Page 19 of Savior Mate

The next thing I saw when I woke up was rusty pipes above me and when I finally stirred back and could see clearly. I uncovered I was lying in the middle of a runic symbol and I seemed to be in the old abandoned city factory. Regaining my stance, a pang of headache hit me and I groaned. I tried to walk past the circle, but it slammed me backwards. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Denzel. The only thing we need now is Marion because he’s the one casting the spell unless he turns out to be a coward, and we’d have to use his sister.” Sigrid smiled at me.

“Don’t you dare to get them involved in this?”

“Oh, he’s already involved in this. Either he does the spell or Esme does.” I heard another voice and turned in its direction. They both looked exactly like Sigrid, except they had brunette and auburn hair. “I’m Sybil,” the brunette said. “This is my sister, Sienna. I believe you’ve already met Sigrid.” She smiled and pushed the little girl in her arms forward. She looked exactly like Marion, a more feminine version of him, and she had his perfect brown eyes.

“Hey, Esme. It’s okay. You’ll be fine, alright?” I reassured her, and she bobbed her head in affirmation of her word.

“Hello, Marion,” Sigrid said, pulling my attention from the other two. “Meet us at the location. We already have your wolf and sister. If I were you, I’d fly. You’re the witch with the tricks, right? Tick, Tock!” Sigrid held my gaze with a smirk as she turned off the phone and tossed it to me.

12

Marion

There was a time when it was me and my sister against the world. But I lost her to a trio of witches who I thought was showing me kindness. Esme and I had been on the run after our parents died and our coven kicked us out. Particularly because our family hadn’t been abiding by the rules of the coven. It wasn’t like we weren’t practicing our magic under those rules. The only problem we had was that we didn’t live with the coven, or should I say, my parents didn’t tell us about the coven. We only found out about them when they passed on and went to them for their help, but they turned us down.

In the process of finding a new home for me and my sister, we ran into the trio of witches. They proved to be helpful at first, letting us into their home and even helping secure me a job in this city. They also helped my sister to get back into middle school, teaching me a lot about being a dark witch. Little did we know they had an intention behind their kindness. They wanted to use us, or should I say, use me? I had two options: find a werewolf and help them cast a spell or they’d find the werewolf themselves and force my little sister to do it. I didn’t have an option because if twelve years old Esme, who just came into her powers not too long ago, did the spell. She would die. At first I tried to bargain with them to do the spell themselves, but they said I was a Devereux witch and the spell required someone from my bloodline. It was me or my sister, and I would do anything to save Esme. Anything, including dragging Denzel to his death. At first, it was just about finding a werewolf and manipulating him into following me into the city. But I loved Denzel and I wouldn’t let him die. I just wished he would understand why I did all these things and equally comprehend that I would find a way out of this. This was what I wanted to tell him back at the motel, but he didn’t let me.. Thank the goddess for the protection spell I did before all the chaos ensued. That was a guarantee that no matter what he would survive.

I was sitting at the bar, lost in the memories of how it all started, long enough that I didn’t notice it was almost nighttime. The sun was overhead, gently disappearing through the horizon and leaving a hue of orange and shades of beautiful purple in the sky. I looked up at it with a heartbroken smile and regret for everything I had done washed over me. Tears slipped from my eyes and my shoulders trembled, feeling the unbearable ache all over again. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have hurt him that way? He would never forgive me. Now I had to deal with figuring out a way to get my little sister back and also a way to keep myself alive. For all I knew, he must have returned to the pack.

I deserved all this for manipulating Denzel into coming out here with me, only for my original plan to be offering him up at a witches’ altar. The witches had warned me that if I didn’t keep up to our bargain that it was my sister who’d be doing the spell. The bargain was that I brought a werewolf from a powerful bloodline to help them harness the magic from my dead ancestors. As witches, we could draw in all the powers from other bloodlines as long as we went through strict spell casting to complete the process. I didn’t know why they needed it, but the truth was I had no choice. I could have found a better solution to this instead of endangering the one man who’d truly loved and cared for me.

I shrugged and wiped off the tears on my cheeks as I asked myself if there was ever a better solution. Considering that Sigrid and her sisters bound me to a magic symbol and tortured me every time to remind me of the fact that I was running out of time—my episodes. They even went as far as promising me I’d never see my little one ever again.

My phone buzzed, pulling me out of my thoughts; I reached for it from my breast pocket, surprised to see who was calling me. It was Denzel. I didn’t think I had the stomach for it to face him, not yet. I ignored the first call. He tried over and over up to a point that I knew something was wrong. I received the call, astounded to see who was on the phone. Sigrid. A feeling of foreboding twisted in my insides as I rose to my feet, alarmed by how she’d managed to get to Denzel. Could it be that she attacked and took him away? My suspicions were right. She did attack him. Now all I had to do was meet up with them at the abandoned factory house, so that I would cast the spell. These witches weren’t compassionate enough to even care about the little girl they held captive, so I had to do everything within my power to protect my family. It was me and my sister, or Denzel, and I was powerful enough to give them what they wanted.

I set off at the location where the witches had pinned me, and I arrived to see the witch sisters waiting with my mate and my little sister, Esme. “Marion.” My sister cried with a devastated look on her face, tears pooling from her eyes.

“Es, it will be alright.” I reassured her. I dropped my backpack on the floor, and she nodded at my words just in time as the trio of witches walked toward me with a smirk. “What kept you so long?” They asked, simultaneously intensifying the ominous feeling in the air.

“I took a bus. This place wasn’t easy to find.” I lied. After I left the downtown bar, I moved to the nearest alley where I casted a spell to contact Agatha and inform her that I would be sending my sister over to her using a translocation spell. She had questions, and I promised to explain everything to her.

“So let’s get ready,” Sigrid smiled with a suspicious look on her face. “Sienna and Sybil already did a great job by drawing the symbol of magic. Now get on with it.” She sauntered toward me with a spell book and shoved it into my chest.

“Hmm.” I groaned.

“Sienna and Sybil will take your sister back to the house. I expect you to be ready when they return.” Sigrid said in an offensive tone.

“Can I talk to Esme?” I proposed and somehow they agreed. I sauntered toward my sister with a brave smile and pulled her into an overdue brotherly embrace. Kissing her cheeks, I held her face as tears pooled from her eyes. She couldn't find her words, and I saw the pain in her field of vision. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to protect you. It will all be over soon,” I smiled at her. She nodded, and I brushed strands of her chocolate kinky hair behind her ears. I held her tightly again, muttering a quick enchantment before I let her go. I exhaled, and the two witch sisters took her away. “Make sure you keep the end of your bargain.” I asserted with a deadly serious expression.

“As you should.”

I breathed as I glanced at Denzel, who wasn’t looking at me. I stepped toward him, hoping he would cast his loving glance, but he didn’t. That feeling of hurt weighed on my chest, and I tried so hard to hide it, but it spelled doom on my face . “Denzel,” I sighed. “I should have told you the truth. They pressured me through my sister. I couldn’t let them use her for the spell. She’s still a child and would die. I hope you understand why I’m doing this.” I tried to explain, praying he would listen to me.

“You could have told me the truth,” he tried to walk closer, but the barrier spell from the circle prevented him. “I shouldn’t have asked you to leave because if they put me in the same position. All that pain from what these bastards were doing to you, threatening you and your sister. I would have done the same thing, anything, to save my family.” He explained. Saying this meant that Sigrid had told him everything he needed to know.

“Oh, please, can we stop with the lovers’ talk? Denson, or whatever your name is…”

“You’re about to kill me. The least you could do is get my name right.” Denzel interrupted her.

“Marion is manipulating you, trying to play the victim. Of course, he’s always the victim. Aren’t you?” Sigrid smirked as she walked closer. “He could have told you, but we both know he loves the drama. You can do this shit when you both get to the other side. My sisters are on their way back, and they aren’t very friendly.” She sneered. My shoulders fell at Sigrid’s words. She was right. I’d better get on with what we came here to do rather than wait for her vicious sisters to return and see I hadn’t made any progress at all. They wouldn’t be very thrilled.

I walked into the circle, scrutinizing the magic symbol surrounding Denzel. They got everything right, and all I had to do was the last part of the spell: linking Denzel as an anchor for the accession of my ancestor’s powers. I walked out of the circle and asked Sigrid to get me a glass and a blade; she conjured it at the snap of her finger and passed it to me. I slashed through my hand and let my blood flow into the cup. Once I had gotten enough of my blood required for the symbol, I healed myself with a spell.

The tension in the air grew as I cleared the distance between Denzel and me with the glass in hand, breathing slowly. My heart thumped faster under my chest the minute I was closer to him, closer until I was one foot away from him. He took my hand and jerked me toward himself, placing my digits on his chest and letting me feel his heartbeat. “Can you feel that? What is not worth dying for is not worth living for. If I will die so you’ll live, then I accept my fate. Save your sister.” He said to me with an impassioned expression as he held my gaze. I exhaled, deeply overwhelmed by the raw sparks flying between us, and stepped away from his grasp, casting a wicked glance at Sigrid.

“You should listen to the witch. This is for my family, and I don’t care who goes down for it,” I spewed each word like a venom, making sure I hurt him enough. When I saw the aggrieved look on his face, I chuckled with eerie satisfaction. I drew the symbol that anchored him to the spell and smiled at him. “This is going to hurt like a bitch.” I waved my hand over the blood on his chest, and he screamed in pain as he lost his balance, crumbling to the floor with his shrieks of torture echoing through the silent night, the symbol burned into his chest with a sizzling sound.

I turned on my heels and set torches around the circle. The other two witches returned when I was ready for the spell. I stood in front of Denzel and snapped my finger, awakening the fiery flames of the torches. I could always cast complicated spells because I practiced a unique magic from the Night Shade pack coven. A type of magic they weren’t convenient to—Dark Magic. I couldn’t believe how far I had gone in manipulating the people that took me in just to save my sister. I affirmed that for my family, I would go to any lengths to protect them. Denzel was part of my family, and these witches didn’t know what was coming to them.

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