Page 99 of Waltzing With Witches

He’s trying to kill my mate.

I’m death itself, slipping across the room on black wings. I rip Morgan bodily from him, gripping Lou’s throat at the same time. When I squeeze, Wesley grunts, forcing the pained sound from Lou’s throat as he scratches at my hand with one of his.

Morgan shouts behind me, but all of my focus is on the male who has rained destruction down on my people.

On my mate.

He’ll die for that if I have to rip him from Lou’s body myself.

Yanking Lou’s arm up, Wesley slaps her palm against my chest. The connection sears a path on my skin that flays me open, my body arching as my vision blurs, every sense diminishing.

Morgan screams, but nothing exists outside of the fire burning me alive.

A blast from Lou’s hand throws me away from her body and halfway across the room, where I land with a thud, the breath leaving my lungs with a whoosh. Morgan screams again, but everything moves in silent, slow motion. Boards rip from the walls, grabbing Lou’s body and Wesley and hauling them high up onto the wall, hands pinned above Lou’s head.

The floorboards beneath me rumble, shoving me up onto my knees and tossing me toward the far wall. Ben grabs me and drags me up next to Lou, pinning me in place with boards across my chest and legs.

My energy flags as the thing in my chest writhes, tearing at me from the inside out. It’s killing me; I know that, logically.

She screams, but I can’t hear it, there’s just the opening of her mouth, and the tears streaming down both cheeks. Veins pop in her neck as she reaches up and slams her palms against my chest.

Calling on the only bit of strength I can muster, I bring forth my shadow wings and cocoon them around her so it’s just us inside the barrier.

Protect her.

Only her.

Always her.

Gray eyes blaze with fury, or maybe terror. But our bond is tight with a single sentiment—trust.

Next to us, there are sounds of a struggle, although I keep my mate shielded from it. Wesley forces Lou’s body to fight, ranting and raging against Ben’s hold, but every time he breaks through, Ben rewraps him in thick, wooden plans.

Morgan’s magic sinks into me, healing and soothing my pain, but that terrible thing in my chest that fights, fights her the entire time. Pressure builds inside me as my energy flags.

“Morgan,” I whisper with a smile. If this is the moment I die, I want her name to be the very last thing on my lips.

There’s a loud pop, and something concussive blasts Morgan away from me and out of the protective barrier of my wings. I suck in a deep, painful breath as I struggle against Ben’s hold. He drops me painfully to the ground as a black shadow twists in the air between Morgan and me.

To my left, Wesley stares with wide eyes through Lou’s features, which are frozen in a mask of shock.

The dark mass spins, forming shape after shape after shape. A gargoyle, a rat, a centaur.

And then, a snake. It spits and hisses as it coils in the air, tiny explosions of lightning emanating from its smoky body. I try to struggle against Ben’s hold, to get that fucking thing away from my mate, but my body doesn’t respond.

Morgan steps forward and reaches out, grabbing the writhing black mass in one hand. The mass spins and snaps and whirls, but it can’t seem to reach the hand she’s holding it with.

“Nooooo,” Wesley moans, the sound a mix of Lou’s voice and his.

Morgan lets out a scream that lifts every hair on my body as she slams the snake against Wesley’s spectral chest.

The warlock’s transparent figure jolts like he’s been shot. The snakelike figure strikes at his murky chest, ripping a piece of his phantom body open. He roars and claws at the magic, but it begins to burrow its way inside him. With a scream, he tries to sink back into Lou, a silent cry echoing from his throat as light fills him from the inside out. He grabs at the virus’s tail and pulls and tugs, but it’s buried good and deep.

I’m frozen as the last bit of the virus disappears into the hole in his chest. It closes around the snake as his black eyes flick to Morgan and narrow.

“You fucking bit—” With a pop, he explodes to dust. It fills the air in the room and floats weightlessly, a black cloud joining the dust motes as my vision begins to go dark.

I can barely keep my eyes open as the dust floats through the air. But Lou is Lou again, with no sign of Wesley. Ben drops us carefully to the ground as I catalog other sounds.

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