The rest of our clothes disappeared and he peppered my skin with kisses. I sunk my fingers in his hair, my body wiggling. I felt like I was going to combust from all the feelings coursing through my veins. He was killing me, but oh what a way to go.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you,” he murmured, and I jolted as he slid inside me.
“Oh, my God,” I breathed.
There was pain, sure, but more than that I felt whole. Like two puzzle pieces had finally clicked into place and now I could see the whole picture.
My fingers raked across his back as he moved his hips. He made love to me slowly, beautifully, playing my body like a musical instrument. He kissed me and breathed those three incredible words again—words I never believed he’d speak so openly to me.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” I nearly cried the words.
I didn’t understand how something that was supposedly wrong, us being together, could feel so incredibly right.
It felt like a lie, to keep us apart so we would never experience bliss like this.
In a new world, where I was learning magic, and to fight, and that my real dad was an evil monster, and innocent enchanters were slaughtered, this was ours.
This moment belonged to us and no one else.
Chapter 27
I RESTED MY HEAD ON Theo’s chest, our legs tangled together and twisted in the sheets. I felt whole in a way I hadn’t felt in months. He smoothed his fingers through my hair. I was sure it was a mess now but I couldn’t bring myself to care. This moment was too perfect.
I glanced at the clock and smiled.
“Happy birthday, Theo,” I murmured and kissed his cheek.
He smiled back. “Best birthday I’ve ever had.” He placed a soft kiss on my lips and my heart skipped a beat.
I kept waiting for this moment to disappear, to slip away like a dream. I had to keep reminding myself it was real.
“Do you think anyone’s noticed we’re gone?”
“Adelaide, probably.” He twisted my hair around his finger and the firefly in the necklace buzzed. I always felt like it got more excited when Theo was near me, as if it sensed his presence.
He brushed his lips against the top of my head. “We should sleep.”
“I can’t,” I admitted.
I was far too keyed up to think about sleep anytime soon.
His chest rumbled with a chuckle. “Me either.”
“Can we stay here forever?” I whispered. “Never leave this room?”
I was scared once we left, the spell would be broken and we’d act like this never happened. I wasn’t sure my heart could bear that. I was only so strong.
“I wish,” he murmured. “But morning always comes.”
“Will morning change this?” I asked hesitantly.
“No,” he vowed. “It won’t.”
I felt a little better at that.
Theo stiffened against me. “Did you hear that?”
“What? No.”
He sat up, so I was forced to as well. I clutched the sheet to my chest, silent as he listened.
“Get dressed,” he demanded. “Now.”
He was out of the bed in one breath and started pulling on fighting clothes. A pair of pants that boasted loops for weapons, a tight long-sleeved black shirt that I knew was made of something meant to resist tearing, and finally, he strapped his sword across his shoulders in some kind of carrier.
I did the same, pulling on a similar pair of pants and shirt. I pulled my hair back as Theo pulled something out from under my bed.
It was a long wooden container, almost the size of a coffin but flat. He popped the hinged lid and I gasped at all the swords and weapons.
“Theo, what’s going on?”
“They’re here,” he hissed.
“Here?” I asked.
“They’re on the grounds. They’ll be in the manor any minute.”
“How’d you know that?”
“I don’t have time to explain. Take these.” He thrust several daggers at me and a sword, though this sword wasn’t nearly as large as his. The blade was only as long as my arm, where his was at least four feet—or at least it looked like it to me.
I fit the daggers into the loops on my pants and then he handed me a strap similar to his to house the sword.
I’d forgotten shoes so I quickly put on a pair of heavy duty boots.
Suddenly, his words hit me.
They’re here.
They’d come for me.
Theo closed the weapon holder and shoved it back under the bed. He had several items in his hands and shoved them in his pocket before I could see what it was.
“Grab your bag,” he commanded. “We have to go now.”
I scurried into my closet and grabbed the backpack. I gasped when I spotted Nigel.
“Theo,” I called. “We can’t leave Nigel.”
“We have to leave him.”
“No,” I pleaded. “They’ll hurt him.”
He appeared beside me and shoved his fingers through his hair with a groan.
“Fine. Put your backpack on and I’ll stick him in there.”
I did as he told me and he opened one of the zipper parts and stuck Nigel in, leaving a hole big enough for him to poke his head through.
We heard a blast and both of us stiffened. “Shit,” he cursed. “We have to hurry. Come on.” He took my hand in one of his and grabbed one of the daggers, clutching it in the other.
We ran down the stairs into chaos.
The front doors were blasted open and enchanters ran for their lives. It was so chaotic I was glad Theo held so firmly to my hand or I was afraid I’d get lost.
Someone screamed, and Theo cursed before throwing a dagger.
I followed its path and saw it sink into the neck of an Iniquitous. He looked normal, which was the scariest part of it all.
He fell to his knees and blood pooled around him.
He was dead.
Theo pulled me along, people screaming and running and trying not to die.
“Theodore! Mara!”
“Shit,” Theo’s voice was pained.
I turned and saw Adelaide and Winston running toward us.
“What’s happening?” Adelaide asked.
“We have to go,” Theo told her. “Hurry.” He pulled me along, and the four of us ran down a hallway.
Ethan burst out of a room and saw us, his eyes widening in horror. “They’re here.” He didn’t frame it as a question, he already knew.
“Help us,” Theo pleaded. “Please.”
I’d never heard Theo speak with such desperation.
Ethan nodded. “Head for the garage. I’ll meet up with you.”
He disappeared back into the room he’d come from and we ran.
It wasn’t long before we heard people chasing us.
“Kill them!” someone yelled.
“We need the girl alive,” said another.
“Faster,” Theo urged.
I thought my legs might fall off. Why was this place so big? We kept running, screams echoing around the walls behind us, slowing as we came to bodies on the ground.
“Shit,” Theo breathed.
Victor lay on the floor, struggling and gasping for air. Blood was coming out of his mouth and his body quaked. The bodies of three Iniquitous lay around him.
“Victor,” I gasped, shock coursing through my body.
He choked on his blood and reached for me.
“Mara, we need to go,” Theo warned, reaching for my arm to pull me away.
“No,” I snapped, and jolted away from him. I bent down to Victor. His face was sweaty and I saw the sword lying nearby one of them that must’ve used to slash his throat. “What is it, Victor?”
He reached for my hand, getting blood on me, but I didn’t care.
He coughed, his body seizing. “G-Get away f-from here. F-Find C-Cleo. She h-holds the k-key.”
“The key to what?” I pleaded, beggi
ng him for answers.
“T-The truth.”
His eyes rolled back in his head.
“Victor,” I cried. “What do you mean? The truth of what?”
Theo grabbed my shoulder. “He’s gone.”
“No.” I shook Victor, trying to get him to wake up, I needed to know what he meant.
But Theo was right.
He was dead.
A blast sounded behind us and the walls shook.
Theo grabbed me and hauled me up. “They’re close. We have to go.”
We started running again, leaving the bodies behind us.
Adelaide struggled to run in her dress and ended up ripping it so she could move more freely. Her shoes were gone. Winston had ditched his tuxedo jacket and his sleeves were pushed up his arms.
Theo’s desperation to get us out—to get me out—leaked into the air.
Ahead of us, Ethan burst out of another door, outfitted like Theo.
Theo shoved me toward him. “Go with Ethan.”
“No!” I screamed. “I’m not leaving you!”
“Mara, for the love of God, do as you’re told. Please.” His eyes begged me to listen.
“Well, hello, light one.”
We both turned at the sound of the voice.
Three Iniquitous stood thirty feet away. The one who’d spoke stood in the middle with the other two flanking him.
Theo growled and tore away from me. He lifted his hands and blasted out some sort of magic that was easily blocked. He grabbed a dagger and threw it. It struck the one to the right in the chest and he fell to the ground.
“Tsk, tsk, dark one, that wasn’t nice,” the one who was in the middle spoke.
The man held out his hand and whispered something, and a blue light shot right for Theo.
“No!” I screamed a blood-curdling scream. Magic blasted out of me and I was shocked to find Theo encased in some sort of purple bubble. In fact, the bubble was so large it protected all of us.
The man who’d sent the blast paled, his face full of horror as his magic sizzled.
Theo grabbed something from his pocket and threw it at them. The hall began to fill with a hazy smoke.
“We have to go.” He turned and grabbed me, my bubble disappearing as we ran for the garage again. We didn’t make it far before it sounded like an entire army was behind us.
“Ethan,” Theo commanded. “Take them. Keep them safe.”
“No,” I shrieked, knowing what he was doing. “You can’t. Come with us, please,” I begged, sobbing.
“Mara, this is what I was born to do. I can’t neglect my duties.” He pulled his sword out. “I vowed to keep you safe, no matter the cost, that’s what I’m doing.”
My chin wobbled.
He grabbed my face and pressed a rough kiss to my lips before wrenching away. “Go.”
He ran toward the sounds of the Iniquitous, his sword held out.
“Theo!” I sobbed, feeling like my whole body was being ripped in two.
He couldn’t take that many on alone. He’d die.
I started to run after him, unable to leave him behind to fight this without me, but Ethan grabbed me before I could take two steps and tossed me over his shoulder.
“Don’t let his sacrifice be useless,” he warned, and ran with me over his shoulder.
Winston and Adelaide followed.
I sobbed as I hung upside down; I couldn’t help it. The most perfect night of my life had turned into the worst.
We made it to the garage and Ethan grabbed a set of keys from where they all hung. He pressed a button, unlocking it, and the headlights of a Lincoln MKX lit up. He pushed another button on the wall that opened the garage.
There was a crash behind us—they were closing in.
I heard Theo bellow out and my heart lurched.
“Theo!” I screamed, kicking against Ethan’s hold.
“Ouch, stop it,” he groaned, carrying me to the car.
“We can’t leave him,” I sobbed. “We can’t. Please. We can’t. Go back,” I begged brokenly. This couldn’t be happening. Not after … not after everything.
Ethan set me down by the car but kept a hold on me. “We have to go,” he said slowly, like he was speaking to a child. “Theodore’s holding them off so I can keep you safe. This is his job. His duty. We need to go now, before we all die.”
Before we all die.
He knew too Theo wouldn’t be making it out alive. Not with so many chasing us and only him to defend.
“Mara,” Adelaide said softly, touching my arm, tears coating her cheeks. “I don’t want to leave him behind, either. But we have to.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
I cried harder. I knew they were right. I knew I had to go, but I didn’t want to.
Theo was right when he said I would die to protect him. I’d do it in a heartbeat.
When you love someone, your life doesn’t matter anymore. Only theirs. I’d willingly die if it meant he’d live.
I looked to the door we came through, shadows moving, the sound of swords clanging.
We had run out of time.
I wanted to dash toward the door, to fight with Theo, to die with him, but I knew I couldn’t.
Not because I wanted to live, but because I had to.
I was important—that’s why the Iniquitous wanted me.
I finally nodded. “We’ll go.”
Ethan slipped into the driver’s seat, Winston the front passenger, and Adelaide and I tumbled in the back. Before our doors were even closed, Ethan was backing out at a dangerous speed. I let Nigel out of the bag and cuddled him to my chest even though he tried to escape. He was my tie to Theo now.
Ethan whipped the SUV around, tires squealing, and I turned, getting one last look behind us.
I saw Theo stumble into the garage hurt, sweaty, and bleeding.
A sword plunged into his abdomen and he stumbled, clutching at the wound.
I screamed.
He fell to the ground and didn’t move. They closed in on him, at least fifteen of them, their forms like dark shadows.
I screamed, and screamed, and screamed.
Then we were gone and I could see no more. Adelaide wrapped her arms around me and we both sobbed. Theo was dead, but so was a part of me.
I made a silent vow with myself to kill them all. I wanted every last one of the Iniquitous to bleed out beneath me. I wanted their blood to coat my hands and stain my clothes. I wanted them to cower at my name.
And they would.
I knew it.
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Acknowledgments
Wow, I’m blown away that this is my thirtieth book. Way back when I finished my first book I didn’t even think I could finish the sequel, and yet here we are. Writing is my passion, and I’m so lucky I get to live my dream job.
I originally started this book early in my career and planned for it to be fifth release ever. But I hit a wall with it, and no matter what I did I couldn’t make the story go. So, I shelved it and figured that was that. I hoped one day I might go back to it, but figured I wouldn’t.
A little over a year ago, Mara and Theo began speaking to me, those voices got louder and louder and I finally knew what to do to make the story work. Working on this book again has made me so incredibly happy and I hope you enjoyed this first part of Mara’s story. There’s so much more to come.
A big thank you goes out to my beta readers. I was so worried to share this story with you guys since you’ve never beta read any of my paranormal books. This was a whole new adventure but you guys
fell in love with Mara and Theo just like I did. Your input was invaluable and so much appreciated.
Emily. Girl. You’ve been there since practically the beginning. You were there when I first started writing this book and knew when I hung it up. When you asked to read the rough draft of that story a year or two ago I was so nervous to hand it over, but I finally told myself, “Why not, it’s not like you’ll ever finish it.” Now, here we are with the new version and I have loved hearing your feedback on how much better this one is. It makes me glad I waited. Sometimes something inside us knows stuff we don’t.
Regina Bartley—my bestest author friend and sprint buddy. I swear without you I’d never finish a book. I miss you so much and can’t wait until I get to see you again.
Wendi, Sara, and Barbara. Your battle for number one in my group kept me so entertained while finishing this book. I love you all so much and I’m so glad we’re friends. I can’t wait to crash Sara’s house for that writer’s retreat.
Regina Wamba and Yuli Xenexai, I cannot thank you enough for taking my word vomit and turning it into the most incredible shoot and cover ever. I was beyond nervous venturing back into paranormal and how this would turn out, but it’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined. Everything looks like movie stills—it’s truly incredible.
Michael and Jenna, thank you so much for bringing Theo and Mara to life. Seeing the photos for the first time was surreal. Having started this book so long and going back to it, it was incredible to see it brought to life in you guys.
For my family, thank you for all your love and encouragement. The last few months have been rough, but you’ve helped me get through it and remain sane. This is one hurdle among many I’ll face in life and I know I’ll come out stronger for it.
About the Author
Hi. I’m Micalea. Ma-call-e-uh. Weird name, I know. My mom must’ve known I was going to be odd even in the womb. I’ve written a lot of books. Like a lot. Don’t ask me how many, I don’t remember at this point. I have an unhealthy addiction to Diet Coke but I can’t seem to break the habit. I listen to way too much music and hedgehogs have taken over my life. Crazy is the word that best sums up my life, but it’s the good kind of crazy and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Enchant (The Enchanted Book 1) Page 25
