Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
REID
“Hey, Reid!” Hamish called from the Omega House kitchen.
“Yes?” I asked, sticking my head through the doorway to find out what he wanted. I was folding laundry in the adjoining living room while he and Jessie cleaned the breakfast dishes.
I’d managed to keep the meal down and, after eating a few pickles, was even feeling up to helping around the house. Since moving in, I’d learned that there was a roster of household chores to ensure that everyone did their part. I liked that. It made me feel like I was contributing.
I’d also learned that Hamish was serious about the boundaries. I hadn’t seen any alphas inside the house—although Milo and Danny had visited to check on me, which was surprisingly nice.
I liked Milo. Danny was a bit more full-on, but there was something very calming about Milo’s quiet presence.
Hamish dried his hands and hung the towel from a hook. “Will you go with Jessie to pick up the groceries?”
I glanced at Jessie. She was a pretty woman with dark skin and braided hair that she often wore in a bun. At the moment, she was holding a piece of notepaper and a pen. A shopping list, perhaps.
“Sure,” I agreed, smiling at her. “Now?”
She nodded. “We’re running low on supplies.”
“Okay, just let me grab a jacket.”
I hurried back to my room and donned a jacket and woolen hat and pocketed a pair of gloves.
When I returned to the kitchen, Jesse had a pair of backpacks.
She offered me one and I put it on. We told Hamish we were heading out and walked the mile or so to the shop.
I burrowed deeper into the jacket and slipped the gloves on.
I caught a whiff of laundry soap, but fortunately, it was faint enough not to turn my stomach.
I tried to make small talk during the walk, but it didn’t go anywhere.
While I’d apologized to Jessie and the others for the role I’d played in their abductions—and they’d accepted my apology—things were still stilted between us.
Logically, they knew I was a victim just as they’d been, but convincing their hearts and minds of that wasn’t easy.
Jessie and the others would be wary of me for a while.
As we entered the shop through the automatic doors, a wall of warm air greeted us and I relaxed, the tension caused by the freezing wind dissipating.
Jessie got out the shopping list and tore it in half, offering me the bottom piece.
I took it from her, slung a basket over my arm, and went looking for the first item on the list: whole wheat pasta.
I’d half-filled my basket and was searching for the dairy-free milk options when I had the strangest sensation that something was off.
I stopped. The obsidian pendant was hot around my neck, reacting to something. But what?
Someone else’s magic brushed up against my own. I tripped over my own feet and dropped the basket, its contents spilling out onto the floor as I caught myself on my palms, the thud ricocheting up my arms.
The strange magic probed at me again, almost as if it was… tasting me? Maybe verifying who or what I was?
I didn’t know, and I didn’t like it.
The scent of ozone and mint filled my nostrils and I looked around frantically.
Was a warlock here?
Was someone using magic on me?
Then it struck me. There was something familiar about that combination of scents. I’d smelled it before. And anyone magical that I’d known previously wasn’t someone I wanted to meet again. They had to be affiliated with either High Priest Hephaestes—the leader of my parents’ coven—or Trent’s pack.
No, no, no.
Whoever they were, they couldn’t be allowed to know I was here. If they did, they’d come for me.
Magic exploded from my body in a wave of bright light.
I tried to draw in a breath but my throat had closed over. I clawed at it, begging it to open, but spots of light appeared in my vision.
The magic brushed over me again.
With no conscious thought, my energy flew outward.
Something crashed.
A woman screamed.
I covered my head. I couldn’t let them take me.
You’ve got to fight. Get up and fight.
A blue glow started around me and I squeezed my eyes shut against the brightness, but a second later it was gone and I felt hollow inside.
“Reid!”
Someone grabbed me by the shoulder. I threw them off and screamed. Another hand landed on me. When I tried to dislodge them, they wouldn’t budge. I fought harder, knowing that if I let them take me, I was done for.
I wasn’t strong enough to survive another round of captivity.
“Reid, it’s me,” Trent growled, which I knew was ridiculous because I’d seen him die.
I’d seen it. But it was impossible to convince my brain of that.
“Leave me alone!” I cried, throwing out sparks.
“No, don’t,” someone called, but I didn’t think they were talking to me.
Something pinched the back of my neck and then my mind became foggy. My muscles loosened and I battled to stay upright but eventually keeled over, right into Trent’s arms.
I jolted awake an instant later and shuffled away, crying out when my back hit something solid. I blinked rapidly, my vision sharpening, and realized immediately that I wasn’t in the shop anymore. I was in a bed.
I looked around, trying to get my bearings. It was the bed in the medical center. The one I’d spent several nights in when they’d first captured me.
“You’re okay.”
I turned toward the voice. Zander was sitting on the opposite side of the bed, his forearms resting on his thighs, his hair ruffled as though he’d been running his hands through it.
“What happened?” I rasped.
He straightened and drew in a deep breath. “All I know is that you freaked out and started sending out shockwaves of magic in the middle of the shop.”
“Oh, Gods.” I felt for my magic, but it was gone. “No.” Tears filled my eyes. “The oath stripped me of my magic.”
Once again, I was powerless.
“It will come back,” Zander assured me, reaching for me but then placing his hand firmly on his thigh instead. “As soon as you’ve calmed down, we’ll make sure it’s resolved. I know you didn’t do it on purpose. It’s obvious you panicked. What happened?”
“Wait, is my baby okay?” If I’d panicked and hurt them, I’d never forgive myself.
“Fine,” he said quickly. “Dr. Black promises that the honesty oath would never cause ill effects on a baby, and according to him, your inherent magic will instinctively protect the baby as well.”
At least that was something.
I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes and tried to remember what had frightened me so much.
“I sensed someone else’s magic. There was something familiar about it.
I thought it might be one of Trent’s allies or…
” Or Hephaestes and my coven. Not that I was about to say that out loud.
“It was wrong. It shouldn’t have been here. ”
Zander’s dark eyes studied me intently. “You’re sure you felt foreign magic?”
I nodded. “There was something off about it.” An awful sense of foreboding. “Something bad is coming, Zander. Someone knows I’m here and they’re coming for me.”
I didn’t want to be here when they found me.
He cocked his head. “You think it was some kind of seeking spell?”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t adept enough at reading magic to tell, but that was my best guess. “We need to find out who it was. Something terrible is about to happen, I can feel it.”
“We’ll look into it.” His expression didn’t change and I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not.
“It needs to be now,” I insisted. “Unless… do you think I’m making this up?”
Please say he believes me.
“Of course not.” He wriggled his chair a little closer. “I told you we’ll look into it and we will. We’ll keep you safe, Reid. I promise.”
I searched his eyes but didn’t find the answers I wanted hiding within them. I couldn’t tell if he meant it or if he was just placating me.
I wasn’t wrong.
Something awful was on the horizon, getting closer with every second we didn’t act.