Page 51 of WitchBorn

“I think I’m starting to figure all this out. It’s in a protective dome of magic, right?”

“Huh?”

“The cake? The falling cabin didn’t crush it or anything.”

I held it up, a ripple of magic fluctuating around me to keep the cake safe, and since I was holding it, me too. “It’s not burned or rotting or anything.”

“Eat the cake, baby. Get the Summer king to keep you safe. Okay?” A blotch of darkness crawled up his face. The blight taking him over as the beast loomed ready to retake control of its other half. Would anything be left of Finn? “Will you do that for me?”

“I thought you wanted the cake?” I asked, brain a mushy mess of weariness and fever.

“I want you safe more than I could ever want anything.”

“Finn?” I called, reaching for him, but he kicked the edge of a beam near him and the tunnel collapsed on his end, leaving me sitting in a bubble of Sebastian’s glowing energy, alone. “Finn!”

Thirty-Three

WESLEY

Iheld the plate in my hands, sobbing and wheezing, too weak to dig my way out or even think straight. The cake glistened with magic, the only source of light in the dark. I raised the fork to my lips and took a large bite. Lemon and strawberry popped in my mouth, flavor vivid like lavender lemonade and sweet bread. I gasped from one heartbeat to the next blinking darkness to the bright light of Sebastian’s kitchen.

“Um…” A teen girl with curly hair gasped. “Dad! Sebastian! Someone help!”

I held the plate, but couldn’t get the cake to go down. Instead, it forced its way up my throat like the magic wasn’t meant for me. Maybe losing it would take me back to Finn. I threw up praying he was safe and I could climb back into his arms, bask in his teasing and sweet kisses. But maybe that was the fever talking.

“Wesley?” Sebastian leaned over me. His mate, Liam wrapped me in a blanket.

“He’s burning up,” Liam said.

“Can’t exactly bring him to a hospital when he looks like this,” Sebastian said. “He has tiny horns and hooves? Sort of?”

“Witchblood because I’m witchborn,” I said. “This is what they call you, and what I am.”

A burst of heat wrapped me in Summer magic. Sebastian’s warmth filling the room like a hot summer day. I couldn’t stop shivering.

“We’ve got your fae doctor on speed dial. Call her,” Liam said.

“Send cake back to Finn,” I begged.

“Finn? Who’s Finn?” Sebastian asked as he dialed the phone.

A smaller version of Sebastian appeared, pretty and mid-teens, though I knew from the eerie eyes I was looking at the rebirth of Underhill given human form. Ari, the witchchild.

“Save Finn,” I asked Ari, thinking they would understand.

“Autumn is strong,” they said.

“Please. The wolf is broken. I don’t know if it understands that killing Finn is suicide.”

“The doctor is on her way, but it will take her an hour since she’s close to the city,” Sebastian said as he reappeared at my side and wrapped his arms around me. “Wesley?”

At least I was no longer hard, the heat of my fawn form vanishing without the magic madness of Autumn’s realm. “Don’t let him die.”

“We won’t,” Sebastian said, his omega presence curling around me in a soothing wave. I found myself sinking into his embrace, eyes growing heavy. He pressed his ear to my chest. “His breathing is really shallow.”

“I didn’t think fae could get sick,” Liam said.

I gazed at Ari, pleading as consciousness faded. They nodded. Agreement to help? Or simple acknowledgment. Did they understand? “Please,” I whispered, strength vanishing beneath the intensity of Seb’s power. “Save Finn.”