Page 120 of Untraced Magic
My heart stammered in my chest as warm air found my lips. Faint, but it was there, dusting them ever so slightly.
“Morgan?” I said incredulously.
The faint rise and fall of her chest left air rushing from me. I cradled my arms underneath her, holding her tenderly to my chest, not believing it to be real.
Color returned to her cheeks ever so faintly, and my pain seemed todull.
I grasped her hand as if I was her tether to this life.
“Breathe for me, that’s it.”
Her breath against my neck was the single most incredible sensation I’d ever felt. A gift.
“Tyler,” she whispered.
I held her face in the palms of my hands. “Who did this to you? I saw Wes… did he?”
I couldn’t bring myself to speak the words. Betrayal, a bitter taste I couldn’t swallow.
She nodded while murmuring something I could barely make out. It sounded like the word Helena.
Brutal realization ripped through me at knowing Wes had something to do with this. The deceit was next level.Devastating.
My hands fanned through her hair. “I thought I’d lost you. I’ve never felt so…” Lost for words, I soaked in her doe eyes.Mydoe eyes.
I brushed my lips against hers, an agony of emotions charging from me into the kiss. It pulled me into an emotional state I wasn’t ready for.
Tears drenched my cheeks. “I love you so much. You’reeverythingto me.”
A faint smile curved her mouth, her breath barely there. “I love you, too.”
I held her in my arms until our mate bond helped her regain strength, just as Betty mentioned it would.
“We really need to leave,” I said, motioning toward the licks of flames spreading fast.
Fear possessed her features when she saw the inferno I’d created.
I choked on a breath. “Can you walk?”
She hesitantly nodded. “I think so.”
I helped pull her to her feet, questions burning her gaze as she stared at me.
“You’ve gotwings?” she breathed. She moved behind me, studying the new extension from my back. Her eyes filled with awe. “They’re like a phoenix.”
She ran a finger along a feather, and a delicious shiver grazed my spine, my mind veering on the edge of the gutter.
I straightened. “So it seems, but right now, we have to get out of here.” I coughed as another wad of smoke filled my lungs.
A mixture of magic and adrenaline charged through my veins, my vision so clear I could see the tiniest of grains magnified.
Movement caught my eye and my head spun toward it. A woman, crouched behind a large structure at the front of the building.
Morgan’s grip on my arm tightened. “That’s my mother. You need to stop her,” she wheezed.
“Your mother?” Did I hear her correctly?
Morgan nodded in desperation. “She suppressed my magic, then tried to steal it. She wants to open the portal to the Underworld.”
