Page 102 of Elora and the Crow

His face twisted, and he buried his face into her throat. She could feel his tears wetting her skin, and she rocked him back and forth, rubbing his back and murmuring soft words of comfort.

“This is why we can’t be together, Elora,” Jonah said, his voice muffled against her skin.

She made him look at her again, drying his cheeks with her fingers. “You’re out of the Academy. You don’t have to kill me to escape some fucked up organization.”

“No, but you will always be in danger. Everyone I love will be. You were nearly killed, and my brother,” he swallowed hard, “he’s with that crazy fucking witch, and who knows what she’s doing to him. Because of me, Elora.”

“No,” she said firmly, “it’s because she’s a dark witch, and the evil she chose to invite into her life has made her go insane. She’s doing this because the darkness has destroyed any good in her. That’s not on you, Jonah.”

“Elora, please. You have to… you have to stop loving me,” Jonah said.

She cupped his face, squeezing it hard. “Impossible. I love you, and I’m with you in this until the end, Jonah. Don’t ask me to walk away from you knowing that without my help, that crazy ass witch will kill you.”

“Because I’m fucking useless now,” Jonah said. “I can’t shift, and just being around Malencia scares the fucking shit out of me. I froze, Elora. I froze and couldn’t do a goddamn thing.”

“That’s not true,” Elora said. “You couldn’t shift, but you tried to stop her. I was there, and I saw it.”

“I failed,” Jonah said. “And she almost killed you because I failed.”

“Because I underestimated her,” Elora said. “I didn’t realize how powerful she was. Even if you could have shifted, I don’t think it would have made a difference. Her magic it was… fuck, it was so powerful, Jonah. I’ve never felt anything that strong before. She might be more powerful than my grandmother, and Helen’s magic is incredibly strong.”

“Jesus, this is not helping convince me we can be together.”

“We are together and have been for weeks. Like it or not, we’re in a relationship, and I’m not going anywhere. Try to get rid of me, and I’ll do a binding spell on us that’ll be so strong you won’t be able to get more than a foot from me,” Elora said.

A small grin crossed Jonah’s face. “You said you wouldn’t use magic on me, little witch.”

“That was when you weren’t being a stubborn jerk trying to convince yourself you could live without me,” Elora said.

His face turned solemn. “I don’t think I can live without you.”

“Iknowyou can’t,” she said with a cheeky smile. “Besides, I think we won’t have to stop her. I’ll go to the WWC today and report her. They’ll find her and stop her and bring Caleb home to us.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jonah asked.

“Because that’s their literal job. Stopping dark witches and bringing them to justice is partly why the WWC was created in the first place. Once they find out what she did and that she’s kidnapped a human, they’ll go after her immediately. The council has powerful witches and warlocks working for them who will take her down and save your brother.”

She could tell Jonah had reservations, and she couldn’t blame him, but Elora knew the WWC would go after Malencia with every bit of magic they had.

“The WWC will get Caleb back,” she said confidently. “I promise, Jonah.”

CHAPTER32

Jonah glanced at his watch as he paced the foyer. The makeshift altar was still in the room and he picked absently at some candle wax on the top of it before rechecking his watch. Elora and Cece had been gone nearly two hours, and Elora hadn’t replied to his text. If they weren’t home in the next five minutes, he didn’t care what Elora wanted. He was going to the WWC and looking for her.

He’d fought bitterly against letting Elora go to the WWC without him but, in the end, had to concede that she knew best when it came to the Witches and Warlocks Council. And she was adamant that the meeting would go better if she didn’t bring him with her. His only consolation was that one of the security detail, a cheetah shifter named Fenton, had driven Elora and Cece to the WWC.

The door opened in a blast of cold air, and Elora and Cece stepped into the foyer. He hurried over, pulling Elora into his embrace before she could even take off her coat.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” she said, her voice grouchy. She sighed as Jonah took off her coat. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“The WWC is full of useless bureaucratic assholes, is what happened,” Elora said. Her hands glowed blue, and Jonah could practically see smoke drifting out of her body. Whoa… wait… thatwasactual smoke unfurling from her skin.

“Elora, you’re smoking again,” Cece said.

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