The glass shimmers. Blue light ripples across the surface, shielded shut. She steps back when she sees my magic sparkle across the pane.
Mara turns around.
Her tail falls. Her lips curl into a shaky pout and her amber eyes go wide and glassy, filling with tears.
“Aaron, please...”
“I can’t.” My voice breaks. “I can’t lose you.”
“I don’t understand.” A tear slips down her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere, Aaron. What happened last night? Something happened. It changed you.”
“Yes.” I close the distance between us. “It did.”
She tries to take off again but my magic moves quickly. Blue light wraps around her legs and she hisses and strains against it, but she can’t move. Her feet are locked to the floor.
“Aaron, what are you doing? Aaron!”
I keep walking. Her tail arcs up and swings hard toward me but I twitch my fingers and it slams into a wall of blue light, falling limp behind her.
“AARON!”
I gently reach out and brush my fingers against her cheek. She flinches. Blue magic wraps around her wrists, easing her arms down to her sides. Not hurting her, just holding her still.
All I can see is her.
I trail my fingers over her skin, down the side of her face, down her neck. My eyes stay trained on hers. The blue glow reflecting in her amber irises makes her look like something from a dream I can’t wake up from.
“I don’t understand,” she whispers. “Why are you doing this?”
“You could be carrying our cub.” My hand pauses at her collarbone. “Have you caught on to a change in your scent?”
Her brow creases. “Huh? We just made love last night. It takes a minute. What the heck is wrong with you?”
My gaze drops to her belly. My hand follows, sliding down until my palm presses flat against it. She stares at me.
“Oh my god, Aaron. You have lost your mind.”
I press harder. Her belly tenses under my palm, muscles pulling tight, and underneath it something else. Something I’m not sure is real yet or if I’m just desperate enough to imagine it.
“I didn’t just lose you.” My voice is barely above a whisper—breaking at the edges. “I lost our cub too.”
Her face changes. The fear doesn’t leave but a stillness moves in underneath it, a recognition that makes her stop fighting the magic holding her arms.
“You didn’t lose anything,” she says, and her voice is shaking. “It was a dream, Aaron. It was just a dream.”
I pull my hand from her belly and look at it. The blue light pulses brighter across my palm, climbing my wrist. I shake my head.
“No, Mara. It wasn’t a dream.” I look at her. “I wanted to believe that too. But then Tiana showed up to your classroom.”
I move my hand back to her cheek. Her tears are warm against my fingers and I hold her face and look at her with everything I have left.
“And you...” My voice drops. “You’re planning to sneak off with her to the Witching Glen.”
Something feral is building inside me. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not rage, not exactly. A territorial drive that’s been coiling since the time-slip, pushing against the underside of my skin, trying to crack me open from the inside out. I pull my hand from her face and shake my head, trying to shake off whatever is happening to me.
“Just call for your mom,” Mara says quickly. “She can help. Or call for Tiana. I wasn’t?—“
My head snaps up.
