Page 41 of Reign of the Beast

It wasn’t public knowledge, nowhere in the Guardian files on me, but I was greatly claustrophobic. Being restrained, my freedom stripped in any way, ate at me something fierce.

Perhaps the rest I had lied about would become a reality.

Perhaps then I could manage to endure the binds until the three of them deemed it safe to release me.

8

~Ryker~

I watched Jaxon tearing up the fields in the distance in full wolf state.

After he’d led me to Mia, he’d excused himself and taken off to give us some space, while he’d returned to his version of therapy and working through his pained emotions.

Turning away, I looked back at Mia sitting on a bench on the porch, hunched over, her head in her hands. She was struggling to absorb everything I’d told her about what had been going on for the last few months since she’d been gone.

I’d healed her as soon as my magic had been back up and running a few hours ago and conjured her wardrobe from her place to offer her some semblance of comfort and normalcy.

But while she was up and about and physically fine, she certainly wasn’t mentally.

Jaxon had been right to come and get me. She was in a bad way. In all the time I’d known her, I couldn’t recall everseeing her so broken.

And, fuck, it was the worst time for it.

It was bad enough that she was experiencing some major issues with her magic, but to be like this too?

I had a lot of work to do.

I walked to her and knelt down in front of the bench.

I grasped her hand to get her attention and she looked down at me with eyes red raw from crying.

“Listen,” I told her softly. “You did what you thought was best for everyone around you by taking off and sequestering yourself away. If you’d stayed, with your magic so unstable and your fear of unleashing darkness, it just would’ve made the situation worse. Plus, Draco could’ve taken you too and none of this Covenant shit would be possible. We would’ve been left with no way to take him down.Youare the key to everything, to ending this, to saving the supernatural world from complete annihilation.”

She pulled her hand from mine, shaking her head as she rose to her feet with a heavy sigh. “I can’t even control my magic right now. I’m not the key to anything. Not anymore.”

“You are the only one who can wield Immortal magic,” I reminded her.

She brushed past me, her gaze going to Jaxon in the distance. She tugged at her hair, in clear distress. “He’s lost everything, all because of me.”

“Because of Draco.”

“No,” she murmured.

“You threw yourself into a completely unknown situation and did the best you could. Draco was just better, more prepared, with an entire fucking army at his back. Jaxon told me about the wall you conjured. Youhadcontrol then over your magic and you managed it for him.”

“But I couldn’t hold it.”

“Your fear got the best of you. It did with me too.”

She spun at my admission, cocking an eyebrow. “Youwere afraid?” A slight smile ghosted her lips. “Mr. Arrogant?”

“Yeah, the night of the Maven Coven battle. I couldn’t bring it like I needed to, I was struggling.ButI worked through it.” I stepped forward and turned my palms up. In the next beat, I conjured my next-level magic, blinding green bolts sparking to life. “Andnow, this is where I’m at, stronger than ever.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped, walking up to me and studying my magic closely.

She cupped her hands around the power flaring in my right palm, just shy of touching it.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she sucked in a choppy breath.

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