Page 57 of Wicked Warlock
“What bird have you been talking to? When a woman says she’s fine, it’s never fine. It’s a load of rubbish is what it is.” Grayson shook his head and froze when the rest of us said nothing. “Come on, like you weren’t thinking it.”
Tucker slapped him across the back of the head. “Shut up.”
“The point is there’s something inside you that’s not right and we have to fix it.” I wanted to help, to use my power to pull it out of him. But I didn’t know how or what happened.
“You have no idea if that’s true or not.” He shook his head. “None of you.”
“I do.” Soto stepped around Kylian and moved to the center of the circle. “Unseelie is dangerous. The world itself is like a poison that seeps into the body and takes hold. There is no set reaction, either. It affects different people in different ways and sometimes it lingers. Like right now, it’s lingering in you.”
He backed up a step. “You don’t know that.”
“Beckett, you just killed five people in less than a day.” I threw up my arms. “That is not you. This isn’t you. Did they deserve it? Yes, absolutely. But who’s next? What is next? This needs to end. And I… I just want you back. I want us back.”
We’d barely had any time to be Astrid and Beckett before all this happened, and I craved that, craved the connection that I knew we both felt. Though our soulmate bonding wasn’t complete, and he only did his side to save me, I wanted to complete it. I wanted to feel him wholly. Even with half a connection I barely felt him… It was cold.
“I-I need you back.”
“I’m right here.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “But I am fine.”
“Stop saying that. You’re not.” They all stood watching the two of us go back and forth.
“You’re really not.” Soto motioned to Kylian. “Ask him. He knows.”
Kylian didn’t speak, just gave a single nod. Niche held that clipboard in her hand. “We know what to do. We can help you.”
“I don’t need your help.” Beckett spun in a circle, regarding at all of us surrounding him. “Really, I’m fi—”
“Do not say fine.” I couldn’t do this anymore, didn’t want to do this. I needed him back. We needed him back. The walls were still down, Nylore was loose somewhere, and my one true love wasn’t with me. Above all else, if I was going to do anything in this world, I needed my Beckett beside me.
I turned to face Zinnia. “Do what you have to do.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need any help.” Beckett shook his head. “Come on, guys. Look at me.”
“I am looking at you, mate.” Grayson motioned to him. “Not on at all.”
Silvery magic flared from Zinnia’s body, shooting out in all directions like tentacles ready to attack. They flowed over to Beckett, and his smoking blue power surrounded him in a protective bubble. Zinnia’s power latched onto the bubble, and I saw the blue smoke begin to filter up through her power like she was using her power to suck his magic through a tube. It mixed and spun with her power, filtering all the way back to Zinnia. Dark veins forked out over her cheeks and down her neck. Her eyes went wide, and she dropped her arms and staggered back.
“Zin!” Tuck ran to her side as she dropped down onto her hands and knees and heaved. Dark sludge-like vomit exploded from her mouth and nose. Tucker fell to his knees beside her and rubbed circles on her back.
Tabi threw her magic into the ground and thick vines sprang up at Beckett’s feet. They wrapped around his legs and arms, holding him in place. He let his magic flow over his body, and they disintegrated to ash and flaked to the ground around his feet.
“Really, guys.”
This was not okay. Nothing was okay about this situation. Serrina blew across the palm of her hand, and streams of her red power flowed through the courtyard toward Beckett. It looked like sharp needles with long red threads trailing behind it. It jabbed toward Beckett, but again, it hit the barrier of magic he had surrounding him and bounced off. No effect whatsoever.
Kylian, Soto, Grayson, Ashryn, and Brax began to pull their weapons and take battle stances. No, it couldn’t happen like this.
“Stop!”
I tried to call on my magic to pull it from somewhere deep within. But that pit of energy wasn’t there; it felt empty and hollow. Two pieces of me were missing—the one that belonged to Beckett and my magic. Screw it. Triage mode. I put up my hand and yelled over them, “Enough!”
They all froze, watching Beckett like he was a bomb about to explode. I sucked in a deep breath and walked into the middle of the circle. The second I got closer to him, he dropped his protective barrier of magic. I moved in closer. I reached up and placed my hands on his cheeks, cupping his face. I wanted him to lean into my touch, to smile his cocky, lopsided smile, to make some kind of sexual innuendo, or even something so small as to put his hands on my hips and draw me closer. But he didn’t do any of that. There was no fire in his eyes or spark—only coldness.
“Do you feel that?”
Confusion riddled his face and his brows furrowed. “No, what?”
“Exactly.” I lowered my voice so only he could hear me. “You feel nothing. Now try to remember what it used to be like between us. The fire, the fight, the passion. Don’t you want that back?”
