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“I’m only trying to keep you safe.” He grabs both my wrists, holding me in place when I try to pull away. “Gods above, you make it almost impossible! It’s like youwantto be killed!”
A lump forms in my throat, and tears blur my vision. “Well, you’d all be better off if I were, so why don’t you just let me go?” I try to pull away again, struggling against his hold. “Damn it, Gideon, just let me go!”
He sucks a breath through his teeth, glancing down where his hands touch my skin, but he refuses to let go. “No,” he says through clenched teeth. “I won’t let you. Not now, not ever.” He pulls me closer, guiding my hands behind his back until I’m pressed against his chest. “I won’t let anyone touch you. Not the council, not your coven, not your homicidal mother. No one will touch you because I won’t let them. You can burn me,” he leans forward, his lips brushing against mine, “you can scream at me, you can bite me, but I’ll never leave you to fight alone.” Dipping his head, his lips capture mine, claiming me. He licks along the seam of my lips, and I open, granting him entrance as his tongue strokes mine.
Something snaps inside me, and when his hands let go of my wrists, I clutch at his back, fisting his shirt to press his body harder to mine. Because I need him—all of him. He moves to bury his hands in my hair, hissing at the contact, and I break the kiss. Pulling my head back, I search his face and turn my head when he tries to kiss me again, grabbing his hand and flipping it over. Blisters form along his palm and fingers—swollen, dark red burns cover from wrist to fingertips. I look up into his eyes, tears dripping down my cheeks. “I-I did this. Ihurtyou.” I let him go, dropping his hand as if he burned me and not the other way around.
He reaches for me as I step away, but I brush him off. “Adara, stop. It’s fine. It just takes a bit longer to heal because it’s—”
“Because it’s fire magic,” I whisper. “I know that. I know what I am and the danger I pose to you. This is why I needed to train and get control. This is why I can’t be here. I can’t be with you!”
“Your powers are growing faster than I thought they would.” He shoves his hands behind his back, hiding the burns, but it’s too late—I already know they exist. “We can train more to make up for it.”
“How can you be this calm? After everything, losing your family, and now you’re sitting here protecting me when I possess the one magic that should scare you.” Swiping away the tears running down my cheeks, I shove my wolf away as she whispers to me that it’s because he loves me. Because how could he love me when I’m a walking reminder of all the pain and loss he’s suffered?
His face twists at my words, pain flitting across his face. “You didn’t kill my family,mia fiamma, and you can think every horrible thing about yourself that you want, but I know you’d never do such a horrible thing to anyone, no matter what kind of magic you have.” Stepping toward me, he reaches out his hand, palm down. “Come on, let’s—”
I step back, afraid to touch him. “No… I’m just… I’m going to bed.” I turn and run into the house, rushing up the stairs and locking the bedroom door behind me. Tears pour down my cheeks, and I put a hand over my mouth to muffle my sobs. Kaylus swoops in through the window, landing on his nest and gazing at me.
“Addy… it was just an accident…”
I stumble to the bed, burrowing under the covers, and he hops over to me, resting his beak on my head as I cry myself to sleep.
Tall pines tower above me as I lay on the cool dirt floor. Bare branches of maples and oaks create an eerie canopy above me, blotting out the light of the full moon. I struggle to my feet, putting a hand to my head as the world spins around me. It’s so dark in these woods, and that smell… ashy and blackened, like the earth after a forest fire.
My mouth goes dry as I recognize that scent—Lockwood Forest. My grandmother’s words rush back to me, “If evil lurks within its walls, doom will fall upon us all.” I shiver as her gold eyes flash in my mind, filled with warning.
I take a few steps toward one of the many paths leading out of the small clearing I landed in, waiting for the dark magic to throw me back into my bed. Passing outside the boundaries of the clearing, I reach a path and look around. This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten before. I glance behind me, wondering if I should be on a different path.
No, this one,my wolf’s voice says, and I turn forward again.
Nodding, I agree with her. This one just feels right.
I travel down the path slowly, searching for any signs of the witch that haunts this forest and guards the well. Her magic smells dark and uninviting, and it makes my skin crawl with a thousand spiders the farther I go.
“How did you get here?” a woman’s voice hisses.
I whirl around, searching the woods around me, but it’s dark—too dark to see but a few feet in front of me. “Who are you?”
“You come into my den and demand answers,” she says, her voice echoing around me.
Behind you,my wolf warns.
I spin, ducking my head as something whooshes over me, and I reach out, grabbing the woman’s leg. Pulling, I rip her off balance and pin her to the forest floor. “Who are you?” I demand slowly, leaning closer, but her features swim before me, shadows clinging to her and concealing her identity.
“Who areyou, lycan witch?” she spits. “How do you walk amongst others with that stench?”
My wolf rages inside me, and I wrestle with the witch on the ground, grabbing her wrists and crushing them beneath my knees. “Answer me!”
She howls in pain and bucks her hips, rolling me to the side, but I don’t let her go until claws pierce into the back of my hands.
A cry tears from me, and I release her, cradling both hands to my chest. The forest swirls around me, the scent shifting with the trees. Cedarwood, patchouli, and smoke invade my senses, and I struggle to my feet, stumbling forward as I follow the strange mixture. Fog grows thicker around me, and the dark night sky is moonless, leaving me with no light in the forest. A man screams, then a wolf howls, and a female’s cackle of laughter stops me dead in my tracks.
Monique’s laughter fades. “Where is she? Is that pathetic little witch still worth hiding here?”
No, no, no. I force my feet forward, tripping over loose rocks and roots on the ground. Coming through the tree line, I find myself in Gideon’s back yard. My eyes frantically search the space, finding the blonde witch of my nightmares towering over a black wolf lying on the ground. Blood pools around him, and he whimpers weakly as her boot crushes his paw into the dirt.
“No!” I scream, running forward and shoving her off him. I bury my face in his fur, listening to his heartbeat, slow but steady. Turning my head toward her, the brief relief I felt is quickly replaced with a raging ire.
