Chapter 24
Colt
By the time we finally untangle ourselves from each other, Amara smooths her dress as though she’s about to receive honored guests rather than recover from what can only be described as the greatest experience of my entire fucking existence.
I pull my jeans back on, fasten my belt, and throw my shirt over my shoulders before looking at her again.
She catches me staring.
“What?”
I shake my head with a smile.
“Nothing.”
“You are smiling.”
“Can you blame me?”
The corners of her lips lift ever so slightly.
“I suppose not.”
I step closer, brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and steal one last kiss.
“You know…” I murmur. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”
She smiles in that quiet way of hers.
“Neither have I.”
For a long moment, neither of us says anything.
I simply stand there, looking at the woman I’d somehow managed to fall hopelessly in love with in the span of a few days. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Then again… Neither does anything else that’s happened since I rode my bike into Hoia Baciu.
I reach for her hand. The second our fingers intertwine, a blinding purple light erupts from the center of her chest.
“What the fuck?!”
We both instinctively pull back.
The glow shines through the fabric of her dress, growing brighter with every passing second until I can barely look directly at it.
Amara lowers her gaze to her own chest. Confusion flashes across her face. Then fear.
She opens her mouth, but no sound escapes. The light swallows every word before it can be spoken.
“Amara!”
I rush toward her.
Before I can reach her, her feet slowly leave the floor.
“No…”
She rises against her own will, suspended in the air as though invisible hands have claimed her body. Her terrified eyes lock onto mine, silently begging for answers I don’t have.
“What is happening?!” I shout.
She tries to answer.
Her lips move.
Nothing.
Not a single sound reaches me.
The light continues to grow. Brighter. Hotter.
The entire mansion begins to tremble around us.
I lunge forward and grab her wrist. Or at least I try to. The instant my fingers touch her skin, a searing pain shoots through my hand.
“Fuck!”
It’s like grabbing molten metal.
I yank my hand away on instinct, staring at my reddened palm before looking back up at her.
“No…”
I try again.
The same unbearable heat forces me back. Her skin is impossibly hot. Hot enough that I can’t even hold on to her.
“Come on…”
Ignoring the pain, I reach for her a third time.
Another surge of heat throws my hand back before I can get a proper grip.
Outside, every window erupts with blinding light.
The forest answers. Ancient trees glow beneath the impossible brightness as though thousands of stars have descended into their branches.
Amara continues to rise until she’s only inches from the ceiling.
The house shakes harder. A deep vibration rolls through the walls, through the floor beneath my feet, through my chest. Then… The sphere above her bursts with light.
A violent explosion of pure, blinding light consumes everything around us.
The force hurls me backward.
My shoulder slams into the wooden floor hard enough to drive every breath from my lungs.
For one endless second… I can’t see. I can’t hear. There is only light. Then, just as suddenly as it came… It’s gone.
“Amara!”
My vision clears just in time to see her body falling. She crashes onto the wooden floor with a sickening thud.
“No!” I scramble across the room on my hands and knees until I reach her.
“Amara!” I grab for her shoulder.
The heat is still there. The instant I touch her, it burns.
I hiss and snatch my hand back.
“No… no, no, no…”
I don’t care. I reach for her again. Same result.
I can’t touch her.
I can’t fucking touch her.
Panic crashes over me so violently I can barely think.
“Damien!”
I don’t even realize how loud I’m shouting.
“Ryan!”
“Mike”
“Apex!”
“Somebody get in here!”
Bedroom doors slam open, as heavy footsteps thunder through the hallway. The guys burst into the room one after another before stopping dead in the doorway. Nobody says a word.
Amara lies motionless on the wooden floor, faint ribbons of purple light still pulsing beneath her skin.
I point at her with a trembling hand.
“Help her!”
Nobody moves.
“I said, fucking help her! Do something!” I yell, my voice cracking with panic. I drop beside her again, ignoring the pain still burning through my palm. “Come on…”
I reach for her face, and the heat forces me back once more.
“Fuck!”
I slam my fist against the floor hard enough to make the wood groan.
“I can’t even touch her!”
The words barely leave my mouth before my eyes find Damien.
“Do something.”
I don’t care what.
I don’t care how.
“Please.”
For the first time in a very long time… I have absolutely no idea how to save someone.
A second passes.
Then another.
The glow beneath Amara’s skin begins to fade, the purple ribbons slowly disappearing until her skin looks like skin again.
I don’t hesitate. I reach for her again.
No searing pain.
No unbearable heat.
Nothing.
“Amara!”
I drop to my knees beside her and slip an arm behind her shoulders, helping her sit up.
“Hey… look at me.”
Her breathing is uneven.
After a long, agonizing moment, her emerald eyes finally find mine.
“…Colt.”
Relief crashes through me so hard I almost laugh.
“Jesus Christ…” I whisper, pulling her into my arms. “You scared the absolute shit out of me.”
Nobody says a word. Every pair of eyes in the room remains fixed on Amara.
“What the hell just happened?” Archer finally asks.
“We saw the whole forest light up,” Ryan says.
“The entire house shook,” Apex adds, his gaze never leaving Amara. “Are you hurt?”
“I…” Amara glances down at her hands before slowly flexing her fingers. “I do not believe so.”
Mihai looks between the two of us, thoroughly bewildered. “What the fuck did we miss?”
“I honestly don’t know,” I admit. “One second she was glowing, then she started floating, then she fucking exploded.”
“I did not explode,” Amara says quietly.
“You know what I mean.”
Silence settles over the room once more. Then Damien speaks.
“…Impossible.”
“What?” I snap.
He doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, he steps forward until he’s standing directly in front of Amara.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
She gathers herself before speaking.
“A light emerged from within me.” Her voice is steadier now. “It lifted me from the ground. Beyond that… my memory is fragmented.”
Damien closes his eyes for a brief moment. When he opens them again… He smiles. Not a relieved smile. An astonished one.
“I cannot believe I have lived long enough to witness it.”
“Damien.” My patience is gone. “Stop talking like a fucking fortune cookie and tell us what’s happening.”
He looks at me.
“My grandfather dedicated his entire life to researching Hoia Baciu.” His eyes return to Amara. “After he died, I continued that research.”
He folds his arms across his chest.
“We searched every archive we could find. Every forgotten manuscript. Every account written by those who claimed to know the truth.”
His gaze lowers for a moment, as though recalling countless sleepless nights spent buried in ancient texts.
“No matter how obscure the source, they all led us to the same three things.”
He looks at Amara.
“The curse.”
He pauses, allowing the words to settle over the room.
“The witch.”
His eyes drift toward the dark woods beyond the window.
“The forest.”
Nobody interrupts him.
“All of them spoke of the same condition.” He takes a slow breath. “The curse could only be broken by true love.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Until… Mihai looks at me. Then at Amara. Then back at me.
“…Seriously?”
Nobody answers.
He points straight at my face.
“This guy?”
“Don’t.” I sight.
“You mean to tell me she waited centuries…” He gestures dramatically toward me. “…for this idiot?”
Without saying a word, I raise my middle finger in his direction.
“I deserved that.” He grins.
Even Archer lets out a quiet chuckle. Amara doesn’t seem to hear any of it. Her eyes never leave Damien.
“What precisely does that mean?”
“It means your curse is gone.” His expression softens. “You are no longer bound to this forest.”
A tear slips down her cheek.
“You are no longer bound to eternity.”
Another follows.
“You may leave this place whenever you wish.”
Her lips part slightly.
“I…”
“You will grow old.”
She closes her eyes.
“You will live.” He pauses. “And when your time eventually comes… you will die as any other woman.”
The room falls silent again. Amara lowers her gaze to her trembling hands.
“…I am…” She struggles to finish the sentence. “…free.”
The word barely escapes her lips before tears begin rolling down her cheeks.
I immediately kneel beside her again.
“Hey.” I wipe one away with my thumb. “It’s okay.”
“My darling…” She shakes her head, voice trembling. “These are not tears of sorrow.”
“They’re not?” I frown.
A gentle smile appears through her tears.
“For centuries I questioned whether my heart was truly my own… or merely another prisoner of the curse laid upon me.”
She reaches for my hand, as her fingers intertwine with mine.
“I feared that whatever affection I came to feel would forever remain… uncertain.”
She lifts our joined hands between us.
“Yet the curse demanded only one thing.”
“Truth.” I add.
Her emerald eyes meet mine.
“Had your love been born of desire alone… had mine been nothing more than loneliness… the curse would have endured.” Another tear escapes. “But it did not.” A quiet laugh follows. “It yielded.”
She smiles at me with more happiness than I have ever seen on another human being.
“Do you understand now, my darling?”
I nod slowly.
“Our love is real.”
“It always was.” She cups my face, her thumb brushing gently across my cheek. “And now I possess proof.”
I rest my forehead against hers, unable to stop smiling.
“Well…” I glance around the room. “I guess this means you’re stuck with me.”
A soft laugh escapes her.
“I should consider myself most fortunate.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I kiss her forehead, then pull her a little closer.
Because for the first time since I rode my motorcycle into Hoia Baciu Forest…
There is nothing left to fear.
If someone had told me a week ago that I’d fall in love with a centuries-old witch hidden deep inside the most haunted forest in Romania…
I’d have laughed in their face.
Funny how life works.
…
Oh.
And before I forget…
Pixie loves me.
Pixie fucking loves me!
I hope Mihai’s ready to hear about this every single fucking day for the rest of his life.