Page 31 of Lunar Desires (Celestial Magic #2)

DRAKE

T he flames tore into the air a hundred feet high, folding over themselves to block out the sky.

Shit.

“Not so clever now, are you?” Jonathon’s voice filled the vortex.

He appeared seconds later, cartoonishly wreathed in flame, molten amber eyes blazing in his face.

My protective instincts kicked in. I stepped in front of Riley, gun trained on the burning wanker.

Jonathon threw his head back, laughing. “Funny. Pointless.” He righted his head, his cruel gaze pinning me. “How will you escape a prison of fire?”

A hint of fear broke through his arrogance, a tiny waver in his voice. He wasn’t as confident as he made out, the desperation Erin spoke of right there. After all, he’d burned through the Rainbow Stones quickly, his chances almost spent.

Riley moved around me, hitting his uncle with Tidal Pull and flung him into the flames, only for him to bounce off the burning wall and land in a crouch. As graceful as a cat.

Jonathon lifted his head, laughter rumbling in the air. “I should’ve opened with this one.”

The walls started closing in, the heat quickly becoming unbearable.

Riley threw Jonathon into the air again, but he landed back in a crouch again, completely unaffected.

Isaac tried his sunlight, getting nowhere.

“Pathetic,” the wanker drawled.

I fired a shot, Jake popping off some of his own. The bullets bounced off Jonathon as if he’d guzzled super-effective Rubberskin.

The prick stood taller, his hands on his hips. “And so approaches the end of House Aurora. Well, aside from me.”

Apparently, that was extremely funny.

“You’re a cocky fuckhead considering you’ve wasted…how many stones now?” Isaac countered.

As the heat rose, sweat pouring down my face, my skin on the verge of blistering, Jonathon froze.

“What did you just say?” he growled.

Isaac picked up the box with the blue stone inside. “Didn’t notice, Uncle?”

“How do you have that?”

Seriously? He didn’t know he’d dropped the stones and we had them? What were they, cloaked from him or something?

“How do you even know what they are?” The walls retreated as his voice went up a pitch.

Isaac, exuding his own form of arrogance, tapped on the box. “You’re not so fucking clever now, are you?”

The flames consuming Jonathon’s body grew, whooshing as if someone threw petrol at him. “Put it down. I’m warning you.”

Isaac popped the lid. “What this? Put it down?”

“I’m warning you,” his uncle seethed.

Poised to dive onto Riley in case of an explosion, I watched every move, determined to keep my boyfriend’s special moonlight in the world.

“Isaac…” Riley breathed, his skin flushed pink from the heat.

The Sun plucked the blue stone from the box, tossing the plastic over his shoulder. He held it up, the fire’s light making it sparkle.

“Stunning,” he said. “Wonder how this would look as a set of earrings.”

Jonathon growled. “You?—”

Isaac snapped, rage a sudden storm in his face. “Shut your fucking mouth. I’m talking now. You either back up or this stone gets smashed.” He brought it closer to his face. “Looks breakable enough. What do you think, little brother?”

Riley folded his arms. “Yeah. Stone go smash.”

They chuckled together.

Rather than attack, Jonathon whimpered, holding up defensive hands. “Please, you have no idea what you’re dealing with.”

“Then tell us,” Riley answered.

The flames retracted further, the top of the funnel opening to let cold air in. It tickled my skin, granting some relief.

Jonathon bowed his head. “Please. Don’t do this.”

Riley strode over to his brother’s side. “Look who’s begging, big brother.”

He spoke with so much malice, in complete contrast with his personality.

I’d noticed a lot of that over the course of the day.

“Funny how things twist,” Isaac said.

To my surprise, Jonathon fell to his knees. “Don’t break it. You have no idea what?—”

“Careless of you to let us get our hands on it so easily,” Riley cut him off.

“I…I didn’t think you’d be alive. But let’s not dwell on nonsense.

” Jonathon’s attempt at a course correction came with a squeaky tone.

“I’ve been too arrogant. You know how it is, boys.

The Aurora blood is so…vicious.” He grinned.

“Even as diluted as it is inside me now, I still feel it. The expectations of it, the rage, the power. It’s never left.

I…” He glanced at the sky. “I blame her, you know. Hecate. For making me this way. For making me do her dirty work.”

“But you didn’t do her dirty work,” Riley rebutted. “You failed. You made the world like it is. The shades are here because of you.”

His uncle narrowed those cruel eyes. I bristled, finger on the trigger. The moment I saw an opening, I’d put a bullet in his flaming skull.

“Breaking the stone will only lead to suffering,” Jonathon added. “Put it away. You need a powerful force to smash it anyway. Let’s talk. Fae magic is not to be trifled with.”

“But you trifled,” Isaac said. “Hypocrite.”

“And you’re scared,” Riley spoke, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. “Which makes me think you’re really screwed.”

Isaac nodded slowly.

Anger flickered in Jonathon’s eyes, the flames of his body scratching at the air. “You have no idea what will happen if you break the stone.”

“Your demise?” Isaac wondered.

The former Moon growled. “Don’t be fools. Listen to me.”

“Shut up!” Riley bellowed. He snatched the stone from Isaac’s hand. “We’re done. You’re done.”

“Listen to me!” Jonathon screamed, lurching forward, his hands desperate claws.

Riley spun, dodging him, unleashing a trip spell as he lumbered past. Jonathon lost his footing, hitting the flaming wall face-first. The flames spat but didn’t burn him. He grunted, pushing himself off the fire, turning with his hands up.

“You’re a smart man, Riley. If you do this, it’s game over for all of us. And nobody wants that.”

Nobody? Meaning the fae woman?

Shit. I had to stop this before something bad happened.

Riley wiped his mouth with his left hand, his right curling around the stone. “Translation: Your death happens. Yeah, I’m smart. Clued up enough to know when I’m winning.”

“Riley—”

“I’m a great force. Tidal Pull can break it.”

“No! Listen to me!” Jonathon wailed.

“Maybe we should think about this, little brother,” Isaac said.

“Agreed,” I added.

But Riley didn’t hear us, his grip on the stone tightening. A darkness consumed him, his jaw tight, everything about him shifting into the shadows.

“By Hecate, I can’t wait to see you die again.” Riley tossed the stone into the air.

I darted forward, marking its trajectory, Jake and Isaac surging forward too.

Shit! I’d hesitated. I should’ve acted quicker. Cooled this down.

Riley used his power, dragging the stone toward him in a pull, about to slam it into the ground. Time slowed, the world holding its breath.

At the same moment, the fae woman dragged me to Blue Orchard, depositing me in the snow once again.

Quiet sobbing resonated inside the cottage.

“What—”

“No time to speak, Sweetvoice,” she said hurriedly behind me. “If the stone breaks, everything within a twenty-mile radius dies.”

“Shit!” I cried, appearing back inside the vortex of fire.

Not hesitating this time, I shot Riley in the leg.