Page 21 of Ensnared
There’s nothing to say, really. Aiden has made himself clear: he would never have told me about their huge secret. And Ty stood by and let it happen. My heart breaks for Jack. These two men are his best friends, his brothers, and now they’re fighting because of me. I should leave, but I don’t know how. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to let them go.
Jack slowly pulls me close, his warm arms going around me. I press my face to his chest, and he kisses the top of my head then exhales, as though he’d been holding his breath until that moment.
“Will you stay?” he murmurs.
I lift my chin. “I don’t think I have a choice. You heard what he said.”
I don’t say Aiden’s name. It’s enough that he has this much power over me. Over us. Earlier tonight, I’d cried from happiness when Jack had come to my cabin. I’d thought we had a real chance at a relationship. The emotional roller coaster of the past days is taking its toll, and my limbs are heavy, leaden.
Jack’s gray eyes are so serious as he says, “If you want to leave, I’ll take you. I don’t care what he says. I know you won’t tell anyone about us.”
That hadn’t even occurred to me. I laugh, but it comes out as a sob. “Who would I tell? I have no one to return to.” I sniffle, then add, “I’d never betray you. It goes both ways. I’d be in just as much danger as you. And there’s no way I want to be responsible for another massacre.”
“Yeah, that would be bad,” Jack says, his lips against my temple. “I’m a fool. I bargained with the lives of everyone in this clan.”
I lift onto my elbow to glare down at him. “No, you didn’t. Aiden brought me here to use as his personal pet witch.”
“Okay, fair.” Jack stretches out on his back, his arm tucked behind his head. “But I get his reasoning, too. If you could really protect our clan, we’d never have to worry about discovery again.” He peers sideways at me. “Can you even do that?”
I sigh and flop down beside him. “I have no idea. I mean, I guess it’s possible. But I’ve never done magic that complex. I might not even have that much power in me. And you saw what happened the last time I took these off.”
I lift my hands to show him the bracelets. He takes my wrists and examines the loops more closely. “I wish you didn’t have to wear them. Are they as bad as Aiden made them sound?”
“Yep. They’re pretty terrible.”
“So take them off,” he suggests.
I pull my hands away from him. “Are you insane? Do youwantme to kill you?”
He scoffs. “I’m not that easy to kill.”
Given the size of the dragon I saw earlier on the beach, I imagine that’s true. Still, if he was a human, I might have accidentally murdered him that night at the beach. The thought is enough to send a shiver through me.
He draws me back into his arms. “You could learn, though, couldn’t you? Magic, I mean?”
I think of my experiment with Aiden in the woods. I don’t ever want to be alone with him again, not after what he said tonight. But Jack is right. My magic isinside me, and if I’m not doing good things with it, what use is it? Am I really going to code websites for the rest of my life, infusing tiny bits of magic in them so I don’t go mad?
Instead, I could be working on a spell so big, most witches can only dream of it. It would take me months, maybe years, to complete because I’d have to slowly funnel magic into it. Otherwise I’d overextend myself and die.
“I could,” I say slowly. “I have no idea if it would work, but I could try.”
“That’s all I ask,” he says, his voice growing soft. “There’s a lot of good here. Now that you know about us, I want to show you.”
“I’d like that,” I admit. “But people haven’t really taken to me. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t made any friends.”
I think of the mother who hid her kids from me. And the grumpy old man that Miss Georgia introduced to me at the grocery store. It’s not pleasant to be on the receiving end of so many suspicious glares.
Jack snorts. “Oh, yeah. That’s because no one wanted to accidentally let slip we’re sea dragons. It’ll be fine now.”
Warmth floods through me, replacing the chill of those encounters. They didn’t hate me. “So you’re saying…”
“A lot of them have been dying to meet you. We don’t often get new permanent residents in the village,” he tells me. “But there’s a bunch of kids living here, and they can’t really control their shifts, so people have been trying to keep them away from you all this time.”
He yawns and snuggles closer, spooning me from behind. His strong arm pulls me into his chest, and his warm breath caresses the nape of my neck.
“Wait. There arebaby dragonsin the village?” I squeak.
A laugh rumbles through his chest. “Yeah. Vicious little beasts.” He caresses my arm, then adds, “I have to warn you, though. We’reseadragons. Not to be confused with land dragons. Some people take the distinction way too seriously, so you’d best be careful when talking to them.”
