“We have to stop, now!” Graelen yelled over the din of the energy in the circle.
“No!” This truly was their only chance. Sacrifices could be made, had to be.
All four brothers continued their chants and Noah and Denn fell to their knees, clutching their chests in fired agony.
Jessie stirred in the circle, her body aglow, writhing against the ground. In one instant flash, all of the brothers’ magick arrowed into her, sending her flying across the circle. She lay quietly with magick coursing around her.
“Jessie, wake the fuck up and do something now. Time is up!” Noah yelled at her before crumpling to the ground.
* * *
Jessie opened her eyes and looked around, trying to remember what happened. The brothers surrounded her and, dear Goddess, Noah was on the ground in a pool of blood, as was Denn. She heard voices in a fog, saying something to her, none of which she understood over the rage roaring in her ears. Her body swam with a powerful magick, not her own but something stronger. A mixture of angry dark and powerful light. She turned again and spotted the man responsible for all of this.
There was only one way to fix this.
He had her magick and, damn it, she wanted it back and she wanted it right now! She ran from the circle, pulling the energy as she did.
“It’s a good night to die, you bastard. If I go, you go, too.”
“You would waste your life and your power on them?” Scott’s voice dripped with a thick hatred that would never change. Evil was evil. Just like Noah had told her.
With no thought of what could happen or what should happen, she let the rage of the last few months take over, and her body violently expelled all the magick through her hands aimed at Scott. The man who had tortured her and had been about to kill her when Noah rescued her.
The explosion knocked her back into the circle and blinded them all with a flash of brilliant white light that lit up the entire sky surrounding them, the entire cove became bathed in enough artificial daylight to temporarily obliterate the night. Jessie’s head hit a rock when she bounced on the ground before landing in the soft grass near the deck. Selene and Rena came running over to her.
“Holy crap, Jessie, are you all right?” They both reached down and helped her stand.
Disoriented she stared unseeing in front of her until her vision cleared. Despite everything she’d been through, her power zinged through her body, firing her with renewed energy and strength once again. Her magick was back.
But…
“I’m fine. What about Noah?” She glanced around frantically, looking for the men, when through smoke and haze she spotted them on the other side of the clearing. As she ran toward them she watched Cash help Noah to his feet and Graelen assisting Denn. They both looked a little worse for the wear, but their color was good and they were making their way out of the circle on their own.
She stopped short, watching Noah approach. His face showed nothing—no emotion, no pain, just a blank face. He looked at her then, up and down as if inspecting her to ensure she was okay, then he turned and walked toward the house without saying a word. Her heart broke as she watched his back and knew that she’d lost him for good this time.
He hated demons and now he hated her.
“Give him some time, he’ll come around. I saw the way he looked at you, and that’s just not something that goes away.”
She smiled at Denn’s words. She hoped he was right, although she had her doubts. She glanced at his blood soaked shirt.
“Are you okay? Can you heal that? “
“Normally, yes. I’m a little weak right now, we might have to go with some old fashioned doctoring.”
She pressed her palm to his chest, letting out just a touch of her magick, heating up his chest. His sharp intake of breath let her know he was feeling it and it would be working in a second. A few minutes later she pulled away, noticing his color looked better and he flashed an incredible, wide sexy smile. He really did look so remarkably like Noah, it gave her chills.
“Now you can heal him. I’m sure he won’t want me anywhere near him.”
“Have faith, Jessie. You’re a remarkable woman.” Denn and Raven headed to the house and Jake lingered long enough to give her a hug and a kiss before he, too, followed them in.
She didn’t fit in here, she would have to leave at dawn. Selene walked up behind her and grasped her lightly by the elbow and propelled her towards the house. “Come on, you need a hot shower and some rest, maybe even some food. Things are bound to look better in the morning after everyone has had some sleep.”
“What about Scott and the rest?”
“The coven ran a long time ago, the Voodoo woman disappeared, and I don’t think there is much left of Scott. Other than a pile of smoking ash where he was last seen standing. I really don’t think anyone could have survived what you threw at him. Those boys of ours produced some serious shit back there. The whole thing was quite a display. Gave me chills the whole time.”
Jessie tried to swallow past the lump in her throat over Selene’s use of “ours” when referring to the twins. Theirs, not hers. She bit down on her lip, drawing a little blood to staunch the flow of tears threatening to break free.
* * *
Jessie opened her eyes just a slit, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight shining into the room. Noah had insisted on her taking his bed, saying he would sleep somewhere else. It had been the only words he’d said all night. She’d wanted to leave
