Page 30 of Bewitchingly Hers (Witches of Pleasant Grove #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

barrett

S omething was wrong.

I was wrong. Something I didn’t like to admit often, but in this case, we were vastly unprepared for the scene that had unfolded as soon as the girls brought the barrier down.

It hadn’t been one wraith, but a whole nest hiding out, like they were in wait for us.

Even with the three of us, we were outnumbered by their horde.

It seemed like they were planning for exactly this scenario, trying to feast on our energy.

They weren’t easy to kill as it was, considering they were undead and could reanimate unless their heads had been completely severed from their skeletal bodies.

Ezra was right. I should have called them. Something I’d begrudgingly agreed upon after he’d gotten hurt, the wraith sending him slamming into a tree, those poisonous nails scraping through his flesh. How long did he have? I hoped he made it back.

Lightning cracked in front of us, and I darted back, jumping to the side to keep it from scorching my fur. The electricity crackled through the wraith who swiped his bony hand, nails sharpened into points, towards Damien. It exploded upon contact, though another quickly replaced it.

“What the hell are these things?” Damien’s brother—Zain—growled. He’d arrived last night, stepping through a portal of darkness after Damien had gotten the girls to safety.

It was the only reason I could breathe easier, knowing Eryne was safe. It was the only reason I could even focus.

I bared my teeth against another wraith, watching the demon princes out of the corner of my eye.

I’d never seen anyone move like they did, effortlessly darting through the shadows and portals they created in an instant.

Snapping my teeth, I lunged for the creature, sinking into rotting flesh and old fabric.

The two looked so similar to each other—dark hair, both massive, maybe six and a half feet tall—and seemed to share similar powers. The main way I could tell them apart was their eyes—Damien’s were blood red, and Zain’s were bright gold.

How many had we killed? I’d lost count. Black blood dripped from my maw, and I couldn’t get the taste of rot out of my mouth.

“They’re like no demons I’ve ever faced,” Damien said, wiping his forehead before using his shadows to create a sword, slicing another’s head clean off it’s body.

“That’s because they’re not demons,” came a voice like gravel, grating against my skin. “They’re something worse.” Black eyes met mine, and my wolf whimpered.

Death.

I hated interacting with the ghouls, because they felt all wrong. He was pale, wearing a black shrouded cape, with hair as white as snow. He waived his hand, and it felt like every wraith in the clearing was frozen in place.

“Heard someone called for me?” The ghoul smirked. His eyes glowed white as he prowled toward the wraiths, like the grim reaper coming to collect their souls. In a way, I assumed he was.

I shifted back, thankful when Damien threw a pair of clothes at me. I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten them from, but I didn’t really care. Quickly pulling on the jeans and shoving my feet into the boots, I dressed quickly, knowing I couldn’t do anything else in wolf form.

We’d pushed them back into a circle, but now, they all were suspended, frozen in air—in time.

“What’s he doing?” Zain asked as we watched the ghoul’s eyes flare each time he approached a wraith, before it disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“Eating their souls,” I deadpanned, pulling on the jacket. He was absorbing them, and I didn’t want to think about the process any more than that.

“Jesus. And I thought things were bleak in the demon realm,” Damien said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Blood demons seem like walk in the park now, eh, brother?”

Zain elbowed Damien. The two seemed close, though it was obvious Damien loved to get a rise out of his older brother.

A scream pierced through the forest, and I whipped around, trying to identify the source. Even the ghoul’s head turned, glow fading from his eyes from absorbing the last wraith.

“I thought we got them all,” I said, frowning. We’d spent most of the night driving them all together into the clearing and picking them all off, one by one. It was really a miracle they hadn’t eaten right through the barrier with the amount we’d found.

It would have only taken another day or two, by my calculations, before Pleasant Grove would have been swarming with them.

“There must be another close by.” The ghoul’s eyes shifted back to their normal shade of unsettling black.

“I’m Cassius, by the way,” the ghoul said, extending his hand towards us.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. We’re a little short-staffed right now.

” I didn’t know quite how ghouls were born—or made—but I could only assume their job was one most mortals wouldn’t want to sign up for.

“I thought we had it handled,” I said, shaking my head.

A piercing pain hit my skull, and I winced, pressing my hand to my head.

Barrett. Her voice called out to me in panic, and I felt my heart lurch in my chest. “Where’s Eryne?” I asked them all, eyes wide. “Something’s happened.”

“Last I saw her, she was at the house,” Damien said. “All the girls promised to stay together.”

I shook my head. “She’s not there.” The mate bond confirmed that.

Damien looked away for a moment. “Willow confirmed that she left this morning after Ezra showed up. None of them realized she was gone until after.”

“Fuck,” I cursed.

“Your mate?” Zain asked.

I nodded my head. “We haven’t even completed the bond yet. I can feel her, but it’s faint. Foggy.” If only I had told her yesterday. If only I’d finished the mating already. I groaned. “This is all my fault.”

“It’s not,” Damien reassured me.

Zain ran his hands through his jet black hair. “Something similar happened with my wife—my mate—not long after we’d been together. My father kidnapped her.” He shook his head, like he was trying to rid himself of the memory. “Use the bond—whatever is there—to find her.”

Shutting my eyes, I focused on her. Wherever she was felt cold and damp, and though I couldn’t reach her on the other end of the bond, I could feel that she was still breathing.

“She’s still alive,” I said, rubbing at the spot above my heart.

We all knew what the end of that statement was.

No one seemed willing to say it out loud, however.

“And she’s shivering.” There was only one place I could think of where she could have been.

“The cave,” we concluded, all at once.

There must have been one that stayed behind to guard the nest.

One that had somehow found my mate.

And from the pit at the bottom of my stomach, I had a bad feeling I knew what we’d find there.

“Let’s go,” I said, ready to shift back into wolf form to run there.

Zain shook his head, and a portal opened in a patch of darkness. “Come on. This is quicker. And she’ll need you in that form.”

The woods were unusually quiet, and a layer of damp moisture clung everywhere around us. Fog had rolled in, and a shiver ran down my skin. It felt wrong.

Zain wrinkled his nose. “It reeks.”

The ghoul pushed away a layer of bushes. “They’re foul beings. They never should have been able to escape.” He turned to me. “They’re being sent back where they belong.”

I nodded. That was all we—and the witches of this town—could ask for.

That was what I tried to remind myself of as we all stepped through the portal.

Not the idea that my mate was alone and hurting, and I hadn’t been there to protect her.

The darkness dissipated around us, and my eyes adjusted to the low lighting of the cave.

Zain’s hands came to life, electricity—lightning—sparking between them, giving us a better view of what we were looking at.

“They were definitely here,” Cassius confirmed. “Follow the bond,” he told me. “It’s the strongest magic there is. That’s probably why they snagged her after they lost their food source.”

I let out a growl, darting forward in the cave, my supernatural speed allowing me to almost fly through the dark rock. Though I didn’t have teleportation powers like the two demons or ghoul at my back, I wasn’t going to back down from this fight.

Deeper and deeper we went into the cave system, as I followed the thread that tied Eryne to me. It was faint, but I could practically smell her scent, the sweet sugary scent like apples and cinnamon filling the area, pulling me to her. Always, always pulling me towards her.

There was a figure ahead of us, laying in a heap at the back of the cave.

I took a step towards my mate, unable to keep away from her for even a moment longer.

“Wait—”

The sound of nails scraping on stone echoed through the cavern, and then a wail filled the space as the undead being appeared in front of us.

It was larger than any of the ones we’d fought, likely the source of all of the attacks on the town barrier.

They weren’t capable of speech or rational thought, opening its ghostly mouth to reveal a line of sharpened teeth.

I shuddered, thinking of what it had felt like when I’d been attacked all those weeks ago. This was the creature that had attacked me. I could feel it. Whatever we’d fought before had merely been mirages compared to this abomination.

“ Return to the place you belong,” Cassius’s eerie, ominous voice shook the ground.

The wraith shrieked, letting out a sound that felt like nails scraping against a chalkboard.

In his hands, a glowing white scythe appeared.

It looked like it was made out of bone, the blade of the sharpest metal I’d ever seen.

The thing lunged, and before I could shift again to attack it, a lasso of darkness reached out from both sides of the room, circling it’s hands and wrapping around it’s neck, keeping it in place.

“Finish it,” the demon brothers said, grunting under the weight of holding the creature back.

Cassius nodded, stepping forward and launching his weapon at the head of the wraith.

It let out another sound, though this one was worse.

“ Be gone from this earth,” Cassius said. “ You are not permitted here.” His eyes glowed as the entity let out one last shriek before the black raggedy cloak it seemed to be wearing collapsed to the ground, empty.

“So, what are you,” Damien asked, turning to the ghoul at our side. “Like, the grim reaper?”

Cassius’s eyes met his. “ Worse .”

Ignoring the conversation, I darted forward towards my girl.

Her eyes opened, that beautiful shade of blue blinking back at me, groggy and disoriented. “Barrett?” Her voice was weak, body shaking. I scooped her up into my arms. My mate looked so small, so fragile.

“You’re okay,” I promised her, carrying her out of the caves and towards the morning light. “You’re safe now. And I’ll never let anything happen to you ever again.”

She grabbed at the collar of my jacket with each hand as I walked outside into the sunshine. Whatever darkness and cold had been clinging to the earth this morning, it was gone now. “I was looking for you.”

“I’m here, baby,” I said, setting her down on her feet outside of the cave.

I inspected her everywhere, like I could find proof of her physical wounds. My wolf couldn’t rest until he knew that she was okay. That she hadn’t been hurt. A little bruised, maybe, but still whole.

“You came,” she whispered, her hand cupping my cheek.

Of course I had. “You called,” I responded, placing my hand over hers and feeling her warmth returning. Somehow, through the bond, she’d called for me. Through our bond. The bond I’d been putting off completing. I shut my eyes, dropping my forehead to hers. “My mate.”

She sucked in a breath. “Yes. I am, aren’t I?”

I nodded. “You are.”

Her eyes grew glassy. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to pressure you,” I said, running my thumb over her cheekbone. “I wanted you to be able to make the decision. If you felt like you were forced to be with me because of this bond, I would have hated that.”

“I still would have chosen you,” she said, voice soft. “You’re every dream I’ve ever had, Barrett Lockwood.”

“In every lifetime, in every moment, I’d choose you, Eryne Fowler.

” I kissed her softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.

I wish I had. We could have completed the bond, and then this never would have happened.

You never would have been put in harms way.

If something had happened to you, sugar…

” I shuddered. “I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if I had lost you. ”

“I feel the same way. When Ezra told me… I didn’t want to risk never having told you how I felt. What if you’d been attacked again? What if I was too late this time?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t have lived with myself.”

“It’s okay,” I promised her. “We’re here. We’re alive. We’re together.”

And for now—that was all that mattered.

The rest of it—the barrier, the wraiths, dealing with the repercussions of our actions—those were all a problem for another day.

Right now, I just wanted to hold my mate.