Page 28 of Jade Lion and the Witch Boy (Haunted Hearts: Season of the Witch #5)

I HAVE RETREATED into my subconscious. There is no fighting Ashley and her violent crusade. My body slashes and slashes at the magical rock wall. And my mind is trapped in a red void. In my psyche, I am curled up in a ball, on the red ground deep within my soul.

I wish Seb were here. Ashley is going to alter my fate, use me to kill people.

The wizards may execute me for being part of this hostile plot.

But I don’t care about what they do to me, I only want to see the man I love, my fated mate, one last time.

When last we spoke, we fought, but now I just want to hold him.

“Kai…Kai…”

I can almost hear him in my psyche. I curl in on myself more in the red void of my soul.

“Kai, it’s me.” The voice is louder, clearer. “Kai, get up.”

My eyes open, and I scramble to my knees. Seb. He’s here, standing before me. Is this a memory?

“What…what is happening?”

“Kai, I’m in your mind.” Seb looks around. “It’s really red in here. I expected more…well, jade.”

I sniff, and tears fall down my face. It really is him. “Sebastian!” I stand up and fling myself into a hug. “You’re actually here in my mind!”

He chuckles and squeezes me tight. “I am, baby. I’m here.”

“Oh, it has been awful,” I say through a sob. “Ashley, she took over―”

“I know. And I’m so sorry for our fight. For lying to you.” He cards his fingers through my hair, and I shiver in relief. I know this is deep in my psyche, but I would be okay staying here with him indefinitely.

“But you’re here. How?”

“Luther cast an elaborate spell. And I’m here to help.”

I pull off of him. “An elaborate spell? Was it blood magic?” I rasp.

Seb shrugs, and I rub his arms. “Sebastian, please tell me you did not give up your life force for…”

“There’s no time to argue.” Seb smiles and wipes my tears. “It takes blood magic to stop blood magic. Kai, you can overcome this if we work together.”

I sniff and gaze around at the crimson-red prison. “No, no, I can’t. Ashley, she wants to hurt everyone. Her hold on me is too powerful.”

Seb shakes his head. “You’re the Jade Lion. Nothing is too powerful for you.”

“But Sebastian—”

“Do you know why the ladies wanted me, of all people, to befriend you and cast a spell to take your powers?”

I shake my head.

Seb smiles and says, “It’s because I love you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I love you, you big, beefy kitty cat.”

We share a laugh, and he wipes my cheek again. “And with love, anything is possible.”

“But how can I fight this?”

“Well, do you love me?”

I gulp and nod. “Of course. Since the moment I came to your century, I have felt this pull toward you.”

“Then close your eyes and focus on that pull. Feel my life force, my heart beating for you. Feel my soul, my flesh, my magic. Hold onto the love I have for you, and the love you have for me. Take my life force, my blood, into your hands.”

“But, Sebastian,” I whisper. I close my eyes and feel him step closer to me. “You could lose your blood.”

“I trust destiny wouldn’t do that to me. Our story isn’t over.” He takes my hands, and I luxuriate in the touch. “You’re my fated mate, after all,” Seb whispers on my lips. With a simple kiss, my soul lights up. Seb’s very essence enters my being, from his hands and his mouth on mine.

In moments…we are one.

My arms ache. I blink several times to see…rock? A wall of rock. The source of geo arcanum is before me, and my lion paws hover above the vertical surface.

But I flex my arms. It feels so real.

I crane my neck around to see Ashley staring at the rock wall. Shards and pebbles of geo arcanum are strewn about the ground. I clench and relax my paws one more time.

I’m in control!

“Rarrrgggh!” I roar, and emerald bursts of arcana leave my body like a shock wave. Ashley is pushed down, and my magical energy breaks her shield spell.

“Wha…what?” Ashley asks in distress. She hastily stands up, and I walk over to her. I growl and bare my fangs. If she thinks she can control me and get away with it, she is clearly mistaken. “My…my hex! But how?”

“You are not in control of this body anymore,” I say in my deepest, most threatening tone. I get on my knees and grab her by the throat with both paws. The fear in her eyes is deliciously satisfying. She has no way to reinstate her hold over me.

“Stop!” Two wizard guards rush up to us, wielding their geo arcanum in a threatening stance. “By order of the Sorcery Protection Enforcement of the Union of Mages, you are both under arrest!”

I look back down to see Ashley nervously crying under my hold. It would be so easy to paralyze her, punish her for what she’s done.

“Kai, stop!” In the corner of my eye, a face I did not expect to see arrives. Taina is rushing up to me, now in line with the guards. “You don’t have to do this!”

All of my rage wants to be unleashed. The fragile, vengeful witch in my hands used me like a blunt object. She hurt people, with every intention of hurting more. She should not be allowed to live. The world will be better without her.

“I know Ashley controlled your mind, but you’re free now. Please, Kai. Don’t be the monster she made you to be. It’s not what Seb wants.”

I glance at Taina, the guards, and back down at Ashley. After snarling, I take in a deep breath. “I could end your life in an instant right now if I chose to.”

Ashley trembles in my hold, knowing this could be her final moment.

With a small growl, I loosen my hold. “But that is not the type of man that Sebastian could love.” I shove Ashley to the floor and stand up.

“You are banished from our coven for committing this atrocity. You will never be able to cast spells, and you will never be accepted among wizards or witches. And if you ever threaten my family again…”

I flash my claws at her. Ashley seems shaken, and I know I’ve made my point. With a sigh, I walk toward Taina as the guards slowly approach her. There are so many things I want to ask her, but I’m interrupted by a commotion behind me.

“I still have all the POWER!” Ashley shrieks. Turning around, I witness her cobbling together the shards of geo arcanum on the ground. “I can still make you SUFFER!”

“No, stop!” the guards say in unison. I stand in front of Taina, shielding her, as the wizard guards put up energy barriers for themselves.

“You will burn! You…will…” Ashley lifts up the shards in her arms, at least twenty pieces, and they all float in the air. A red glow emanates from her body, and she is clearly preparing for a magical blast. The geo revolves around her, like planets in a galaxy, faster and faster.

Before I can cast any counterspells, I sense a massive shift in energy. The red arcana is quickly pulled inward, like a small vortex, inside Ashley’s body. The geo arcanum shards, floating a moment ago, fall to the ground.

And Ashley looks dead. Her skin is charred, and her hair has fallen off. Her clothes are tattered, and I can smell the burnt flesh from yards away. However, she is alive, at least for now. When the wizard guards rush to her, she coughs and stares forward unblinking.

Ashley debilitated herself.

I exchange a horrified look with Taina as three older wizards in white robes approach.

“It’s Sorcery 101,” the older Black man says.

“We must never use more than one shard of geo arcanum at a time. The magical feedback could be catastrophic, hence…” He vaguely points at Ashley being whisked away by the guards.

Another one of these regal wizards, an older White man, approaches me and taps my elbow.

“It’s so great to finally meet the fabled Jade Lion.

I wish it were under better circumstances.

” We all glance at more wizards cleaning up the mess of shards.

They’re using brooms and clear bags, and it is comforting to see they’re familiar with mortal methods of cleaning.

“Give the man some space,” the third wizard, a Brown woman, says. The other men defer to her, and I know instinctively that they are heads of the Union. She turns to me and adds, “Sir, we have a lot of questions. But first…”

She points in the distance, and my heart drops. I rush several yards to the periphery of the room, shifting into human form as I go. I kneel down where Anika and Lisbeth are both seated. Propped against a wall is the man I love.

Seb is unconscious. And he’s pale, thinner, and looks as though he could die at any moment.

“No…nonono.” Tears well up in my eyes as I hold his hand.

His pulse is thready, and he seems so frail.

The sad look in Lisbeth’s eyes confirms what none of us have to say.

He sacrificed his life force just now to free me.

“No, no, please, Sebastian. Please don’t leave me. I love you, so please don’t…” I rasp. My soul shatters, and I hug him. I try to infuse my arcana into him to heal his heart, but to no avail.

“That’s the cost of the spell,” Lisbeth says quietly. “His blood, his life force…it can’t be replenished by magical means.”

Tears fall down my face as I shake my head. “We have to do something,” I say in a broken voice. He’s on the cusp of death, and my world shatters little by little.

All this power, and I cannot heal the man I love, my fated mate.

“Please, Sebastian…stay with me.” As I rock him back and forth in my arms, he breathes in weak gasps.

I chant those words, a prayer to the heavens, over and over.

Several wizards arrive to take him on a rolling bed, talking about mortal medical treatments.

The world moves on in slow motion as Seb leaves.

My coven stays close and holds me as I watch the man I love being taken away from me on his deathbed.