Page 34 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Thirty

“ Why won’t she wake up?” Carlyle asked fearfully.

Kurt kneeled at Sabryn’s head. They hadn’t moved her after she collapsed. He held her head between his hands and stared into her face, silently willing her to wake.

“ We have to do something,” Elias stated for the third time.

Finn’s fingers were at her wrist, feeling her pulse. “ Her heart is racing.”

“ We need to get her inside,” Carlyle said.

Footsteps hurried across the gravel toward them. Song , Bronwyn , and Elodie turned the corner and drew to a halt.

“ What happened?” Song asked.

Kurt smoothed Sabryn’s hair back with his thumb. “ She doesn’t faint.”

“ Do you think it’s Edie ?” Bronwyn asked.

Elias shrugged. “ Maybe .”

“ She did warn Sabryn away,” Carlyle stated.

Kurt glared at all of them. “ Enough . We don’t know what’s happening.”

Finn said, “ I can find out.”

As a Bleeder , Finn could take feelings from others.

He had learned to use that skill against his opponents, which is why he liked to get close to his enemies when fighting.

There were drawbacks, however. He couldn’t stop the feelings he encountered.

But this was Sabryn . If Finn was willing, Kurt wouldn’t stop him.

“ Do it,” Kurt urged.

Finn wrapped his hand around her wrist. He jerked back almost immediately. “ Fek !”

“ What is it?” Carlyle demanded.

Finn’s voice shook when he said, “ She’s scared and grieving.”

“ This has to be some form of mental warfare,” Elodie said.

Elias’s nostrils flared. “ It’s just the sort of thing Edie would do.”

A fresh wave of panic seized Kurt .

“ It makes sense,” Bronwyn agreed. “ There’s no one here, and Sabryn wasn’t ill.”

Carlyle looked on helplessly. “ We can’t help her.”

“ Yes , we can,” Kurt said. “ We may not be able to reach her mind, but we can protect her body with our magic.”

He didn’t wait for the others, just lowered his forehead to hers and let his magic flow from him to surround her.

If he couldn’t reach her with his voice, his magic would.

Sabryn had always been sensitive to other’s magic.

Yet she lay so still that he had to keep checking the pulse at her neck to make sure she was alive.

Time ceased to exist as, one by one, their magic joined his to cocoon her in a protective bubble.

With every second she remained unconscious, more dread filled Kurt .

Sabryn was fire and determination. She was the spark that lit a room.

The strength that kept him going when he wanted to give up.

She was beauty and love. Wonder and brilliance.

He didn’t just love her. He belonged to her—every breath, every heartbeat. There wasn’t a part of him she hadn’t claimed. In her love, he had discovered a promise of something pure and steady. Something uniquely theirs.

“ Please , come back to me,” he whispered.

Sabryn’s chest rose as she took in a huge gulp of air. Kurt froze before slowly lifting his head and looking down into her dark sapphire depths. The resentment was gone, her ire softened. For a heartbeat, it was just the two of them.

“ There she is,” Carlyle said as he grabbed Sabryn’s hand.

Kurt sat back as they pulled her into a sitting position. He stared at the back of her head, wondering at the changes he had seen. He was almost afraid to meet her eyes again and find those dark feelings had returned.

Finn dropped his head back and looked at the sky. “ Fek me. I don’t need another scare like that.”

“ I agree. Doona do that to us again,” Elias told her with a chuckle.

Bronwyn dropped to her haunches at Sabryn’s feet. “ Are you hurt? What happened?”

“ We should get her inside the manor,” Carlyle said.

Carlyle , Elias , and Finn helped Sabryn stand.

She remained silent as they walked her to the front of the house.

Kurt watched them go. Right before they vanished around the corner, Sabryn looked back at him.

Their gazes clashed for a moment, and then she was gone.

He blew out a breath and climbed to his feet so he could lean against the house.

His eyes pricked with tears, so he closed them and lifted a silent prayer of thanks.

When he opened his eyes, Song stood before him.

“ Good thinking, using our magic as a shield,” she said.

He shrugged. “ It probably didn’t do anything.”

“ Maybe it did. Maybe it didn’t. We should probably ask.”

“ I’ll be along in a minute.”

Song looked in the direction the others had gone. “ Did you tell her?” Song swung her head back to him. “ Did you tell her you love her?”

“ I didn’t really get a chance.”

“ You should tell her.”

He thought back to his conversation with Sabryn at the cottage. “ I don’t think it will do any good. Besides , she knows.”

“ If you didn’t actually say the words, how can you be sure?”

He hated to admit that Song had a point.

“ Come on,” Song said. “ Let’s find out what happened to her.”

Kurt paused as he looked at the vehicles.

“ There will be plenty of time to find your brother,” Song said. “ Sabryn fainting is cause for worry.” She walked away.

He followed and entered the manor two steps behind Song . She walked to stand beside Carlyle in the sitting room, and Kurt took his place slightly behind the chair Sabryn had claimed. He rubbed his thumbs along his fingertips, recalling the warmth of her skin and the silky texture of her hair.

Suddenly , Sabryn turned and looked at Kurt over her shoulder. “ We can’t go after Parker .”