The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne novel Chapter 80

Eighty: Natalie

Natalie's P.O.V.

The tone of the council changed after the announcement that Talia had chosen the other side and that I was Aurora's daughter, making me a descendant as well. They focused even more on tracking the witches, trying to get a lock on them before the battle. If we could take them down, the vampires would be no problem.

But the magic that was protecting them, hiding them, made it almost impossible to fight them in battle.

No one had brought up Talia again, but I could see the anger and disappointment in everyone's eyes. Especially Charlie's. She seemed to have a connection with the witch and had been excited to see her. For the rest of the night, the princess looked crushed. She and her brother had mastered masking their emotions, but even she couldn't hide how upset it had made her to hear of the treason.

I kept glancing at Killian in the mirror as we prepared for bed, but he was void of emotions. The eerie feeling that had settled over the castle only worsened when the sun went down.

”Bound...darkness...runs free."

The low and deep voice barely reached my ears, and I looked up at the mirror, watching as Killian rinsed the soap from his hair through the glass shower wall. It was a sight that normally took all thoughts from my mind and left me a desperate mess.

"What did you say?” I called out, hoping to be heard over the running water and thoughts going through his head. Killian opened his hazel eyes, staring at me with confusion as he shook his head.

’I didn't say anything."

I hummed in response as I brushed it off. No one else was in the room, and if Killian hadn't spoken, then perhaps I had picked up someone's thoughts in the pack link. That was even more concerning than if Killian had been the one who said it.

For anyone in the pack to have thoughts that contained those words so close together made me feel even more unsafe in our home.

"Sorry, I thought I heard something, but it wasn't clear." I pulled the brush through my hair, biting my lip as I considered the consequences of letting it go unannounced. Killian would need to know about something like that. "Is it possible to cross signals in the pack link? Like for someone to accidentally pick up on someone else's conversations or thoughts?"

Killian shook his head, and I tried to focus on his face, not the soapy water running down his torso. "Thoughts can never be heard in the pack link. You have to speak to someone, and I've never heard of accidentally tuning into someone else's conversation. What did you hear?"

I let out a breath of relief that it couldn't have been one of our pack members then, and a quick scan of the room proved it to be empty. "I thought I heard someone talking about darkness and running free, but it must have been in my head."

Killian stared at me momentarily before looking away to turn off the water. He didn't seem concerned, so I had to trust that everything was fine.

"Let me know if you hear anything else." His tone was firm as he grabbed the towel and dried off. I felt dismissed, but at least he didn't make me feel like I was crazy.

"Yeah, okay." I half-heartedly said as I walked to the bed and got under the blanket. Killian didn't say anything more on the subject as he joined me, spooning me from behind and whispering a sweet "Goodnight, my love" next to my ear.

***

The room was still dark when I woke, and I sat up as the thick air closed in on me. In the past, when I had felt this, I struggled to pull enough air into my lungs. But now, while it was physically evident there was something dark afoot, it didn't bother me as much as before.

"Bound," The dark voice whispered again before fading to silence, and my hands gripped the blanket tightly as I turned to Killian. He had rolled onto his back during the night, which happened often, but he almost always turned back to hold me in his sleep.