Chapter 37
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Kainda
I watched as my mother walked away from Elijah. They’d been talking for a few minutes in the corner, and from the looks on their faces it was something heavy. Things had finally started winding down with planning, and I needed a break. All day we’d been at this, and I felt more like a referee than a commander. I’d soothed more ruffled feathers— literally and figuratively— than anything else today.
“Okay, wrap it up. We all need to get rested for tomorrow. So get something to eat and then hit the hay. And thank you all again for coming to aid in this mission. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with my team.” I stood and walked away from the table with the other leaders and representatives.
Hida, Evin, and Delmira lounged together not far from where Elijah had made his bed in the days before. Del and Hida checked their weapons while Evin scarfed down a sandwich. I crouched down next to them and gave them a run-down of the plan for the next day. They didn’t need me to tell them what needed to happen next. They’d fought demons far longer than me, except Evin. But I needed the routine and comfort of it.
“Have you seen Elijah?” I asked, standing back up, stretching my back and shoulders. They ached from leaning over the maps all day. Sleeping on the floor for days on end didn’t help matters.
Evin hooked a thumb toward the door of the building. “Last I saw him, he was headed outside with that cougar shifter.”
“He went outside? Why didn’t one of you stop him? It’s not safe for him to be out there. He’s human, and he has no way to defend himself.” When my team just stared at me, I growled in frustration and headed outside.
Evin called after me. “Nothing is getting within twenty yards of those wards without alerting every witch and magic user in this building. Even then, the most powerful beings would still take a few minutes to break them.”
I flipped her the bird as I kept moving to the door. Logically, I knew what she said was true, but that didn’t stop the irrational fears from creeping in. My heart pounded, and a cold sweat broke out over my skin. It got hard to breathe, and had nothing to do with running full out either. Knots tied up my stomach with the worst case scenarios playing out like movie reels in my head.
Bursting out the door a moment later, the cold evening air hit me smack in the face. It jarred me after the heat inside the building. I scanned the area, spotting them near the front right corner of the building. Devanna paced like a caged animal as she listened to Elijah speak. From here, it looked like she didn’t hear a word he said. Her eyes scanned all around, and her nostrils flared as she scented the air. Something bothered her.
“Thank you for rescuing me.” Elijah said as I drew closer to them. He looked uncomfortable with the words and even just standing there with her. But he also looked relieved.
Devanna turned, having sensed my approach, and sighed. She nodded at Elijah then to me before she shifted in front of our eyes. Her clothes burst into a cloud of fabric scraps and lint. Seconds later, a large, tawny feline bounded into the trees. Elijah watched her go, looking a little surprised by the abrupt departure, then he saw me and smiled.
“What, in Gaia’s name, do you think you’re doing outside? It’s not safe to be out here.” His smile vanished at my tone.
“The other witches that came cast a couple of warding spells around the immediate area. I needed some fresh air.” He started to say something else, but I cut him off.
“You should have gotten me or one of my teammates to come out here with you. Elijah, we’re this close,” I held up my fingers, thumb and index fingers pinched closely together, “to taking the bitch out. Don’t go getting your ass killed now.”
He walked into my space until our bodies brushed together. Those eyes of his seemed to glow in the moonlight of the waning moon. “Careful, Kai, or I might just go thinking you actually care.”
I inhaled sharply at that. Elijah, obviously looking for an argument tonight, stared me down. He wouldn’t get a pass from me just because he felt on edge. We were all on edge, and it pissed me off. If anyone needed an outlet to vent, it was me. How could one human turn my entire life upside down and inside out?
No way in Tartarus would he walk into the fray tomorrow if he wouldn’t follow my orders. I wanted that arachnid bitch more than my next breath, but I wouldn’t let him die for it. Oh, fuck! Those inconvenient feelings reared their heads, and the thought of him dying had acid burning the back of my throat. How had we gotten to this point, that his life was more important than my revenge? That thought nearly made me sick. No one else deserved to die for my revenge, but she still had to be stopped. And, unfortunately, all wars had casualties.
Stepping further into him until our bodies pressed together I went up on my toes, so our eyes got level, I poked him in the chest. “I care and you know it. Dammit, E! You’re trying to pick a fight with me. Don’t know what you hope to get out of it, but it’s not going to work. Get your ass back inside where it’s safe.”
His hand locked around my wrist of the hand poking him and crushed his mouth to mine. At the same time his other arm banded around my waist holding me tightly to him. Heat flared everywhere he touched me. My free hand going to his hip to keep steady. Because the goddess knew he had a way of making me feel off balance, the jerk. Focus! I needed to focus, but his tongue stroking mine swept away coherent thought.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis, but when my back pressed into something hard, I realized he’d spun us around. My eyes, not sure when they’d closed, popped open. I pushed against his chest, and he reluctantly broke the kiss. He never let me go, though. Elijah stared down at me, his eyes skimming over all of me. The wrist he held pinned to the wall by my head, where his gaze stopped.
I rolled my head to see what the heck he was staring at. When I saw the silvery glow, all the breath in my lungs exploded out. My heart raced in my chest and time stood still. A hollow ringing took up residence in my ears, and that’s when I felt my magic buck my control. It slithered and pulsed in my blood. Not good! Not good! Not fucking good!
Elijah said something, but I couldn’t hear what over the screaming inside my head. I had to be imagining it. Yep, just a figment of my imagination. Goddess Gaia, let it be a delusion. I wasn’t above begging. Could fate really be so cruel as to crush my heart twice in my life?
The only way to know for sure was to test the theory. My hand I had on his hip came up, shaking as I touched his face with the tips of my fingers. I held my breath and my heart skipped a beat when the white glow followed my caress. He turned his face into my palm, pressing a kiss there. A buzzing took up a frenzy inside me as my magic went nuts.
My head rushed. Wow, no wonder people couldn’t walk away from this, the feeling became instantly addictive. My body fell in love with the sensations, but my head screamed, this couldn’t happen. Not a single part of me could agree on how it felt. My body got on broad, my head stuck in denial, and my heart couldn’t make up its mind whether it wanted to rejoice or break. All the while my magic spiraled out of control trying to seek the source of its perfect match.
“E—” I couldn’t speak as tears clogged my throat. My eyes felt ready to water, as they had remained opened so wide for such a long time. He watched me closely, but he got easily distracted by my magic’s sudden manifestation. While he’d been around while I worked magic, he’d still never seen a visual manifestation. For the love of Tartarus, I’d never seen a visual representation of my magic work before, just the end results, but that wasn’t the same. And I wasn’t actively working or using my magic at the moment.
“Want to share what it is that’s got you so spooked?” Elijah asked, sliding his hand on my wrist up until he could twine his fingers through mine.
Nope, not in this lifetime. I would play the part of an ostrich and stick my head in the sand. Maybe if I never acknowledged it, it’d go away. If my magic was one of those ridiculous consciousness angels/demons, it would’ve laughed its divine little ass off. As it stroked me like a brush over canvas.
“Kainda?” He waited, looking at me expectantly, still waiting for me to answer him or acknowledge him in some manner.
I kissed him. It got him focused on something else. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything to help me to get my head screwed back on straight. Nope, it did the opposite. His mouth on mine made my head swim, pulse race, and my magic scream in delight. Heat radiated from my palms and fingertips as my magic manifested itself with no help on my part.
Elijah didn’t seem to notice the heat or the electric feeling crawling over us. For all I knew, maybe I was the only one losing their mind here. You’re not losing your mind, Kainda. You know exactly what is going on here. My inner voice could go stuff it. Ignorance is bliss and all that shit, fine by me, even if it not exactly ignorance. More like denial.
His hands seemed to follow the path of my magic coursing over me just beneath my skin. Even while the knowledge had panic creeping up, his touch carried me away in sensation. This was not the time or the place, but gods, did it feel good. One of his hands slipped under the back of my tank, making me jump at his cool touch.
Breaking the kiss and his hold on me because someone had to stop this madness. Not an easy task because it felt so damned good. He’d put himself in danger, which pissed me off, keep remembering that. And now the universe’s little curveball, I was done for the night. Stepping away from him proved harder than I’d thought, and it caused my magic to explode from my palms. Like its own entity that just shared space inside my body, I had no control of it. Absently, I had to wonder if this was how shifters felt with their animal side.
White waves of energy almost like flames crawled like fire ants over my hands, extending almost to my elbows and down several inches from the tips of my fingers. Closing my eyes, I willed it to calm, but it didn’t work for the magic that had already escaped my grasp. Devanna burst through the trees still in her fur, eyes narrowing on my hands. Guess I’d caused a magical disturbance in the air.
The last thing I needed, before going into battle with the demon who killed my father and his entire hunting party, was to lose control. I had to dispel the energy somehow, but there really wasn’t any way for me to do that safely. If I just released it, I send up a neon sign to anyone of the paranormal persuasion that we made camp here. I could lob it at the wards, but that would freak out everyone inside and likely send them outside in a frenzy for blood. Not to mention the toll it would take on the wards, and then the witches would want to strengthen them. I didn’t want them putting that kind of energy into it.
Devanna shifted, standing there in her birthday suit, her animal remained present in her voice when she spoke. “You need to pull it together, hunter. Now!”
I shook my head. “Can’t. Don’t you think I would’ve by now if I could? What would you have me do?”
“Channel it into the wards, Kainda.” My mother’s voice behind me spooked me enough that I nearly lost my grip on it. She stepped up next to me, taking me by the shoulder, drawing me to the edge of the wards. “I’ll help you.”
She waved her hand and the invisible bubble of the wards shone into view. Their orange glow lit up our faces like some campfire scary story flashlight. “Put your hands up, so your palms are almost touching the barrier. Close your eyes and imagine the energy is a ribbon, then watch in your mind as it uncoils from your hand and snakes around the safety net. It’ll grow and spread wide, taking in the whole net. Once it’s done, give it a little push mentally, so it sinks in and melds with the magic already present.”
I did as she instructed and the dome of warding magic appeared before me. Focusing on the mental image of my hands, I pressed the white-hot energy into a silken ribbon. It coiled itself into a ball in the palm of my hands. When it had all formed and settled, I picked up the edge of the ribbon at the end of the coil. Taking it gently with the utmost care, I lifted it into the air.
Letting it go slowly, I gave a gentle push with my mind, and slowly it floated toward the dome. Almost in slow motion, it slithered over the sphere, crawling its way around the diameter. I felt like a snake charmer. As it went, it began to widen from both sides to take in the entirety of the sphere. Soon the orange glow was gone, replaced by the white silk of the ribbon. I willed it to absorb into the ward, and in a blink it disappeared.
“That was some freaky shit, and that’s saying something since I’m a witch.” Evin said, laughter in her voice. I would strangle her if exhaustion hadn’t started to creep in.
The air popped and I opened my eyes. My hands clearly visible again and the white swirling mass of magic had disappeared. All the air I’d held rushed out of me in a sigh of relief. My shoulders sagged as the tension eased. Gods have mercy, I never wanted to do that again. My mother smiled at me and quickly cut a door in the wards for Devanna to enter before sealing it back.
“Now all of you go and get some sleep. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” My mother gave us all her soft, loving smile I remembered from my early childhood. She kept her hand on my shoulder as Elijah and Devanna headed inside with the rest of the crowd that had gathered. When had that happened? “Can we have a word, dear?”
“Sure, Mom.” Elijah turned to look at us, but I waved him on. I needed a moment to clear my head and some space from him. This was a complication I didn’t need. Praying to Gaia, I hoped she could help me figure this out.