Page 121 of Untraced Magic
“She tried to steal it?” I said incredulously.
Morgan heaved in a breath. “It was Wesley, he tried to syphon it to her.”
Wesley could syphon magic? What the fuck?
She doubled over, releasing smoke filled air from her lungs. “It left me, I felt it leave me, Ty. Then for some reason it crashed back intome again.” Her tired eyes pleaded with mine. “You need to stop her.Please.”
I frowned. “Are you sure you want me to do this? I could…”
Words failed me, unable to finish the sentence. Morgan knew how powerful my gift was. She didn’t need to hear how easily using it could end her mother’s life.
Morgan’s mother looked directly at me, a desolate hatred weaving through her irises. No doubt at my interruption to whatever shitshow I’d walked in on. She looked like death on a stick, her scrawny frame and hollowed out cheek bones a sickening sight.
Her steps echoed off the stone floor as she came closer, her head tilting to the side.
Inspecting me.
Sizing me up like prey.
“And who might you be?” She came closer still, zeroing in on me. “Who dares to interrupt me, and set a blaze to this church?”
“You tried to kill my mate,” I said, my tone even.
She sashayed her hand in the air. “I did no such thing to yourmate.” Her frivolous laugh echoed through the church. “You’re a very brave man, aren’t you?” she mused, her neck craning. “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? What I could do to you in a mere heartbeat?”
I clenched my fists, caught in the indecision of using my magic for fear of killing Morgan’s mother.
I deadpanned her. “I don’t give a fuck who or what you are. Now, fuck off before I incinerate you,” I seethed.
Fire pummeled through my veins, a continuous, vicious heat burning to be freed again at my will. I had no doubt this woman was powerful; the way she held herself and looked at me like nothing more than a piece of shit on her shoe told me that alone.
I put my body between her and Morgan.
“No one hurts my mate and gets away with it.”
She folded her arms across her body, her painted fingertips fluttering on her arm. “Your pathetic little mate could have done incredible things. Instead, she cowers behind you.”
I remained still, my vision focused on her every movement.
Her footsteps became cautious as she moved closer again, a mere thirty feet away now.
A cunning glimmer spoiled her irises. “Should we play a little game of cat and mouse, do you think? I do like to chase,” she taunted.
I lowered my voice, venom dripping off every syllable. “Touch her and I’ll rip your throat out.”
She glowered, like I’d just dangled the bait right in front of her.
The woman’s arms rose up beside her, shocking swirls of magic crawling from her fingertips and misting into the air above her. The shadows stretched like tendrils, their deathly presence a ghastly thing lunging toward us.
Morgan screamed behind me, her cry penetrating the walls of the church and vibrating throughout me. “Tyler!”
I forced my magic through my veins and into my palms once more. It was pure euphoria, like a riptide pulling it from me as I expelled my magic and aimed for the woman. Two fireballs toreacross the room, colliding between us with her shadow magic in spirals of gold and ink. I commanded my fire element to form a wall of flame, forcing it against her magic, but she was incredibly strong, her shadows pushing hard against my fiery barrier.
I cursed, and an almighty roar left me. Blood rushed through my veins under the immense pressure of it all, pushing to the surface and cording my forearms like a braided river.
What the fuck was this woman? I’d seen shadow magic before, but this? This was next level insane.
Our magic dueled between us, pushing and pulling against the other until perspiration coated my neck, my forehead.
