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“Cohen,please.” The black-haired man pauses, his fist raised. Then he sighs, letting it drop.
Fielder takes advantage and uses a gust of air to toss Cohen off him. He flies twenty feet through the air and hits a tree trunk before collapsing to the ground in a heap.
I try to go to him, to make sure he’s okay, but Ezra holds me firm and the three other witches step between me and Cohen, still slumped on the ground.
With a groan, he pushes himself to his hands and knees, shaking his head like he’s trying to clear it, and then he pushes to his feet, turning to face the four of us. He swipes at the trickle of blood falling from his nose with the back of his hand and grins, revealing bloody teeth.
“You’ve got a good right hook, Harris.”
I shake my head and take a step forward. This time, Ezra lets me. “Guys, can we just talk? Please?”
Fielder doesn’t look at me. “What’s there to talk about? This piece of shit took you from us, made you cut off your protection spells. You were vulnerable, open to attacks. He could have done anything to you.”
Cohen smirks, and I notice with some surprise that the swelling he’d had around his eyes is already gone, and his split lip healed. “He’s right, Ro. I could have doneanythingto you. I could have put a spell on you to make you crave my cock, to make you beg for it.” Goddammit, he’s baiting them. I don’t know what the hell he thinks this is going to accomplish, but he obviously thinks it’s going to accomplish something. “I could have cut you open. Killed you. I could have taken you from them forever.” His icy blue eyes run over me. “And what did I do, wildcard?”
I lick my lips and note the way his gaze follows the movement. “You talked to me.”
His brows arch and his eyes widen, mocking. “I talked to you! How dare I?” His gaze returns to Fielder. “I had a conversation with your girlfriend that you weren’t a part of. Get over it.”
Hardin snarls. “And what the fuck did you say to her?”
“Nothing that important. I’m a witch, like her. I’m not tied to a coven, like her. I want to help her reach her full potential.” I hold my breath, hoping against hope that he doesn’t say what I think he’s going to say. “That she shouldn’t be anywhere near you assholes, because it’s going to limit her abilities and her power. You’re going to smother her and turn her into just another low-level witch.” His mouth twitches into a smirk. “Like you.”
All four of them lunge forward, and they don’t limit themselves to physical attacks this time. No, there are spells being flung across the driveway that I can’t even comprehend, but no matter what they throw at Cohen, he’s able to keep them at bay. Spells slide right off him. Hardin’s fire doesn’t burn him, and slashes don’t appear in his flesh, so I have to assume that Hardin’s battle magic isn’t working on him either.
He can’t avoid the pieces of earth Ezra uses to trip him up, though, so he stumbles every so often, even if the water and air that I know is buffeting him isn’t even touching his skin.
“Guys!” I shout, running forward to, I don’t know, put myself between them, I guess. “Please stop! Just stop! Let’s talk about this!”
I stall out a few feet from where the battle is waging, held in place no doubt by Fielder, who wants to keep me out of the line of fire. I slam my fist against the invisible force. “Hey, assholes! Listen to me! He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t hurt Merritt! I am fine!”
They predictably ignore me.
I need to make them listen, need to draw their attention away from Cohen, who I now know could actually crush them all if he wanted to, but he doesn’t because he knows it would hurt me if he did. He’s hardly even fighting back against them, taking the defensive approach rather than offensive.
His ice eyes flick to me, trapped behind Fielder’s magic, and his jaw tightens. I can tell he hates that. It’s the last thing he wants to see, me held in place by someone else, kept from doing as I want. He wants me to bloom and grow and come into my own. He doesn’t want me to be held back.
And that is the moment I know he’s going to switch from just holding them off to actually trying to hurt them. Because he’s angry.For me.
“Cohen! Don’t! Don’t you fucking dare!” His jaw tightens even further. “If you hurt them, I will not forgive you.”
I probably should be mad at Fielder for beating the shit out of Cohen, too, but he’s already healed from that in a matter of minutes.
“They need to learn, wildcard. Consider this a lesson.”
“No!” I shriek, just as he sends out a pulse of magic that ripples in the air and sends all four of them flying back, past me, so that I’m now standing between them and the asshole who just had to show up and ruin everything.
The wall around me disintegrates, and I take advantage to move further between them, my back to Cohen, facing the four men who are pulling themselves to their feet. I stretch my hands out in front of me. “Just wait. Okay? Please. I know your first instinct is to exact revenge, but please wait.”
“Move, Ro,” Ezra says, tone hard and angry. He’s never used that tone with me. Not once. Not even when he was trying to get me to leave Septem Stellae.
My chin lifts. “No. Not until you listen.”
“You’re protecting him? After he kidnapped you?” Gideon sounds incredulous and hurt. Fuck. I don’t want to hurt them.
“I didn’t kidnap her, fucker. I had a conversation with her.”
I glare over my shoulder at Cohen before turning back to the guys in front of me. “It was fucked up. Believe me, I understand why you’re upset. I was pissed at him, too. But he’s not wrong that you would never have let me talk to him alone.”
