Page 34 of Dark Obsession
Except then something happens. Salem starts to cover his eyes with his hands, and I know that Jagger is cheating and using his fucking magic.
“Tell Salem to fight back, now. Jagger is using his magic. He’s cheating. Salem is going to lose his senses. Jagger can block his sight and hearing.”
“Motherfucker!” Sage growls, starting to pace.
I can tell they’re both talking to him, having a three-way conversation in their heads.
“I’m going to go and find Axe,” Silver states, rushing away.
Sage steps closer to me, tucking me into his side as we both watch Salem hit out at Jagger without his senses.
When Jagger gets him with a kick to the head, I’ve had enough. “I’m going to fix this,” I say, moving toward the cage entrance.
Sage grabs me and pins me against him. “No, he’ll burn the whole fucking realm down if anything happens to you, Peach. Stay here.”
“I can stop Jagger with my magic!”
Sage still doesn’t let go, and I don’t have time before my mate gets hurt, so I use my magic on him too.
“Let me go,” I state, projecting my persuasion into it.
He does.
I walk up to the stage and lock eyes with Jagger. Before I handle him, I quickly turn to the audience. “Everyone, go home now.”
They all leave.
“Jagger, stop using your magic on Salem. Now.”
He stops, a look of confusion on his face. I’ve never used my magic on anyone before. Even when he would ask for money or take whatever he could from me, I’d never use it to tell him to leave me alone.
Because he’s my brother.
I gave him his free will, something no one knew that I could take away.
But the time for playing nice is over.
“What are you doing, Peach? He needs to be stopped. He’s not going to have you.”
Tears pool in my eyes as I say the next command. “Leave, Jagger. And forget that you have me as your sister. Forget about Salem. And never try to hurt him again.”
When I turn around, I realize that when I told the audience to leave, everyone left, including his brothers and Axe.
Jagger zips away, and now it’s just Salem and me standing in the ring.
“Salem?” He tilts his head to the side, trying to listen. I know that his senses will return. Jagger’s magic doesn’t take them away. He simply dulls them to nothing in his presence. Since he’s gone, so will his magic.
“Peach?” he mouths, then shakes his head. His voice comes out stronger this time. “Peach?”
I step closer to him and touch his arm. He blinks quickly until they open and look right at me. “Fuck, that was terrifying.” He scowls, lifting me in his arms and holding me.
He glances around and sees that we’re alone. “What did you do?”
I bite my lip and sigh heavily. “My magic is dark, Salem. I can control people. Crowds. The entire kingdom. I can make them do anything that I want. If people found out about this, they would kill me.”
His eyes darken, and he rests his forehead against mine. “No one is going to touch a hair on your head. Why haven’t you told me about this? Is this why you didn’t want to bond with me? I knew there was something you were keeping from me. I was waiting for you to tell me.”
He zips us home so we can continue to have this conversation in our own space. We both sit on the edge of his bed, facing each other.
