Frenetic by T. S. Snow

Epilogue

Logan

Ididn’t know what was worse about this imprisonment; the terrible accommodations, or Theodore Soulbinder’s company.

Over the last twenty-four hours, I’d gone through every single range of emotion known to man, and I’d finally settled on one.

I was livid.

At myself, for falling into this stupid trap, at Soulbinder for demanding to accompany me into that goddamn building and then worrying so much about some stupid ghosts, that he’d used up all his magic to set them free, dooming both of us.

I wasn’t entirely convinced he’d be much help in the fight that happened, but surely he couldn’t have been any worse than he was by being unconscious, right?

Our captors had only made one other appearance after the first one, to pick up Theodore and take him...somewhere. Based on the condition he came back in, I didn’t need to think too hard to know what they were doing to him.

Still, nobody had mentioned anything about negotiations.

They knew who we were, and what we represented, so why weren’t they at least trying to negotiate?

They couldn’t want us dead; if they did, it would’ve made much more sense to just kill us when they had the chance, rather than keeping us as rabid pets.

As if conjured by my thoughts, footsteps suddenly echoed in the empty space, and both Soulbinder and I went on high alert. I stood up and assumed a fighting stance. At my side, Soulbinder did the same.

If we couldn’t use our magic, we’d have to rely on physical force.

Two men appeared, one of which was carrying an unconscious woman with a shock of pink hair in his arms.

My blood iced over.

Charisma.

“Char!” Soulbinder yelled from beside me, running towards the iron bars of the cell. “What have you done to her? What have you done to my Char?” he asked desperately, gripping the bars as if he wanted to physically tear them open and get to her.

He shouldn’t have bothered.

The brown-haired asshole from earlier raised his MET, sending a shock-wave right at Theodore, and making him drop to the floor, convulsing.

Waving his MET in warning at me, as if daring me to make a move, he opened the door to the cell, and they threw Charisma in with us, quickly closing the door and locking it before they left.

I noticed they didn’t use magic to keep us in, just human means.

Whether that would be good or bad for us was yet to be seen.

Theodore dragged his body over to where Charisma had been dropped, painstakingly moving closer to her inch by inch while repeatedly calling her name as if in prayer. When he finally reached her, he cradled Charisma in his arms with the utmost care, and he just held her there, rocking back and forth.

I turned my head to give him some privacy, even as I fought the urge to get closer and see for myself if she was okay.

“I’m sorry, Char. I’m so, so, so sorry. Please, please be okay. I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating the words over and over.

There was so much pain, so much despair, so much…love.

I’d always known Theodore was obsessed with Charisma, but I’d always figured it was because he felt possessive of her. Since they’d been together for so long, I thought a part of him just felt like he owned her.

However, the scene unfolding in front of me proved me very, very wrong.

Theodore loved Charisma with everything he had, and whatever reasons he’d had for stepping away from her in the past, one thing had become abundantly clear: he’d never stopped loving her.

I had a feeling it was love that made him be a dumbass and break up with her.

That made things infinitely more complicated.

“Theo?” Charisma’s voice was weak as she called his name, more a question than anything else, and I couldn’t stop myself from turning to them.

I couldn’t stop my body from walking closer to her. I needed to see with my own eyes that she was okay.

Charisma’s silver eyes were wide open and full of tears as she looked around the room, trying to make sense of where she was, of what was going on.

When her eyes landed on me, her frown deepened.

“Logan?”

I nodded at her unspoken question.

I may have been beaten, but whoever they were, they’d at least healed my gunshot wounds before throwing me in here. Further proof they did not want me dead.

“Theo?” She cupped his face, looking into his eyes as if needing the closeness to make sure he was okay.

He frowned at her. “I told you to run, why did you not run?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course I wasn’t going to run, you dummy. They would’ve hurt you and Logan. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“It was careless of you to put yourself in danger when you didn’t know whether you could even save us or not,” I chimed in.

Charisma glared at me. “Yes, well, it was careless of you to get caught in the first place, but you don’t see me pointing fingers, do you?”

Point taken.

Theodore cupped Charisma’s cheek, forcing her to look at him. “You should’ve run. Char baby, we are not important, you are. We went out looking for trouble, but you didn’t.”

Charisma’s eyes seemed to look deep into his soul before they moved to mine, and I felt like she’d stripped me naked. Left me vulnerable.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Theo. You’re both important. At least to me.”

“My, my, isn’t this lovely?” A voice sounded from outside the cell, followed by the sound of slow clapping as Cara Silverstorm appeared as if out of thin air. “Poor little misunderstood Charisma Carter. Once again sacrificing herself for others,” she spat out with venom. “Tell me, do they know you’ve been sleeping around with the other heirs, whoring yourself in the hopes one of them will take pity on you and offer you protection? Or have you slept with these two, too, in an attempt to get the same thing?” Cara walked closer to the bars and looked down her nose at Charisma with pure hatred, before her derisive stare turned to me. “I can’t believe you chose to sleep with her rather than with me.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning to leave.

“I could’ve given you so much, Logan, yet you chose to lay with the mutts. You deserve this fate as much as she does. Enjoy your little slut while you can, because come morning, you’ll all be dead and her Necromancer boyfriend will be the one taking the blame for it all.”

Charisma gasped. “How do you know about him?” she asked, jumping to her feet, trying to get to Cara.

Cara turned her head and smiled at Charisma as if seeing her cousin’s desperation was the best thing in the world. “There’s little I don’t know, dear cousin. And little I won’t do, to make sure you’re utterly destroyed.” And then Cara walked away, leaving behind Charisma, whose face had gone sheet-white as her entire world started to shred into pieces.