Chapter 344

"Ariel!" Rafe shouts, his arms going around me, holding me close. I press my eyes shut, my hand pressed to my side.

The bell rings, stopping the round-thank god - and I can feel Luca's relief. But still, the pain radiates, and I stay pressed to my brother's side. "Ariel!" my mom gasps, suddenly next to me. "What the -*

"She's feeling it, mom!" Rafe says, his voice shaking with his anxiety. "I don't know how - but his ribs - whatever happened, she's feeling it too -*

"Oh my god," my mom says as my dad comes rushing to my other side, as our family and friends simultaneously make space for us even as they stand between us and the low wall of the box, shielding us from prying eyes.

Mom looks frantically at my dad. "Dominic," she murmurs, "is this possible? Can she get hurt because he's getting hurt?"

"Let me see," dad murmurs, coming close and feeling at my ribs where I gesture.

"They're broken," I gasp, shaking my head, desperately afraid and trying to look back towards my mate. "Luca's ribs are broken!" I'm panting now in my fear, my pain, my desperation.

My dad's hand moves firmly over my side. "Cora!" he shouts, and she's there in an instant. He murmurs to her, and her hand is instantly on my side too. She looks up at my dad and shakes her head, her eyes wide.

Dad catches my face between his hands, making me look at him. "His ribs might be broken, Ariel," dad murmurs. "But yours are not. Okay? You are feeling it down the bond - but all of it is his pain, not yours - you can control this -"

"Is that possible!?" mom gasps, looking between me and my dad.

"Yes," dad murmurs, glancing at her. "They're young - they don't know how to control it. Ariel!" He snaps his fingers in front of my face, drawing my attention back to him. "You have to close it down. The bond - close your end of it, just for now, or else you'll feel everything he's feeling - and he'll feel everything you're feeling - and that will not help him right now. Okay!?"

Dad's barking his words out by the end and I focus on his face, trying so hard.

"Come on, baby," mom says, slipping her hands over my shoulders and stepping between me and my dad. "Deep breaths, do it with me." And I focus on my mom's face, and close my eyes when she closes hers, and then I feel the calming lavender of her gift sweep over me. She's not healing me now - I know - though I desperately wonder for a second if her gift can heal Luca through me -

But no, there's no time for that -

Instead, I just trust in mom's light, trust in her as she guides me down into my soul to where my bonds are. There, I find it - my sweet, shining, silver bond with Luca - and I can feel all of his pain radiating down it.

I breathe deeply with my mom and then take hold of the bond gently in my mental hands, and then as she said - just...gently pinch it off, holding it between my fingertips.

"Just for now," I whisper to myself, perhaps aloud - perhaps in my own head - I don't know. I don't really care. "Just...for now."

"That's right, sweetheart," mom says. I open my eyes to see her smiling at me, and I blink a few times before I realize that... that all of the pain is gone. I look down at my ribs and realize - of course - that they're not broken. That I'm fine.

"What... what's happening..." I ask, my voice shaking a bit as I look between my parents.noveldrama

"It's okay, trouble," dad murmurs, stepping close to me and wrapping me in a big hug. "It's normal - you just...you're feeling everything Luca's feeling, because you two haven't really practiced yet. It will take time-

But there's no time for this either, as the bell rings again, and I gasp, realizing that the fight is beginning.

I push hard against my dad's arms, desperate to get back to the barrier of our box, and he hesitates for a moment - worried - before he lets me go. Then I'm dashing to the side, holding tight to my bond in my mind, desperate to see what happens next.