Page 93 of Magic Betrayed

Calm. Steadiness. Strength. He was begging me to lean on him. There was an undercurrent of anger there, but it was deep, and under tight control—waiting for the right moment. And I was weak, hurting, and terrified, so I chose to pretend that everything was all right. I leaned in and rested my forehead against his massive shoulder while I breathed through the pain and uncertainty.

Perhaps it was selfish, but as I stood there with my eyes closed, I wished that he was not in dragon shape. I wished that he was a man, with arms that could hold me and a voice to tell me whether he was angry. But tonight, I’d needed the dragon, and because I knew how frequently he felt that his dragon shape was useless, I decided to tell him that.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for being… you. You’re the only reason I’m alive.”

No one else could have snatched me from the jaws of the winds, or sheltered us from the debris when the house collapsed. No one else could have brought Faris and Shane quickly enough to save us.

Strangely, I suddenly began to feel warmer, so I opened my eyes, and saw that Callum had curved his neck around me, tucking me against him in the very next best thing to a hug.

And it was as I rested there, letting silent tears begin to fall, that the ground began to rumble once more.

My head came up, and I darted a panicked look at Ethan, but he was still lying next to Kes—his power gone for now.

Hope shot through me, heady and painful, as Callum and I hobbled closer to the remains of the house. We were only a handful of yards away when the ground just ahead of us erupted—breaking apart into a heaving sea of dirt and stone.

And rising up from the depths was a human form—broad and solidly built, formed of pale stone and golden clay, with a grim jaw, shimmering green eyes, and powerful arms that held the curled up shape of…

“Logan!”

“He’s fine,” Faris rumbled, his color gradually changing as his magic began to fade. “I’d already tunneled under the foundation when it all collapsed.”

Logan’s head lifted, and he blinked at me out of shining brown eyes. “We earth-travelled,” he announced, slurring his words as if slightly drunk. “It was thebest. I wanna learn it now.”

I saw a few things all at once, and they swirled together in my mind as I weaved on my feet…

The look of awe and admiration Logan directed at Faris.

The fierce relief and protectiveness in Faris’s grip on his young protégé.

And the faint light of a dawn sky beginning to glimmer overhead.

There was probably a profound realization in there somewhere, but I was in no place to appreciate it.

As I swayed unsteadily, trying to come to grips with the fact that it was over and everyone was safe, I heard the sound of an engine. All of us turned together and watched as a battered station wagon came rocketing down the drive, skidding to a stop as soon as the remains of the house came into view.

The door opened, and the stunned face of Seamus emerged. He looked at me and Faris. Shot a look at the dragon. Rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“Next time,” he said, “it sure would be nice if ya’ll wouldtellme when you change the time of the party.”

TWENTY-ONE

And then,as they say, it was all over but the shouting.

Callum left my side only long enough to borrow clothes from Seamus’s emergency stash, and when he returned, he looked gorgeous and rumpled and just a bit uncomfortable in a sweatshirt that was quite noticeably too small.

Now that he had arms, his first order of business was to pick me up, carry me to Seamus’s car, and set me on the hood, after which he crouched down and glared menacingly at my left boot.

“It’s broken,” I said helpfully, not sure what other information he was looking for. I could still sense a strong undercurrent of anger, but I couldn’t identify exactly who he was angry with, and I was too afraid to ask until we were somewhere more private.

If he was going to explain that he no longer wanted the mate bond due to my secrecy and betrayal, I didn’t want anyone else to witness it.

He looked up at me, his expression unreadable, amber eyes intense and piercing. “What else did they do to you?”

“I’mfine,” I insisted. “Or at least, there’s nothing a shift won’t fix. But I think we should leave here as quickly as possible. There’s no way no one has noticed the fires, and I don’t think Faris needs any more attention from human law enforcement.”

I winced as I glanced at the ruins of the house, wondering what price we were going to pay for destroying it. And not just monetary… All that history was now nothing but a pile of rubble to be hauled away and burned. I could already see Seamus throwing mournful glances at the remains as he crouched beside Ethan, presumably getting caught up on events by Kes and Shane…

…who continued to allow Kes to lean on him. Now that I thought about it, he had yet to leave her side, even for a moment, and Kes—who typically avoided physical closeness—seemed oddly unaware of his proximity. As if she were so comfortable in his presence, she forgot to be nervous. Or perhaps draining Ethan’s magic had taken so much from her that she simply couldn’t stand on her own.

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