Veiled Spirits - Page 52
Without knowing exactly what she is, there’s nothing I can do to help. The helplessness causes my magic to roar in my chest, demanding we burn down this plane for hurting our mate. If I thought my mate would enjoy that, I’d do it in an instant. However, I doubt she would be pleased with me razing her home.
We watch my mate suffer for more than two hours. By the time her struggles cease, and the wounds no longer reopen, Izzy has lost her voice. She’s been screaming silently for the last hour, which is somehow worse than the pitiful hoarse whimpers she was making.
The mage releases her hand and slumps over on the forest floor. He must’ve given my mate everything he had. I begrudgingly respect him more for sacrificing himself for her. Since his chest is still rising and falling steadily, I know that the mage will wake up eventually.
The wolves bounce their gazes between my mate and the mage. They look like they don’t know who to be more worried about. “The mage will be fine, wolves. It also appears that little raven’s done healing. Is there a place in this realm we can take her to recover?”
“We’ll circle back around to your realm comment, demon eyes,” the youngest wolf says, “but Bishop and sunshine can recover in our pack house. They’ll be safe there.”
With a nod, I bend down and gently pick up my mate. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at the youngest wolf. “I’m far worse than a demon, pup. Can one of you grab the mage?”
“That’s… not reassuring.” He turns to watch his brother easily pick up the mage. While the mage is large for his species, the alpha is a fair amount bigger than him.
“It wasn’t meant to be, wolf.” I wait until all the wolves and the spirit place their hands on me before transporting us to the alpha wolf’s bedroom.
Once we’re in the pack keep, I pull on my magic to cleanse my mate of her blood, sweat, tears, and forest debris. She’ll feel much better when she wakes up if she’s clean. I stride over to lay my little raven gently in the wolf’s bed. I place the blanket at the end of the bed over both my mate and the mage.
Then I settle in to wait for her to wake up.
CHAPTER 26
IZZY
Waking up feels like I’m wading through miles of dense fog. I keep trying to fight through the heavy air. Every time I feel like I’ve made progress, all I continue to see is the same damn fog. After what feels like years of wandering around lost, I’m finally able to grab on to consciousness. I yank it toward me with both hands.
Blinking open my eyes, I slam them shut again when the light feels like a barrage of stinging needles stabbing into my eyeballs. My head is pounding, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.
Fucking shit. “What the hell did I do last night?” It feels like I have the worst hangover I’ve ever had, but I know I didn’t drink my weight in tequila. I had ghosts to heal and no time to drown myself in alcohol.
“You healed twenty ghosts,” Luca tells me from somewhere to my right.
“That explains why I feel like I got run over by a herd of angry llamas. Wait… what?” I struggle to sit up as I realize Luca fucking Nightshade just told me about healing ghosts.
When I’m able to push myself up onto my elbows, I look over at Luca. He’s sitting in a wooden chair in front of a reddish wood desk. Luca looks rough, like he hasn’t slept in a while. His stubble is approaching a short beard instead of the normal five o’clock shadow, and he’s wearing only a pair of jeans. My eyes linger a moment too long on his six-pack, but can you really blame me? His abs are drool-worthy.
“The secret’s out, wildcat. We know you’re a spirit mage.” Luca’s aquamarine eyes assess me as I process what he said.
My stomach sinks and twirls. Since I’m already feeling nauseated, the strong emotions are enough to make me puke. I barely have enough time to sprint to the open bathroom door and drop to my knees before I empty my stomach into the toilet bowl. Gentle hands brush my hair out of my face and hold it behind me to keep it clean.
When I’m done heaving, I flush the toilet, wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, and mutter “Purgare” to rinse out the taste of vomit. I turn to face Luca, who’s kneeling on the bathroom floor in front of me. “How’d you find out?” My voice is hoarse, and talking scratches my throat.
“Your ghost friend told Levi, who told us.” Luca’s eyes flick between mine, filling with worry at whatever he sees on my face.
I don’t respond, instead, sinking down onto the white-and-black penny-tile floor. Lying on my side, I hug myself and pull my knees up to my chest. My cheek is absorbing the chill from the cold tile while hot tears run down it. My bare midsection and legs are also freezing from the floor, and I start shivering.
It’s funny what your mind chooses to focus on when everything is falling apart. As I lie on the bathroom floor, I can’t help but admire the precise grout lines and wonder how Luca keeps his bathroom so clean. He must have someone clean it for him. Perks of being the alpha, I guess.
Luca lies down on his side on the floor across from me. I get lost in his tropical ocean eyes for a moment. “What’s going on in your mind, wildcat?”
“I shouldn’t have asked Aggie to get Levi.” My voice is flat and monotone. Although I’m crying, I don’t really feel much of anything. It probably has to do with my heart shattering the second I realized I failed to keep the wolves safe. I tried so hard, but it didn’t work.
Simply being around me will get the wolves killed. The council doesn’t just murder spirit mages. They execute anyone who knew about the spirit mage and didn’t tell them. I’ve been working on a potion to give Bishop and my family to make them forget what I am. That way, even the memory readers won’t know they knew.
Even after trying for years, I still haven’t had any success making a potion that actually works. Now, I have to figure out a potion not just for mages but for the wolves too. I’m starting to lose hope that I’ll be able to find a solution.
“You would’ve died,” Luca grits out. Anger and heartbreak war for dominance in his eyes.
“I know. Everyone would be safe if I had.” The council can’t find out I’m a spirit mage if I’m dead.