Page 18

18

EMBERLYNN

W ylder was precisely on point with Kaiden’s obsession with research. Even when Wylder’s mom returns home and everyone helps get dinner ready, Kaiden lingers in the living room, rummaging around through books. Even when everyone else gathers around the kitchen table to eat. And everyone acts as if this is normal.

He only leaves when the moon is a massive orb of light in the hazy midnight blue sky and the clock tower located in the heart of the town chimes midnight. He returns the following day to pick up where he left off.

“Did you even sleep?” Wylder asks him as he leans against the edge of the counter.

He has on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt with the words “ Witches Brewing no one wanted to sleep by me. Humans didn’t like me very much.”

“Well, they’re stupid. You’re perfect.” Wylder reaches out to trace a path below my eye with his finger.

Is this guy for reals?

Real or not, he’s making me a flustering mess.

I make a disagreeing noise in the back of my throat. “Trust me; I’m not perfect.”

He scans my face, as if examining every detail, gently smiling as he moves his finger to my nose. “Even your freckles are cute.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

My erratic heartbeat is a desperate need of … I’m not quite sure what it needs. For him to touch me again?

“You lived in a shelter?” Kaiden enters the kitchen, slamming the book closed.

“Sometimes, but only when I had no other place to go. Or, like I said, when the group home became too much.” I rotate to face him as he drops the book onto the countertop. “I would’ve preferred to stay in the shelter over the group home any day. But every time I ran away, they’d find me. People keep running away from it, because there’s like a seventy-five percent chance you’ll get stabbed at least once.”

“Did you get stabbed?” Kaiden inquires with a bite to his tone.

“No, but someone tried to. It’s why I punched someone before.” I prop my elbow on the counter and trace the golden engraving of the title on the book Kaiden set down a moment ago. “This guy crept up on me while I was sleeping and held a knife to my throat. He tried to … well, basically, what Liam was trying to do to me that day you found me. It was the first time that I ever contemplated using my powers on purpose. But punching the guy in the face got him off me, and I ran, so I didn’t have to.”

I recline against the counter on my elbows, only then catching a glimpse of their appalled and horrified faces.

The tension-laced silence is deafening.

What the heck did I say?

“That’s how you lived in the human world?” Kaiden finally speaks, silvery sparks hissing from his fingertips.

“Not all the time,” I stress. “Mostly, just when I was in the group home.”

The floor gripes under Kaiden’s weight as he takes a calculated step toward me. “What about when you were staying in homes? Were the families like Liam?”

I push off the counter to step back and put some space between us. But it ends up being only an inch or so. “Not all the time. Some weren’t too bad. ”

The sparks crackle as he lifts his hand toward my face.

My muscles ravel in knots. Is he about to use his magic on me?

“Kai.” A warning catches Wylder’s tone. “Just breathe.”

His chest rises and crashes as he breathes in through his nose then gradually exhales. “I’m fine.” Another breath and the magic emitting from his fingers dissipates. He cautiously lifts his hand and places his fingers against my cheek.

I don’t fully grasp why, but the instinct to hold perfectly still consumes me.

His fingers move across my face, sketching my cheekbone, lips, then my jawline. All the while, his stormy gaze traces the movement. The moment is intensely intimate and intensifies when his gaze welds with mine. “No one will ever hurt you again. And if they try to, I’ll make sure my powers are the only life they feel again.”

Lila was right. He does have alpha male potential.

Also, since his powers are related to necromancy, does that mean he’ll kill whoever tries to hurt me and then control them like a puppet?

Do I care if he does?

A part of me, one that I’ve only allowed to live in the shadows of the scars on my heart, hums with excitement about the idea. I think he sees the feeling reflecting in my eyes by the way one side of his mouth tilts up, as if the idea that it excites me makes him elated.

“All right, I brought the coffee and doughnuts, but I forgot Wylder’s blueberry muffin.” Nico waltzes through the front door.

Kaiden steps back, but Nico has already caught sight of how close he was to me.

He halts, his gaze bouncing between Kaiden and me. “Okay, what the heck did I miss?”

“Nothing.” Kaiden’s tone is clipped as he grabs the book, swings around the counter, and retreats to the living room.

“Are you okay?” Wylder checks, stepping toward me.

I nod. “I think so.” A breath eases from my lips as I move away from the counter.

Wylder leans close to me and lowers his voice to whisper, “He may come off as intense, but it’s a good thing with you, if that makes sense.”

“It makes sense. And I promise I’m fine.” My pulse is still throbbing, but from excitement.

I think my head is broken.

Nico sets a box of doughnuts and a tray of coffees down on the table before proceeding into the kitchen. “Okay, seriously, what really happened?” He studies me as he shucks off his hoodie. “Because our heart’s cheeks are super flushed, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Kaiden stand that close to anyone before.”

“My cheeks aren’t flushed.” But I cover my cheeks with my hands, anyway.

“Okay,” Nico says sarcastically. “I guess you’re just sunburned then, pretty eyes. ”

I offer him a dry look, to which he responds with a snicker.

“Here, I brought you a special donut.” He flips open the lid of the box. “Consider it an apology for teasing you.” He presents me with the yummiest doughnut I’ve ever seen. It’s piled with whipped frosting and topped with strawberries and sprinkles.

I skeptically take the doughnut from him. “Why is it a special doughnut? Is it filled with poison?”

He dramatically presses his hand to his chest. “You think I’d poison my heart ?”

“Are we talking about your own heart or me?” I question with a cock of my brow.

He chuckles. “Funny.” He muses over something. “I guess if you don’t want the special doughnut, I’ll take it.” He reaches to steal it from me.

I lean away, shaking my head. “No way. I want it.”

“Good.” He dithers. “This kind, it’s too sugary for anyone else but me. Let’s see how you handle it, pretty eyes,” he dares me teasingly.

With a challenging lift of my brows, I take a huge bite of the doughnut. “Oh my God, that is so sugary. But so, so good,” I moan, licking a dollop of frosting off my lips.

Both Wylder and Nico watch me eat with an odd stiffness in their bodies that increases every time I moan.

Finally, Wylder gives Nico’s shoulder a rough pat. “Great idea with the frosting doughnut.” He sounds as if he thinks the exact opposite .

“Sorry. Is it gross watching me eat this?” I ask as I stuff the rest of the doughnut into my mouth then lick some frosting off my fingers.

Nico slowly shakes his head from side to side. “Not at all. But here.” He drags the pad of his thumb along my bottom lip, swiping up some frosting I missed. Then he sucks it off his finger.

And I’m having heart palpitations again.

Once he’s cleaned off his thumb and nearly killed me from a heart attack without knowing it, he snatches up another doughnut, grabs my hand, and pulls me into the living room with him. He stuffs half the doughnut in his mouth before sitting down and pulling me down with him. Then he grabs two books from off the table and hands one to me. “And let the boring research begin.” He dramatically flips open the book.

“I’m still not even certain what I’m supposed to be looking for,” I tell him as I open the book he gave me.

“Me neither. But just pretend to be reading and, eventually, Kaiden will figure it out,” Nico mock whispers to me, sneaking me a smirk when Kaiden glares at him.

His expression softens when he looks at me, though. “We’re looking for anything that mentions multiple power sources in a witch or warlock.”

“Okay.” I glance down at the book. “Wait … What language is this book in?” I wonder as I stare at the symbols inking the page, ones that aren’t even remotely related to the alphabet .

Nico slants over to look at it. “That’s the language of the fey.” He presses his finger to the title on the page. “ The History of the Wildlands.”

I glance at him. “You speak faerie?”

He begrudgingly nods. “Not by choice.”

His mood is plummeting, but I’m unsure why.

“Do you want another doughnut?” I suggest. “Those seem to make you happy.”

A smile spreads across his lips, but a droplet of sadness resides in his sea blue eyes, and the outline of his aura is blurry, like it’s weeping.

“I think that’s a great idea.” He starts to get up.

I place a hand on his leg, stopping him. “I can get it. I can’t read this book, anyway.” I toss the book on the cushion beside me and get up to get him a doughnut, glad to feel useful for once, even if it’s a small thing.

Wylder’s aura is buzzing as I pass him where he’s engulfed in the book he’s reading. Kaiden is near the window, and his aura is shimmering against the sunlight.

“I have a question,” I say as I endeavor into the kitchen. “Why can I see auras? And why are your guys’ so much different from everyone else’s? Is it because you guys are in my coven?” I grab the doughnut with the most frosting on it then put the lid back on the box.

“Seeing auras isn’t as uncommon as your power source,” Kaiden explains as I return to the living room. “And I’m sure the difference is because we’re in a coven. It’s nothing to be alarmed about. ”

“Good. I’m already enough of a freak.” I hand Nico the doughnut and plop down on the sofa beside him.

“You’re not a freak,” Wylder says, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. “You’re per?—”

“Do not say perfect,” I warn, pointing a finger at him.

Wylder zips his lips while Nico declares, “She picks out perfect doughnuts, though. This one has a ton of frosting.”

Wylder tucks his arms behind his head. “Phoenix better hurry up and get here before you eat them all.”

“His loss if I do.” Nico wolfs down half the doughnut in one bite. “Where is he, anyway?”

Wylder lets his arms flop onto his lap. “He went down to Deadman & Shadows Alley.”

Kaiden sinks down onto the bench in front of the window. “He needs to stop doing that shit. Especially now.”

“You know his father makes him.” Wylder turns the page of the book. “But yeah, he does need to find a way to stop, now that our coven’s all together.”

I tuck my leg under my butt. “What happens on Deadman & Shadows Alley? Or do I even want to know?”

“Street fighting.” Wylder grimaces, rubbing at his arm.

“Like punches and kicks, or zaps with magic spells?” I’m partly joking about the latter.

But Wylder tells me seriously, “Both. He’ll probably show up here with bruises and burns that he’ll want me to heal.”

“You shouldn’t,” Kaiden states without looking up from the book. “It might give him incentive to stop.”

“I get what you’re saying, but I’m going to try to convince him to stop because of her first.” Wylder nods in my direction then pauses and perks up. “You know what? I think I should teach you how to heal today,” he tells me.

“ What ?” I frantically shake my head. “No way. I’ll mess it up.”

“You can’t really do much harm with healing magic, Emberlynn. The only thing that really could happen is nothing. It’ll be a good learning experience. Plus, it might help us convince Phoenix to stop going to fight.”

“Why would it do that?” I grumble, hating this idea.

Wylder shrugs. “Because you could ask him to stop while you’re healing him.”

Nico laughs darkly under his breath. “Aw, manipulation. It really is a fantastic idea. All she has to do is bat her pretty eyes at him while asking, and he’ll be a goner.”

I sigh, resting back on the sofa. “I don’t know why you keep saying my eyes are pretty. The color creeped the hell out of humans. It’s why I wore sunglasses all the time. The only reason I didn’t have them on when you guys met me was because they fell off when Liam grabbed me.”

Nico starts popping his knuckles. “I still don’t think we punished that fucker enough.”

“Agreed,” Wylder chimes in, lowering his feet to the floor.

“As much as I wish we could’ve killed him, you know we can’t. Not unless we wanted to end up in prison.” Kaiden places the book down on the bench. “And as for your eye color,” he says to me, “it didn’t creep humans out because they didn’t think it was pretty. The color is alluring in a way one finds staring at the rarest of rubies alluring. They were transfixed by your eyes in a way they couldn’t understand and that creeped them out.”

“Aw, look at Kaiden, trying to be a poet without knowing it,” Nico cracks a joke, eliciting a glare from Kaiden. Nico dazzles him with an impish grin then turns to me. “He’s probably right. The humans were weirded out about your eyes because they can’t understand the beauty.”

I rub my eyes, feeling squirrely from all the compliments. Eventually, I can’t take it anymore and, groaning, I lower my head into my hands. “You guys are being too nice to me,” I gripe. “I don’t know how to handle it.”

“You should handle it like a boss and own it,” Nico insists. “You’re beautiful, so just accept it, and also maybe manipulate Phoenix with it a little bit.”

I turn my head and playfully glare at him.

The front door opens then, the hinges whining with the movement, and a gentle breeze gusts through the living room.

“Speaking of the devil.” Nico glances in that direction and a frown pulls at his lips. “Bro, you look like shit.”

I raise my head and frown at the splotchy bruises under Phoenix’s swollen eyes. He also has a dried cut on his lip and burn marks on his arms.

Wylder warily asks, “Did you fight a dragon last night?’

Phoenix kicks the door shut. “No, but the warlock possessed a fire element that he didn’t divulge prior to the fight.” He shucks off the backpack he’s wearing and props it against a coatrack by the door. “I need you to heal me.”

Wylder shakes his head and, with a blasé shrug, says, “Sorry, can’t, bro.”

“What? Why?” Phoenix’s gaze narrows at Kaiden. “Or did you put him up to this?”

“I suggested he shouldn’t,” Kaiden replies with indifference. “But Emberlynn is going to try.”

Phoenix’s brows arch upward. “What? Why are you acting like that is a punishment?”

“Who said it was?” Kaiden questions, staring Phoenix down.

Phoenix stares right back.

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” I say with a lack of confidence that’ll hopefully scare them.

“No, you definitely should.” Nico springs to his feet and yanks me up with him. “Phoenix, you’re hurting our heart ’s feelings.”

“No, he’s not?—”

I zip my lips when Nico sneaks me a look.

Right, I’m supposed to be playing along with this plan.

“It does kind of hurt my feelings.” I aim to sound hurt.

It must be a success since Phoenix caves relatively easily. “All right.” He lowers himself into a chair, and Wylder moves up beside him, crooking his finger at me.

I hesitantly comply and go over to him. “What am I even supposed to do?”

“Here. Give me our hand.” Wylder raises his hand with the palm facing me.

Again, I obey, aligning my palms against his. His magic instantly awakens and spins tingling sensations across my flesh.

He positions my hand on one of the splotchy bruises marking the flesh below Phoenix’s eye. “Now visualizing healing him.”

“How do you visualize healing?” I question suspiciously. “Because when you say that, I'm just thinking about sewing someone up.”

His face contorts in disgust. “That’s a gross visual, but we’re not going to stitch him up like a doll.”

Phoenix huffs an impatient breath. “She’s thinking about stitches, dumbass. Can we please get this over with? The burns are starting to hurt.”

“It’s your own fault,” Wylder chides him. “And we could always just not do this learning session.”

Phoenix’s face is also beginning to resemble a deformed potato. “No … Just … do it … I’m sorry.”

Whether he’s looking at Wylder or me is a mystery since his eyes are nearly swollen shut at this point.

“It’s more about visualizing warmth and sunlight. Think of the brightest, warmest thing you’ve ever seen or felt and hold onto that image.” Wylder continues his tutorial, “You should start to feel warm and sparkly. Once you do, channel it into Phoenix.”

Inhale. Exhale .

Just breathe.

“Okay.” I close my eyes and picture the bright orb of sunlight beaming from a serene blue sky.

I feel the warmth on my cheeks—the soft, warm sand beneath my bare feet.

“ It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. ” A voice as fragile as a wilting rose petal caresses my ear. “ It’ll get better. But it’ll get worse before it does. ”

The familiarity of the warmness of her tone is so powerful it trumps anything else.

And then I realize why.

“Mom,” I whisper, reaching out through the light, seeking her nearness, her comfort, her warmth.

But I can’t find her.

Then the warmth crackles, freezing over with ice that glazes under me, over me, through me.

I gasp.

“Wylder!” Nico shouts. “Make it stop!”

My hand is wrenched back, and the coldness evaporates into the mildly warm temperature that exists in the living room of Wylder’s house. My surroundings return to me—the sofa, books, the sunlight glistening through the window, and Phoenix, Wylder, Kaiden, Nico.

Phoenix’s face is normal now, his gorgeous dark eyes and lips on full display.

“Pretty,” I murmur. Then I start to gasp as my throat abruptly tightens.

“What’s going on—” Nico starts gasping, too, clutching at his throat.

I claw at mine, backing away as I struggle to get oxygen in my lungs.

“Kaiden,” Wylder says frantically, his face ghastly pale. “What the hell is going on?”

Phoenix is on his feet, and he reaches for me, catching me by the waist as my legs buckle out from underneath me. “Look at her skin. This has to be poison.”

I manage to catch sight of Nico and, to my horror, his skin is covered with black, vine-like lines, as if his veins are pushing out from underneath his flesh.

He collapses onto the sofa and foam froths from his mouth. Kaiden rushes to him, examining his pupils while Phoenix sits down on the floor, lying me down with my head on his lap. My vision is dotting over the longer I can’t breathe.

“You can’t die on me,” Phoenix whispers as he smooths his hand over my head, his eyes watery. “I finally got a taste of what happiness is like. I can’t go back. We need you.”

It’ll be okay , I want to say, this dying urge to comfort him even while I’m tasting death presses against my chest.

“It’s the doughnuts,” Kaiden suddenly says from somewhere close by. “They’re laced with werewolf venom.”

“Make the anecdote then!” Wylder yells at him in total disarray.

“Go get me some wild lilies from your mom’s garden,” Kaiden tells Wylder in a demanding tone. “And give me the key to her supply closet.”

The room settles into an unearthly stillness then.

Phoenix continues to cradle me in his arms, his fingers contentiously brushing soothingly through my hair.

“Life was shit before we found you, which means we’ve had like five days of non-shitty lives.” Phoenix Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. “We were all pretending like, eventually, we’d be okay with not having a heart , but the reality was, we were never going to be okay. But now it can be okay. You need to be okay.” He pleads with me. “You’re so perfect for us. I can tell. And we’ll all be perfect together, eventually.”

Again, a desire to console him rises in my chest. Sucking in a few drops of air, I manage to whisper, “It’ll be okay.”

“Shh … Don’t talk. Save your breath, okay? Kaiden’s going to save you.” He hugs me tighter against him. “He can save anything.”

He holds me for what feels like an eternity as my blood flow turns sluggish and my throat and chest constrict tighter. I have no idea what condition Nico is in, and that makes my eyes burn.

A tear falls down my eye. “I don’t want to die,” I whisper hoarsely. “I thought I did, but I don’t think I do anymore.”

“You won’t,” Phoenix vows so passionately that if it weren’t for the fact that I can no longer breathe, I’d wholeheartedly believe him.

“Thank the gods and goddesses,” he breathes in relief.

Kaiden appears beside us with a vile of bluish liquid in his hand. He kneels down and tucks his hand beneath my neck, guiding me upright to a sitting position. “Drink this,” he instructs as he lines the edge of the vial with my lips .

I open my mouth, and then he angles my head back and pours the liquid down the little space left in my throat. I start to cough as my throat opens up and dries out.

“Take her,” Kaiden tells Phoenix.

He waits for Phoenix to slip his arm under me then pushes to his feet and hurries toward where Nico is lying on the sofa.

My nonexistent breathing morphs into wheezing, and then the airflow fully resurfaces.

“Holy shit.” My eyes are watering over, not from tears, but from the sheer relief of being able to get oxygen into my lungs again. “That was crazy.” I sit up on my own accord and wipe the tears off my cheeks.

Nico is sitting up on the sofa, too, and the inky lines that were on his flesh are gone and he’s breathing evenly.

Wylder is standing between the two of us with his arms curled around himself, and his eyes look painfully haunted with some ghost of a memory he wishes to forget.

As with Phoenix, the urge to soothe him whispers to me. I start to get up, but Phoenix stops me.

“I’ll be okay,” I promise. “I just need to make sure Wylder’s okay.”

A look of understanding transfers between us, and then he stands up and helps me up, as well. He keeps a hand on my elbow as I walk over to Wylder, only letting me go when I wrap my arms around him. His arms magnetize around me, and he envelopes me in a cascading wave of warmth .

“I can’t lose you,” he whispers tremulously as he anchors his body against mine.

I sketch my fingertips up and down his back. “I don’t know how I know, but I do know this.” My fingers reach the nape of his neck, and I comb them through his hair . So soft. “Is this a coven thing?”

“It is. But it’s also because you’re our heart .” His hands splay across my back, and I feel his lips brush the top of my head.

“As beautiful as this moment is,” Nico interrupts in a quiet tone, “we should probably try to figure out who the fuck tried to poison us. Because I, for one, would never like to go through that again. And considering they almost killed our heart , they need to die.”

“We can’t just go around killing creatures,” Phoenix says, though doesn’t sound like he means it. “It’s forbidden.”

Nico coughs a few times. “Only if you get caught.”

I start to step back, but Wylder draws me right back against him.

“I—” His voice cracks. “I don’t think I can let you go yet.”

I peer up at him. “You don’t have to, but can we go sit down? My legs are a bit wobbly.”

He nods, and we take a seat by Nico, who scoots closer the instant my ass hits the cushion.

“How are you feeling, pretty eyes?” he asks, brushing his fingers along my arm.

A shiver rolls through my body from his touch, but not necessarily in a bad way. “Okay. I’m more worried about you. You ate like two doughnuts.”

“Three actually,” he confesses. “I ate one on the way here.”

“You ate three doughnuts for breakfast?” I shake my head. “Never mind. Totally not relevant right now.”

“If it was werewolf venom, that means we need to talk to the wolves, right?” Phoenix walks over to the counter where the box of doughnuts sits. “I mean, unless someone managed to convince a wolf to give them their venom.”

“The probability of that is low but still a possibility.” Kaiden collects his jacket from off the coatrack. “I’m going to talk to a few creatures and see what I can find out. I’ll be back in a bit.” He slips his jacket on then wrenches open the front door, briefly pausing to flit a glance at me. His expression is indecipherable, and without uttering another word, he’s out the door.

“Great. He’s going to become obsessed with figuring this out.” Nico slumps back on the sofa and laces his fingers with mine.

“This time, his obsessive behavior might not be a bad thing.” Wylder slants back and drapes his arm across his forehead. “They tried to kill our heart .”

“And Nico.” I consider something. “Or was this intended for me? I’m not sure if attempted murder is a common thing here.”

Their silence speaks volumes .

“They were trying to kill me.” The words are heavy on my tongue. “Why? I don’t even know anyone here.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Wylder ravels a strand of my hair around his finger. “Until then, we’ll be extra careful about what we eat, and that you’re with one of us at all times. But more than likely, Kaiden will be able to solve this quickly.”

“And then kill the creature who did it?” I turn and give an insinuating look at Wylder.

He dithers. “Would it be so bad if he did?”

“If he ends up in jail, then yeah,” I reply truthfully. “I don’t want anyone going to prison for me.”

“We’ll worry about punishment later.” He unravels my hair from his finger. “We should celebrate the success of your first healing spell.”

“Yeah, maybe.” A memory tugs at my mind. “Wylder, I think I heard my mom’s voice while I was doing the spell. Well, it was either because of that or a hallucination because werewolf venom was trying to kill my body. And also, is werewolf venom deadly to all creatures? Or just witches and warlocks?”

A tinge of a smile emerges from his lips. “Your questions are cute.”

“Not everything I do is cute,” I gripe. “I’m just confused. You know, stupid. And that’s not cute.”

“You’re not stupid,” he stresses sincerely. “And yes, werewolf venom is deadly to all creatures except for werewolves. And as for hearing your mom … do you remember her voice?”

“Not until just barely.” I sigh sleepily. “It made me sad because she sounded nice. And she can’t be nice, right? Not when she abandoned me.”

“Maybe she didn’t abandon you,” Phoenix suggests. “Maybe you were taken from her.”

Wylder’s gaze shifts to Phoenix. I’d lift my head to see what sort of silent exchange they’re having, but I’m too fatigued at the moment. Nico is on the same page as me, his light snores revealing he’s fallen asleep.

“Almost getting killed made me tired,” I murmur, letting my eyes fall closed. “I think I need a nap.”

Wylder’s palm skims across my forehead. “Get some sleep, baby. We’ll make sure you’re okay.”

The fact that he called me baby barely registers in my brain before I’m transmitted away into a tranquil sleep of nothing but sunlight and warmth.