Bound Trilogy: Bound: A Supernatural Story (WLW)

Chapter Thirteen

Xenia wasn't sure it had worked. She hoped like hell it had, but it'd already been nearly eight minutes since Pen transmitted her emotions and there was no sign of Bastet. She couldn't have gotten that far before Pen used their bond. Was there something else keeping her?

Nobody in their pack would ever ignore the cries of their mate, but then again, Bastet wasn't an official member of their pack, nor was she accustomed to what was expected of a mate. She'd rebuked Xenia's call to her and now she was somewhere in the woods. Somewhere Xenia couldn't scent. She closed her eyes and tried to get a read on her. She only needed one single sign that Bastet could be recovered, but nothing, not one bit of her scent could be found. It was so intense, in fact, that the sensation gave Xenia the idea that Bastet was never even there, which was obviously incorrect. It was like she'd completely disappeared from existence and it made absolutely no sense.

Pen slowly turned around and looked at Xenia. "It didn't work, did it?"

"Can you get a sense of her at all?" Xenia swallowed the lump in her throat and jutted out her chin.

"No. It's like she just disappeared or--"

Someone leapt from a tree behind Pen and crashed into Xenia, sending her flying backward and knocking the air clean from her lungs. After a moment's recovery, she got back to her feet and snarled at her attacker, only to find Bastet crouching in front of Pen and growling.

Holy shit! It worked! Why couldn't we scent her that close? Xenia looked over at the twins and held out her hand to stop their approach, then turned back toward Pen and Bastet. Well, at least we were able to cut her off before she got too far. Got to focus. Get her back to the clinic. Get her medication. Focus, fox.

Xenia took a tentative step toward Bastet with her hands raised, but Bastet crouched lower and her eyes began to glow. Not good. That's the first sign of shifting and at this rate if she keeps rejecting her true nature, she'll kill herself in the process. I've got to get her calmed down, dammit. Xenia knelt and gestured for the twins to do the same, hearing them and Glenn begin to follow suit, but kept her eyes on Bastet. They all moved behind her and did the same, their hands raised.

"We won't hurt you, Bastet. Just come with us. Please, sister." Xenia pleaded as she lowered her head in submission. It felt odd and the only people she'd ever done this toward were her biological father, who was now dead, and Jules. She wanted Bastet to trust her enough to come home where she could show her just how beautiful and fulfilling her life could really, wholeheartedly become. "Come, and let the pack help you."

She looked up to see Bastet lunging toward her. Shit!

Giving the signal to scatter, the twins leapt to her sides and Glenn took off in the direction of the clinic. Xenia was sure he was going for the medication Bastet clearly needed, but her focus had to be elsewhere. Bastet just barely missed Xenia as she leapt back. She hunched over and began to feel her fox gnawing at her insides to be let out as her claws shifted and her muzzle came out. She let out a bone curtling growl as a warning, yet Bastet still wouldn't submit.

Dammit!

"Pen?"

"Xenia, what do we do?" She heard called from behind Bastet, but couldn't see her at all.

"I need you to do the exact opposite from before." Xenia watched in awe as small hairs began growing down along Bastet's jaw following short toughs of fur that fell free from her braids dangling along the sides of her cheeks. Xenia gulped down the sickness stirring within her stomach, most likely meant to deter her efforts as it wafted toward her from Bastet. Whatever she was doing was making her emotions volatile and it rattled Xenia as to how the hell she was doing it in the first place. They may be able to feel one another's emotions within a pack, but projecting them like this? Only a small amount of shifters aside from the Aquatic had ever been known to successfully manipulate the emotions around them in the same capacity, so perhaps it was something else, but at the moment, Xenia had other things to manage. She cleared her throat and held out her hand. "Calm, pleasant memories. Okay? I'll keep her occupied until you can do it."

"Don't hurt her, Vixen."

Xenia was a bit caught off guard by the comand and the sternness in Pen's voice, but she chuckled nonetheless. More than anything, it gave her hope. Hope for Bastet's future and for their pack's unity.

She sobered and nodded. "I'll do my best."

Just as Xenia finished her last word, Bastet leapt toward her once more. Her face was beginning to contort into something Xenia wasn't even sure was a fox. She deflected Bastet's attack and tried to pin her down from behind, but Bastet turned over and kicked her in the gut. Yet again, Xenia was sent flying back with great force she'd never found in another fox, much less a hybrid.

Finding her footing rather quickly, Xenia leapt at her this time. Bastet snarled and ducked down in an attempt to swipe Xenia's legs out from underneath her, but she was ready for that. She caught Bastet's leg and slammed her to the ground. Bastet wriggled around, trying to break loose of her hold, yet couldn't move an inch as she plastered her with her weight in an attempt to immobilize her.

"Stay away from her!" Bastet growled from the ground, then something flickered across her face, something unrecognizable, and she lifted her head. "P... Penelope...?"

She glanced up and caught sight of Pen, then stilled as Xenia began to pin her to the ground again. With another unparalleled snarl, Bastet pushed herself up, casting Xenia aside, and cocked her head to the side, her muzzle twitching for a few moments. She let out a long breath and shuddered. Slowly, her muscles relaxed in their rigidity and Xenia watched as her glowing eyes began to fade.

However, it was a bit too late for this to be an answer to their obvious problem. Xenia took the opportunity to get her beneath her once more and pinned her wrists along the ground. Bastet let out a long cry and writhed beneath Xenia as blood fell to the grass from her mouth. The first shift was always the most difficult.

"Glenn!" Xenia could sense his approach and held out her hand. Glenn threw a syringe and once she caught it, she took the cap off with her teeth. "It's okay, Bastet! Everything will be okay!"

Bastet wriggled beneath her and she had trouble getting the needle into her arm as she realized just how cold Bastet's skin had grown. That wasn't a good sign. If a shifter couldn't control their first change, if they weren't able to dictate its actions...their skin would grow deathly cold. Their blood would slow and it made recovery difficult, but shifting would be beyond arduous. It was a death sentence, as if the body was breaking down.

She let her wrists free, bracing her hand along her back, and moved Bastet's hair from her face, finding pure agony drenching it. Just as Xenia was about to call out for someone to help her hold Bastet down, she sensed overwhelming calmness that even suppressed her own growing anxiety. A wave of something so palpably still and unwinding filled her everything and she had to focus to be able to keep herself centered.

Xenia looked up and saw Pen walking toward her. I-It...really is true. The Aquatic can change the mood... Xenia stared in reverence of Pen's strength. It was almost like she'd given everyone a mental tranquilizer. So tangible she could nearly taste it. Pen went from just trying to use her and Bastet's bond to calm her, to emitting it throughout the entire valley. There was no way Pen even realized just how powerful she could, and most likely would grow.

Xenia peered back down at Bastet who was still shifting, yet didn't seem to be feeling as much of the pain as before. She turned her over and studied her face. Her skin was still freezing cold and shifting was not something she should be attempting. Just as Xenia was about to try and give her the medication once more, Pen knelt down in front of them and placed both hands on either side of Bastet's face, drawing her gaze up to her. Bastet appeared hypnotized and her breaths began to calm. Her snout slowly crumpled back until her face was back to her human form.

Xenia peeked down at Bastet's hands and saw only regular nails in place of her claws. She smiled and looked up at Pen who looked as if she was waiting for her to say something as she ran her fingers underneath Bastet's chin absentmindedly.

"Well, hell... Like I said. Connected." Xenia chuckled and rubbed Bastet's arms hoping it would warm her skin as the snow began to fall overhead.

Pen looked at her, full of surprise, and then back at Bastet who was fluttering her eyelids up at her and fading away. Before she was completely gone, however, she reached up and cradled one of Pen's hands against her face, rubbing her cheek along it. Her skin was already warming back to a comfortable temperature and her body was still. Xenia watched as she gave Pen one last look and fell unconscious with that blissful face she carried not long before when at peace and asleep in the town clinic.