Page 31 of Unhinged Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #2)

“I know, trust me, I get it.” Swirling my ring around my thumb, I dared to hold his hardened stare. “I didn’t believe it either at first.”

Moments passed where silence lingered between us, filling the group with questionable looks and uncomfortable breaths.

It wasn’t until Colton spoke that I realized I had been holding my own.

“Go on,” he urged.

I stared down at my hands, splotchy, clammy, and…

empty. Taking a deep breath, I imagined Wesley’s hand in mine, the way it should have been when we finally broke our news to the group.

I gathered any confidence the universe could offer me in the moment.

“Wesley feels our bond in its entirety, but I don’t. ”

“You’re wrong,” Tyler levelled, obviously trying to keep his shit together. All fisted palms and darkened eyes, he looked on the edge of an attack. “He wouldn’t keep a thing like this from me.”

“Wouldn’t he?” I countered. “He knew you would act like this, knew you wouldn’t have a bar of him sniffing around me. That’s why we kept this between us until we figured out what was going on.”

Tyler sank back into his chair, words strapped to his chest under tightly folded arms. A nerve twitched in his jaw. He didn’t believe me. His own sister.

Morgan shuffled in her seat beside him. “Ty, you and I both know bonds can be concealed for whatever reason, but Skye, if what you’re saying is true, do you know what the problem is?”

I sighed, my words coming on a drawn-out breath. “Wesley’s twin brother.”

Jade’s jaw dropped.

“Oh, shit.” I followed Reid’s voice to find him now on the edge of his seat. I’d clearly sparked his attention.

Morgan’s whisper breezed over the group. “Wesley has a twin?”

Tyler deadpanned me. “His brother is dead.”

Colton moved in his seat, causing the legs of his chair to scuff the floor. “He died when he was young. Fell down a well.”

Morgan’s hand flew to her cheek.

Colton cleared his throat, continuing. “It’s not common knowledge, and when I say this it’s to stay within the group. But… there were rumors it was Wes that pushed him.”

My stomach hollowed out, a sinking feeling replacing what I was sure would propel from my stomach at any moment. I couldn’t comprehend his words. I didn’t believe them for a second. “He would never do something like that,” I retorted, gripping both sides of my seat.

Colton’s head dipped to the side. “I’m not judging, nor am I pointing the finger. He was young, and no one will ever know for sure what happened.”

I didn’t believe it for a second.

I let my head rest in my hands. I had to believe Wesley had a kind heart. That there was a reason for all of this. Somewhere deep inside of me, I had to believe he did what he did before he left for us .

Colton’s voice pulled me back from my own thoughts. “Back to Wes’s brother: Skye, what are you trying to tell us here?”

I looked back up again, feeling the color drain from my face at the thought of the words I was about to say out loud. Static filled my brain as I willed myself to continue the conversation.

“Skye?” Jade pushed.

I righted myself in my chair, shoving my hands beneath my thighs. “I think his brother’s ghost is the problem. He’s been visiting me.”

Reid’s brows pinched together. “Back up there, you see ghosts?”

This was the first time I’d told the group this information. I wasn’t surprised at Reid’s question.

“Long story, but yes,” I confirmed.

Jade’s eyes widened. “Wow.”

I continued, gripping the seat underneath my legs to keep my hands from shaking. “I don’t think Wesley’s brother can move on. I think that’s why the bond is not right.”

A low whistle left Reid.

Jade scrunched up her face this time, confusion wrinkling her features. “Let me get this straight. Wes thinks he’s your mate, but so does his dead twin brother?”

“Trust me, I know how crazy this sounds,” I offered.

Morgan’s voice seemed to finally register. “If Wesley’s brother was supposed to be your fated mate, and he died…”

“Then next in line would possibly be Wes,” finished Colton.

Tyler stood from his chair, throwing his hands in the air. “Stop making excuses for him. If he was your fated mate, why would he pull the shit he just did?”

“Ty!” Morgan cried out beside him, her knuckles whitening as she gripped his biceps. “What if this is true? What if Wesley really is Skye’s mate?” She stood in front of him, her hands palming his cheeks. “What if he had his reasons?”

“Like what?” he objected, still not convinced.

Morgan shook her head. “I don’t know… but what if this was us? What if you could feel the bond between us and I couldn’t? How would you feel?”

I held my breath as he contemplated her words.

“Desperate,” he said flatly, and my heart fell , shattering into a million pieces.

This was a man who had found his fated mate and could feel the bond.

He knew exactly how it would feel to be put in the same situation.

That one word weirdly gave me an inkling of hope.

Because I knew desperation did many things to a person.

Made them not think clearly, act as they normally wouldn’t.

Desperation was the cracked riverbed in the desert sun, and right then, I wanted a trickle of rain to fill the open wounds carved into the dry riverbank that was my heart. To heal the constant ache in my chest.

“Exactly,” Morgan murmured.

Tyler ran a hand up the side of his face until it rested on the bridge of his nose. “How do you know he’s not bluffing?” When he turned to me it felt different this time. Like he would consider what I was saying, at least. “How are you certain it was the mate bond?”

I drew in a shaky breath. “I felt it, every sensation, even if only for a few seconds, but it was there. It was… like nothing I could have imagined.”

Reid shifted in his seat, folding his arms across his chest. He suddenly averted his gaze.

“When? How?” Tyler questioned.

I felt I owed him the truth, as hard as this would be for him to find out his best friend had crossed the line of friendship. “When he kissed me.”

I was prepared for the room to erupt, but surprisingly, it stilled.

Tyler didn’t speak, his eyes hardening into something I had only ever seen once before, when Morgan had gone missing.

Instead of the outburst I had prepared myself for, he simply held my gaze like he finally realized there was truth to my words.

Like he finally believed me. Credit to him, he held it together, his hands clasping together behind his head as he left the circle quietly, momentarily processing the information, I guessed.

Morgan’s attention drifted from him back to me. “Where do we go from here?”

I gathered a breath, addressing the group. “I guess I’m asking for your help. For advice. What do I do? How do I fix this? When Wesley returns, I need a plan.”

“ If he returns,” said Tyler as he turned to the room again. He continued to pace the floor, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

“ When he returns, and that could be a year from now or tomorrow, I need this sorted. I need him. ” My voice cracked. I knew in my heart he would return, and as much as I was angry at him, I would hear him out. I owed him that.

“Have you tried to speak with his brother’s ghost?” said Colton.

I nodded. “We tried but got interrupted. At the old manor on the outskirts of town.”

Reid held up his arms. “You really shouldn’t fuck with the dead.”

“I know this more than anyone. But I can’t just sit and wait for him to just show up. He never speaks. And last time when he saw Wesley, he looked angry.”

“Walk me through what happened at the manor,” said Colton abruptly, authority filling his tone.

I told them about the Ouija board, about Wes about to puke, the photograph appearing out of nowhere and shattering. How had I forgotten about the photograph?

“Tell us about this photo. You say it just appeared?” Colton questioned further.

“Yeah, it was pretty creepy, really.” I chewed my lip at the memory of it stashed in my drawer in my bedroom.

Morgan’s voice sounded again. “Have you figured out who the people in the photo are?”

I shook my head. “No, to be honest, it slipped my mind. I figured it was connected to the house, not us.”

She bobbed her head. “Interesting.”

That one word seemed to pull me from my haze of the last two months. Maybe there was more to this photo than I realized. Wesley even mentioned the woman looking strangely like myself. Why had I not thought of this before?

Scar spoke beside me. “I say we get this photo and firstly, figure out who is in it. You never know, they may be connected.”

“Great idea,” said Morgan. “I’m here to help. Just say the word.”

I turned my attention to Colton, where he tipped his head slightly. “It’s a good place to start.”

I let out a long breath. “Okay, you’re right.”

Standing with the rest of the group, my chest felt lighter as the girls came closer, smothering me with hugs.

Scar had a huge grin on face, and for the first time in months I willingly smiled back.

I found Tyler staring at me from the outside of the group and stilled, unsure how to proceed.

When he nodded his head once, forcing a tight smile, I knew he was okay for now.

He had a lot to process, understandably.

He had been through more than most people, and this new information would take time to absorb.

It felt good to have a plan. Or at least something to start with. From here on in, at least I wasn’t on my own. I had support. And that feeling warmed a tiny portion of my aching heart.