Page 50 of Shattered Illusion

What. The. Fuck.

As I sit up, I grab my head, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Little pinpricks of pain assault me as I poke at the tender spot on my head, my fingers coming away covered in blood. Shit. Not good. My legs tremble as I attempt to get to my feet, and I’ve barely stood up when the bathroom door flies open, and that horrible, dreadful feeling washes over me again. Only one hundred times worse now as a big, ugly fucker slips inside, closing the door behind him.

“Finally,” the big man garbles out the word. “I never thought you’d leave the wolf’s side.” He advances on me as I scramble back, trying to keep some distance between us. But luck isn’t on my side when my back hits the wall of the bathroom. He gets all up in my space, breathing his nasty stench all over my face and making me gag.

My magic pushes to the forefront, wanting to come out and defend me, but I hold it back. I know I shouldn’t, and I’ll probably get yelled at for it later, but I don’t actually want to kill anyone. And without really knowing how to control it, I can almost guarantee that will happen.

Using what I can, I shove the few shopping bags I have between us, but he eliminates the block, ripping the bags clean off my arm and throwing them behind him. His meaty paws come to rest on my hips, and that’s when my better-late-than-never fight instincts kick in. Not the magical ones. Not yet. I’ll have to keep that as a last resort if I can’t get away.

My knee comes up, with the hopes of kicking him right in the dick, but faster than I can blink, he spins me around and slams me face-first into the wall.

His hot breath wafts over my ear as he uses his body weight for leverage, keeping me pinned. “You’ll make such a pretty little prize.” I stiffen at his words. They sound suspiciously a lot like what Axel told me. How people either want to own my kind or kill us.

Fuck. That. I refuse to be just another statistic.

With the close proximity of his face, since he’s leaning down to my height, I cross my fingers and hope this will work as I slam my head back, butting him right in the nose. An audible crack is heard in the otherwise silent restroom. His weight falls away momentarily, and I use that to spin around, hoping to dodge around him and get the hell out of the bathroom.

Two steps. That’s all I get before a meaty fist snags my hair, ripping me right back into his chest. A scream gets lodged in my throat as that same hand releases my hair and wraps around my neck.

“You broke my fucking nose, bitch.” His words come out slurred, muffled by his other hand shielding his damaged nose.

He cuts off my oxygen as I go to reply, squeezing to the point of pain and black spots dotting my vision. My chest stutters with the lack of air I need to breathe, and I feel myself slowly falling into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.

The door to the bathroom opens, and my eyes widen when I see Marion strutting in.

“Jeez, Bailey. That’s one hell of a shit you have to?—”

Tears trail down my cheeks when her eyes meet mine, horror flashing in golden depths. The smoothies slip from her hands and hit the floor, the contents splattering everywhere.

‘I’m sorry,’ I mouth to her, causing her brows to furrow as she tries to figure out what I’m apologizing for.

I finally let go, letting my magic take over like it wanted to in the beginning. Marion shrieks as I’m engulfed in pink flames, and the asshole behind me screams in pain as my fire starts to eat away at his clothing. His hold on me disappears as he drops to the floor behind me, and I take off like a rocket, straight for Marion.

In my head and my heart, I beg my magic not to hurt her. To keep her safe and keep my flames around us both until we can get somewhere else, far, far away from here. The second my arms wrap around her, my flames engulfing us both, a pink portal opens in the doorway, and I dive right through, praying to the gods that wherever we end up, Marion will come away unharmed.

“Mr. Pennington,there’s a Luka no-last-name here to see you.”

I roll my eyes. She was informed twenty minutes ago that Luka was on his way, and I distinctly remember telling her to send him straight in.

Depressing the intercom button, I murmur, “Let him through, Doris.”

“Okay, Mr. Pennington.” Doris, bless her heart, is trying. I know she is. She’s a million times better than Annika, but she doesn’t listen for shit.

The door to my office is thrown open, and Luka waltzes in like he owns the place with a smug grin on his lips. His hair is disheveled like he or some new conquest has been running their fingers through it. With his reputation as a ladies man, I wouldn’t doubt if it was the latter.

Luka waves his hand through the air, and the door closes behind him with a soft thud. He exudes the same swagger as he heads toward the couch Bailey and I have cuddled on the twotimes she’s been here. If you could even call it cuddling. It was more along the lines of holding her for reassurance.

Nah. I like the idea of cuddling better.

“I’m glad you’re here, Lu. How have things been going at Stonewell?”

A booming chuckle escapes him as he settles back on the couch, manspreading his legs. “You can’t be serious? What you really want to know is how Bailey is, even though you just saw her yesterday.” He wiggles his dark brows as a smirk graces his lips. “And you guys didn’t get back till late.”

What. The. Hell. “Jeez, Luka. You’re starting to sound like a stalker. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous that I spent the day with a certain white-haired beauty.”

A darkness overtakes his features as thunder sounds off in the distance, reacting to his emotions. That’s the only tell I get that what I said has some merit.

“Holy shit. You are jealous.” I sit back in my chair with a laugh. “The notorious ‘I can get any girl I want’ demigod has a crush on the curiomancer.”

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