Chapter 27
I waited on the back porch for him. My family remained inside, including the twins, who were supposed to be with their coven,
settling into their new roles.
But we were processing what we’d learned.
For me, I couldn’t deal with anything until I saw Logan.
I needed a moment with my mate before our world turned to shit. Okay, it was already shit, but it’d feel less so once we were
reunited.
When transport magic tingled across my skin, I stepped back to give them room. Logan was first through, his arms around me
in the next heartbeat. My feet left the ground as he lifted me higher, burying his face in my hair, his chest rumbling in
hard, jagged sounds.
He was unraveling.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, over and over.
Pulling him closer, I ran my hands up and down his back in what I hoped was a soothing motion. “This is not your fault,” I
murmured forcibly. “If you don’t blame me for your mother’s death, I certainly don’t blame you for what Rafael did.”
He released another wounded sound, continuing to hold me like he’d crumble if he let go.
Footsteps behind him had me lifting my head to find that he’d returned with more than Noah.
Tobias, Sara, and Haley also stepped through.
“You brought everyone?” I asked against his shoulder, and when he finally released me enough to see his face, my heart skipped at the exhaustion dragging his features.
This curse had its hooks in his power too.
“We’re going to need everyone if we have a chance of gathering the ingredients for this curse reversal in time,” he said,
staring down at me as if he wanted to memorize my features. “I’m so fucking sorry, Paisley.”
“It’s not your fault.” I’d repeat this until he believed me. I pressed my lips to his—we might not be able to have sex, but
I would kiss my mate every chance I got. “This is a screwed-up fate we’re fighting against, and I don’t care what it takes,
we will win. We have too much to live for.”
“We have everything to live for,” he said, and I was relieved to finally feel the anger riding his magic lessening.
When he pulled me to his side, I smiled at our friends. “Thank you all for being here. I didn’t want to drag you all into
this, but with our lives on the line, we need all the help we can get.”
“Logan told us everything when he grabbed us from Weatherstone,” Sara said, stepping forward to hug me—and Logan because he
wasn’t letting go. “We’re here for you both. Whatever you need, we’re ready and willing to fight.”
“And I love you for it,” I said as warmth swelled in my tired body. “No Belle though . . .” I noted with a sad huff. Not that
I’d have expected her, but it hurt nonetheless.
Sara and Haley exchanged a glance. “I heard her on the phone last night with her dad,” Haley said, lowering her voice. “She
was updating him on your absence from school this weekend. She’s spying on you, Pais. There’s no other explanation.”
I’d suspected that was part of the reason she was both back and still hanging on the periphery of our group.
“She probably has no choice,” I said, trying to shrug off the hurt.
“She definitely doesn’t have a choice,” Trevor grumbled from behind us, and I turned to find my family had gathered in the
doorway. “Don’t give up on her, Pais. She’s going to need you after we deal with her father.”
Noah snorted, crossing his huge arms. “Belle and her evil father are barely even a blip on our worry meter at the moment.
This fucking list of ingredients we need to break this curse is half a page long, and most won’t be sitting around waiting
for us to find them. It’s going to take time to get it all together.”
“Between us we can handle this,” Mom said in a strong, unwavering voice as she stepped out onto the front porch. “We have
all the affinities covered, especially with Logan.”
That reminded me that my family hadn’t met everyone here. “This is Noah and Tobias,” I said, waving toward Logan’s best friends.
“They’re Logan’s family.”
Mom shot them both a smile. “Please call me Beth, and my husband is Tom. We’re so thankful that you’re here to help our family.
If you ever need anything from us, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
The guys shook her hand, and then Dad’s, as he remained protectively by his wife’s side.
“The honor is ours. Paisley is part of our family, which means you all are too,” Tobias said, sounding very much the aristocrat.
Noah nodded his agreement.
Mom beamed, and I pushed down the flutter of warmth that followed his declaration. I’d always had an amazing family behind
me, but it felt so much more complete now. Along with Sara and Haley.
When Logan brushed his finger down my cheek, in what was absolutely his signature move, I looked up at him, concern filling my mind. “How’s your magic? You said you felt weaker?”
He shrugged. “A mere drop in a million drops, Precious. I can handle whatever is required to gather our ingredients.”
“Which are what exactly?” Jenna asked, looking between Logan and Noah.
Logan pulled the list from his pocket. “Rafael wrote it out for us, and it matches up with the original curse he showed us.
This is not going to be easy.”
He handed it to me so I could skim it quickly. “Fuck me,” I grumbled.
Grains of paradise from West Africa
Silphium grown in the Lombardy region of Italy
Belladonna berries from Asia
Frankincense
Deep-sea urchin venom
Mandrake root
Black pepper standard
Amanita nouhrae mushroom from Chile
Two everlasting candles
Lava from an active volcano
The essence of the dead
A finger bone of a reaper witch
Blood of a spellcaster
Venom of a western taipan from Australia
A purification herbal mix
This was a mammoth and near impossible task—especially the essence of the dead, since we didn’t have a necro on our team,
and spellcasters couldn’t access the dead.
Only I could.
“I’m going off my suppression potion,” I said to Mom, handing the list over to her. She read quickly and passed it on. “You’re
going to need my power for a few of these items.” If my magic held out long enough.
“Where do we start?” Sara said quickly, her pupils moving as she read over the items. “We should split the items up and tackle
them all over the next few days.”
She returned the list to Logan, and I forced myself not to slouch into my exhaustion. It’d been a long, stressful day, and
my body was ready to crash.
“We’ll start tomorrow,” Logan said shortly as he discreetly took my weight. “We’ll start tomorrow and divide the list according
to our skills and affinities.”
Mom clapped her hands together. “Perfect. I’m going to find places for everyone to sleep, then we’ll order food.” She disappeared
inside, Dad right behind her.
Logan linked our fingers, the motion pulling at my insides and sending butterflies through my chest. He led me to the living
room and sat on the couch before pulling me onto his lap. I didn’t move for the rest of the evening, my head resting against
his chest. By the time we’d eaten our pizza, watched movies, and he half carried me to bed, I found that I wasn’t as drained
as usual. This was a normal sort of tired.
Our bond might have passed the curse back to Logan, but it was also fighting the drain.
“How are you being affected by the curse?” I asked as we snuggled under my covers, completely clothed to keep ourselves from
accidentally accelerating my death through sheer horniness. “Because it feels as if our bond has kept me alive far longer
than I would have otherwise.”
Logan dragged his fingers down my arm, finding slivers of bare skin, his calluses from years of guitar sending tingles through my body. Clothes were definitely the right idea.
“I haven’t had enough time to research exactly what’s happening to us,” he said, his voice as rough as his touch. “But it
really doesn’t matter. We’re going to fight, and you will fucking live.” He rolled onto his side to bring us even closer.
“And on the very slim chance we fail, I’ll happily follow you. Our souls are bound, Precious. That means not even death parts
us.”
The thought of Logan not existing in this world broke a fundamental part of me. Cracked it right down the middle until my
insides seeped from my body. “Don’t even say it,” I whispered. “We’re stronger than Rafael believes. He’s not going to win.”
Logan’s lips pressed against my forehead, lingering for a few tantalizing seconds. “That’s the spirit, Precious. We have the
counter-curse, and he has no choice but to provide his blood to reverse the spell. It’s as if the Fates themselves don’t want
our deaths, as if they’ve given us every weapon to fight back.”
I snuggled into him. “I’d never ask you to hurt your dad for me.”
His hands flexed against my back. “Baby, I’d rip his heart out with my bare hands and present it to you as a gift. He’s nothing
to me, and you are fucking everything. There’s not a single being in existence I would choose over you, and there’s not a
single one safe from my wrath if they hurt you. That’s a promise I can easily make.”
Goddess above, he was destruction wrapped in a beautiful package. A destruction I was happily signing up for. “Fuck, I love
you,” I said against his chest. “So much.”
“I love you, Precious. And now it’s time to sleep. You need to rest.”
With my head filled by fifteen—very difficult to procure—ingredients, I didn’t expect to drift off, but Logan’s touch eventually lulled me into a restless sleep, and I didn’t rouse until the sun peeked through my curtains the next morning.
When I opened my eyes, I was alone in bed, and Logan’s side was cold. He’d been gone for a while, and I wondered what I’d
missed. As I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, I was relieved to feel no worse than yesterday.
I gathered up clothes to change into and headed to the bathroom. By the time I’d showered, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved
shirt, with my hair pulled back in a ponytail, my stomach was growling at me. In the kitchen Mom was already cooking up a
storm for the group gathered in the living room. “Morning, honey,” she said, shooting me a smile. She looked pale and worn-out,
as if she’d barely managed any sleep last night.
Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I breathed in her familiar lavender scent and let it calm the ragged edges of my
magic. “Morning, Mom. Is everyone planning out how we’re dividing the items?”
“Yep. Go and join them in the living room.” She shooed me away. “I’ll get all the food out in a minute.”
Ignoring her dismissal, I moved to her side. “Let me help you. There’s a lot of mouths to feed out there.”
She shot me her famous Are you sassing me, young lady? look. The one that suggested it was not in my best interest to prod a momma bear when she was in worried and protective mode.
“You need to be resting every second you’re not required to participate in this curse reversal. If it wasn’t for the fact
that we have no necromancer in our team so at least one of those items will require your skills, I’d have you locked in your
room.”
A genuine laugh escaped me, and I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“I love you too, Mom. But I’m fine—” Her eyes narrowed to slits, and I barely managed not to laugh again.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go and rest. Call if you need help.
As far as I’m aware, Trevor’s a few rungs down the curse list, so he should be fine to carry everything in. ”
“I heard that,” my brother shouted, but he was smiling as I entered the living area. My heart felt weirdly full, my magic
swirling at the sight of all the people I cared about in one room. Curses might be dark, scary magic, but I felt blessed all
the same.
I’d always had a lot to lose, but now . . . Now I had everything.