Page 7 of Unhinged Magic
I would never. To yield was not an option.
I smirked. “Filthy words, blood mage,” I retorted.
He lunged at me again, and I ducked as a flash of blue-green met mine from the side of the room. The single moment was all it took for Reid to take advantage of my distraction, landing my neck in the crook of his arm in a chokehold. My fingers sank into his forearms, my biceps straining for release. For air.
“Yield, greens,” he goaded.
Fuck. Fuck.Fuck.
Skye’s gaze gripped mine, silently screaming for me to yield.
I had never yielded in my life. But those eyesbeggedme.
My world blurred. “Yield,” I rasped and was immediately granted a full breath.
I doubled over, gripping my knees, my chest heaving with much-needed oxygen. When I finally stood upright again, I scanned the room, searching for the turquoise depths that had landed me in this situation. When she was nowhere to be found, I searched the house to confirm it, realization hitting me like a blow to my stomach.
Skye had left. Without so much as saying goodbye.
And that thought stung like a bitch.
Skye
Seaspraycoatedmycheek, and I swiped it away before its dewy residue could sink into my skin. Ahead of me, a footpath edged the ocean that led into town, and I didn’t notice the uneven pavement from underground tree roots until it was too late.
I leveled my hands in front of me, just able to stop myself from falling flat on my face.
My thoughts were somewhere else, my mind playing flashbacks of the previous night on repeat.
Wesley had been downright rude. But I knew I was the reason for it.
I needed to explain but wasn’t sure I could. He was so different now.
I bundled my hands into my pockets, a welcome shelter from the ice-cold air currently circling my neck.
Winter. I loved how its harsh breath could make you feel alive if you let it. All you had to do was breathe it deep into your chest. Nature was strange like that. Above me, dark clouds loomed overhead, hinting at rain. I’d always wanted to dance in therain. To bathe in nature itself. I imagined it drenching my skin, soaking my clothes, and for just one moment let my mind drift to a place where green eyes no longer pierced my mind.
Like it could wash my thoughts of him.
I shook my head in disbelief.
Wesley.
I’d discreetly slipped out last night, giving Tyler some lame excuse about a shift I had at Coffee Cove this morning. Truth be told, there was no shift at the little coffee shop I worked at casually. I just needed to get the hell out of Tyler’s house, and fast.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, there was an undeniable intensity about Wesley that made me nervous. And it had nothing to do with our history. Try as I might, the image of his back muscles rippling as he sparred had lodged itself in my mind, where it would live rent-free for days on end, if not forever. To make matters worse, Wesley had emerged from a child into somethingmuchmore. His voice was no longer that of a boy, but of a man, dripping with just the right mixture of sex and confidence.
He was cocky, cheeky, a walking red flag.
And blunt as shit.
A ripple of something I couldn’t name tumbled through me, remembering the way his gaze had slid over every inch of my skin. It reminded me of the first time I had seen a shooting star:thrilling. It annoyed me that he could make me feel those things after what he said.
How dare he abuse the most sacred partnership in life; because, although I could not deny he was attractive, the mate bond was most definitelynotwhat I felt.
I’d heard about the instant connection when mates found each other for the first time: an all-consuming intensity that could rival nothing. Wesley was hot as hell, I could admit that much.But fated mates, no. The fact that he had the audacity to even joke about such a thing made rage simmer in my chest.
Disgusting.
