Page 45 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)
He chuckles but doesn’t say anything as we wait in relative silence for the two mages to return. Luca walks up behind her and places his hands on her waist, caging her in between the two of them.
She glances over at me, and I give her a small smile, not wanting her to feel bad about receiving comfort from her other mates.
Besides, I don’t really feel like I’ve earned holding her or touching her or any show of affection.
I had the power to stop what was happening to her a year before I finally did, but I didn’t.
And I don’t know how the fuck to live with myself knowing that.
I don’t know how Izzy doesn’t hate me, because she really should.
Just like I should’ve had the power to stop Lua Mater —now and when Hades and I were younger. My older brother did everything he could to protect me from her wrath, and all I did was cower.
The door swings open behind me, breaking me out of my self-loathing thoughts. I shake off any lingering feelings because I need to be alert and ready to protect Izzy, not preoccupied with my own problems.
A grim-faced Rhys and Bishop walk through the door.
Izzy turns to them with raised brows. “Find anything?”
“More of the same that we found with Moore. They were all in pieces and their offices a mess. It looks like someone tossed their offices and took anything important. However, they all had journals that were intact, so we nabbed those.” He holds up multiple bloody, leather-bound books to show Izzy.
She sighs at the news.
“It’s safe to say that the rest of the council won’t be bothering you or Dad anymore,” Rhys adds helpfully, trying to cheer her up.
Izzy snorts. “Always looking on the bright side, Rhys. I wonder what wild story they’re going to try to cook up to explain this. No one knows we were here, so hopefully they leave us out of it.”
Her brother’s mouth twitches up into a small smile until she looks away. Then he lets the worry and exhaustion flit across his face for a moment before shuttering it. The ability to pretend everything is fine when it really isn’t clearly runs in the family.
“So, we ready to go?” Izzy’s tapping a hand against her thigh anxiously, her eyes continuing to dart to the door, like she expects something awful to barge through at any moment.
“Yeah, we can go now, little raven. Unless there’s anything else you need here.”
“Nope. Let’s get out of here,” she says a little too quickly. Izzy waves her hand for all of us to go in front of her. When no one budges, she sighs. “You guys have to go in front of me. I can’t leave the portal open for someone to go through it.”
Bishop crosses his arms over his chest and narrows his eyes on Izzy. “I’d rather someone manage to get through the rift than leave you here alone, sweetheart. We can stand here arguing all day. Or you can accept that you need to go first. It’s your choice.”
Glaring at him, Izzy opens her mouth like she wants to say something but snaps it closed. Instead, she just shakes her head. “I’m too tired to fight with you about this right now, St. James.”
Without another word, Izzy goes through the rift, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
I hate seeing my little raven so down, and I wish I could fix any of it for her.
But I can’t. All I can do is be at her side to offer a shoulder to lean on when everything feels too heavy, a hand to help her up when life knocks her down, and an ear to listen without judgment. As long as she’ll have me, that is.
I’m not the only one who hates seeing Izzy like that. Rhys glares at Bishop before hissing, “Fix it.”
Bishop scrubs a hand over his face. “I will.” With that, he walks through the rift after our mate.
The remaining wolves follow him, eager to get back to our mate. Rhys looks around the office critically, scanning for anything we might’ve missed. When he doesn’t find anything, he marches through the rift without a backward glance.
I bring up the rear. When I walk through, I’m unsurprised to see Seph, Zeus, and Poseidon gone. I turn to Legion. “Did Seph and her mates take Giles?”
He inclines his head. “They did.”
I nod before dropping into my seat and letting my head fall back. Izzy is surrounded by her family, being hugged by her mom and her middle brother at the same time. Her dad is watching it all with a smile on his face.
She’s laughing at their antics, and it feels good to see her like that. She deserves all the love and laughter and happiness in the world because she’s everything good and right in the universe. She’s my entire heart, and I’d do anything and give everything to protect her.
My heart pangs watching her with her normal, functional family.
With a mother like Lua, there wasn’t much light or fun or happiness in our household. There was never a mom to take care of me when I was sick, to hold me when I was hurting, or to give me the motherly love all of us need, regardless of which realm we’re from.
Instead, Lua constantly told Hades and me how worthless, unlovable, and useless we were, along with intermittently trying to kill us.
I thought I had moved past all the grief and pain from those times. Everything that just happened in the council building with Izzy is bringing up those same feelings of never being good enough and being unwanted.
Gritting my teeth, I shove those down because I refuse to make any of this about me. Izzy’s right to be mad at me or hate me or never want to see me again because I did fail her. I didn’t protect her, and that makes me a failure of a mate.
If she can see past my inaction, I will spend the rest of my days making it up to her and proving to her that she made the right choice.
Although, I don’t have high hopes of that being the case. Shoving the thoughts and memories out of my mind, I try to focus on the here and now.
My gaze bounces around the room and lands on Rhys, the only Gallagher not chatting and laughing.
He has his back turned to his family and his hands braced on one of the wooden cabinets along the wall.
The mage’s head hangs down, but his hair obscures his face so I can’t make out his expression.
I don’t need to see it to know that he’s feeling the same devastation me and Izzy’s other mates are feeling.
Izzy shoots her older brother worried glances but doesn’t try to talk to him right now, respecting his privacy. When her gaze clashes with mine, however, she extracts herself from her family and walks over to me.
She bites her lip and watches me nervously. “Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?”
I close my eyes and debate refusing. I don’t know what she wants to talk about, but I can take a guess. I’d rather avoid the conversation, but I will give my mate anything she wants. Reluctantly opening my eyes, I nod. “Yes.”
Giving me a half smile, she waits for me to stand up before walking out of the room. I follow her, even though I know nothing good is going to come from this.