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Chapter Thirty-Six
Claire
Fury unleashed from inside of me at the thought of this bastard attempting to drive the new life out of me. A life I’d only moments ago realized was a possibility.
Pushing on the magic that was restricting me, my middle grew tighter. Sven was concentrating on me, on my abdomen. I screamed in frustration, begging my magic to triumph. I could feel it right there. Around us, the furniture shook with the force of two witchkind manipulating the energy around us as we battled. The walls pounded in protest. We’d be lucky if we didn’t either bring the walls crashing down upon us or set the house on fire.
My scream grew louder. The doors rattled in their frames. I barely registered the front door blasting inward, so focused on trying to burn Sven from the inside out. I wouldn’t let him escape. His death was the only way this would end.
Jack barreled into the room, pummeling Sven. The two warlocks scrambled across the floor, clawing at one another. Clothes ripped and blood splattered as fists flew and magic surged around them.
I fell back against the wall, grasping my middle. Jack’s sudden appearance had taken Sven’s focus off me, allowing me a moment to catch my breath. Panting, I watched as Jack took the man’s head in a headlock. Sven’s face grew red with fury and determination. But he couldn’t break through Jack’s grip. I felt Jack’s frustration. But above all else, I felt his fury.
Something broke within me. That barrier that Sven had placed on my magic released. It felt as if a dam had broken and the magic flooded out of me. I focused all that deadly power on Sven, careful not to direct any of it toward the father of my unborn child.
My scream met with Sven’s own. Jack released his grip on the man, backing away as Sven screamed in pain. He crawled, scrambled, and tried to get away as that ugly scent pierced my nose. Part of me wanted to release Sven. I didn’t want to make anyone suffer, but I could only see that light that he had tried to snuff. My child. He’d nearly destroyed what Jack and I created before I’d even known of our baby’s existence. The thought sent fire up my spine, the rage pummeling toward Sven. He let out one last garbled cry. He clutched his head, pulling at the bald scalp, and then he fell to the floor.
The fire went out of me as I realized the man was dead. Like Sven, I dropped to the floor in a heap.
“Claire!” Jack’s hands gripped my shoulders. My eyes were still on the now-dead warlock on the other side of the room. I was shaking, thinking that it was Jack who was shaking me. Only moments later did I realize that the trembling was involuntary. My body was revolting.
“Jack.” I looked up at him as my body tried to right itself. I searched inside myself, feeling for that little spark of life I’d felt earlier. At first, there was nothing. A sob leeched out of me, and then I felt it. That little trill of hope, of magic, of life. I gasped, letting out another sob.
The room spun as I was lifted from the floor. In the periphery, I could see Sebastian in the corner of the room, standing over Sven with a cell phone to his ear. In the chaos, I hadn’t even realized he was there.
I didn’t care about what would come later. I didn’t admonish myself for falling into Sven’s trap. I instead let myself fall into Jack’s arms as he carried me out of the house.
* * *
The silencearound me once I woke was deafening. It was that absence of sound that was so strange, it sounded more like a roar. Looking around, I realized I was back in Jack’s bedroom. The familiarity of the place made me want to burrow down under the covers. The memory of what had happened made me want to remain there for days.
Instead, I raised myself to a sitting position.
“Claire?” Jack’s voice reached out at me through the dark as I saw his shadow approaching me. There was only the dim light of the bedside lamp. “You scared me to death.”
I sensed Jack’s relief as he took in the sight of me attempting to rise from the bed. Sitting down on the bed next to me, he attempted to still me, to push me back toward the bed. I felt the lingering fear coming from him. But more than anything, I felt my shock at realizing where I was, and that I was now pregnant.
There was the temptation to stay where I was. Let Jack pull me to him and tell me everything was going to be okay.
But I couldn’t.
So instead, I pulled myself to my feet. Jack stood behind me, grasping me about the waist, trying to pull me back to him.
“Let me go,” I said, the words meaning so much more than they would have two weeks ago. I needed Jack to let me go. To let me set sail. Child or not, I wouldn’t allow myself to be hurt by whatever this bond was between us any longer. I didn’t want to be the witch he rushed to rescue when I was in danger, but neglected when I needed him the most. Those moments where I needed him to do nothing more than to prove his love.
“Claire, I’m sorry.” I knew he sensed my unease and realized the words weren’t simply a demand to release my body. They were a demand to release me forever. “If you’ll just let me—“
“No, Jack.” My voice was so damned tired. I was so damned tired. “It’s too late for all of that. I need you to let me go. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Claire, you can’t do this alone.”
The sentence knocked the wind out of me. He knew. Of course, he knew.
“So that’s why this sudden change of heart? I get pregnant and suddenly we need to consider this whole mate bond thing as being real? Or maybe we pretend as we’ve been doing and do the whole co-parenting thing. I can’t and I won’t, Jack, and don’t you dare ask me to.”
“Claire, that’s not at all what’s going on here.” He reached for me. I stepped back. This time, I was the one to back away. The movement seemed to shock him. I gloated.
“Doesn’t feel so good, does it? To have your mate, the one your body and heart wants so godsdamned bad, pull away from you? To refuse to touch you? Well, get used to it. Get fucking used to it, because now I’m the one who’s going to push you away.”
