Heartmate | ✔️

t w e n t y

I felt a hand softly brush my cheeks. The bond mark spread warmth through my body and it made want to lean in to the hand more. But for the life of me, I couldn't move. Every joint in my body hurt.

"Stella is alright. How's this one doing? Still being stubborn?" A second one pipes in.

I hear someone sighing.

"I swear to the Gods, if you die on me, I won't ever feed you my sandwiches again Rora."

I willed myself to smile though I doubt it looked like one. My head throbs and I groan softly. I slowly flutter my eyes open. Hazy images of Aiden and Jase fill my vision.

"And she's alive!" Jase cheers. Aiden pulls me closer and cradles me in his arms. My amulet flickers and my neck grows warm. A nice soothing warm.

"Don't you ever do that again. Ever." He mutters into my hair, loosening his grip slightly.

I manage out a laugh which turns into a coughing fit.

"Woah, easy there tiger. Take it slow." Jase said, patting my back.

And then he bends down to my ear.

"This one's been going crazy since the time you and Stells here decided to pull a stunt. Zach almost had a heart attack." He chuckled to himself and then looked me in the eyes. "Go easy on him okay?" He smiled and kissed my forehead before getting up.
"I'll go check up on Nana and Dimitri."

"Can you help me up?" I said to Aiden once Jase was gone.

After a few agonizing minutes of grunting and cursing, I managed to stand, slightly leaning on Aiden for support but properly stand.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" Aiden asks me while inspecting my body for cuts and bruises.

"My whole body hurts." I mutter under my breath.

"Well it should if you try jumping off a building that high and almost getting killed. You better be glad that I had quicker reflexes or you'd be dead before you even made it to the ground." Aiden scolds me like I was a child.

I look at him in disbelief. I open my mouth to say something but close it again when nothing comes out. He looks at my face once he's done poking and prodding me everywhere.

"What? It's true! What were you thinking? Do you even know how afraid I was? For a moment there I thought I..we lost you. Again." Aiden said, running his hand through his hair, ruffling it up.

"Sorry.." I mumble and look away.

All of a sudden, something or rather somebody tackles me into a hug from behind, almost toppling us over.

"We are alive!!"

"Can't..breathe..." I coughed.

Stella grinned sheepishly and let me go. For somebody who went through so much, she seemed fine. Very fine actually.

"How are you so energetic?" I ask, quirking an eyebrow at the giddy girl.

"I'm not. But Zach worries too much if I show any signs of pain. So, I got to be a little hyped in front of him atleast." She explained glancing at the boy a few steps away from us.

I chuckled and shook my head, regretting the moment I did it. Wincing, I gently massaged my forehead.

"Where's Hailey? And Mel?" I ask to no one in particular.

"They were going around checking up on people and trying to disperse the crowd. They should be here somewhere.." Zach said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Aiden!"

We heard Jase yelling and turned to find him running towards us along with Hailey and Melissa following right behind.

"What's wrong? Did you find them?"

The three of them glanced at each other uncomfortably. Atlast Hailey sighed.

"That's the thing. Nana and Dimitri are missing."

A few seconds pass by in silence as the rest of us processed the information. And then the chaos began.

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

"That is not possible!"

"Missing?"

The four of us - Stella, Aiden, Zach and I - speak at once. Jase rubbed his forehead.

"I've looked everywhere. No sign of them anywhere. I have a feeling that they were.." He shrugged.

"Abducted." Zach finished.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Stella said, bending to tighten her laces.

I looked at the ruined house which was swarming with soldiers in red uniforms. They were talking to each other rapidly in a language I couldn't really grasp onto.

The public had been cleared off and the injured servants from the house were being taken care of. But no sign of Nana or Lord Dimitri. They simply vanished.

Into thin air.

"But where? And how?" Melissa, who stayed quiet the whole time, asked softly.

"We hitch up a ride from one of the stables from the village. We leave as soon as we possibly can." Aiden said, narrowing his eyes at something in the distance.

"Where?" I pressed.

He turned to focus his attention on us.

"Corona."