Page 57 of Baneful Magick

“Please won’t save you now.”

ISLA

A scream clawed its way out of my throat as the Echo I knew transformed into something sinister. Outwardly, he appeared the same, but his eyes glowed with menace.

I arched my back, trying to angle myself away from the painful press of the tree bark. I was going to have more than bruises when this was done.

Echo grabbed one of my hands, bringing it between us and dragging it down until I felt how hard he was. At another time, I might have enjoyed it, savored it really, but the man watching me wasn’t anything like the guy I’d dreamed of a week ago.

‘Isla, I need you to listen to me.’Cassius’ words were full of urgency, and my heart rate sped up. He’d only ever sounded this way once before, when Bones had come to get me.

‘Cas,’I whimpered, hating how weak I sounded.

‘Do whatever he says, beastie. Fighting him will not end well.’

‘What’s happening?!’

“Isla! Oh, shit!” a familiar voice called out. The words were followed by another string of curses, and with each word, Echo’s body coiled tighter, ready to strike.

I looked over Echo’s shoulder to find Aizel, Zhara, and Wells standing there. Wells looked concerned, his gaze bouncing from me, to Echo, then to Aizel, whose color had drained from his face. Echo growled, the rumbling tone different than he’d sounded before. This growl was a threat, something almost territorial.

“Brother,” Aizel said. He simultaneously stepped forward and pushed Zhara and Wells behind him. “You need to feed.”

“I know what Ineed,” Echo hissed, shooting a look at his twin that had my three friends stumbling back a few steps. “If you’re going to get in my way, you’ll become a part of it.”

Zhara tried to interject, but Aizel grabbed her arm hard and shook his head sharply. “Don’t. This is beyond reasoning, Z,” he replied softly. Ignoring Echo’s warning glare, he slowly walked toward us, his hands up in the air as if to prove he wasn’t a threat.

“Isla doesn’t know what’s going on, Echo. Let me tell her. Let mehelpher. You’ll regret it if I don’t.” His voice was soothing in the face of Echo’s trembles.

“He’s in a rut, Isla,” Aizel started, his gaze never straying from his twin’s. “And you are now the focus of it.”

“Rut?” I whispered. My hand contracted around Echo’s cock since I was afraid to draw his anger by any other movement.

“It’s when all of our instincts come to the surface and strip away our humanity,” Aizel answered gently. His concern and love for his brother shined through, though his brother’s focus was still on me, his forehead resting against mine. “Right now, I don’t have time to give you all the details. What I can tell you is that you’ll have to ride it out with him. Don’t fight. Don’t argue.”

“Ride it out?” I asked numbly. He couldn’t mean what I thought he meant. There was no way.

“He needs to feed, and the only one he wants is you. Echo’s hunger is uncommonly… big. You’ll be gone for days. I’ll let the professors know what happened.”

“You need to leave,” Echo warned him. He squeezed my hand, his jaw clenched in a way that looked painful. “I can’t hold myself back for much longer.”

“Try to control yourself, brother. I don’t know how I’ll console you afterward if it goes like it did the last time.”

“What happened?” I whispered. I didn’t want to set Echo off, but I needed to know what was going on.

“Just… Be careful,” Aizel told me before he backed up. Not moving too fast, he grabbed Zhara and Wells and forced them to leave.

Echo’s body shook, and I could tell he was trying to hold it together. Moving my hand from his dick, I slowly slid it up. I stilled when he pressed his body against mine, digging the tree into my back again, warning me with his body to be careful. But then carefully, deliberately, I moved my hand to rest lightly on his waist.

“Echo?” I murmured.

The snap of twigs caught my attention before a few students stumbled into the clearing. They started laughing when they caught sight of us.

One sneered. “Fucking between classes?”

“Incubi are known for thinking with their cocks. It’s all they’re good for,” the second person spat.

A shock of power tore through the clearing, and I shielded my face. My instincts told me to protect myself even though there was probably nothing I could do against the force of this magick.

---