Page 40 of Light Magic

“They are fine,” Levi answered. I looked at him and he was sitting up on the chair as if it was his throne. No one would ever know he was just sleeping. “Once we arrived, I destroyed the necklace and they woke up.”

“And Mrs. Dennis?” I asked.

“I wanted to kill her on the spot, but she asked for forgiveness, and Abbie let her go. Though she’s not welcomed here anymore.”

I nodded and remembered the library. “Oh, shit, they broke the dome!”

“Abbie already fixed it.”

I guess sometimes it was useful to be a witch.

I felt a little pinch on my shoulder. I glanced at it, and only saw some redness that would probably go away soon.

“I’m assuming Lacey healed me … and changed my clothes.“

“If you recall, sweetheart, I’ve seen you naked before, but you’re right. Lacey healed you and Abbie helped her get you cleaned up and changed.”

I propped some pillows between the headboard and me and leaned back. “Thank you … for dropping whatever you were doing and coming to me.”

His jaw ticked. I knew that meant he was angry or holding back, but it was so damn sexy. “It was stupid of me to go.”

“Why did you?”

He stared at me. “I had business to take care of.”

“Right. Big, evil demon stuff.”

“Something like that.”

I sighed, almost used to this. One moment, he was taking care of me, or helping me, or doing something that at first glance benefited me, and the next, he was killing innocents and torturing his enemies.

I had to remember he only came to me because of the bond.

“What did you feel?” I asked, curious about how the bond had changed. “Did it hurt a lot?” I frowned. “Wait. How did you find me?”

As usual, he looked at me and didn’t answer right away, as if weighing whether to tell me the truth.

“When your feelings are intense, if I focus, I can track them,” he explained. “The closer I got to you, the more I felt your emotions and your pain. It hurt, but it was tolerable.”

“I’m sorry.”

His brows curled down. “For?”

“For messing up the ritual, for not having broken the bond, for hurting you, for forcing you to come to me because you have no other choice.” He had said the other day how confusing the bond was, and he didn’t know what was real anymore.

If there was no bond, he would never feel anything for me.

All of it was the bond.

“I can handle it.” His voice was tight.

“Just … hang in there, okay? I promise I’ll break the bond as soon as I can, but first … I really need my magic back.” My chest expanded as the feelings from last night flooded my system. “I’m so sick and tired of being a victim and needing help. I used to be so badass, and now I’m always the damsel in distress. I hate it.”

“Last night, you weren’t a damsel in distress.”

“Yes, I was. I was able to save myself, but if I had had my magic, I would probably have not been taken. Those lion shifters would never have gotten the best of me like that.”

And to think they could have done worse if they wished. They could have hurt the Evermores and Lacey, stolen precious books and dangerous items.

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