Page 32 of Unhinged Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #2)

Wesley

There are two emotions in life that hurt the most. Love and grief. Love has the power to rip your soul to pieces in seconds yet repair itself just as fast. Grief, on the other hand, could sink you to the darkest of places if you were to let it.

I had never experienced grief, not in its true form. Though, when I left Cutters Cove, I felt a certain type of it. I wasn’t grieving the death of a person, but a loss of a friend, a bond so tightly embedded in my heart that it fucking wrecked me to stay away. I couldn’t. Not any longer.

Sometimes we do things that hurt people, even if we do it out of love and it kills you to do so.

I hated thinking about what I had done, and alcohol had become my friend for a reason over the last while, numbing me from everything.

The guilt, the hurt, the constant fucking ache.

But at some point, Skye’s face had pushed through it all, through the blackout days.

Her voice had called to me in my dreams. I’d seen her tear smeared face as if she were right there with me.

Call it what you will. Hallucinations, insanity.

I had no fucking clue. But it was she who tore me from the dregs of darkened alleyways and cold doorsteps.

I had returned to Cutters Cove a day beforehand, letting myself into Ty’s house when he was at work.

I looked like a fucking mess and made a quick effort of showering and cleaning myself up, silently thanking my best friend for not hauling the entire contents of my bedroom onto the street in a free for all.

Changing into fresh clothes, I then rang my mother, who dragged me across the fucking coals. I knew I deserved it, so didn’t argue.

Which led me to where I stood, prowling in shadows like a fucking stalker.

My boots scuffed the sidewalk where I hid against the side of the dock, across the road from Coffee Cove.

It stayed open late one night a week, bringing locals to the cozy cafe for their two after dark specials–the 'twilight martini' and ever famous 'loaded hot choc'.

A light breeze ruffled my hair, just enough to fuck me off.

I shoved my hands deeper into the pockets of my jacket.

An eerie quiet fell over the town, like the calm one would expect before a storm, and the robust clouds looming overhead would suggest rain was only minutes away.

I knew she was there… I could feel her. Against my better judgement, I had finally grown some balls and decided tonight I needed to see her.

Like this was a perfectly reasonable idea.

Who was I kidding? Skye would hate me.

Ty would fucking loathe me.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t walk away sporting, at the very least, a bloody nose.

When I found tousled brown hair, my heart lurched at the sight of her. The group sat on a weathered picnic table outside, all wearing jackets, with rugs draped over their laps. Beside them, flames from a brazier crackled, highlighting her face.

Beautiful .

She peered down at her phone, her shoulders slumping before she shoved it into her bag. Even from this distance, I noticed the shadows beneath her eyes, and it twisted my gut, knowing I was the cause.

I wanted to hold her. Tell her everything would be ok. That we would be ok.

My brows furrowed as Reid draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side.

The motion bristled the hairs on my neck.

When she leaned her head on his shoulder, I frowned.

What the fuck was going on?

Never in my life had I doubted Reid’s friendship, but this looked cozy.

The sight of her that close to him took hold of every insecurity I’d ever had in my youth, purging it to the surface. My fists clenched, my heart hammering as if trying to break free of my chest. Without thinking, I charged across the road toward the group in haste.

Colt spotted me first, flashing an icy warning. “Wes…” he cautioned, his voice low.

“Get your hands off her,” I seethed, earning me the group’s attention. “You don’t get to touch her,” I said evenly, hurling a glare at Reid, the bite in my tone obvious.

Reid’s arm slid off her, my vision colliding with a swell of emotion, torturing the delicate features of the woman I loved.

She rose from her seat with the group, motionless, her mouth agape as if unsure I was real or a figment of her imagination.

I wanted to kiss her perfect lips, caress her silken hair.

Take her in my arms and make everything right again.

I was so memorized by the sight of her; I missed the oncoming fist before it hit my cheek with a crack .

My vision blurred, pain exploding through my cheekbone.

“Wes!” Skye’s voice splintered my mind. My hand clung to my cheek as I righted myself, my vision returning slowly, until she came into focus again. Her bottom lip trembled as she took in the sight of me.

“You piece of shit!” Ty roared, Colt and Reid holding him back. His sharp words cut through me as he wrestled under their grip, attempting to free himself.

Stumbling to my feet, I dared to look at him. “I didn’t have a choice,” I hissed.

“Fuck you!” Ty broke free of their grip, hurling himself at me.

A split second saved the shape of my jaw, a wall of something I had never seen before standing between myself and the rest of the group.

What the…?

Barely visible to the naked eye, Ty slumped into it. My brows furrowed as I inspected it closer, the almost invisible wall holding me in its freakish safety.

“Ty, stop.” Morgan’s voice came low. Controlled. Her normally chocolate brown irises had blown out into a milky white.

What. The. Fuck.

“Morgan?” Ty’s head whipped to her, as did the rest of the group, taking in the theatrics she’d just set upon us.

I reached toward it, my hand pushing into what I imagined a bubble would feel like if it weren’t to pop.

Morgan continued. “I’m not releasing it until you promise me you can control yourself.” She directed her words at Ty, who stared back at her, an amber ring circling his pupils.

“He nearly killed you,” Ty gritted out, his fists balled at his sides.

The memory of our last encounter months earlier made me almost shit my pants. I did not need those fists directed at me again.

Morgan lowered her voice till barely a whisper left her. “He’s your sister’s fated mate.”

Oh fuck. He knew.

Add it to the list of reasons he had to rearrange my fucking jaw.

Behind Ty, Skye’s eyes held mine. Her irises swirled a florescent blue, burning with betrayal. The pads of her fingers brimmed with her magic, like it was fighting for release. A caged animal waiting to pounce the minute the gate opened.

“I had no choice. She blackmailed me. I didn’t know she would force me to siphon Morgan’s magic from her.”

Morgan’s forehead rippled. “My mother blackmailed you?”

The wall between the group vanished.

Ty came at me again, his forearm landing across my neck, forcing me backward until my spine slammed into a lamppost.

“You could have killed her!” he gritted out, a tendon in his neck bulging with tension. “She nearly fucking died!”

Colt and Reid stood nearer this time, and I knew they wouldn’t let it go further. They exchanged a look between them. Ty needed to have his say.

Ty’s jaw ground as he spoke. “You lied to me. Betrayed all of us!” He shoved me again, causing the air to tighten in my chest as his forearm pressed against my windpipe harder.

“Ty, stop!” cried Skye from behind him.

“And worse…” His face moved within inches of mine, and every fleck of fire in his eyes charged with conviction. “You betrayed my sister.”

His fist connected with my stomach, and I doubled over as a rush of air exited my lungs. He turned his back on me, his hands fisting his hair.

“It was stupid,” I gasped, my chest fighting for air. “I know that. But you’d do anything to protect Morgan.”

He flipped around, charging at me again, a finger landing on my chest. “You should have come to me .”

I finally swallowed a large gulp of air, his words like a bullet to my chest.

Maybe I should have gone to him. Told him everything . But maybe and should haves were not thoughts I could comprehend right now.

“And how would you have acted? Like this? Would you have accepted us, Ty?” I got up in his face this time. I’d had enough. Skye was mine, and I would not stand here and take this. “You would have never let me near her. You don’t know half of what is going on here,” I accused.

“He knows everything.”

I turned to Skye’s voice, barely a whisper. Her beautiful brown hair curled over her shoulders. I wanted to run my hands through it, tuck it behind her ears.

How could he know everything? Had she told him?

Ty’s voice graveled out. “You need to leave.”

“I love her,” I announced to the group. Fuck it.

If I was going down, they needed to know it all.

“I love everything there is about your sister, Ty. I can’t stop this.

Both you and I know it. You, of all people, know what the mate bond is like.

Fight it as you will, but I can’t fight chemistry. And I most certainly can’t fight fate.”

As the last word left me, Skye’s eyes shimmered, her element pushing to the surface. The sadness that had claimed them melted, and in its place grew an unfamiliar warmth.

Love.

She loved me. Even when I’d done the unthinkable, she still loved me. She didn’t say it back, and I didn’t hold it against her.

“Leave. Now.”

Tyler’s words battled against my every will. I wanted to go to Skye, wanted to speak with her, have her lips on mine. But right now, the group needed space. That much was apparent.

Colt cleared his throat, a hand landing on Ty’s shoulder. “Give us time.”

I understood his unspoken words. Colt knew this would mend. He had an uncanny sense of knowing emotions.

I stole a glance at Reid. Arms folded to his front, he looked away. Scar and Jade stood back from the group, both looking bemused. Skye made no effort to approach me, and I felt my heart wrench.

I dragged my eyes from hers.

A single nod.

Then I turned away.