Page 48 of Jade Lion and the Witch Boy
“Just stop talking!” I bark. I point at her and say, “And stop telling me my future! Just because you want me and I don’t love you back doesn’t mean you can make up shit!”
“I’m not!” She wipes her eyes. “I wish, so badly, that you and Kai could grow old and be happy and gay forever, but you’re going to be in critical condition soon!”
“Ugh! Why…why…” I’m spiraling as I pace around the room. I walk to the doorway, rage still boiling in my veins. “You had no right to see his future!”
“But Seb—”
“First Lisbeth tells me to make him fall in love with me just so the coven can get stronger, and now this?! Would you all just make up your damn minds! Are we stealing his powers, or is he a threat? Am I forcing him to be in the coven or not? Should I make him fall in love with me or stay away? Huh? What is it? Tell me!”
I’m shouting, not caring about waking up everyone at this late hour. Taina, meanwhile, looks behind me with a horrified look.
I turn around, and my heart falls out of my chest. Kai is standing there with the undeniable expression of heartbreak.
“Kai…” I murmur.
I step forward to touch him, but he huffs and pulls away. The shock and sadness on his face morph into anger. He dashes off and almost runs into Lisbeth, who is walking down the stairs.
“What is going on down here? Jade Lion, what are you doing?” Lisbeth asks.
I run after him, and Kai is frozen, holding the doorknob.
“Wait, Kai, please, let me explain,” I say in my most desperate tone.
He slowly turns around, and the fury on his face is undeniable. Lisbeth and Taina approach me, and, with a quickglance, I spot Ashley and Anika, hovering nearby, both in their nightwear. The coven’s all here.
Kai growls, and I gulp.Are we about to be victims of the Jade Lion’s wrath?
“Well,” he says in a deep tone. “Explain.”
My heart pounds in my neck, and I step forward with my hands up. “The…coven wanted to cast a spell using the charm bracelets. It takes your magic and spreads it among us,” I say.
“It wouldn’t take your powers forever! You’d get them back…probably,” Lisbeth adds.
I motion for her to shut up, then turn back to Kai. “The spell requires you to…” I gulp. “Fall in love with me.”
Kai grumbles, then yanks the door open. He dashes out into the night, and I chase after him.
“Kai, wait!” Fortunately, he freezes on the front lawn. He’s seething, and I don’t blame him. With his back turned to me, I step forward. “Kai, I know it sounds awful, but that’s why I wanted to leave. I wanted us to get away from them.”
He balls his hands into fists. “You lied to me. Manipulated me. You never even loved me, you just wanted my powers,” he mutters.
“That’s not true!” I say with my hands up. My heart breaks and my eyes burn as I desperately try to come up with words to salvage this, the only love I’ve ever known. “I didn’t…I didn’t even fucking know about the spell until last week, I swear!”
He turns to me, and hope flickers in my chest. “Kai, please. Do a truth spell, do anything, but I swear, I didn’t lie about my feelings for you.”
After a long moment, he asks, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
I sigh. “I was afraid that if you found out, you’d lump me in with them.” My shoulders sag. “And okay, now that I say it, Irealize I’m complicit. But Kai, I never wanted them to take your powers. And you have to know how I feel about you.”
All we can hear are the crickets singing in the dark. A million miles of tension exist between us. I take another tentative step forward. “You have to know I love you, Kai,” I say with a trembling voice.
He turns and immediately shifts into his lion form. Kai roars at the sky, and I step back. When he looks down, he growls again. He points at me and says, “I don’t know anything anymore, Seb!”
My heart shatters completely as he leaps into the darkness, headed for the woods. Alone in the front yard, with nothing but the moon and the stars, I fall to my knees. I could run after him, but even if I found him, why would he talk to me? I don’t deserve his forgiveness. Kai was the best thing in my life, and I ruined it.
CHAPTER 19- KAI
I LEAP FROMtreetop to treetop, clawed feet catching the branches, as fast as I can. No one should see me in the dark, not that I care. I’m letting my inner lion run free with rage. Right now, my animalistic fury is nothing compared to the anguish that my human side carries.
