Page 20 of Magic Betrayed (The Shifter of Sheridan Avenue #2)

TWENTY

Kes had said she’d been siphoning Ethan’s magic, but it was difficult to tell as he stepped out onto the porch with a dreamy, detached expression on his face.

“The fire!” I heard someone scream from inside the house. “Put out the fire.”

The fools. They’d been so afraid of the flames, they’d unleashed something a thousand times worse.

I did not blame him. Not ever. Ethan, too, was at the mercy of the magic raging within him—tearing at his mind and the very fabric of his reality. I only hoped there was some way to save us, and him, from the consequences of Elayara’s hubris.

“You probably won’t listen to me,” I said in a conversational tone, “but that man will kill us all if you threaten him. If you want to live, I suggest withdrawing and hoping to all the gods you’ve ever heard of that we can contain him in time.”

“I’ll say this for you,” the fae woman acknowledged, stroking her thumb along the sharp edge of her blade with a slight smile. “You’re not afraid to bluff.”

“I only wish I were bluffing,” I told her grimly. “And in a minute, you’re going to wish it too.”

“There are five of us, and one of him,” she said with a shrug. “Not sure what you think he can do that we can’t stop.”

I let out a short bark of laughter. “There was only one of me, too.”

Her glare was sharp and poisonous. “And a dragon , you pretentious little twit.”

Fine. At least I’d tried. Now, no matter what happened to them, my conscience was clear, so I turned every bit of my attention to escaping the roots that entrapped my feet before Ethan lost control. Somehow, I had to get everyone as far away as possible before then.

Into the woods. At night. On an ankle that was likely broken.

“Hey, you!” The fire elemental suddenly strode towards Ethan. “Come over here. We won’t hurt you—we just want to talk to you.”

Oh no. No, no, no.

Ethan’s chin lifted. His slender frame twitched, and in the space of an eye-blink, the flames on the roof of the house winked out.

The fae woman swore and took a step in his direction, but it was too late. A moment later, the ground tore open as if it were made of tissue paper, and the fire elemental yelped in panic as he tumbled forward into the hole that suddenly yawned at his feet.

No one had time to even try to save him. We heard a single, terrified scream, the ground underfoot rumbled ominously, and then the hole closed with a sound like a thunderclap.

For a few moments, no one even blinked. They all just stared as if they couldn’t quite believe what they’d seen, and then everyone moved at once.

I’ll give them this—these bounty hunters weren’t quitters. In the space of a breath, they zeroed in on Ethan as the primary threat and went after him with everything they had.

The bear simply charged. The drus shifted his focus, and as he did so, the roots around my feet loosened slightly. It wasn’t enough for me to escape, but the sudden loss of support caught me off guard and I fell, even as more roots erupted from the ground where the fire elemental had disappeared.

The fae woman shielded her body in blue and stepped forward, both of her hands crackling with magic. And the goblin… To be honest, I had no idea what his magic might be, but he, too, moved towards Ethan, the four of them converging on his position with deadly intent.

Time seemed to slow. Each step they took was an eternity—their progress lit by the glow of the bonfires and marked by the rhythm of blood pounding in my ears. I genuinely didn’t know what Ethan would do. How, or even whether he would respond. And as I watched, unable to stop or interfere with what was happening, I caught a glimpse of his face—of the agony written there by years of unending struggle against magic that had taken over his body—and I wondered for an instant whether he might choose to accept the death that confronted him. To give in to the voices that whispered he would never find hope. Never find a solution or acceptance in this world.

And in that same moment…

I suddenly understood why Kes had stayed. I knew why she’d been willing to sacrifice so much in spite of the kidnapping, in spite of the enmity, and in spite of the risk.

Because Ethan, too, deserved hope. Deserved a home. Deserved to have a family who would never abandon or betray him. Deserved someone who would fight with him and for him against the demons that raged unchecked within his own mind and body.

Maybe I had no idea how to defeat them, either. But I knew their voices. I knew the weapons they wielded and the damage they could inflict. So if at the end of this day we were all still standing… If he chose hope…

I would choose it with him.

But only if I survived. And to do that, I needed to get further away from this fight. But with my feet still bound…

I strained once more against the roots, but they held firm, even as the ground rumbled ominously beneath me. I would have to cut them. Somehow, I gathered enough will and desperation to form a blade of fae magic and begin to hack at the roots, but they were tough and tenacious, and I was shaking with adrenaline.

And then my fragile focus was shattered. With a hungry roar, the bonfires the bounty hunters had set around the house suddenly flared skyward, soaring twenty feet or more and illuminating every detail of the scene as clear as day. The four mercenaries stood poised to crush the slender form of Ethan, who awaited them relaxed and unafraid. Almost unaware. He neither crouched nor bent, nor even lifted his hands.

He only raised his chin, closed his eyes…

…and summoned a tornado from the clear night sky.

I watched in horrified awe as the narrow, twisting, seething column of wind materialized around him. Somehow it left his body untouched as it raged and howled, pulling in dust and debris from the surroundings until I could no longer see him standing there, unmoving in the midst of the terror he’d created.

The bounty hunters never stood a chance. The bear shifter and the goblin were a few feet away and were instantly picked up by the vortex. The last I heard of them was a panicked cry that was quickly drowned out by the roar of the wind.

The fae tried to reverse course, but she wasn’t fast enough. She, too, was swept up and disappeared, leaving only the drus, who had anchored himself to the ground with roots.

Perhaps it would have worked against an ordinary windstorm. But against the power of Ethan’s air magic? This last line of defense served only as a prison to hold him when the winds turned even the smallest bits of debris into airborne projectiles. Just like his companions, the drus’s screams cut off abruptly, and then there was no sound but the hungry roar of the storm as I crouched as low as I could, staring my own death in the face.

For a moment, I thought I heard a new roar, blending with the sound of the wind, but it was faint, and I chose to ignore it as I found myself suddenly freed from the drus’s magic.

The instant the roots released me, I flattened myself to the ground, my arms curled over my head for protection. Our enemies were gone, but Ethan seemed unaware that there was no further need for defense. The storm continued to rage, and as I watched, the tornado visibly widened. If this didn’t stop, it would eventually take the entire house with it.

I had to reach him. Had to somehow convince him that there was no more danger… only the risk of his own magic flaring out of control. But I couldn’t even see him now, and I could hear nothing over the churn and howl of the unnatural storm.

And yet, I had to try something, so I screamed his name and began to crawl forward.

I was too late.

The winds surged, and then I was spinning. Flying. Unable to tell up from down, battered by who even knew what as I screamed in terror so visceral that I nearly blacked out. At least, I thought I was screaming, but the winds were so loud that I couldn’t even hear myself.

It wasn’t how I ever thought I would die. I’d left so much undone. So many of the people I loved were still in danger.

But I’d tried. I’d given it everything I had, and that, at least, was worth something.

If only I’d had a chance…

I felt a tremendous jolt. Something popped, and my mouth filled with the warm, coppery tang of blood, but I wasn’t spinning anymore. I was rising. Floating. As if an enormous hand was lifting me into the air, making me feel like I was going to throw up. Maybe this was what it felt like to die.

Raine.

It wasn’t a voice. Wasn’t even a thought. It was an overwhelming feeling that someone had snatched my very soul from the jaws of death and was calling me back.

Anchoring me to my name.

Fanciful idiocy or death’s door poetry, no one would ever know.

Because when I felt it again, I opened my eyes and saw the wide, dark world spread out beneath me. The moon still shone, the fires still raged, but both seemed far away. I was indeed being held securely, and when I put out my hands, I found warm, smooth scales beneath my fingertips…

Callum.

I could have sobbed with relief.

No wait, I was sobbing. And in the midst of it, I could feel him—feel the bond between us trembling with the echoes of his own fear, with the full terrible measure of his fury, and with so many questions we didn’t have time for.

“Callum, we have to go back. If we don’t stop him, Ethan will destroy everything.”

I felt his reluctance, but he wheeled and dove, making my stomach lurch once more. Maybe on another occasion—if I wasn’t fighting for my life, spitting blood, and shaking with the aftermath of my brush with death—I would have been awed by the sensation of flying.

As it was? I really just wanted to be back on solid ground.

We touched down well away from the house, in the middle of the dirt-track driveway, and even as the dragon’s feet hit the ground, the vortex dissolved, leaving only intense winds that thrashed at the trees and whipped the flames of the bonfire into a frenzy. Several of the trees caught, and I watched them blaze up, horrified by the destructive power we were witnessing.

“What in the name of all Idria is happening?” The low growl from the shadows behind me filled me with a relief so profound, I forgot my broken ankle and tried to pivot to face my boss as he walked up out of the darkness.

So naturally I fell over. Callum growled and snatched me up again.

“I’m okay,” I insisted, knowing full well that was probably a lie, but not in a place to really explore all that was likely wrong with me. “My ankle is broken, but that’s it.”

That’s it? The sense of mingled outrage and concern from the dragon was impossible to mistake.

“We have to hurry. Before he loses control and burns up half of Logan County.”

“Who’s he ?” Shane appeared beside Faris, anger and determination evident in his dark tone.

“Ethan.”

I saw that hit him.

“Crap.”

A severe understatement of the situation.

“Here’s the rundown. The kidnappers brought me here to try to threaten Kes. But we were found by bounty hunters and the ghost twins. I managed to scare off the Tanners, but then the bounty hunters caught me and were using me to get Kes out of the house. The house caught on fire, and… I guess Chesney sent Ethan out to deal with it. The bounty hunters are…” I hesitated to say dead without proof, but it seemed likely. “I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”

Unfortunately, that left us facing a far more terrifying enemy. “Ethan has lost control. He’s…”

I took a deep, steadying breath before admitting the truth. “He’s like me. But Elayara gave him all four elements, and it broke him. He’s not stable without someone to siphon his power, and I’m afraid if we don’t stop him he’ll accidentally kill everyone in that house and possibly us too.”

I looked around. “Is this everyone?”

Faris nodded. “Callum could only bring two of us. Draven and Rath were going to come, but they were called away. Attempted coup in the Fae Court. Someone tried to murder Dathair.”

Poor Rath. It was just as he’d told me. His court would always have to come before his heart.

“And Ari?”

“She’s safe with Kira,” Faris promised me firmly.

Good. That was good. Now all we needed was a plan…

“Let’s go.” Shane wasn’t waiting for a plan. He was already running, and Faris was close behind. Not away from the danger, but towards it. Ready to face an out-of-control elemental on my behalf.

“We have to go with them,” I told Callum urgently. “Ethan may attack them on sight, and if he does…”

Faris might have a chance, but only if he could catch Ethan by surprise and overwhelm him with stronger earth magic. And the truth was? I had no idea who was stronger.

I could tell Callum didn’t want to go—not because he was afraid, but because he didn’t want to take me anywhere near the battle that was about to happen. But he didn’t hesitate. Just picked me up once more in those terrifying dragon claws and took off, fighting the winds until he was able to touch down at the edge of the clearing where the house stood.

The bonfires raged on—bathing everything in a diabolical orange light—but the house remained untouched. And Ethan… He had yet to move. His head was tilted back, his eyes were closed, and he looked almost peaceful. As if the chaos and fury that surrounded us had been locked up within him all this time, and it was a relief to set it free.

I needed to get his attention and not be seen as a threat, so as soon as I was standing again, I looked up at Callum.

“I have to go alone,” I said, and tried to ignore the look of betrayal in those glowing dragon eyes. “It’s our only chance. I’m afraid you’ll scare him into escalating. Just be ready to grab me if things don’t go well.”

I heard a rumbling growl, but then that mountain of scales and claws and terrifying teeth looked me dead in the eye… and nodded. Trusting me, just as he always had.

Behind us, Faris and Shane came jogging up, and I signaled for them to wait.

Then I turned and began to hobble, step by broken step, towards the man who had already nearly killed me once.

It hurt. With every shuffling, limping stride, a spike of agony shot through my ankle, but I held on and reminded myself that my shifter magic could heal even this. I would walk again in days, rather than months.

And when I was close enough…

“Ethan.”

He didn’t respond.

“Ethan, please. It’s Raine. We’re all safe now. You need to stop.”

His chin lowered, slowly. And his eyes flashed open.

Glowing like twin suns. So much magic was coursing through him that they lit up his face with scintillating color, harbingers of the terrifying power he held with such tenuous strength.

He looked in my direction, but if he saw me, there was no recognition on his face—only that terrible glow of raw magic. I felt the winds begin to gather once more, and knew that if he formed another tornado…

I had no defenses. It was too far for Callum to grab me. I would be dead in an instant, just like the bounty hunters. Ethan could turn me into a torch or bury me in the ground, and no one would be able to stop him.

One of his hands lifted. He looked down for a moment, staring at his own palm, then turned it towards me. His gaze narrowed, and then…

“ Ethan, no! ” The heart-wrenching cry pierced through the sound of the wind. “Please. Listen to me.”

I was pretty sure my heart stopped.

Kes was on the porch. No, she was moving towards us, coming down the stairs at a run, heading straight for Ethan with pleading and terror on her face.

“I can help you,” she said. “I promise I will help you if you take my hand.”

She stretched out her hand, reaching for him…

The earth heaved underfoot. Like an ocean wave, it rose and rippled, and the motion threw Kes across the clearing.

I didn’t even have time to scream. Just heard her brief cry of pain as she landed, hard enough to steal breath and break bones.

Ethan turned to see where she’d fallen. Took a step in her direction.

His eyes shut once more, and in a display of power as shocking as the tornado, he simply snuffed out the fire that roared through the trees. The wind died without a whimper, and the only sound was the bonfires set by the bounty hunters—still crackling away, but calmer now, as if untouched by the violence around them.

For one brief instant, I thought the worst was over. That he’d heard us and understood that the danger was gone.

But when his eyes opened again, the glow remained, and the ground began to shake underfoot with the first ominous warnings of his intent.

I heard the house begin to creak and groan as it swayed. The turret folded in on itself without warning, then the balcony, just before the door flew open and people spilled out into the yard, running for their lives.

Jacob, Bianca, Reese, Chesney, and… that must be Noah.

But where was Logan?

I screamed his name. I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I couldn’t reach him. Couldn’t help him.

But then Faris was there. His skin seemed turned to stone, his eyes glittered like emeralds, and his grim expression promised there was nothing in the world that could stand between him and Logan. “I’ve got him. You stay alive.”

Callum was right behind him, earthbound for now, but more than ready to simply pick me up and take me out of there.

“I can’t,” I murmured, even as his comforting bulk loomed behind me, lending me strength merely by his presence. “I can’t give up on him, Callum.”

Almost as if he’d heard me, Ethan suddenly moved. The ground beneath Kes surged up and threw her again, and she would have slammed into a tree had she not been snatched out of the air by… Shane.

The golden-eyed mercenary wrapped her up in his arms mid-leap and rolled when he fell, protecting her with his own body as Ethan continued to bat them around like a cat, toying with its prey.

Maybe I was being na?ve. Maybe this was Ethan’s true nature and there was no way to save him. But how could I know whether the destruction and vengeance were truly his own impulse, or that of the magic raging wildly through his veins?

I wanted so badly to give him a chance. The same chance I’d been granted. But if it was going to risk the lives of everyone I loved…

No.

There was another way.

A path I never wanted to take, and only a slim chance at that.

There was still a part of my magic I’d never explored. One that terrified me, and one that I knew would make me even more of a pariah than I already was.

Even Callum…

A bolt of agony pierced my chest at the thought, but I couldn’t go there. Not now. I couldn’t choose whether or not to help Ethan based on how I thought Callum would react.

If there was any chance it might work—any chance it might allow us to leave here with everyone still alive…

I had to take it.

“Do you trust me?” I asked simply, gathering what remained of my courage, my will, and my determination.

At my back, I felt the solid warmth of certainty, acceptance, even… something more. So I clung to that something more. Recalled the moment we’d stood outside the Symposium and I’d told him I was about to ruin everything. And Callum… Even then, he’d said that if it was the right thing to do, he would support me. I was about to fall back on that promise one more time, and hope that he was still willing to catch me.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. Sorry for the secrets I’ve kept. Sorry if this feels like a betrayal. I hope…”

I hoped. That was all I could do. All any of us could do.

So I bit back the pain and hobbled a few steps towards Ethan before I dove deep into my own mind—reaching for the magic I’d never wanted to acknowledge.

Siren .

A siren’s power wasn’t just for hunches—that part was just a passive effect. It also gave me the ability to manipulate others with my voice. To convince them to do things they might otherwise not consider.

A lot of Idrians harbored distrust towards sirens—for understandable reasons—so even when I’d revealed the truth about my past, I’d kept the nature of my fourth power a secret. Only Rath knew, but now that secrecy was over. I was going to have to use this magic against Ethan—attempt to override his own will and force him to stand down.

And I was going to have to do it in front of Callum, whose inexplicable trust in me might not extend quite this far.

Even I had doubts. But if it was me… If it was my own magic raging out of control, I would want someone to stop me. I wouldn’t be able to live with waking up from that nightmare and realizing I’d harmed someone I cared about.

The ground still shook. But Ethan was focused on Kes, so he didn’t seem to see me coming. Not until I was right behind him and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, using it to hold myself up even as I reached for him with magic that kept sliding through my fingers.

“Ethan. You need to stop now.”

His head turned, eyes aflame, and I stared straight into the pits of a torment so hellish that I nearly cringed away.

“Why?” His voice rasped at me from a throat gone raw, and I heard the echoes of both power and pain. “Why not let it all burn?”

Where was my magic? I knew I could do this, because I’d done it before. But only by accident. So how could I convince this long buried part of myself to rise to the surface before it was too late?

“This isn’t you, Ethan.”

That was only a guess. There was a chance he’d been violent and power-hungry even before Elayara got to him. But I didn’t think so. He’d sent Ari away, because he didn’t want to hurt her. He’d accepted Kes’s help. And even when he’d helped kidnap me, I’d sensed no hostility. He’d probably thought I would welcome the chance that they could help me, just as he had.

“All of this destruction… It’s the magic—the power that was forced on you. You don’t have to give in. We can help.”

“The fire has burned me to ash,” he said, in that same hollow rasp. “There is nothing left of me. Nothing but destruction, so why not let it end?”

I couldn’t let him give up. Not now. Not when hope was finally within reach. The very thought filled me with fury at those who had hurt us, and in the midst of that fury, I felt suddenly lightheaded as magic flooded my mind, swirling with unseen currents as it drew words from the very heart of my being and shaped them on my tongue.

“No,” I said, and the power of that single syllable resonated through my chest with more than the sound of my own voice. “You are more , Ethan. More than this power. More than Elayara tried to make of you. You have always been more.” A thread of magic wound through my words, humming with a peculiar resonance that buzzed against my teeth. “And now you are not alone. We will help you. Fight for you. Please let us.”

For a moment, the tremors intensified, and I heard a heart-rending crash from behind me. More of the house falling to ruin. Had Faris made it out with Logan?

No, I couldn’t lose focus.

“I’m scared,” Ethan said, his voice trembling as hard as the earth beneath our feet.

“I know.” I let go of his shoulder and set my hand on his cheek, finding it wet with tears. “I am too. But we won’t leave you again.”

The glow in his eyes faded. His shoulders began to shake. And on his other side, Shane staggered up with Kes in his arms, her face pale but determined.

“His hand,” she murmured. “Give me his hand.”

Ethan’s arms hung loose by his side, and when I took his hand and gave it to Kes, he did not resist.

I saw when his power began to leave his body, flowing into Kes’s and pinching her lips with the agony of the transfer. I saw when she reached her limit but continued to take his magic into herself, growing paler and weaker by the second. I opened my mouth to stop her, but then his shoulders slumped, and all at once he crumpled, dropping to the ground in a boneless heap and taking me with him.

The tremors stopped. But in that sudden silence, I heard a deep, tortured groan. Timbers creaking. Joints protesting. My head jerked up, and I watched in horror as the Haversmith House finally gave way and collapsed onto itself.

Boards and pillars snapped. Debris flew, and I could hear it thudding to the ground all around me. But none of it touched us, because the dragon was faster—Callum had put his body between us and the danger, letting the shrapnel bounce harmlessly off his scales.

We huddled there until the sounds stopped. Until the remains of the house finally settled and the clearing was silent, but for the sound of my breath, rasping in and out of my chest. The sound of Ethan crying softly, while Kes whispered comfort.

We’d done it. We’d stopped Ethan before he lost control entirely. But at what cost?

I had no idea what Callum was thinking or if he’d forgive me, but in that moment, the fear of his rejection was pushed aside by one last desperate thought.

Had Faris found Logan in time?

I pushed off the ground, ignoring the pain as I left Ethan with Kes and Shane and started hobbling back towards the remains of the house, choking on dust and smoke and overwhelming fear. The fires were still smoldering, but they’d burned through the majority of their fuel, and would die soon, leaving us in darkness.

We just had to find Logan before then. He had to be okay. Faris was far too tough to die just because a house fell on him, but Logan was still a skinny teenager—all bones and eyes and awkward enthusiasm. He’d been helpless to save himself, so Faris had to have gotten to him in time. This wasn’t how our story was going to end. Not after everything we’d survived.

I didn’t get very far before Callum’s dark, scaled bulk stopped me, his massive head lowered to regard me sternly out of those fiery, reptilian eyes.

I was almost too afraid to look at him. If he was judging me, if he was angry, I didn’t want to see it right now. But when I refused to acknowledge him, he nudged me with his nose—gently, but firmly.

My hands shot out to steady me against the warmth of his shoulder, and then I couldn’t help but feel his emotions.

Calm. Steadiness. Strength. He was begging me to lean on him. There was an undercurrent of anger there, but it was deep, and under tight control—waiting for the right moment. And I was weak, hurting, and terrified, so I chose to pretend that everything was all right. I leaned in and rested my forehead against his massive shoulder while I breathed through the pain and uncertainty.

Perhaps it was selfish, but as I stood there with my eyes closed, I wished that he was not in dragon shape. I wished that he was a man, with arms that could hold me and a voice to tell me whether he was angry. But tonight, I’d needed the dragon, and because I knew how frequently he felt that his dragon shape was useless, I decided to tell him that.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for being… you. You’re the only reason I’m alive.”

No one else could have snatched me from the jaws of the winds, or sheltered us from the debris when the house collapsed. No one else could have brought Faris and Shane quickly enough to save us.

Strangely, I suddenly began to feel warmer, so I opened my eyes, and saw that Callum had curved his neck around me, tucking me against him in the very next best thing to a hug.

And it was as I rested there, letting silent tears begin to fall, that the ground began to rumble once more.

My head came up, and I darted a panicked look at Ethan, but he was still lying next to Kes—his power gone for now.

Hope shot through me, heady and painful, as Callum and I hobbled closer to the remains of the house. We were only a handful of yards away when the ground just ahead of us erupted—breaking apart into a heaving sea of dirt and stone.

And rising up from the depths was a human form—broad and solidly built, formed of pale stone and golden clay, with a grim jaw, shimmering green eyes, and powerful arms that held the curled up shape of…

“Logan!”

“He’s fine,” Faris rumbled, his color gradually changing as his magic began to fade. “I’d already tunneled under the foundation when it all collapsed.”

Logan’s head lifted, and he blinked at me out of shining brown eyes. “We earth-travelled,” he announced, slurring his words as if slightly drunk. “It was the best . I wanna learn it now.”

I saw a few things all at once, and they swirled together in my mind as I weaved on my feet…

The look of awe and admiration Logan directed at Faris.

The fierce relief and protectiveness in Faris’s grip on his young protégé.

And the faint light of a dawn sky beginning to glimmer overhead.

There was probably a profound realization in there somewhere, but I was in no place to appreciate it.

As I swayed unsteadily, trying to come to grips with the fact that it was over and everyone was safe, I heard the sound of an engine. All of us turned together and watched as a battered station wagon came rocketing down the drive, skidding to a stop as soon as the remains of the house came into view.

The door opened, and the stunned face of Seamus emerged. He looked at me and Faris. Shot a look at the dragon. Rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“Next time,” he said, “it sure would be nice if ya’ll would tell me when you change the time of the party.”