He was sick, twisted. I hated that scum like him existed. Blindlessly following nefarious orders was worse than the one giving the orders.
I lifted my hand and blasted a hole through his skull as I harnessed the wind. The sound of cranium cracking echoed through the surrounding trees as he took his last breath.
His brains dropped like water on the ground below him in a rhythm.
Drip, drip, drip.
My eyelids were heavy and fell over my eyes as I swayed back and forth. I exhausted all of my magical energy. I’d never used so much before.
He is coming. You did well.
The spirit’s voice whispered through the air right before my body collapsed, and I lost consciousness knowing Xavier would find me.
FOURTEEN
Xavier
Okay, I probably overreacted. Scratch that. I majorly overreacted, but when I saw that jar with the note scribbled beside it that said spell to cure loneliness I flipped. All my common sense left, and I jumped to conclusions thinking she’d betrayed me.
Everything between us was so fucking good. Too fucking good. She had me spellbound whether she cast a spell on me or not. But if she had, it would make sense that I felt more for her than I ever did for Liv.
Instead, I was so fucking wrong my head spun. I’d hurt Harlow because I was an asshole again. I owed her the biggest apology in the universe. She’d admitted she loved me and all I could do was walk out on her. I mean, what the fuck? Those were the three words I’d been waiting to hear and when I finally heard them, I fucked it up big time.
I froze as I caught a whiff of burnt corpses and blood. I inhaled deep. Mixed with the blood was Harlow’s scent. I growled, baring my teeth.
Fuck. It was her blood.
I sprinted toward the smell as fast as I could without slamming into a tree. The forest was so dense with these damn trees. My paws gripped the soil and propelled me faster than I’d gone my entire fucking life. Fear was in the backseat to my adrenaline. Her pain came through the matebond, and I felt like the monster she thought I was when we first met.
I’d closed the matebond off because I was pissed. What a fucking jackass. If I had kept it open, I would’ve felt her emotions and pain. If something happened to her, I would’ve never forgiven myself.
I jumped through a bush and halted. My legs were trembling. Where was she? Between several trees were two burnt up humans. I sniffed. Not humans, but wolves. Lockhart’s wolves. The worst part of it was they were after me.
I turned my head and spotted her passed out next to another one of Lockhart’s warriors with his brain spilling out. My mouth dropped.
My mate was a badass. She could handle herself more than I thought.
I blinked, coming back to my senses. She killed three of Lockhart’s warriors but why was her blood in the air and why the fuck was she unconscious? I shifted into human form and assessed her.
Her calf was shredded with tendons peeking out, and her foot was missing half its skin. Her blood was seeping into the ground, and she was completely unconscious from who knew what.
Static filled my ears as shards of glass rattled in my heart with every beat. The pain of seeing Harlow like that was worse than anything I’d experienced before.
I scooped her limp form up and ran back to the cottage as fast as my human form would allow.
Busting open the door, I laid her down on the bed and rummaged through the cabinets until I found gauze.
I rushed over and sat on the bed, careful not to jostle her. I picked her leg up gently, wrapping it tight enough to stop the bleeding. I did the same for her foot on the opposite leg.
Once her wounds were taken care of, I watched as her chest rose up and deflated rhythmically.
I didn’t know how to care for the injured, but seeing her hurt, hell, seeing her blood destroyed me in ways I didn’t think were possible. I thought I was broken when Liv was killed, but seeing Harlow on the ground bleeding broke me worse.
But I couldn’t break. She needed me, and I had to be there for her. Lockhart would pay for hurting her and for killing his sister.
“Xav,” Harlow croaked.
I jumped, leaning over her and kissing her forehead. “Harlow, Thank the Fates. I’m so fucking sorry. I’m a total jackass of a mate. If I hadn’t run off you wouldn’t be hurt.”
She shook her head and pointed toward the water in the pitcher on the counter. I got up and poured her a glass before coming back.
Grabbing the glass, she drank the water in gulps until it was empty and handed it back. “It’s okay. I forgive you, but don’t do it again or I’ll hex you.”
I let out a breath of relief before smiling at her. “I don’t deserve you.”
“The Lockhart pack killed my parents.”
Well, shit. That wasn’t what I thought she was going to say.
“I’m going to take them down with you whether you like it or not. It just got personal.” A fire blazed in her eyes.
“I understand.” I didn’t want her involved but how could I stop her from avenging her parents? “What happened out there?”
She shook her head. “Can you grab me that bucket of water in the windowsill?”
I furrowed my brows but did as she asked. She grabbed the bucket and peeled off the gauze I had just wrapped on her wounds. She cupped some of the water and poured it on them. The water mixed with the blood and soaked the sheets as she put her hands over both wounds. A golden glowing light came from her hands as her flesh closed up.
It was the coolest thing I’d
