Hidden One

Chapter Thirteen

"What are you saying, Teresa? I don't know what you mean." Kate said, her voice low. She didn't sound angry- in fact, she sounded almost...frightened. As if she didn't want to know or hear the answer, she was asking the question anyway.

"I'm sure you know that it's possible to have more than one intended or mate in a lifetime. I didn't really...consider that that could be the case for Kas, and certainly didn't think it could be for me. But...I know Kas thinks I'm his intended. And I might have been, in another life, where I hadn't met Demetri. But I did meet him. And I know that, even though I do feel like I have a strong connection with Kas, Kasper is not who I can be with. Demetri is my mate. I can't get around it, and you can't deny it."

Kate was stunned, her voice leaving her for a moment. Her voice strangled, she said: "Bring her down to the basement. Keenan, call a council meeting."

Tessa was escorted out of the room by Keenan, and Kol went to look for the others. She was silent, refusing to speak to him if he was going to treat her the way he was.

"I can't believe you'd do this to us, Tessa." Keenan said finally, his voice low. She didn't look over at him, continuing to stare straight ahead as they walked down the stairs to the second floor.

"You say that as if I had a choice, Kee." She murmured, her voice softening slightly.

"Don't call me that."

"Why shouldn't I? We were friends this morning. Will you really treat me this way because I'm mated with a Shifter?" She asked. Her voice was small, sounding hurt and alone.

Keenan almost melted. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be alright. But those four words, 'mated with a Shifter', caused him to recoil ever so slightly and his resolve to harden. Those words were a taboo, a disgusting mistake of nature that shouldn't have happened. Shifters and Seers didn't mix. Never in history had this happened, at least, and there was a good chance it would have happened had it been possible.

"It's not right." He muttered, leading her down the last set of stairs into the basement. There had been guards placed all along the hallway and at the door, though there were none inside- Kallen had been put in charge of watching the security cameras that showed every corner of the brightly lit, bare room.

"Tess!" Demetri cried. He'd been chained to the wall, his arms and chest straining against the bloody, iron chains that were connected to the wall with steel rings. He looked battered, his arms and chest bloody where the chains had cut into his skin. Upon closer examination, Tessa realized his skin looked blistered and burned around the chains as well.

She let out a cry of anguish, rushing to his side." What did you do to him?" She cried, looking over her shoulder at Keenan. "How could you?"

"Tess, it wasn't-"

"I trusted you! All of you!" She shrieked, not hearing Demetri's weak, hoarse voice. "How could you?" She started to sob, her eyes full of grief, hatred, and to Keenan's surprise, terror. She positioned herself in front of Demetri as it to protect him. When Keenan took a step toward her she backed away, pressing herself closer to her mate.

"Don't you dare touch me! Get away!" The room started to shake, Tessa's control of her powers slipping ever so slightly. In her hysterical state, her powers were bouncing off her mental walls and ricocheting through her brain, uncontrollable and deadly.

"Go!" Demetri yelled at Keenan over the deafening noise of rumbling stone. They were under five stories of building and dozens upon dozens of people. He did not want to know what would happen it all of that collapsed on top of them. "She can't calm down with you in the room! GO!"

Keenan ran from the room, taking the stairs two at a time. But only when he'd disappeared from view did the shaking stop, Tessa's sobs still echoing through the room.

"Tess? Tess, honey? Do you think you could maybe break the chains for me." Demetri asked, his voice a soothing balm. Tess's power had thrown her away from him as if knowing that if she stayed close, she would hurt him. Sniffling, she nodded and stepped closer. Concentrating all her energy in her hands, she snapped the chains like a frayed bit of string. Carefully, she unwrapped the chains from his chest and arms, undoing the cuffs at his wrists and wincing with him at the sticky blood that coated both him and the chains. It was all over her hands now, her shirt and her arms covered in the red substance.

"What did they do to you?" She asked, her voice shaking. She'd only been away from him an hour, maybe.

"They heated the chains before chaining me to the wall, so that they would weaken me. I was beaten by two of the guards for fighting." He said, his voice low. "It wasn't any of the MacAlistars, Tess, or the Seers. You're friends are too proper to get their hands dirty with a Shifter." His voice turned bitter, unhappy, and for once Tessa agreed.

"I hate them." She said.

She wrapped her arms around her knees, curling into a ball. "What?" He asked, not having heard her. She shuddered, and he wrapped his arms around her. Demetri's shirt had been reduced to a rag, the tattered cloth barely hanging from his shoulders on its own. He winced slightly as her back came into contact with his chest, the cotton of his shirt sticking to his wounds. But he didn't let her go; he simply held her tighter.

"I hate them." She repeated, her voice louder this time. "I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!" She started to sob again, loud, uncontrollable sobs, though the room didn't shake and she didn't loose control. "I hate them for what they did to you, to us. I just want out. I want to go home, Demetri." She whimpered.

He knew that wasn't what she really wanted, at least not completely. If she went home, she wouldn't be happy there, either. What she wanted was a place where she could feel warm and safe, a place where she was loved and wanted, a place where she wasn't judged.

"Tessa, back in the woods..." She winced. "I was about to tell you something. It could change our whole lives. Do you want me to tell you?"

"Nothing could possibly ruin my life more than it already is." She murmured, her voice dead. She was tired, tired of everything: being a Seer, her life taking turn after turn after turn, dealing with Kasper and every other MacAlistar...

"There's a place you could be safe. They would respect you, love you, and I would be welcome there." He said, his voice quiet.

She laughed bitterly. "Such a place doesn't exsist." She whispered. He hesitated.

"The Alpha of all Shifters has extended an invitation for us to join their pack."