Chapter Fifteen
“Beth, come back to me, my love.” Jayden cups my cheeks.
“Gonna get shocked,” I mumble.
“Your magic doesn’t hurt me, remember? It’s okay, I’ve got you. No one is going to hurt our friends, I promise.” He runs a hand down my arm in a gesture meant to soothe but the crackling lightning turns to white-hot flames.
I gulp in a few calming breaths, but a scoff nearby snaps my gaze to the man in question. The man who wanted to cage my friends.
“If you don’t shut your fucking trap, Axel, I will step out of her way and let her fry you to a crisp,” Jayden barks.
“I tried to but they fought back.” Axel says the exact wrong thing.
“He meant your fucking mouth, jackass,” Raven snarls. “You just made it worse.”
White spots dot my vision and my chest heaves with the exertion it’s taking to hold back my magic. I have never been so out of control or seen the full extent of my power before. This is what the seer meant about having the power to either save or destroy the world.
Jayden stares into my eyes, a pleading glance to calm it down, but then a voice I don’t recognize shouts, “Get the anti-magic cuffs or we’re all dead.”
Jayden whirls around with a snarl and his shadows wrap around me. Raven steps closer, blocking me from the idiot fae males that think to cuff me.
“You’re dead anyway if you come near my mate with any type of cuffs.” Jayden’s voice is low and deadly.
His shadows creep across the ground, leaking out of him. I have to stop this. I have to calm him, but it’s taking everything I have not to let my magic run wild. If he was looking at me, I could see the black in his normally blue eyes.
His shadows slither up my legs from the ground, wrapping around my body and stroking my back. I take a shuddering breath. The calming gesture is soothing the magic in me enough to pull myself together. Reaching out, I press a hand to the center of Jayden’s back and his shoulders slump.
“I’m okay,” I say.
“Thank fuck.” Raven visibly relaxes as well.
“Not good enough,” Jayden growls. “They threatened you.”
I turn Jayden to look at me and it’s just as I expected. His eyes are swirling pools of shadows and the shadows continue to crawl across the ground, agitated because Jayden has lost control.
“They won’t touch me with those cuffs. I’ll unleash the full force of my magic on anyone who tries it, but now I need you to come back to me, my love.” I cup his cheek.
The blue leaks through the black slowly as we stare at each other for long minutes. Now that I’m not sparking everywhere, my friends form a circle around Jayden and me while I calm him, protecting our backs in case they try to sneak up behind us with damn magic-blocking cuffs.
I didn’t even know that was a thing and it sounds like a terrible way to live. Blocking my magic is not something I ever want to have happen to me.
“Are you good?” I ask as Jayden presses his forehead to mine.
“Yeah, you scared the life out of me losing it like that.” Jayden blows out a relieved breath.
“They have humans locked in cages, Jayden. Like animals. And they tried to do the same to our friends. I seriously lost it. This is barbaric.”
“They didn’t try to shove me and Greyson in the cage,” Raven says. “They did try to shove the others inside, though.”
“I wasn’t having it and pulled my battle ax,” Dax says. “Raven pulled her twin blades and we got into battle formation.”
“Good quick thinking. I still want to know, what is the meaning of this?” I snarl, turning to Rosaline.
“They are not like you. The four of you are a part of the prophecy the seer gave us. The others are not.” Rosaline crosses her arms like that is the end of the discussion.
“So? What does that have to do with you betraying us and behaving like humans and demigods are no better than animals?” I glare back at her.
“We will keep them contained until the four of you complete your mission.” Rosaline waves a dismissive hand.
