Page 29 of Bewitchingly Hers (Witches of Pleasant Grove #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

eryne

T he spot we’d chosen to create our magic circle was deep in the woods.

For anyone watching us, it might have seemed a little strange, this group of thirteen witches—plus a vampire, a wolf shifter, and a demon—walking through the forest with candles and other supplies levitating behind them in the air, but for Pleasant Grove, this was a normal Thursday. Mostly.

Of course, nothing felt normal. There was a gravity in the air, an importance I couldn’t shake off. This felt so much bigger than any of us. So much bigger than Barrett and I, so much more than just fixing a wrong from the past.

Maybe we’d never truly find out what the witches who founded this town were trying to keep out, or if they’d just been prejudiced against other paranormal races, but at least we could fix it now.

We wouldn’t tell our children that demons would come and grab them if they were bad, that making deals with one meant giving up your soul, or that vampires were nothing but bloodthirsty creatures who would feast, happily, off our blood.

Though the latter was still out for debate, really, considering I knew nothing about Ezra, not really.

Sure, he was Barrett’s friend, and they’d worked together long enough that he trusted him, but was that enough for me?

It still stung that he’d told Ezra about the creature attacking the wards and not me. The girl he was… what? We were more than just fucking—he’d made that apparent with our conversation earlier. That word felt crass. It wasn’t just sex, and both of us knew it.

We’ll do it together. He didn’t try to tell me not to, to warn me away because he was worried about me. Like he knew that I was too stubborn not to see it through. That after all we’d done, all we uncovered together, he knew that I couldn’t leave it alone until we’d made a change.

That was what I loved about him.

And I did. Dammit, it was early, but I felt the love swelling in my heart, wanting to burst out.

But it wasn’t the right time. I wanted to tell him cozied up on my couch, or standing in the middle of the gazebo in town square, surrounded by lights and pumpkins.

Not in the middle of the dark, damp woods, about to perform a spell we weren’t even one hundred percent sure worked.

But the girls surrounding me weren’t just my coven, or my friends…

they were my family. And as much as I’d kept myself closed off for so many years, they’d all always been there, waiting for me to take that step.

I held my head higher, squaring my shoulders, feeling the magic bursting through my body.

There was no feeling quite like this, like unifying with your sisters, knowing your actions weren’t just going to change your life but everyone’s lives. For the better.

“I’m so proud of you,” Barrett murmured into my ear, squeezing my palm.

I smiled up at him, wishing I could tell him everything I was feeling.

He said he’d stay. That was all I could ask for. The rest of it, well—we’d figure it out. But he wasn’t going to leave.

That was the reassurance I’d needed to really let myself fall, wasn’t it? To accept the feelings that had been growing from that first night.

“We’re ready to begin,” Cait said, looking up at the moon high in the sky.

Sure enough, the circle was complete, thirteen candles levitating and the other ingredients for the spell in the middle.

Each member of the coven was evenly spread around the clearing—Cait, Gretchen, Tammy, Tally, Sophie, Olive, Iris, Constance, Celeste, Rina, Wendy, and me.

We each took a step forward in front of one of the candles, reaching our hands out to the witch next to us. Barrett took my hand, taking Willow’s spot, though she remained close by, and I knew she’d still be filtering her magic into him and the spell.

Cait began chanting the spell we’d all memorized, a mixture of latin and the old language that had long ago lost its meaning. I closed my eyes as I poured all of my energy into our purpose, visualizing breaking the magical barrier, allowing the wards to come down so we could build them anew.

Barrett was right—the magic we were tearing down felt like poison, and a slimy feeling crept down my spine. The candles flickered out, and then we were plunged into darkness, only lit by the light of the moon.

“This would be a great time for Luna to show up with her weird moon powers,” I heard Willow murmur to Damien behind us.

The air grew cold, and I shivered, feeling the magic cracking and scattering.

A bolt of lightning hit the direct center of where our circle had been, and we all stepped back, dropping our hands and breaking the circle.

“Did it work?” I asked, unable to detect that faint buzz of magic where it had been before.

Cait’s face was pale. “I think so. But I…”

Something shrieked in the woods, a noise that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, and everyone froze.

“What was that?” Wendy’s eyes were wide.

“The wraith,” Ezra answered. “We’ve angered it. You stole it’s energy source.” He inspected his nails, like he couldn’t be bothered.

Barrett let out a snarl—a noise I’d never heard from him before, more wolf-like than anything else, and leapt forward, changing in an instant from man to beast. He took off in a flash, disappearing into the trees in a blur of paws and red fur.

“What’s happening?” I asked the vampire next to me.

He flashed his fangs. “Now, we hunt.”

I shivered again—I didn’t like the sound of that.

Not one bit.

After escorting us back to my house and making sure all of us were okay—plus that Willow was tucked onto my couch and off her feet—Damien disappeared back into the darkness, his eyes flashing a deeper red than I’d ever seen him.

He seemed even bigger than normal, if that was possible, like his powers were about to burst out of him.

“I should be out there,” I said, staring out the sliding glass door. I had Nutmeg cuddled into my shoulder, and even with her cuddling against me, I still couldn’t help my anxiety.

My heart hadn’t stopped beating rapidly since Barrett had shifted and lunged after whatever had been in the woods.

“You know he wouldn’t want you to risk yourself, babe,” Wendy said, coming behind me and wrapping her arms around me.

Rina squeezed my free shoulder. “Wendy’s right. You could get hurt.”

“Don’t you remember what that thing did to Barrett? How I found him?” My eyes welled with tears. “I can’t lose him again, you guys. I just can’t. And I hate that we’re here just… hopeless. We didn’t even get a new barrier up.”

The fact that we were so vulnerable right now, that any human could walk into a town full of witches and discover the secret we’d been guarding for more than three hundred years was terrifying, but not as terrifying as the idea that something would happen to Barrett.

I’d never even gotten to tell him how I felt.

“You love him, don’t you?” Wendy whispered.

I nodded, tears dripping from my eyes. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t,” Rina promised.

Unfortunately, it was one she couldn’t keep.

Wrapping a blanket around myself, I stepped onto my back porch, the morning light already leaking through the trees.

The rest of the girls were asleep inside, though I knew they were mostly there for moral support for me, and Willow, who had fretted over all of us until Cait had finally made her a cup of tea and took charge of the rest of us.

I had a cup of coffee in my hands, the warmth spreading through my body making me feel a little bit more like a person again, but I hadn’t drank a single sip yet. All I’d managed to do this morning was take a shower and pull on a fresh set of clothes.

Barrett hadn’t returned.

I felt sick. Like this monumental, life altering thing had happened, only I had no control anymore.

The trees rustled, and I perked up.

“Barrett?” I called, holding my breath.

Instead, it was Ezra. He held his side, blood leaking down his shirt. His skin had lost some of it’s usual pallor, and his eyes were closer to black than their usual red.

“Oh gods.” I rushed over to him. “What happened to you?”

He groaned. “Ambush.”

“Is Barrett okay?” I asked him as I guided him into a chair on my porch, pulling his hand away to find a similar wound to what Barrett had been covered in weeks ago.

He jerked away when I tried to touch him to pull his shirt back. “ Don’t .”

I frowned. “I can heal you.” I let my magic run into my hands, glowing warm light coming from them. “It’s my ability, and I?—”

Ezra shook his head, cutting me off. “You shouldn’t touch me. Barrett… He’ll be feral.”

I didn’t understand. “Why? You’re hurt. I want to help. Barrett would want me to help his friend, too.”

“No. I need to feed. But… Fuck .” He ran his fingers through his blond hair, blood from his hands coating the strands. “I can’t feed from you.” The vampire rubbed at his forehead. “Besides, your scents are all over each other.”

My cheeks burned. That was mortifying. “You can… smell that?” I knew Barrett could scent me, but I hadn’t realized that anyone else could. For some reason, I’d just thought it was a wolf thing.

“Your mate didn’t tell you?”

I frowned. “My mate ? I don’t…”

Everything hit me all at once. Barrett . How possessive he was over me. How right it felt to be with him. The connection I’d had with him, since the very first night. He was my…

How was this possible?

Ezra went deathly still. “You really didn’t know.”

I shook my head, a sinking feeling settling in my gut. I couldn’t believe it. How could he not tell me? How long had he known and kept it from me? “No,” I whispered.

Letting my blanket fall to the floor, I looked out into the forest.

My mate.

Barrett was my mate.

And he was… what? Hurt? Missing? A sob escaped my throat.

Whatever reason he hadn’t told me, I couldn’t let it end like this. Couldn’t live in a world without him, a world where I never told him how I felt. Just yesterday, he’d told me he would stay. And today, it felt like that could all be slipping away from me.

“I need to find him,” I said, worry filling me to the pit of my stomach. I turned back to the injured vampire. “Where is Barrett, Ezra?”

“You can’t go out there,” he said, clutching his side. “You’ll be in danger. A wraith is no joke, Eryne. He can’t?—”

“I can take care of myself,” I said, narrowing my eyes and heading into the forest.

There was nothing that was going to keep me away from Barrett.

From my mate.

From the man I loved.

Nothing.

I tried to imagine his face, letting whatever connection was between us guide me to him.

Following the path back to the clearing, I found where we’d broken the spell last night.

The candles laid discarded on the ground, the spot where lightning hit the middle of the circle scorched.

Barrett’s pile of shredded clothes still sat where he’d shifted, a reminder that he was in wolf form.

It was eerily quiet, and I could only hope that I was going in the right direction when I followed a path of broken branches and trampled bushes.

A branch cracked behind me.

“Barrett?” I whispered, cold fear trickling down my spine.

But I didn’t feel his presence, the way I always could. I felt… fear.

There was a sound, almost a snarl, and then my vision went black, and everything ceased to exist.

Barrett, I tried to cry out. To scream for him. But I was drowning, lost in an endless abyss, and I couldn’t seem to figure out how to find my way out of the darkness. I was growing weaker, my legs tiring, and I couldn’t breathe.

So instead, I succumbed to it, no longer having the energy to fight.