Chapter 21
MALIK
E veryone is back outside in the yard when Amri and I come back to the cottage.
All eyes turn towards us. Alexandros, in his lion form, stretches where he’s laid out in a patch of shade under a citrus tree.
Sadie runs her hand over the fur of his flank where she sits next to him.
Kat waves, her bracelets clinking, and there’s an ‘I know what you two just did’ smile on her face.
Bodi and Rian watch us approach with wary expressions from where they’re standing in the center of the yard.
Circe, with her palms on each of my brothers’ foreheads, snaps, “Focus!”
Rian turns his attention to the sorceress, but Bodi scowls and smacks her hand away from his face and strides across the grass. My muscles flex and expand without my meaning them to, but Bodi doesn’t slow down as he says, “Everything good?”
I tense, a barbed reply on the tip of my tongue, but Amri clutches my hand a little tighter and stares up at my brother. She says, “Everything? Far from it. Us? Working on it.”
Bodi blinks down at her, snaps his gaze to mine, and when I don’t add anything, he looks back at Amri. With a barked laugh, he throws back his head, his entire face lighting up with amusement. I can’t recall the last time I saw him laugh like that, and it brings tears to my eyes.
Bodi says, “Okay. Good. Well, things back here are … weird. Watch this.”
He raises his hands, but Circe appears at his back in a flash and slaps the back of his head. His eyes go wide as he spins on her, but she just crosses her arms and glares at him. “What did I just tell you? Don’t use your magic! You’ll need every drop stored and ready to use.”
Bodi mimics her posture with folded arms as well. “And what did I just say? How will we know how to use all this new magic if we can’t practice it?”
Circe rolls her eyes. “It’s in your blood. It’s part of who you are, dumbass.”
Rian’s quiet voice slips into my mind. “They’ve been like this since you left.”
I smile over at him then place a hand on Bodi’s shoulder as I say to Circe, “I apologize for that little intermission. I need to catch up.”
Click, thunk.
Click, thunk.
“What do I need to do?”
The sorceress, my sister—that’s very strange to say—smooths her frustration from her face as she turns to me.
“Come stand over in the center of the yard.” Amri moves with me as I do as I’m told, Circe says to her, “I’d suggest you do whatever you can to fill your reserves while I work with these three.
Alexandros is topped off, and Sadie and Kat have taken their fill from my garden. ”
Sadie calls from her shady spot under the tree. “Thanks again, Circe. Your island is a marvel. So much raw power. ”
Circe smiles at her, and I recall her earlier words about not caring about the Leos but wanting to make sure her witches are safe. Seems my sister is standing by that statement.
I stop, planting my feet in the short grass next to Rian. “Here okay?”
Circe nods. I turn to Amri, dropping my voice to give the illusion I’m just talking to her, though with all the enhanced hearing in our group, I know my words are far from private. “Don’t go far, okay?”
She cocks out a hip. “Is that a command?”
I groan, rolling my eyes. “No, of course not. I?—”
Amri squeezes my hand before letting me go with a wink.
Why do I suddenly feel so empty without her fingers wrapped around mine?
She hasn’t said anything about what just happened or my abrupt change of attitude towards her.
And I’m glad because I don’t really have an answer.
I do know that I can’t ignore whatever this is between us any longer.
It’s not the fate threads—that supernatural pull towards her is gone, but …
I like Amri. I’m still terrified, but Amri is … She’s just so …
My panther licks his paws. “Ours.”
As she walks over to join my brothers’ mates in the shade, Amri says, “You’ve got this, Alpha.”
Alexandros flicks his tail with a feline version of a smile on his face.
Sadie blushes as her gaze flicks between me and Amri.
And Kat … well, Kat lets loose a squeal, rolling back on her tailbone to literally kick her feet in glee.
My lips twitch as Amri looks over her shoulder at me, a slightly terrified expression on her face.
Kat reaches up, grabs Amri’s wrist, and pulls her down to the shady grass next to her, immediately firing questions.
I do my best to tune them out because I need to focus .
Circe says, “Hold still, and do your best to remain open.”
My brows furrow. “Open?”
I don’t get an answer. What I get instead is Circe’s open palm slapped to my forehead.
This isn’t like what Circe was doing before our little break.
That was searching and uncovering layer by layer.
This is an excavation. Witch magic boosted by something …
more, spears into me, cracking my essence and pulling me apart.
I must have made a pained sound, because Amri’s concerned voice slips into my mind. “Malik?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” I don’t know if I am or not, but all my years with Leonora have conditioned me to handle pain … a lot of it.
Circe’s magic burrows inside me, and on instinct, I push back. She digs her nails into my scalp until the physical sting pulls my awareness away from what she’s doing inside me. Her eyes are closed, her brows furrowed. “Don’t resist.”
I do my best to do as I’m told, but my beast is not so sure about this. He’s scrambling, trying to find a corner of our consciousness to hide from the intensity of Circe’s power. He hisses in my head as a fissure opens inside me, exposing … something.
Circe calls out without opening her eyes, “Rian. Bodi. Take Malik’s hands. Now.”
My brothers come over and slide their hands in mine. I hold on to them tightly, knowing they can handle my crushing grip. A grunt punches from my throat as a new light, a new power, claws at me from the inside out. It tears down the length of my arms and into my brothers.
No. It will hurt them!
I try to let them go, but they just hold on tighter.
Blinding light fills my gaze, and I blink, unsure if my eyes are in fact open.
They are, but I can’t see anything. I can’t contain it …
whatever this is. It feels like electricity building in my blood, in my very cells, and when the lightning strikes, I’m going to be torn apart.
I scream down the bond with my brothers. “Let go!”
Bodi grunts back. “No.”
Rian, voice harsh with pain, says, “We can do this, brother.”
No, no, no, no. I’m hurting them. If this power inside me explodes, I will not take them with me! My muscles feel like they’re made of ice, and my blood rages with fire. I blink over and over, trying to clear my vision as tears streak down my cheeks.
My panther screams inside my head. “Let me protect them!”
Without hesitation, I shift with a flash of golden magic that I feel but can’t see. I fall into my beast’s mind, and as my panther surges forward, it forces my brothers to let me go, and Circe’s hand falls away.
Silence.
Everything is white.
I hold still, listening. Two heartbeats—Bodi and Rian. Good. Good. A sigh—Circe, still close. Four more heartbeats getting closer. Scents—Alexandros, still in his lion form, and Sadie crowding close to Bodi, and Kat pressing into Rian’s side.
Crisp mountain air. Amri. As her hand lands on my fur, I turn my head in her direction, wishing my vision would clear so I could see her. She whispers, “Malik?”
I project my voice into everyone’s head. “Is everyone alright?”
A long beat of silence has my hackles rising, but Amri finally says, “We’re all fine. But Malik …”
What’s wrong? I turn my head, listening for danger, scenting for blood or pain. But there’s nothing. Then what?—
Kat whispers, “Wow.”
What?
Circe hums. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
I bark, the sound loud and several pairs of feet shuffle in surprise. “What!”
Bodi clears his throat. “Um. Well, you’re ah … you’re gold.”
“Gold? Like my tattoos stayed gold with my shift?”
I catch the sound of slight movement, and Bodi says, “No. Well I mean technically, yeah. But all of you is gold.”
Amri’s touch strokes down my side. “Malik, can you not see?”
I shake my head.
Circe hums again. “That should clear up, eventually. I think.”
Great, so there’s a chance that I’m blind now. Wonderful. I’m a blind, gold panther. Super useful. Thanks sis.
Kat says, “You’re like, really bright. Almost hard to look at. Like …”
Amri says, “Like the sun.” I turn to my mate, easily finding her face with mine. I nuzzle her, purring, more for me than her, but she leans into my caress as she says against my fur. “I’m right here. I won’t be far.”
I’m not sure what she means, but a second later, she steps back, taking the comfort of her touch with her.
I move to follow blindly, but then Bodi’s panther purrs, falling against my side in a full-body slide of fur on fur.
My purr gets louder to match his, and then Rian is with us, his panther butting his head against my chest. Every place my brothers touch feels like warm sunlight.
It’s still hard to believe this is all real, that I am here with my brothers .
Click, thunk.
Click, thunk.
My legs buckle under the weight of my emotions, but my brothers follow me to the grass. We end up in a panther pile, purring and rubbing and rolling around like kittens. Joy. Magic. Love.
A throat clears. Circe. The three of us settle, our bodies pressed together, our purrs quieting to a low rumble. Our sister says, “How do you all feel?”
Inside my beast’s head, I bow to him in the still-white expanse of our mind. I feel him bow back, and in a flash, I’m standing on two feet.
I sense my brothers’ shift back to human, and a second later, Rian says, “Woah.”
Bodi’s hand lands on my shoulder as he says, “That was crazy.”
I nod as my brain tries to catch up with what just happened. I didn’t even reach for my magic. I didn’t call it up. I didn’t activate it. I was my panther one second and in my human form the next. As easy as stepping out of one room into another.
I blink, trying to clear my vision with no luck.
Circe asks, “So?”
I tilt my head, assessing. “I feel …. Different. It’s hard to explain how exactly. It’s like I’m stretched out, somehow bigger on the inside than the outside.”
Bodi says, “I feel lighter, but …”
Circe asks, “But?”
It sounds like Bodi moves slightly, like he’s lifting his hands or shifting his weight. “I feel like there could be even more.”
That humming sound comes from Circe again. “Interesting. Okay. And you, Rian? ”
He remains still, and if it wasn’t for the steady thrum of his heartbeat, I would have a hard time nailing down where he was.
He says, “Same. I feel a little floaty, like after really good sex.” Kat snorts a laugh, and I can’t keep the smile from my face as Rian goes on.
“But like Bodi said, there’s room for more. ”
Circe’s voice aims at me. “Malik?”
I shake my head. “Am I still glowing?”
Rian answers, “Yeah.”
I hold my palms up, wishing I could see. “There’s no more space. Every time I move, even when I take a breath, it feels like my insides crack like a chip in a window that’s spreading.”
Amri asks, “Does it hurt?”
I turn my head to the side, sending those internal cracks spiderwebbing. “No, not really. It’s more like there’s too much inside me and the magic is trying to find space where there is none.”
There’s a soft sound like Circe clasps her hands together as she says, “Well, the good news is that?—”
A growl punches from my chest, cutting her off. I go predator still, using my beast’s hearing and senses as I go on high alert.
Click, thunk.
Click, thunk.
Click, thunk.
Silence.
My voice comes out deep in warning. “Time’s up.”