Chapter 22. Lex
In a split second, Lochran’s entire demeanor changed. As he spun on his heel, shadows rippled out of him, latching onto his back, his wings spreading out to protect me.
My momentary confusion was replaced with consuming fear as a familiar voice rasped, “I’ll fucking kill you, witch!”
Icy panic flooded my veins, my heart pounding, vision blurring as my body froze.
You’re a witch! Remember, he can’t harm you! a distant internal voice called.
Lochran took a step backward, the heat of his body against mine grounding me.
You can do this, Lex. You are strong enough to face your demons.
My vision focused enough to peer over Lochran’s crooked wing. Chad was hunched over like a wounded animal, his hair greasy and disheveled. His eyes were deep hollows, wide and manic. The stench of stale alcohol and unwashed body filled the air, wafting from his soiled clothes. But I didn’t have the chance to revel in what stock-photo Chad had been reduced to. In his outstretched, dirt-crusted hand was a gun, pointing directly at Lochran’s chest.
“They didn’t believe me,” Chad hissed, spittle flying from his crusted lips. “But I knew you were a witch. You did this to me!” He pointed a dirt crusted finger at his crotch. “You were fucking hard to find. I thought you might be somewhere north. Tried Seattle, I did,” Chad said, his voice almost delirious. “And then Brett managed to steal your HR files and find me your next of kin.”
Lochran’s movement was almost imperceptible as he crouched, ready to pounce. I flexed my fingers, willing my magic to return, but only the barest spark flittered over my hand.
Chad’s laugh was manic. “And now I’m going to fucking kill you!”
Before Lochran had the chance to react, Chad shot. Lochran’s body jerked, pinning me to the counter behind him. Plates and appliances flung themselves off the counters, as if the house had only just realized it had a monster in its midst. The clang of metal and pottery hitting the wall permeated the room as shards of ceramic fell like shrapnel on Chad, but my only concern was my mate.
“Lochran!” I cried as Chad shot aimlessly in the air, before his gun lowered and Lochran’s body jerked again. I scrabbled to get in front of Lochran, desperate to take the bullets meant for me and not my mate. But Lochran remained steadfast, his body pressing me against the counter, determined to shield me even as hot blood pooled on his back, seeping into my shirt.
Fury like I’d never felt before flashed through my body, magic like liquid hot magma surging through me, but only enough for a single, concentrated strike.
Chad’s gun clicked but made no other noise.
Jammed.
“Fucking piece of shit!” Chad bellowed, thumping the gun against the kitchen island.
Lochran faltered just enough for me to shimmy out from behind him. I could see the shocked expressions of my family as they skidded to a halt at the kitchen door, shadows pooling from the incubi, witchfire flickering from the witches.
“He’s mine!” I bellowed, taking a step in front of my mate, a murderous rage flooding my body. I would kill my tormentor, and nothing on this green earth could stop me.
Until the sound of spluttering filled my ears.
I fell to my knees beside Lochran as blood frothed at his mouth. This couldn’t be happening. He was an incubus demon. They healed really, really fast. My hands glided over his chest, and sure enough, the bullet wounds had begun to heal.
But where were the bullets?
Fear doused my rage. If they were still inside him, no amount of supernatural healing would help. My mate could die .
Without a second thought, I let the magic reserved for Chad pour into my mate, poking and prodding until finally it found the bullets—two in his lung, one in his heart. Lochran winced in pain as I coaxed all three of the bullets back out, each one popping from the healing wound with a sickening squelch before clattering to the floor.
“You should have... used your magic... on your revenge,” Lochran said, each word causing him to wince in pain.
“Revenge would mean nothing if it cost me you,” I whispered, my hand pressed firmly against his chest, allowing the last of my magic to knit my mate’s wounds as best as I could before his healing took over.
Lochran pressed his forehead against mine. He placed one hand over my fingers that rested on his chest, the other pressed against the nape of my neck. It was irrational, because I knew my succubus side wasn’t potent enough to pick up on emotions, but in that moment, I felt enveloped by my mate’s love. It was as if our hearts melded together as one, something primal and eternal snapping into place.
“Do you still want your revenge?” Lochran finally asked, his eyes widening hopefully.
My gaze settled on Chad, who had one leg propped against the door, his hands twisting fruitlessly at the handle. I nodded.
Lochran placed a talon-tipped hand on the counter and pulled himself up, his tousled black hair hanging menacingly over his forehead. His violet eyes flared in vengeance, locked on to his target.
“Then allow me.”
Chad’s eyes widened, his body quivering in fear. “Wait!” he cried out. “I-I can just leave, and you’ll never see me again.”
“Never isn’t long enough,” I said.
Lochran’s shadows uncoiled, spooling around Chad and lifting him into the air. Screaming filled the room as the shadows folded in on themselves, Chad’s shrieks of pain accompanied by the deafening sound of bones breaking .
A tendril of shadows wrapped around Chad’s neck, squeezing hard enough to make his eyes bulge out of their hollows. Lochran’s bodkin-like tail slashed across Chad’s abdomen, his innards spilling to the floor with a sickening squelch. Chad’s broken fingers tried pitifully to grasp at his trailing organs, but to no avail. My mate took a step forward, his shadows loosening around Chad’s neck enough to tilt his head, forcing him to look Lochran in the eyes.
“Please,” Chad managed to choke out, the words almost indistinguishable over his swollen tongue and blood foaming from his mouth. “I d-don’t want to die.”
Lochran’s laugh was a low, lethal rumble that filled the room. “You were always going to die for what you did to my mate.” In one swift movement, Lochran brought his obsidian talons across Chad’s neck. My mate immediately turned his back to Chad, his eyes focused on me, ignoring the death gurgles of my tormentor. He took my hand gently in his, Chad’s blood still warm as he placed my hand over the almost healed wound on his chest. “I’m sorry, my heart.”
My head tilted, unsure of what he meant.
“I know that you wanted justice for the other women that he hurt. In seeking justice for you, they will never know that they don’t need to fear Chad Brunswick anymore.”
I barely registered Chad’s final, gurgling breath as I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my forehead against Lochran’s. “He needed to die. It would have taken months, maybe even years, to get him behind bars, if at all. Besides, we still have the journal and Billy’s notes.”
As if by magic, the pink folder appeared on the countertop beside me.
“If I may,” Grandma’s voice filled the room, reminding me that my family was still spectating from the doorway. My journal was clutched in her hands as she crossed the room and picked up the pink folder. Her eyes widened as she briefly read the graffiti. Grandma, with some disdain, removed the contents of the folder and set them on a neat pile on the countertop before adding my journal to the pile. “I took the liberty of removing any mention of witches and hexes from your notes, Alexis. As head of the coven, I cannot condone murder.” She glanced at Lochran before her gaze returned to me. “And I certainly cannot condone the disposal of the body in a public place where it may be found surrounded by evidence of his crimes.” She tapped a finger on my journal. “However, as head of this coven, I can tell you that the magic of the house will deposit trash wherever you want it. Be that a landfill, the bottom of an ocean, or a clinical gray office in Sacramento.”
“I think the latter would be most appropriate,” Lochran said. A split second later, all traces of Chad and his crimes had disappeared from the house.
The final threads of tension snapped inside me. The knowledge that Chad could no longer hurt anyone and that, while he might not face a mortal punishment, the world would know what he’d done, made me feel lighter than air.
My reprieve was only short-lived, however, as a second later, a bloodcurdling howl pierced the quietness. The back door opened of its own accord with enough force to punch a hole in the drywall. A gigantic silver wolf leapt through the doorway, her lethal claws scraping against the stone floor like nails down a chalkboard. Billy’s eyes glowed like hellfire, her lips pulled back, exposing canines longer than my hand. Her growl reverberated through the room, low enough that all the plates, cups, and glasses quivered.
I’d never seen Billy fully shifted, but there could be no doubt that she was an alpha. She had to be at least three times the size of the biggest wolf shifter I’d seen to date and radiated so much power that all the incubi and witches present, including myself, had enough sense not to call our magic and startle her.
Except Jake, who wore a goofy smile and reached out his hand as if to pet her.
I quickly slapped his hand away.
“Billy,” I said, my voice careful and soothing. “It’s okay.”
I sucked in a breath of surprise as my best friend’s voice echoed in my mind.
Where is he? I’ll kill him.
If I was unsure before, then this solidified it. I was now part of Billy’s new pack. And by the way Lochran was rubbing his ear in confusion, he apparently was too.
“He’s already dead,” Jake said, and I snapped my head toward him.
No.
Nuh-uh.
No fucking way.
My brother was part of Billy’s pack?
I turned to Lochran, mouth opened in an is-he-for-fucking-real look, only to be met with Lochran mouthing “I’ll explain later.”
Billy’s eyes were locked on Jake, who took another step toward her, his hand outstretched. This time, my slap on his wrist was a little harder than I meant it to be. Jake glared at me, nursing his wrist against his chest before turning his attention back on Billy.
Finally, her hackles lowered, her lips relaxed, and her eyes stopped glowing. She let out a huff and, in one fluid movement, raised her front paws, transforming back into her much smaller human form.
Naked human form.
Jake turned bright red. His entire torso was flushed as he removed his T-shirt and handed it to Billy, who was blushing just as profusely as she pulled the T-shirt over her head.
I glanced at Lochran, my eyes narrowing as he offered me a what-can-I-say shrug.
My teeth gritted together as realization dawned on me.
Why couldn’t I have anything that was just mine?
But no. Of-fucking-course my brother was mated to my best friend.
Fate fucking sucked.