The pain’s intensity kept building in almost a deep, body shaking pulse, but more so around my center. My chest and torso throbbed like a heartbeat, hard and strong until I couldn’t stand it anymore. My back arched off of the mattress and my mouth opened in a near silent scream. It was too much, and I just knew it was going to kill me.
Then suddenly, I felt heat coming from my chest and saw light behind my closed eyelids. The light and heat pulsed along with the pain as it came and went in waves. Then the pulses got stronger and shorter, stronger and shorter until it was one long agonizing beat, then I imploded… and I felt nothing. No pain, no vibrations, nothing.
My eyes were open wide and staring at the cement-covered ceiling, my cheeks wet from silent tears but I was alive. That was when I noticed it, the barest hint of magic stirring, waiting. It was as if it was hiding, scared of something bigger and badder. But my magic was the biggest and baddest thing around and it knew it, so why was it hiding?
I coaxed it out gently, reassuring it that it was okay. I would never lock it up again because it was more than just a part of me. With my vampire side and Soliel, my magic made me who I was. I accepted it wholly and I loved it completely.
My magic enveloped me in a warm hug and I sat up, gasping deep. It was beautiful. It was amazing, and exactly what I needed.
“Emelia?”
I turned my head to see Ronan sitting on the cold, hard floor near the bars of his cell watching me. He looked sad, scared, confused, and full of hope all at the same time. He’d watched me go through it, my magic returning and he suffered with me through every single agonizing second.
“Millie, are… are you okay?”
Sparks crackled on my fingertips as I itched to push the messy hair from his eyes. The sight made him jump to his knees and his mouth opened in wonder. I needed to touch him. The mate bond was pulling at me, telling me he was what we needed, but more than that, I knew in my heart he was what we needed too. Not just to stabilize the magic within me, but because he made me complete.
Xander, Matias, and Ronan were all very different and all three made me strong in different and amazing ways, but together, they made me complete. I never wanted anything like I wanted that.
I pushed off of the mattress and began crawling toward Ronan’s cell, but I’d only gotten a few feet when my body teleported from my cell to his. I landed on top of him, knocking the air out of him with a thud.
“What? How’d you do that?” he asked when he was able to take a breath.
He gently pushed me off of him and onto the mattress where he sat next to me, holding my arms in his hands.
I looked down at where we were connected. “My magic wanted you, I guess,” I told him as if it explained everything. I knew it didn’t but I couldn’t find the right words to tell him more. Then it occured to me that there were eyes and ears all around. “What’s a good illusion spell?” I asked. “I want them to see and hear something different than what’s happening now.”
“What? What are you talking about?” He was genuinely confused and I couldn’t blame him, but I’d planned to tell him everything. I just didn’t want anyone besides him to hear it.
“A spell? We don’t have much time.”
He must have realized that I meant business because he leaned in and whispered a spell into my ear. My fingers sparked again without warning and I prayed my magic would let me perform the spell.
“Grinda palamos.”
I closed my eyes as I said the spell, waiting to see if it would work. My magic was still very unstable, especially being so close to the one it wants most.
“Is it working?” I asked, one eye peeked open.
“I don’t know, lass. What do you want them to see and hear? Are you picturing it in your mind?”
No I wasn’t. I closed my eyes tightly again and imagined me sleeping on my own disgusting mattress and Ronan pacing in his cell. Once the illusion was complete in my mind, it felt real. I opened my eyes again and saw Ronan looked less solid, in fact, he was nearly translucent. But when I held out my hand to touch him, he felt solid underneath my fingers, but they, too, were almost see-through as well.
I turned my head toward my cell and saw another image of me, exactly as I’d pictured it in my head. My back was turned to us and I was asleep. It worked. Whoever was watching or listening wouldn’t be able to observe the real us, just the image I portrayed in the space we were in.
A smile lit up my face. I’d done it. I used magic the way I was supposed to. I hadn’t had that happen in what seemed like a long time. Ronan smiled happily along with me and I had the incredible desire to kiss him, so that’s exactly what I did.
I pulled on his shirt, bringing him closer as my mouth moved toward his until they met in the middle. He didn’t hesitate, bringing his hands to the sides of my face, holding me delicately but with so much need.
My head spun with the sensation of it, and all I wanted was more. I needed more. I needed it all.
I began unbuttoning the last few buttons that remained on his shirt and he moved us closer to the mattress, laying me down on top of it. He whipped the shirt off, revealing lots of lean, strong
