AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I thought I’d be pissed that she’d chosen to leave with the wizard, but somehow I couldn’t get the anger to surface. Instead, I just felt like shit.
I drifted up through the ceiling to our room above, the room where we’d spent hours and hours together, me worshipping her body and her making me the happiest I’d ever been in my centuries of life on this plane. But this was what I’d expected from the start, wasn’t it? She wasn’t really mine to lose because I’d never claimed her.
We’d agreed to a temporary dalliance. Nothing more. Just the way I liked it. I should be happy she hadn’t clung on, making it hard to part.
So why the fuck did it hurt so much?
I looked around my home and realized everything in it now reminded me of her. The floor-length mirror in the living room still faced the wall. The window in my office looked out at the patio where the magical plants, including her namesake, now set down their roots. My dining table still had the scorch marks from her magical mishap. The phoenix violet that had literally risen from the ashes sat on the windowsill.
I stomped up the stairs to lock myself in my room, but that was worse. The bed. Our bed. Every pillow, blanket, and sheet was a memory of her. I almost expected to look over to my bathroom to see her neck-deep in my tub, her eyes closed as the scent of lavender and roses drifted from an effervescent bath bomb in the water. Even the balcony had me remembering how I’d distracted her from her worries there, fully clothed.
I grumbled in frustration. I had to get out of here.
Stomping out of the penthouse, I headed down the elevator to my bike. It wasn’t long before I found myself down at The Howling Wolf.
“It’s 2:00 p.m., Eamon. What the hell are you doing here?” the surly wolf with a scar across his eye shouted from the back.
I didn’t answer Daryl’s question but ordered a Jack Daniel instead.
I was glad I hadn’t brought Tansy here last weekend. This place was still safe. The Redrock brothers and I came here often since Griff, the fourth brother—the one I took the spot of at the penthouse—lived above the bar with his mate. With any luck, Griff wouldn’t be down at the bar anytime soon. It was a weekday, and as Daryl so nicely reminded me, it was only two o’clock in the afternoon.
“Trouble at the EA?” Daryl asked, wiping the already clean counter with his bar towel out of habit. Like me, the wolf shifter had worked for the EA once. But unlike me, he was smart and refused to be called back, no matter how important the case.
Shit. The EA. I never quite wrapped up the case for them, though no more kidnappings had occurred after the incident outside the library. I didn’t want to do any of the paperwork for that. I’d be thinking of Tansy the whole time.
Something heavy landed on the bar top next to me; Daryl had plunked down the entire bottle. “I don’t know what’s eating you, but you look like you need it.” Then he disappeared into the back.
I took my phone out of my pocket, the urge to dial Tansy’s number strong. But what would I even say? I’d probably just dig myself deeper. Knowing me, I’d ask her to come back, but it would come out as a command. I’d only end up pissing her off even more. As it was, I already hated that our last words had been angry ones.
My phone buzzed on the counter, and I reached for it. Could it be her?
I growled at the name on the screen. How dare the asshole wizard contact me now? Did he just want to gloat? Angry, I threw my phone across the room. It slammed against the wall and broke.
I grabbed the bottle, by-passing my glass completely, and chugged down the mind-numbing liquid.
Chapter 29
Tansy
Iconcentratedonthebottle, weaving the thread around it the best I could, even though I already knew how it would turn out. The spell I needed was wizard magic, which was why I’d had no luck finding it. I’d been looking in the wrong place the whole time.
It felt different and new but not impossible. But I was tired, and I felt that drained feeling I’d gotten right before I’d set the plant on fire by accident, except many times worse. I didn’t feel like I even had enough magic in me to lift a feather, let alone start a fire.
Liam, the demon who was supposed to be spelled into the bottle, drifted out easily without even popping the cork. “No dice, wench. I’m still free.”
He drifted over to Seth, who had been hovering around me like a mother hen, offering sips of sugary drinks and insisting I go take a nap. The wizard had assured me the demon was a friend and not a slave forced to work.
Liam had been a captive of Seth’s father, a high-ranking wizard in the WEC. The two had struck up a friendship through the years. Despite having watched Seth grow up, Liam treated him as an equal and contemporary. The bond had been transferred to Seth as a gift for finishing his training, and when Seth had turned his back on the council, he’d freed the demon as well.
Liam’s presence had me thinking about Eamon all morning. As if the practice wasn’t hard enough already. I had to actively focus on something just to prevent myself from wondering what Eamon was doing and if he missed me.
I’d been tempted to call him since I found out who was helping Mother, but I’d managed not to. If he wanted to know, he only had to read the encrypted messages Seth had sent him. Besides, if Eamon wanted to talk to me, he would have called by now. He hadn’t.
I’d almost expected him to call me or at least leave angry messages on my phone when he found out I’d left, but the silence had been worse. I guessed I wasn’t on his mind anymore now that I was gone. It was my own damned fault for falling in love with a demon; he’d been clear about being unable to love me back. I was so stupid.
“I don’t get it.” I wiped my palms down my face. “I rested all night, and I’m eating you out of house and home, but I still feel completely drained.”
“We should stop.” Concern was plain on the wizard’s face. “When your magic reserves run out, you’ll start tapping into your life force. It’s not worth the risk.”
