Designate | Fated Four: Book 3

Chapter Sixteen

I woke up the next morning and the first thing I saw was Ryder's sleeping form. As I looked at his sleeping form, I thought about last night. The pain. The love. The pleasure. The trust. The healing. The passion. I remembered all of it. But my recollections were interrupted by a buzzing sound. I looked around for the source and saw a little light in the back pocket of my jeans. My phone.

I got up and went to turn it off, not wanting to wake Ryder. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my jeans and noticed that Nemesis' name was flashing across the screen. She hardly ever called me, we mostly texted. Was something wrong?

I answered the phone and held it up to my ear.

"Nemesis," I greeted the Goddess of Retribution.

"Avalon, thank goodness!" Nemesis exclaimed, "We have a situation!"

"What happened?" I asked, as Ryder stirred and woke up. He looked at me curiously and I put the call on speaker, mouthing 'Nemesis' to him as I did.

"So we found Eris and she wasn't too happy to see us," Nemesis replied and I heard a crash in the background, "She's jacked up on power. I think she siphoned another deity and what's worse is that Ares is with her. We could really use some backup."

"Where are you?" Ryder asked.

"The east side of the city, near the square," Nemesis replied, "Hurry!"

"Nemesis!" I heard Calix shout in the background. There was another crash and Nemesis hung up.

Ryder cursed under his breath and I quickly threw on my clothes.

"We have to help them," I told him.

"I know, but I'm not strong enough to face Eris and Ares and you're still a mortal," he told me, "She'll overpower you just like she did with Clarissa."

"So then what do we do?" I asked.

"We need to call your Mother and complete our soulmate bond," he told me.

"What?" I asked, surprised by his suggestion.

"We need to bind ourselves together. That way I'll be stronger and you'll be able to draw on my powers," he explained.

I thought about it for a moment and realized he was right. There was no other way and we couldn't afford to wait. Not with his siblings and Clarissa's lives at stake.

So we both rushed outside and Ryder summoned my Mom.

"Hail Goddess of Love and Beauty," he called out, "Aphrodite, honour us with your presence and help us."

There was a flourish of rose petals and my Mom appeared.

"Avalon, Ryder, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the distress in our eyes.

"You need to bind our souls together," Ryder told her, "My family is in trouble and neither of us is strong enough to help them. I've started to heal. Please Aphrodite, we don't have much time."

Mom saw the look of fear on my face and turned to me.

"Are you sure, Avalon?" she asked.

"I am," I replied with no hesitation, "Please Mom, we don't have much time."

"Very well," Mom sighed, "This isn't how I imagined this going."

"It isn't how we imagined either," Ryder assured her.

"I'll need to hear explicit consent from both of you," Mom told us.

"I consent to binding myself to Ryder," I told my Mom.