Page 64 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
A horizontal sheet of orange flame burst from her fingertips, following the movement of her arm. Holy fuck. She was a pyromage as well as telekinetic. Beast howled in primal satisfaction as our mate burned her enemies to a crisp.
Mate, you are MAGNIFICENT.
Chapter 79
Calypso
No-one was more surprised than me when flames shot out of my fingers. I’d been expecting to knock these guys over with a blast of force. Not with fire. But I had been feeling angry. Furious. Incandescent, in fact. Oh gods. I just burned two men to death. My pulse fluttered in my neck and my palms felt clammy. Black dots flashed at the edge of my vision.
Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out. I wasn’t sorry. It was self-defence. But acid rose in my throat nonetheless. And the feeling of dread was sitting heavy on my chest.
Mate, you are MAGNIFICENT.
Luc’s words down the bond were accompanied by a strong feeling of pride. And satisfaction. His feelings pushed away the nausea. This was appropriate Shifter justice and I was acting in not just a way that made my mate proud of me, but it was expected that I could andwoulddefend myself if threatened.
If only my vision wasn’t so blurry. I’d used too much power, too quickly. Luc and I needed to get out of here. I staggered into a standing position, swaying like I was drunk, my vision tunnelling. Luc. I needed Luc. I could hear his heavy footsteps, moving quickly toward me. He was close.
And something was still very wrong. Danger. Luc was in danger.
Chapter 80
Luc
Ten paces to the final person who stood between me and my beautiful, deadly mate. I locked my eyes on his, letting him see the death that was coming.
He grinned at me. Grinned. It was a crazy,I’m going to die and I don’t caresort of grin.
Eight paces. Why was he grinning? What was on his shoulder?
Six paces.
A spike of panic flared down the bond from Caly.
There was a boom.
The rocket launcher released its projectile. Straight at my heart. Oh fuck.
Chapter 81
Calypso
There was an ear-splitting boom. The sense of dread was almost suffocating me. My vision cleared, my brain processing the image. A rocket launcher. The fucker had launched a rocket at my mate. At almost point-blank range.
No. I wouldn’t let it happen. Even he couldn’t survive that impact. Pulling on my magic felt like scraping a blade along my own soul. I’d drained my reservoir. I shouldn’t be able to summon any more power. But I wasn’t going to let my mate die. And so much about the practice of magic was about the will. The intent. I had intent in spades. Feeling like I was pulling out my own fingernails, I thrust my arm forward, shouting the spell word. My shield was sloppy, the edges ragged. But it was big, so I didn’t give a fuck about its neatness. Even though it was wobbly as hell, it covered Luc’s body.
The rocket hit the shield. The force knocked Luc back a few steps. The explosion splashed against my shield. It held. I couldn’t see past the flames. The world greyed at the edges as I threw more power into it. I couldn’t let go yet. Not while the flames still burned. My teeth ached. Needles stabbed into my bones. My heart was slowing. My body was shutting down.
Just a little longer.
The flames went out.
And so did I.
Chapter 82
Luc
Force punched me backwards, knocking my breath out of my chest. Flames erupted in front of me. I threw up an arm, reflexively, trying to protect my face. But the flames didn’t burn. I blinked, relief filling my chest as I watched the fire spread outwards around an invisible barrier.
