Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Jolie
My eyes are glued to his as soon as he walks through the door. My heart beats faster when his gaze finds mine. My cheeks heat, but I don’t dare break the contact. I couldn’t, even if I tried. Something holds me here, transfixed. His beauty? Yep. The way he makes me feel like no other? Yep. And just something I can’t quite put my finger on. It feels like magic. Like a cord is connected between us and there’s no way of breaking it. Is this what Dara felt when she reconnected with her warriors? It almost feels like finding a fated mate, that one person you’re meant to be with forever.
Dara snaps her fingers in front of me, but I can’t stop—I won’t be the first to give in. Her chuckle meets my ears. Elijah winks and I swoon, batting my eyelashes like a damn idiot. He breaks the contact just as a force hits me. I stumble back a few steps then fall straight on my arse. I groan, glaring straight at the bitch who caused my fall: Dara.
“That was uncalled for, Dara.” My voice rises.
She laughs it off, pointing at Elijah.“Someone had to get your attention off him. We’ve got work to do, remember?” She winks.
“You little bit—” My words die off as Elijah runs through the dome, headed straight for me.
“Shit, you all right?” he asks, kneeling down. He takes my hand into his own.His blond hair falls over his eyes. I melt, my body going to jelly. Heat forms between my legs and I fight the urge to clench my thighs together.
I manage to nod as he lifts me up off the ground. He leans in, tucking my hair behind my ear. Dara comes up behind Elijah and pops her head next to his, pulling faces, and raising her brows up and down.She throws back her head, laughing and I want to kill her.
“Aww, you two. Get a room already, would ya?” she teases.
Dara bumps Elijah farther into me. He places his hands on my shoulders to steady himself. His body is now flush against mine. His abs press against my chest, and I struggle to breathe. He sighs and slowly lets go of my shoulders, then walks out.
My brothers are right there, grilling him and asking what that was. Oh Silvia, kill me now. I not only have Dara in my ear but now my brothers are giving Elijah shit. Turning around, I find Dara smirking. She’s standing there with one hand on her hip.
“All right, training starts now. I’m going to make sure I kick your arse for that little stunt,” I say.
“Yeah, yeah, Jolie. You loved it.”
I roll my eyes, grabbing my crystals off the ground. She’s right, I did, but I won’t be admitting that to her anytime soon.
Alaric walks in with Kayla by his side. He’s got his arm around her back, letting her rest against him. She looks better than she did a few hours ago. Some colour’s coming back to her cheeks. I’ve come to like the chick; she has a spark about her that you can’t help but warm to.
I hate to admit it, but when we first met, I was jealous of her close relationship with Dara. I don’t want anything to come between us and ruin what we have. She’s like a sister to me. But you can tell they have something special, a bond that can’t be broken—even though James attempted to do just that. But after Kayla woke and included me in her conversations with Dara, acting like I was one of them, that jealousy vanished away.
Alaric helps her to sit in a bean bag on the ground in front of me and Dara.
“Thanks, Alaric. We want to perform some more healing magic on Kayla. We need to get her fit and healthy before our next mission,” I say, offering him a tight smile.
“I’ll just be outside with the guys if you need me.” He squeezes Kayla’s arm and walks away.
I can tell by the way he keeps looking back over his shoulder that he doesn’t want to leave her. He joins the other guys but doesn’t take his eyes off her.
As I set out the crystals around Kayla’s body, she looks curious. I keep forgetting that she’s new to all of this—to Silvia and the magic—just like Dara was all those months ago. That was a challenge, but she’s getting there.
We don’t exactly have the time to slowly ease Kayla into everything so I’m sure she’s feeling overwhelmed with all this magic—especially where Dara is concerned. She just knows her as a normal human, not the powerful witch she is now.
Dara collects something from the cabinet and comes back over with a smudge in her hand. She takes a lighter from her pocket and sets it aflame, then blows on the fire until it turns into a smoulder. I’m instantly hit with the aromas of lavender, sage, peppermint, and rosemary. Together, they help cleanse the room, ridding it of all the negative energy, and assist with the healing. Dara starts dancing around Kayla, moving the smudge stick left to right in circles above her head and the smoke fills the room in a thick layer.
Kayla cracks up laughing, and I join in. Dara just smirks and continues skipping around, letting the air fill with herbs. After a few minutes she stops, placing it in front of Kayla. I join them, kneeling on the cold concrete floor in front of Kayla with Dara next to me.
Dara reaches for my hand, and I pick up Kayla’s. As soon as Kayla’s hand touches mine, I notice how cold she is. She looks at me, offering a weak smile. Kayla’s inside our crystal barrier while Dara and I are outside. We want all our power to go straight into Kayla to help her heal.
I nod to Dara. We close our eyes, bringing forth our magic. My purple magic springs to life like fireworks. My heart warms. I haven’t used my magic all week, and it has been eating me up inside. My magic’s a part of me like my second skin. Not being able to release it hurts. A feeling of frustration builds up, wanting to explode from my chest.
Dara squeezes my hand, and I know she feels it too. My eyes peel open just as the blue and purple magic collides together, dancing all around Kayla’s body in a protective smoky bubble. It then moves, bursting into her chest. She jolts backward but we hold onto her, keeping her still so our magic can take full effect. Her eyes start rolling into the back of her head just before her body convulses. Dara screams, and we let go. A loud, piercing crack fills the room, then I’m flying backward.
I land with a thud right on my spine. Pain rips through my shoulders and down to my toes. Pushing myself up, I look around in a panic. What the hell was that?
Dara’s over on the other side of the room, lying on her back. Kayla’s in the same spot we left her, but she’s leaned over on her side.
Alaric runs in with the guys right behind him.
“What the fuck happened?” he growls, pulling Kayla into his arms.
Almost as soon as he touches her, he jolts away, rubbing his arm. After shaking myself off, I crawl over to them. Kayla’s eyes open and she looks around, confused.
“I have no idea. We used our healing magic on her, and then the next second, we were both thrown across the room,” I admit, tucking my hair behind my ear.
Dara manages to nod, joining us.
“I’m fine. I feel a lot better,” Kayla whispers.
I let out the breath I was holding in. Thank fuck for that.
“The electric pulse must have been a reaction from our magic. It might have been too much for her. We haven’t used our magic in a week; we gave too much,” I say, looking between Dara and Kayla. Damn it. I should know better than this, I’ve been using magic my whole life, and I normally know my limits but that went all out the window with Kayla.
Dara’s on the ground next to Kayla, holding her hand. Dara’s shoulders tighten, and I can tell she feels terrible. Kayla pushes herself up to a standing position, and she smiles brightly.
“Hell yeah. I actually feel better!” She raises her voice.
We all crack up laughing. Well, that just lightened the mood.