10. Food for the Fiends
Chapter ten
Food for the Fiends
SHASTA
I call Grams as soon as Joaquin and I make it back to the shop. Loki is sitting on my lap on the couch and Emmett is fixing Joaquin some coffee and keeping him company while I let Grams know about the dark magic spider. I don’t say anything to anyone about Ethan being my mate. We can worry about that later.
“Shasta, dear, you need to bring him to me as soon as you can. If that thing isn’t removed, it could be a danger to all three of you. I can get it out, though not the same way you were doing it. I don’t even know why you did it that way.”
“It was in Dad’s Grimoire. I read it several years ago. That’s the way it said to do it, and it was working. He just woke up and freaked out before I could finish.”
“And just what were you planning to do with it once you got it out? Squish it like an actual bug?”
Well, she has me there. There must be a reason it was there in the Grimoire though right?
“Okay, Grams, I’ll call Kadi and have him and Ethan meet me at your house. In the meantime, I have Joaquin with me. So, I’ll have him follow me on his bike. See you soon.”
I press end on my phone and pull up my messages. “I’m gonna shoot Kadi a message and have him and Ethan meet us at my Grams’. I can drive and you can follow me on the bike. You’re probably ready to be done babysitting me for the day. Emmett will be here keeping an eye on the shop for now too, so we’re all good,” I say, sending the message off to Kadi.
He texts me back almost immediately.
Hello gorgeous. I just got done trying to get ahold of Ethan.
Give me a little bit and I can meet you there if you’ll send me the address.
I have one stop to make first.
1473 W. Maple.
What do you mean trying?
She said bring Ethan too. She can remove the spider.
I walked out after getting into an argument with him and now I don’t know where he is. He isn’t answering his phone.
I’ll meet you and we can figure it out together.
Shit, that’s not good. Where could he have gone? I’m assuming he didn’t have his bike either if he wrecked it. Putting my phone in my pocket I look over at Joaquin and Emmett who are looking at me with twin expressions of concern.
“What happened?” Emmett asks me.
“Kadi said he left the healing center after he and Ethan had an argument and now, he doesn’t know where Ethan is. He won’t answer his phone.”
Joaquin puts his phone to his ear. Someone answers and he asks them to go check and see if Ethan’s bike is there still. They tell him something and he grunts and hangs up.
“His bike is still there. One of the other guys is still working on it and they haven’t seen him. They said Kadi already called and asked,” he said.
“Well, I guess let’s just head to Grams’ and we can figure it out then. We can do a locator spell there. We’ll have to stop by the clubhouse first to grab something of his,” I say, heading toward the door.
Emmett calls out a goodbye and I hop in my car. I see Joaquin put on his helmet and start the bike in my rearview mirror. Once it looks like he’s ready, I pull out. He drives ahead of me so that I can follow him to the garage.
Once we pull up there, Joaquin gets out and walks up to the car tapping on my window. “Stay in the car, Shasta. It should be safe here, but I don’t want to take you into the clubhouse without Kadi here. No one needs to think you’re just an Old Lady or something.”
Rolling my eyes at the term I nod and roll my window back up as he walks inside. This all has me feeling a little paranoid and I start feeling someone watching me. Thinking it’s just my nerves, I ignore it. Only, it doesn't stop, so I start looking around me and I see Ethan headed toward me. Getting out of the car, I intercept him.
“Ethan, I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I need you to come with me to my Grams’ so we can finish getting the dark magic out of you,” I say.
He looks weird though. Not like what he looked like when I left him, and he smells a little like the guy who came into the shop yesterday, though my nose isn’t as good as everyone else’s. I no more than come to the realization that the spider has got its hooks in deep when Ethan shoves me into the car, up and over the console into the driver's seat, and climbs in beside me holding a gun to my side.
Holy shit, what’s happened to him since Kadi left him?
“Drive the fucking car right now, witch,” he growls menacingly at me.
I hesitate. Trying to talk him down is my best option here. Maybe buy some time for Joaquin to make it back out.
“Ethan, you don’t want to do whatever this is. Trust me. You’ll regret it,” I say, shakily. I’m going to have to act quickly and hope that he doesn’t shoot me in the time I need to hit him with my magic and knock him out.
“It doesn’t matter what I want anymore,” he says, almost in a robotic voice. “Drive, now.”
Pulling out, I look in the rearview to see if I can spot Joaquin.
Nothing.
I drive slowly. I need to get out of this car before we go too far. I have no idea where he’s trying to take me but he’s clearly not in control of himself right now. I need to get him to Grams.
I must act now. Looking at him from the corner of my eye to see where his head is, I shoot my hand out fast as lightning and use my power to knock him out. The gun goes off and for a split second, chaos ensues.
The bullet grazes my arm and flies into the windshield shattering the glass everywhere. I lose control of the car, and we start spinning. Slamming into a pole, we finally come to a stop. It all happens in just a few seconds.
Looking around me, I see that Ethan is knocked out. Good. I hit him with a pretty powerful spell so he should be out for a few hours at least. Long enough to get him to Grams’ so she can get that thing out of him. If it isn’t too late.
I feel sick. This isn’t how things are supposed to go when you find your mate. I don’t know how we’re ever going to have peace between us. If it’s too late for him, it may be too late for all of us.
Unbuckling my seat belt, I start to push my door open when I hear bikes. Before I can even think about it, I’m being pulled gently out of the car and into Kadi’s arms.
“Thank the Gods. I was on the phone with Joaquin, headed this way to grab something when he saw Ethan shove you into the car. Are you hurt?” he says, looking me over with worried eyes and running his hands up and down my body checking for wounds.
That's when he sees the blood.
A roar comes from him that I have never heard a human make before, and he shoves me behind him as if to protect me from the danger that has already passed. He must be very close to losing control of his lion. Shit. I have to do something before he shifts.
“Hey,” I say, turning him and grabbing his face in my hands. “Look at me. It’s just a graze. I’ll be fine. I just need to grab a bandage. It’s not even worth wasting magic to heal it okay?” Lifting my arm, I show him. His eyes flash from gold to brown, back to gold, and then to brown again before they finally stay that way. He’s still breathing heavily though.
“I’m going to grab the SUV. We can all go together. Someone has to sit in the back with Ethan in case he wakes up,” Joaquin says. Getting on his bike, he starts it and rides off.
Kadi nods, jaw clenched tightly as he tries to regain control of himself. I grab a piece of the bottom of my shirt and rip it off, wrapping it around my arm where the bullet grazed me. Kadi walks over to Ethan and pulls him out of the car and catches his scent.
Dropping him and backing away quickly, he says, “We’ve got a big problem.”
“Yeah, I know. He smells bad, like what you all said the hoodie guy smelled like. We need to get him to Grams’ quick before what happened to the hoodie guy happens to Ethan,” I say. “We also need to figure out how this all started in the first place so we can avoid it in the future.”
Black magic feeds on negative emotions and they are getting a feast with Ethan. He has so much anger and hate right now that there was no way the magic could resist. The fight with Kadi probably didn’t help, though I’m not going to say that. I’m sure Kadi is blaming himself enough. Though he shouldn't be.
Stepping back up to him, Kadi grabs him under the arms and pulls him the rest of the way out of the car just as Joaquin pulls up in the SUV. He hops out, opens the hatch, and grabbing Ethan’s feet, they lift him up and into the back.
I grab my bag out of the car and get in on the passenger side of the SUV. Kadi gets in on the drivers‘ side and as soon as Joaquin is in, we pull away, tires squealing and head to my Grams’.