Page 19 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha (Witch Twins #2)

Electra

Bastien paused, swivelling his head to the right, then to the left.

His nostrils flared and then he pulled me along with him, down the left-hand side of the corridor.

He was still holding my hand, but he’d moved to be in the lead.

The space was almost eerily silent. I didn’t bother questioning him on the choice of direction.

In his shifted form, his senses were far superior to mine and I trusted him to lead us away from any danger he could sense.

He still hadn’t spoken to me since he’d shifted but he clearly understood at least some of what was said to him.

As vicious as he had been when he killed the men in our cell, he had been careful with me.

Too careful. My fingers tapped out an angry tattoo against my thigh, temper belatedly sparking in my veins that he hadn’t taken off my manacles.

I could have used magic to help us get out of here. I grumbled as I walked.

“No, don’t take off the Witch’s manacles. Why would you need your bodyguard to be able to do her job? Remember what I can do? My pre-cog? Remember how I prevented that sniper from taking you out?”

Without my pre-cog, I felt empty. And, I was prepared to admit, useless.

In the cell, I had briefly felt free. The absence of my pre-cog hadn’t mattered while we were trapped in there.

Anyone who came in was already a threat.

My magic couldn’t have told me anything that I didn’t already know.

But now that we were moving, it was a different matter.

I could handle not having my offensive magic.

While Bastien was in his non-human form, he could take care of himself.

And he was so big that I just had to hide behind him.

I felt an inappropriate urge to snicker.

Seriously, the guy was enormous. I had no doubts about his ability to keep us safe.

But missing my special magic was beyond weird.

For my whole life since I’d developed the rarest of magical abilities, it had defined who I was.

It had shaped my life. My career path. I could see the corridor ahead of me.

I could hear our footsteps on the linoleum floor.

But I felt as though I was both blind and deaf.

What good did it do me to see or hear? My physical senses didn’t tell me if we were in danger.

Was this how people who didn’t have my abilities felt?

How did they cope? Humans First could be planning an ambush, and I had no way of knowing.

I couldn’t help. The realisation that I brought nothing to our rescue was like a hammer blow to my psyche.

Bastien should have left me in the cell and got himself out.

I was already weakened from lack of food and water.

I had seen how quickly he could move. I was slowing him down.

I was useless. A burden. My chest tightened, my breaths becoming shallower and black spots swam in my vision.

I tugged at his hand. “Wait.” My feet dragged. I was falling. I put out my free hand on instinct, trying to break my fall. But before I could hit the hard floor, I was pulled into Bastien’s arms.