice before the caller answered in an uncertain voice, "Hey, Gavin...."

Gavin could hear the hushed whispers of two others in the background, trying but failing to remain concealed. Tersely, he asked the trio, "What are you willing to do to earn my forgiveness?" There was a momentary silence in which Gavin knew Andy, Charlie, and Brandon were exchanging looks of agreement.

"Anything," Andy finally answered for the trio.

"Good. Get your asses to London. My brother is missing."

Elsewhere in London, darkness gave way to warm light while a feverish heat dissipated in the cool air of a quiet guest bedroom. Aidan's consciousness hovered at the precipice between wakefulness and sleep, past and present memories colliding in a disjointed mess and leaving him in a mental muddle. Bit by bit, they sorted themselves out like puzzle pieces falling into place, building a picture of two interconnected lives until his mind was clear once more. Gradually, Aidan's eyelids fluttered open, eyelashes casting shadows over ocean-blue eyes filled with clarity.

"Aidan, how are you feeling?" Emilia's worried face filled his field of vision as she leaned over him with a towel in hand, dabbing it lightly over his sweaty forehead. He blinked before hastily sitting up and wrapping his arms around the witch in a tight hug.

Even as her pulse quickened, Emilia was afraid to hope. She whispered, "Mathias? You remember?"

"Mmm," Aidan replied, his face buried on her shoulder, "sorry I'm late."

It took the witch a moment to digest his words before overwhelming relief hit her, much like a brick thrown at a glass cage. For Emilia, it was a metaphorical cage she had built around her heart, newly shattered and setting her free from her impassive prison of captive emotions.

She wrapped her arms around him just as tightly. "That's an understatement," she said through a sob. Seven hundred years was a long time, even for a witch.

Emilia couldn't remember the last time she cried, but it felt sweetly cathartic this time. Aidan pulled away to look at her tear-stricken face and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb. "My love," he said, smiling down at her before closing the distance to kiss her dainty lips. Emilia pulled him closer and raked her fingers through his honey-blond hair, touching him as if she couldn't believe he was real. Aidan deepened their kiss, letting the now familiar feelings of longing overwhelm him completely. He was whole again, and not just because he'd regained a splinter of his soul.