Page 42 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“I’m coming over,” Jace said, and I could already hear him rushing from his house through the speaker on his phone.

Before I could think, I grabbed the vial. Something like static electricity danced across my fingers as I clutched the fragile thing. So small, yet full of so much energy. As I held the vial, the magic within me—the magic I’d doubted existed—surged like a swirling thunderstorm in my chest and mind. It made me a little dizzy.

“I’m in my truck. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Jace said. “See you soon.”

He hung up. Standing on shaking legs, I tucked the phone back in my pocket. I brushed away a layer of grime with my thumb and saw a few strands of dark black hair, the same shade as Jace’s. The necklace kept humming as though it was pleased, almost like a contented cat perched on my chest.

Outside, the fresh air cleared my head a bit, and I stood in my driveway, waiting for Jace to arrive, which didn’t take long. He must have flown like a bat out of hell because he made the normally ten-minute drive to my cabin in five. His truck screeched to a stop, and he leaped from the cab and ran toward me, freezing with a pained grimace as he got near the magical barrier.

“Is that it?” he asked, nodding to my hand.

“Yup.”

He chuckled. “Weird that something so small can have so much power.”

“Yeah. I think it keeps you out, as well as anyone with bad intentions. It would explain why Waylan could pass, but Eren couldn’t.” That theory also made it seem more likely that Jace was right about the other alpha.

“What do we do now?” Jace asked.

“I’m not sure.” I stepped forward, crossing over the boundary so Jace could see the vial better. “I’m not sure how to destroy this yet.”

He looked at it a few seconds, then nodded to himself. “Put it back. Until you can modify the ward, I want it to stay up. It protects you, and I don’t want that going away. I’ll be fine delivering groceries out here instead of to your front door.”

He reached forward and closed my fingers around the vial. The moment his fingers touched mine, a bolt of energy burst out of me. The vial shattered in my hand, and an audible pop resounded all around us. A heavy gust of wind blew across the property, and both Jace and I jerked in surprise.

I gasped. In a perfect circle around the cabin, all the grass in a three-inch-wide trail had turned brown, killed by the sudden and inexplicable vanishing ward. A sharp pain in my palm pulled my attention away, and I glanced down at it. Blood pooled in my hand where the glass had cut me.

“Oh, shit,” Jace said, cradling my hand in his.

He led me to the house, walking unimpeded right up the steps and inside. The ward really was gone.

“Do you have a first aid kit or anything?” he asked.

I flopped into a kitchen chair and nodded. “In the bathroom down the hall. It’s in the cabinet under the sink.”

Jace flew off, faster than a man his size should have been able to move, and returned moments later with the little red zippered pouch. He knelt by my side and opened the kit.

“I need to disinfect this,” he said, then looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Unless you’ve already learned some healing spells?”

“Very funny. No, I haven’t.”

He tore open a small disinfectant wipe and swiped it across my palm. Searing heat tore through the wound as he did.

“Ouch,” I hissed, and Jace blew on my palm, his cool breath dulling the pain.

“You’ll need to get a better handle on your magic,” Jace said as he opened a pack of Band-Aids. “You could really hurt yourself if you aren’t careful.”

“I didn’t do this on purpose. It came out of nowhere,” I said. “I don’t know what caused it.”

He looked up at me, eyes locking on mine. Those green-blues were like pools of deep, mossy water. Something strange happened when he looked at me like that, like some sort of rope between us snapped taut, initiating a moment of connection I’d never experienced before. I’d never seen eyes so beautiful, and it felt like I was falling into them, drowning in a lovely sort of way.

God knows how long we stared into each other’s eyes. When I came back to my senses, heat rose to my cheeks, severing the connection. The necklace thrummed on my chest. Something about Jace being so close was making the magic in my body react in a way I didn’t want it to.

Jace cleared his throat and continued patching up my hand. My heart slammed against my ribcage. Every time his finger grazed my skin, power surged through my body, sending crackles of energy dancing across my very bones. When he finished, I leapt from my chair, nearly toppling it. Jace reared back.

“I, uh, I need to get something,” I said.

“Get what?” Jace asked.

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