Fated Hearts

This has been a VERY long time coming. I'm apologizing, but in a way I'm not sorry because I felt the need to do this right since it is the last chapter and all (aww). I just wanted to say thanks for all the comments and feedback throughout the chapters. Without further ado...the final chapter of Eric and Thessa's story: Fated Hearts Ch. 10!

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there

With open arms and open eyes

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there, I'll be there.

Incubus

"Thessa, I don't think this is a good idea. It's dangerous and there's a chance it might backfire." Stephan's jaw was clenched hard as he listened to Thessa's crazy plan. It just didn't feel right.

"What do you mean it's a bad idea?" She looked around the kitchen table at the grim faces of her parents.

"He's right. I don't think—" Jolena cut in.

"Fuck what you guys think. If your mate wasn't right next to you and you could see them you'd be saying the same thing that I am. I don't think you understand something, Eric is my world. He's the one being in this place that was made just for me." She slammed her hand on the table. Nyoko jumped at the loud sound.

"Jesus, Thessa your eyes." She whispered as she watched Thessa's dark brown eyes glowed gold. She had never seen her usually subdued sister so worked up before. Then again, she thought as she looked up at Stephan, she would behave worse if Stephan was being held against his will by some psychopathic bitch.

"We're not saying it's a bad idea...per se. We just think that there just might be some other way to go about rescuing Eric than throwing yourself into the lion's den like that." Julius rested a hand on Thessa's shoulder reassuringly.

"Well what are you proposing we do?" She looked up at her father with tired eyes.

"I'm so done with not having him here. If we hadn't mated..." She started.

"You did what? Without the blessing of the pack?! The rules state that—"Jolena stood up.

"She took him away from me. They forced me to watch him get taken away after they beat him. I have to get him back. What was I supposed to do?! And if you won't tell me where the only old lighthouse in within the nearest five packs is, then I'll go looking for him myself." She pushed her chair out and stormed off to her bedroom.

"What are we going to do? We can't let her just go out like this?" Nyoko looked frantically at the other adults in the room.

"Stephan, please? We have to do something. It would hurt me to not be able to help her find Eric." She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up into his face with pleading eyes. She smiled when he sighed and looked away from her.

"We can tell her where the lighthouse is, for one. Can we have someone do that? I'll go try to calm her down, and see if we can't at least get her to take a few guards with her to help the rescue go more smoothly." Stephan spoke up after a moment of silence.

"She doesn't need the guards to help her get in." Nyoko made a face. "We've had hand to hand combat training since we were old enough to learn how to walk."

"Is that true? She doesn't strike me as the type..." he started.

"Well our parents are in charge of defense. If we didn't know how to fight, we wouldn't be able to take our parents' places as betas if something happened to them." Nyoko explained "Think about it, Stephan. She told us all how she escaped. There weren't any guards with her and all the help that lady and her little girl gave her was a place to sleep and a meal."

Stephan clenched his jaw. "Well...fine. But I just feel uneasy letting her do it by herself. What if the dreams she's having of Eric are a trap? Some side effect of the drug?" He looked to Jolena for confirmation.

"It couldn't be. From the symptoms Thessa told us about to what I've experienced, there are no prolonged hallucinations once the subject isn't administered any dosages of the drug. It stops almost immediately." She muttered, shaking her head slowly.

"Maybe it's just because they're mates?" Nyoko suggested hopefully.

"Maybe... I've seen a lot of mated couples and there

is

some sort of pattern in the level of communication they share, but there are no two couples alike. Jolena and I have intensified tracking abilities when we work together. That's why we're head of security. "Julius explained stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Maybe their connection is developed more on a mental level. Is Eric any other sort of non-human? Thessa is to some extent, but we don't know if she has always been able to influence dreams or penetrate someone else's subconscious mind." Jolena offered.

"How about we call her out here to talk to talk about what needs to get done in order for her to rescue Eric?" Stephan interjected.

"I've been here the whole time. I can't even be alone without hearing you all talk about me in the next room." Thessa stood in the doorway, a closed look on her face.

"Now, baby girl we aren't trying to get you to compromise your desire to rescue Eric, but we don't think you should be rushing into it this way." Jolena crossed the room to stand by her daughter.

"We know you love him, but you need to think this through. Now you have a map of some underground tunnels that connect to a lighthouse. Were you able to find the locations of any nearby lighthouses on your own? We can have someone on that stat." She strode purposefully back to the table.

"Okay. Nyoko, you can take charge of that. Mom, you help her. Dad, Stephan and I will work on finding a way to get me in and out of the lighthouse safely." Thessa nodded her thanks to her mother for creating an opening for her to take control of the situation.

As Nyoko and Jolena left the room, she sat down at the table again across from Stephan and her father.

"Okay. This is the map he gave me. Once mom and Nyo find out where the lighthouses are: if there is or was one, then we can move forward. Until then, I want to hear how you think I should do this." She folded her hands on the table and sat forward expectantly.

Julius was the first to speak up. "Honestly, I know you'll insist on going in there alone, but I think we should send a team in to rescue him after we figure out exactly where he is. I lost you once Thessa, we're not losing you again."

"That would only be necessary dad, if there was a possibility that I might fail. I know the story of what you did for mom and me when I was born, and I need you to understand that Eric and I feel very strongly about each other. We've already mated even" she blushed "I need you to understand that I'm the one who needs to rescue him. He already knows I'm a capable mate, but his wolf and mine constantly require the reassurance that the other is worthy. If I don't rescue him, my wolf will be sorely disappointed in me. Next suggestion." She looked at Stephan.

"I think you should go in alone. You're bonded to him and you're a shifter. If everyone is telling the truth about your training, then you'll be fine on your own." He nodded confidently at her.

"Thank you Stephan I—"

"

But

," He added, cutting her off "you need to have people on the outside ready for whatever his injuries or yours are. This lady sounds insane and you said that she's a witch? That's an added precaution. Are there any covens nearby with which the pack was affiliated? If not, are there witches living peacefully in the compound."

"My wife is a healer; she would know a witch or two. As for the outside guard detail, I've got that covered. I've got Russ and his brother who are more than capable of providing the necessary aid to Thessa and Eric once they get out." He nodded.

~*~

It had been a few days since they first started to plan Eric's escape. They had assembled all the parts of the plan...all she had to do was go in, get to Eric and get him out of there. She was supposed to infiltrate Pavla's lair by suppressing her shifter scent to one of a human: unassuming. Most witches had human servants since they were the easiest to control with magic. Once she was in, Thessa was supposed to locate the secret passage outside the lighthouse that would take her in a straight path to the underwater tunnel she had to navigate in order to reach the place where they believed that Pavla was holding Eric. The huge underwater cave was at the perfect latitude and longitude, Jolena said, to cast any magical spell. It was believed that the magical properties of the land Sorenan controlled were the main reason Pavla came to their pack.

The week before they planned to send Thessa into the lair, Jolena sent Thessa to a friend who was a very powerful witch. Morgana was a legend in her own way as a good witch. She was able to teach Thessa a few basic spells that shifters and weres could use with their limited magical capabilities.

"You have a strong heart, and a strong mind. You have some dream magic," she paused at the puzzled look on Thessa's face "that is, you can subconsciously alter the physical realm." Morgana nodded and got off her worn paisley chaise and made her way over to a cabinet. The glint of hundreds of tiny mirrors peeked out from under the tall woman's arm as she held the door open, Morgana had promised over the phone to make two charms of protection for Thessa and Eric.

"We need two pendants: one for you, one for Eric. Did you bring the things that I requested you bring?" she looked over her shoulder. Thessa felt the warmth radiating from Morgana's powerful eyes. Thessa was enthralled by the large almond shaped orbs. Thessa couldn't really hear what Morganna was saying; a peaceful buzz filled her ears if she stared too long.

"Thessa did you hear me?"

"Yeah." She shook her head to clear it and rummaged through her backpack and pulled out the baggies containing a few strands of hair she was able to collect from Eric's comb.

"Good, put them on the butcher's block for me? And pull out the bottles of amber and crystal quartz dust from the cabinet over the sink. They're labeled." Morgana called over her shoulder. Thessa watch the witch rummage through the mirrors until she pulled out two tiny oval shaped lockets.

"Oh! One more thing, there are two little jars of lemon juice and salt in the fridge. We'll need those too." She placed the opened lockets into a little triangle of white candles.

Thessa watched in awe as Morgana said a few magical spells and rubbed the salt and lemon into the glass on the mirrors. Pure energy seemed to radiate from her milky white skin and fiery red hair. Thessa sighed as the overwhelming feeling of peace, love, and security bathed the room. When she finished the ritual, she snipped a piece of Thessa's thick, curly hair and dropped the strands into one of the two circular tiny pendants. She did the same with the strands of Eric's hair before reaching for the jars of powdered crystals.

"For protection from evil curses and black magic, we use cleansing white." She chanted in a singsong voice as she sprinkled the crystal quartz into the pendants over the hair.

"For the power of a clear mind and supernatural direction we use yellow." She inhaled deeply and sprinkled the amber shards over the crystals.

"Here these should be very useful to protect you two against her powers. But before you can expect them to be useful, you have to say this phrase: apere contege, protect and reveal. Make sure he says it on his or it won't work for him." She slipped the pendants onto thin leather ropes and dropped them carefully into Thessa's baggie and gave her a hug goodbye.

That night, her blissfully empty dreaming started feeling very real. The black abyss turned sharply into a single bedroom, much like the one she was in before she found her way back home. Panic quickly set in as she thought she was having a flashback of one of the many horrible things Dennis had done to her. She started to force herself to wake up, but stopped short when she saw Eric being led in; the muscles in his arms looked a little loose, not taut like she remembered them to be. He'd lost a lot of weight and the silver cuffs around his wrists dug into his pale skin. The men leading him in pushed him forward until he hit the bed weakly. Thessa felt warm tears trickle down the sides of her face at the way they treated him, but was reassured when she saw the defiant gleam lighting his golden eyes.

"So you see. Your mate is slowly but surely being worn down by my tactics. I suggest you give up now, while you still can, cub." A disembodied voice echoed in her head.

"I would never leave him to you Pavla. Show yourself you evil bitch." Thessa yelled aloud.

The shrieking laughter that surrounded her felt like a physical slap and Thessa pressed her hands over her ears to drown it out. This had to be new. She didn't remember ever hearing about non mates being able to share dreams with other people. The realization of what was happening hit her so suddenly that her legs buckled under her: Pavla was going to try to sever the mating bond between Thessa and Eric so that she could redirect the current between herself and Eric. Thessa knew it would never work. Severing the bond between mates was the equivalent of suicide. In doing so, Pavla would be permanently damaging Eric's wolf and he would never be able to shift into that animal again.

"So very smart." Pavla's voice echoed in her head.

"No, NO! Leave him alone!" Thessa screamed. She lashed out when a hand closed over her shoulder and shook her.

"Wake up, Thessa! You were screaming in your sleep, what's wrong?" Nyoko shook harder, bringing Thessa completely out of sleep.

"Eric, we have to go. Oh God, please." She groaned, soaking the pillow with her tears.

"What happened? Thessa, what happened?" Jolena and Julius crowded the doorway. Stephan pushed his way past them and stood between Thessa and Nyoko.

"She's going to kill him; we have to do this now." She jumped out of bed and rushed over to her drawers flinging clothes over her shoulder in a rush to get the amulets. She pulled them out and lowered them over her head and around her neck. Thessa mumbled the activation and felt the influences of the crystal and amber shards calm her mind and sharpen her focus.

"Wait just a minute there, what if she is just trying to draw you out. And how did she get into your dream?" Jolena called out.

"You can't just leave; we don't have any reserves ready, nothing." Julius chased after her as she rushed from the room.

"I can't wait, I can't take chances. I need to get to him now." She fought the waves of terror, using the adrenaline the fear provided and the protection in the pendants to push her forward.

"I'm coming with you. Nyoko, stay here with your parents. I won't let anything happen to her. Organize whatever we planned while we're gone." He quickly followed her out the door and into the night.

~*~

Thessa heard Stephan call out to her as he left. "I'm over here!" She called from the edge of the woods surrounding the house. She was quietly removing her clothes; the small case holding the maps was on the ground next to her crumpled sleep shirt. Stephan watched in awe as she pulled the string handle of the satchel over her ankle and shifted into a hawk, rocketing into the air before he could blink. He shifted quickly and took off after her on the ground. She would reach the lighthouse before him, but with any luck, she would leave the maps somewhere he could find them.

His paws pounded heavily on the thick grass as he pushed himself to run as fast as he could. Thessa, he decided, was a bit overdramatic, but the panic he felt radiate off her when she woke up was as intense as she claimed it to be. He didn't know what was going on between Pavla, Eric, and Thessa or why the evil woman even wanted his best friend so badly. There was something about the way they talked about Pavla that made him itch. She sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged off the uneasiness he felt that her name and face had him drawing blanks. There was never a person Stephan met that he couldn't remember.

He reached the base of a very old looking tower, the lantern room windows were cracked and a seagull's cry pierced the air as the waves crashed on the treacherous rocks on the other side. He saw Thessa land and shift back, unable to tear his gaze away as he heard the faint words of a spell on the wind as the sharp sea air blew into him. The clothes that appeared on her took him by surprise. He blinked twice, thinking that maybe the blinding light of the setting sun somehow made him see wrongly.

You can do that?

He projected to her.

"Morgana taught me how, isn't it cool? It's more permanent than what I was doing in my dreams with Eric unconsciously. These last for a few hours, not a few minutes." She made a face as he eyed her long dark skirt and top.

"Why would you fabricate a skirt? Wouldn't that hold you back and trip you up?" Stephan said as he shifted back.

"Nope, it has a million pockets on it they're just concealed. Would you like to see how it works?" She looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you could make me something. It's kinda cold out here even for a wolf." He shivered, watching in awe as she chanted the spell again and a plain wool sweater seemed to form itself from the neck down for him.

"See? It's more about what you know is in the area, it looks like wool, but it's actually a whole bunch of plant fibers packed so tightly together it looks and feels like wool." She handed it to him and pulled a map out of the little case and gripped it with both hands to keep it from blowing away.

"Okay. We are on the south end of the lighthouse. So..." She started walking away from him.

"So what?" He followed closely behind, shifted into his hybrid form to keep his legs warm. He scowled at her when she looked at him and laughed.

"You look like a creature from one of those old horror movies." She cleared her throat when he growled at her.

"The entrance I need should be right....here!" She rolled the map back up and began stomping around on the weed choked grass.

"What are you doing?" Stephan leaned against the aged tower and watched her.

"It's hidden and all I need is to find the fake piece of dirt on top of it."

"How do you know all of this? It doesn't say so on the map."

"My amulet is giving me the power of foresight. That and in our combat training," She kicked at the ground and the edge of a square lifted from the rest of the dirt. She smiled widely and dropped to her knees to pull at it "one of the first lessons we learn is that if you need to find something you want..." she grunted as she pried the other end free and yanked the rest of the covering from the ground "you need to think like your enemy. Plus I saw this in a movie once." She shrugged and brushed dust off her skirt and t-shirt.

"Okay... Now what?" Stephan knew this was the point she needed to leave.

"Now I take the other map and go. Don't follow me down, okay? The whole system of tunnels is like a maze. I know it's marked, but your sense of direction won't be as good as if you had an amulet." She yanked the door up and climbed down the ladder.

~*~

What is it with these people and basements?

Thessa grumbled to herself once her feet hit the dirt floor. She wanted to be afraid, but her need to find her mate was greater and pushed her to find the first landmark. She stilled as she heard feet and willed her scent to change; she let her hair fall over her eyes to hide their golden glow as she trudged past a guard.

So slack.

She shook her head.

But then if you thought yourself the deadliest thing in the world, you wouldn't think you needed too many guards.

The further into the lair she went, the darker and less even the tunnels became. Sometimes she had to watch for holes in the floor, or things on the ceiling. She knew she reached the dungeons when the smell hit her. The air was stale and reeked of waste and death. Her eyes teared as the assault on her sensitive nose grew so bad she had to stop and collect herself. She stroked the amulets under her shirt and felt unseeing eyes peering out from dark corners.