“Fuck.”
The slau jerked and slid forward and then my chest grew tight. Oh shit. No. The tugging sensation bloomed in my chest as the slau began its extraction of my soul.
Sloane made a strangled sound. I didn’t need to look at her to know she was also in its grip. My power crackled and fizzled out, and then it had me. My boots slid across the ground, drawing me toward it. Tentacles of darkness shot out of the slau and whipped toward us, ready to embrace us.
“No!” Sloane cried.
Rune’s huge golden body cut a path between us and the slau. He looked at me, and I saw his intention in his hazel eyes.
“No, Rune. No!”
He leapt at the slau with a growl but never made it. His body twisted mid-air and he was flung across the room by an invisible force.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, awareness blooming in the pit of my stomach.
Jasper took Rune’s place and blasted the slau with power. It shot away from us and the grip it had snapped.
I sagged, suddenly weak and dizzy.
“Get out of here,” Jasper cried. “I’ll hold it off.”
Sloane shook Poppy. “Get up. Dammit, Pops, we need you.”
Poppy groaned and sat up. Her eyes snapped wide as she recalled where we were. “Fuck.”
They rushed to the steps and began working on the warding.
Get them out of here, Rune said to Jasper. Jump with them.
“I can’t,” Jasper said. “I used a ton of energy getting through that damn ward. I don’t have enough to get anyone out.” He gritted his teeth, pushing power into the slau. “Hurry with that damn ward.”
We’d been here before. Weeks ago. He’d fought the slau, and I’d been too stubborn to give him the power he needed. Too stubborn to take off the amulet.
How things had changed.
He needed power. The amulet obviously wasn’t glitching, so he couldn’t draw it from me.
It was time to take the amulet off.
“Jasper, take it all.” I reached for the pendant.
His head whipped my way, eyes widening. “Don’t!”
I froze. “Why.”
“That fucking thing is the only thing keeping you safe right now.” He let out a growl, jaw clenching, and focused on the slau again. “It’s not only muting my ability to draw from you, but it’s acting as a barrier against this fucker.”
“What? I don’t understand. I felt it trying to draw my soul out.”
“It can do it a lot faster if you take that thing off. I didn’t know it before, but I’ve done my research since then. It’s not that hard for a slau to take a soul.” He stepped toward the slau, forcing it back a step. “You can only fight it because of the amulet, and The Elites have wards on their bodies that act as resistors.”
Shit.
“Almost got it,” Sloane cried out.
Jasper bellowed, channeling more power into keeping the slau at bay.
My hands fizzed with redundant energy as I struggled to connect with my power. The slau had drained me while trying to hook out my soul.
“Got it!” Poppy cried.
The slau lashed out and then Jasper was wrapped in inky tendrils and suspended in the air.
My scream echoed throughout the basement.
“Get out.” Jasper shot a savage look my way. “I got this. Just go.”
A pang shot through me. The sharp edge of a lie.
He was lying.
His emerald eyes darkened. “Cora, please go.”
No. “Wink out. Just fade away.”
“I can’t. It has me.”
He strained, power pulsing off him, and for a moment the tentacles loosened, but then they tightened suddenly and Jasper was pulled toward the slau’s inky mass. Moans and groans of anticipation filled the air.
“No!”
“Rune, get her out,” Jasper ordered.
My mate shoved me toward the stairs with his nose. Move.
“Hurry.” Sloane held out her hand. “We’ve made a breach but it’s closing.”
I was the anchor. I needed to live. I needed to get out. The fate of humanity and all that.
I knew what needed to be done.
I just couldn’t do it.
I locked gazes with Jasper. All this time he’d come for me. He’d never left me behind. I wasn’t about to abandon him now.
I tugged the amulet from my neck. “Fight!”
“No!” His cry of rage was muted by the buzz of power that filled my head.
Light saturated my vision.
Cora. Rune’s body slammed into me, propelling me toward the stairs. Sloane’s fingers curled around mine, but I was ripped away from her.
Wait…What was this?
There I was, still gripping Sloane’s hand. Rune was behind me. Poppy was on the steps. I watched them as I floated away from them.
And then my body dropped.
Sloane screamed.
Oh shit. I was a soul, and I was being sucked toward the slau. I spun in the air, holding out my ethereal arms to ward off the mass. This was it. It had me. I was done.
Arms wrapped around me from behind. “I’ve got you, you crazy woman.” Jasper’s voice was an angry bite.
He yanked. Something snapped, then I was flying away from the mass. Pain filled my head, sharp, lancing, and searing. Heat bloomed in my chest, and my head was filled with blinding light and a death rattle of a scream.
“Cora, fuck.” Sloane’s arms were around me now.
What…Where was I?
Were my eyes open? I blinked and my vision returned, light dimming so I could make out Sloane’s concerned face.
“You with us?” she asked.
“Jasper?” I sat up, eyes scanning the room. The slau was gone. “Where’s Jasper?” My chest was tight, sobs gathering in my throat and pushing at the backs of my eyes. “Jasper!”
“I’m here.”
He appeared in the center of the room, glowing softly, solid, whole, and brimming with power.
My power.
A sob broke from my throat. “You’re okay.”
He bristled, brows snapping in an angry frown. Heck, he was furious. “You could have died. One more second and it would’ve had you. What the fuck were you thinking. You should have left.”
I wanted to speak but my throat was too tight with emotion.
She couldn’t leave you, Rune said.
Jasper glared at me. “Why? Why couldn’t you leave me, Cora?”
I stood slowly and walked toward him. His chin came up guardedly and he looked down his nose at me.
I placed my palms on his chest and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I care about you, Jasper.”
“I care about a lot of things, Cora, but I wouldn’t put my life in jeopardy for them.”
And yet he’d done that for me time and time again. Maybe at first it had been for selfish reasons, but it wasn’t any longer. There was no lying any longer.
I reached up and grazed his jaw with my fingertips. “I couldn’t leave you because I love you.”
His breath hitched. “What…What did you say?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I love you.”
A cacophony of emotions flitted across his face, and for a brief moment there was love in his gaze—pure, unadulterated love.
His hand hugged my throat, thumb sweeping across my pulse. “I don’t know what love is. All I know is that you took the amulet off. Now you belong to me. You’re mine.”
I searched his face. “Is that what you want? To own me?”
Doubt flashed across his features and it hit me that he didn’t understand this thing he was feeling. Maybe love was too alien of a concept for him to grasp. Maybe for him, wanting to own something was love. That was no way to live.
“Don’t.” He squeezed slightly. “Don’t pity me.”
I smiled up at him. “I don’t pity you, Jasper. I love you, and love doesn’t require ownership or possessiveness to work. It requ
His throat bobbed, his jaw tensed, and for a moment I thought he’d tell me to fuck off, but then his expression softened, and he tucked in his chin and locked gazes with me.
“You want me to share you with the shifters.”
“I need you to. I also need you to follow the rules so that the seal doesn’t break.”
His chest rumbled and he pressed his forehead to mine. “You love me?” He sounded confused, unsure.
My throat pinched. “Yeah, you evil motherfucker, I do.”
He tipped my chin up, lips brushing mine as his other hand skimmed across the hollow of my throat where the amulet had nestled. “You’re mine either way, Cora, but…I’ll allow you to teach me about this thing you call love.” He smirked. “It could prove interesting.”
I pressed my lips softly against his, then pulled back. “Deal.”
We were met by Tor, Leif, and Jessie outside. The shifters were wild-eyed as they strode toward me. The next moment I was wrapped in biceps and pressed to pecs in an epic hug.
“Fuck, Cora, fuck.”
“Long story,” Sloane said. “But not here. Let’s get the fuck outta here before anything else untoward happens.”
The guys reluctantly released me from the hug, but Tor kept his arm around my waist and Leif slipped his hand into mine.
Their presence, their strength had a recharging effect on my body and the connection to my anchor power was suddenly more acute. The effects of the slau melted away and I stood taller.
Jasper appeared a few meters away carrying a cardboard box. “Thought you might need the shit on the desk.”
“Smart move, J,” Sloane said.
J?
Jasper didn’t correct her. “I’ll drop it at the cabin.” His gaze locked on me. “I’ll be back for my lessons soon.”
He winked out.
“What was that about?” Tor asked.
Leif caught my eye and arched a brow.
I nodded and he sighed. “I think we all need to have a chat.”
Rune padded over. What we need is steak.
“I could eat,” Poppy said.
We headed for the fence and home.
Steaks were eaten and The Elites were gone. Exhaustion tugged at my eyelids as I lay on the sofa, head on Tor’s lap while he played with my hair.
Leif wandered into the lounge and set his phone on the coffee table. “Conah says Wren is fine. Vitals are stable. Not to worry. He says he’ll help Sloane with the paperwork in the box too.”
I sat up. “I want to help too.”
“Once you’ve had a good night’s sleep,” Tor said firmly. “Your soul left your fucking body. You almost died.”
Yeah, Jasper had told them about that. He’d had a smirk on his face when he did, as if he was doing me a disservice, but I knew him now. This was his way of making sure the guys kept an eagle eye on me while he was gone.
Gone.
Where did he go when he wasn’t here?
He’d always dodged those questions, but maybe now that things were different between us, he’d tell me.
I’d ask him when he got back.
“Bed for you.” Tor scooped me up and stood. “Bath first, though?” A wicked grin painted his features.
“Whoa.” Leif held up his hands. “Why do you get to bathe her?”
“Because I’m bigger and nastier than you,” Tor said.
Leif placed his hands on his hips and did his best pissed-off girlfriend impression. “Oh really?”
Tor snorted. “Don’t.”
Leif pouted. “Don’t you don’t me.”
Oh, God, his face and the eyelash flutter. I broke into giggles.
Rune groaned. It was only a matter of time before you saw this little skit. Leif used to pretend to be Tor’s jilted lover to cock block him when we were younger.
Tor carried me toward the stairs. “Not gonna work this time.”
“I get to moisturize her afterwards,” Leif called out.
And it’s my turn to keep her bed warm, so fuck you both, Rune growled. Cuddles are mine.
We were halfway up the steps when my phone rang shrilly in my pocket.
“Leave it.” Tor nuzzled under my ear and my stomach flipped.
The call cut out, then the phone rang again. “I have to get it.”
He pulled it from my pocket and flipped it open, holding it to my ear.
“Hello.”
“Cora, it’s Anna.”
My pulse kicked up because why would Anna be calling me this late. “What’s happened?”
“I’ve had a call from Bramble. It’s Elijah. He’s in trouble.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone. He’s gone, and I’m pretty sure Bramble has gone after him. I wanted you to know.”
I squirmed in Tor’s arms and he lowered me to my feet. “What the fuck? What do you mean gone?”
“The Sons of Adam have them.”
“Then we need to get them back.”
“I’m sorry, Cora. That won’t be an option and it isn’t up for discussion. This is merely a courtesy call to inform you what’s happened.”
She hung up.
Elijah was in danger and now Bramble was headed after him and Anna wanted to do nothing?
No fucking way. I had to—
Heat rushed to my head, making my cheeks burn. Fuck. I rushed past Tor and into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face.
I raised my head and stared at my flushed expression in the mirror, right into my bright silver eyes ringed in electric blue.
My pupils dilated and then snapped to vertical. I staggered away from the mirror in shock.
“Cora?” Tor called from outside the bathroom.
My head whipped to the door and then back to the mirror to look into my cornflower-blue eyes.
“Cora? Are you okay?”
My gut told me no.
I was most certainly not fucking okay.
* * *
To be continued…
Continue Cora’s adventure. Grab Witch Untold HERE
* * *
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
* * *
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magick
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
* * *
The Fearless Destiny Series
Beyond Everlight
Into Evernight
Under Twilight
* * *
The Chronicles of Midnight
Protector of Midnight
Champion of Midnight
Secrets of Midnight
Shades of Midnight
Savior of Midnight
* * *
Chronicles of Arcana
City of Demons
City of the Lost
City of Everdark
City of War
* * *
For the Blood
For the Blood
For the Power
For the Reign
For the Hunt (novella)
* * *
Heart of Darkness
Captive of Darkness
Bane of Winter
Fate’s Destiny
* * *
Deadworld
Deadworld
Dead City
Dead Sea
Dead End
* * *
The Nightwatch Academy
Shadow Caster
Shadow Weaver
Shadow Warrior
Shadow Master
* * *
The Nightwatch Series
Ghost of a Chance
Give up the Ghost
Ghost at the Feast
Lay the Ghost
* * *
Deadside Reapers Series
Reaper Unexpected
Reaper Uninvited
Reaper Untamed
Reaper Unveiled
Reaper Undone
Reaper Unhinged
Reaper Unleashed
* * *
The Thirteenth Sign
Witch Unexpected
Witch Undecided
* * *
The Iron Fae Series
Taste My Wrath
Feel My Power
* * *
Dragon Guard Series
Dragon Trial
Dragon Rising
Dragon Ashes
* * *
Survivor’s Heart (Planet Athion World)
Novellas
Rogue
Rebel
Survivor
* * *
Standalone Novellas
Blood Blade
About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non-psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.
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