Page 253 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

Chapter 6

Bailey groaned, unwilling to wake up even though he was being shaken. He was too tired and too heavy and just needed a little more sleep.

“What’s wrong with you?” Gran asked.

Bailey forced his eyes open. Was he late for an exam?

Gran loomed over him, the lounge room light behind her too bright.

Bailey squinted. “What time is it?”

He was still alive, but he felt like roadkill and was as weak as a newborn cub. What the hell was going on? Then he remembered the adrenaline and fear…was Kass alive or dying?

“I’ve been cooking dinner and you haven’t moved since I got home. Are you doing drugs?”

“No.” Like he had enough money for drugs. He tried to sit up and failed. He had no strength and no bones. His phone lay on the floor where it had fallen out of his hand, and he wasn’t sure he could reach it without falling off the sofa and onto the floor. If he ended up down there, he was never getting up again.

But he needed to contact Kass. He needed to know what was going on.

He tried to reach for Kass, but the bond between him and Kass was now a narrow thread. It didn’t pulse with heat and life and lust. It was cold and withered.

A whimper escaped. Was Kass dead?

“Are you sick?” She put her palm on his forehead, then peered into his eyes like she’d be able to see exactly what was wrong with him.

His heart clenched. Would she be able to tell? He hadn’t thought about other shifters being able to sense the bond. He wanted to blink and turn his head away, but he held her fierce stare, refusing to show fear.

Her gaze softened. “What is wrong?”

Bailey swallowed, torn between telling her the truth and saying nothing. But he couldn’t lie and claim to be fine when he couldn’t even get up. “I think I have the flu.”

That was a good lie.

She leaned in close and sniffed. “It’s not the flu.”

Bailey closed his eyes and went as still as rabbit aware that it was being hunted. His heart quivered, but like the rabbit it was already too late.

“You smell of magic. Why do you smell like magic?”

He kept trying to reach Kass through the bond, a thought, a sensation…anything. But he was gone, and if Kass was gone…

“I think I’m dying.” Aside from being weak, it didn’t feel too bad. It didn’t hurt. He was dying before he’d gotten laid. He’d never even managed to get sucked off.

Fuck.

He should’ve fucked a rando in a club and just got it done, but he didn’t want to be used and forgotten.

Gran tilted her head. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to put everything together. She was old, and frailer than she had been, but she was still as sharp as claws and just as deadly. “Why are you dying?”

He wanted to close his eyes and be left to die in peace, but that wasn’t going to happen. He could shrug and pretend that he was being melodramatic, but the bond was causing serious issues. It wasn’t for sharing lust and getting off. It was life and death magic. He should’ve said something the morning after it happened, but then he’d have missed out on the fun of getting to know Kass via their bond and he wouldn’t trade that for anything. But he had to say something now.

“I kissed a witch.” He knew he’d said it the wrong way as soon as the word ‘witch’ left his lips. His grandmother’s face shuttered, frozen with hate. “It was an accident. I didn’t know what he was.”

“He? The witch is a he?” Her lip curled in disgust. “What have you done?”

“I don’t know, but I think he’s in trouble and I can’t do anything.” He’d already tried to give him some magic, and that had left him weak and dizzy. If he’d given more, would Kass be alive? He’d failed him.

“Are you bonded with thiswitch?” She made the word into a slur.

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