Page 31 of Enchanting Her Mate

She is!my draxilio shouts.Why have you denied it for so long? You fool!

Of course she is. It seems so silly that I ever denied it, or resisted the possibility of it, when the truth could not be clearer. Jo is the other half of my soul. She is the air I breathe.

No one has made me feel the way she does. It is not just the sex either. Certainly that is incomparable, but it is more than that. She cares for me in a way no one has. My lack of fear scares Jo, but it comes from a place of adoration. She worries I will hurt myself, or that something will happen, and she will lose me. It is not that my pursuits will embarrass her, as has been the case with my brothers. No, Jo’s worries come from a place of love.

She…loves me.

Ordidshe love me, but no longer does? Surely, if she did love me, she would not have ended our relationship.

The crowd cheers wildly, and the noise breaks through my thoughts. “What has happened?” I ask Kate, gently elbowing her side.

“Hey,” she whines, even though I am certain I did not hurt her. “I can’t believe you missed that. Jo just completed the telekinesis phase by taking a giant log and turning it into tiny wood chips using just her mind.”

I spot the pile of wood chips in front of Jo, and vow to keep my focus on my mate during the rest of the event. She is probably not aware I am here, but I shall support her with my whole heart nonetheless.

“What is next?” I ask, my gaze darting between Jo and Tibik. I do not trust that male. He lacks the honor required to be Prime.

“Um, I think this one is teleportation,” Kate says. “Phase two.”

Tibik moves first, a blur surrounding his body before he disappears in a blink, only to reappear on top of Nalba’s roof, then in the center of the path, and finally back to his original position. Jo responds with the same blur Tibik had, and disappears from her spot, then lands in the middle of the path, then high above in a nearby tree, then on top of Chloe and Varrek’s home, and finally in her original position, but her movement from one spot to the next seemed much faster than Tibik’s.

The crowd howls as soon as Jo returns to her spot, and I get the sense that the entire clan is rooting for Jo to best Tibik. It makes me wonder why Tibik is still around at all. Clearly, he is not wanted here, is a terrible leader to the coven, and has caused harm in the past. What purpose does he serve?

Kate leans next to my ear. “The next phase is elemental control,” she whispers as a hush falls over the crowd.

I have not had the pleasure of watching Jo practice any of these skills, and it feels as if she was too shy to show me just how powerful she is. I wish that had not been the case, but perhaps, once this is over and she takes over as Prime, she would be willing to show me more.

Tibik begins this phase by creating a glowing orange orb between his palms, his hands spreading farther apart as the orb expands. Moving one hand away, he turns his other palm toward the sky and blows on the orb hovering just above it. The orb transforms, the air from his lungs feeding into it, until he brings his arm back and throws the orb toward the center of the path. It lands as a ball of fire in the dirt; the flames crackling as they consume the chips of wood Jo made during phase one.

Jo’s gaze turns steely as she strides toward the fire that is now widening in the center of the path. The crowd gasps as the flames grow, but Jo’s expression holds no concern at all. She lifts her chin, raises her right hand while spreading her fingers, and brings her hand down swiftly, as if scratching her claws against a rough surface.

Water streams onto the path from above, but only as far wide as the fire reaches. Nothing else is touched by a drop. The flames die within the span of a heartbeat, as Jo sweeps her hand across the center of the path, turning the charred, damaged wood ash into tiny sparks that float into the evening sky.

A strong gust of wind whips through the village, leaving the clan shivering with bewildered expressions on their faces. Tibik smiles as he condenses the wind into a narrow path that he makes smaller and smaller until a funnel cloud appears in his upturned palm. When his eyes land on Jo, he smiles wickedly and flicks the funnel cloud toward her. The moment it leaves his palm, it grows into the size of most of the homes in the village, and it is suddenly barreling toward her.

I do not breathe. I do not think. I just clench my fists as I watch this unfold, hoping Jo knows how to respond.

Moments before the funnel cloud reaches her, she raises her pointer finger and drags it across the dirt in front of her, leaving a clear line through the soil. That is where the funnel cloud dies. It is as if Jo created an invisible wall, and the funnel cloud evaporated as soon as it hit it.

There is only one element that has not been used in this phase, and that is earth. Jo’s eyes fall closed as she extends her arms in front of her, palms facing up. I feel the air change the deeper Jo’s focus becomes, and when a hint of a smile appears on her face, she curls her fingers into her palms and yanks her arms inward.

The ground shifts beneath Tibik’s feet, and he instantly loses his balance as the dirt and rock and grass he was standing on is pulled closer to Jo. He scrambles back up, but she does it again, and he tumbles to the ground on his hands and knees.

Jo does this three more times, during which the roar of the crowd gets louder and louder, laughter filling the air when Tibik tries to get to his feet and cannot.

Eventually, Jo drops her hands to her sides and her eyes flutter open. She is lethal, my tiny witch. I have never wanted to run my tongue over her skin more than I do right now.

One of the younger Hexrins with the long, curly maroon hair, steps into the middle of the path with her hands raised. “It is now time for phase four:pohrrixo.”

“Necromancy,” Kate whispers in translation.

“This is widely known among Hexrins as the most difficult skill a witch can master,” the young Hexrin continues. “Tibik and Jobaki have each been given a deadxoobawyafish pulled from the cold box in the back of the food hall. These fish were originally caught at the small cabin by the lake, quite a long distance from here. They have been dead for many moon cycles. It is Tibik’s and Jobaki’s responsibility to bring these fish back to life before our eyes.”

Tibik and Jo take a few steps toward the small tables set up in front of them, where the fish are lying in the center.

Several moments pass, and Tibik and Jo have the same look of intense focus, despite no changes to the fish in front of them. Each Hexrin has their eyes closed, and an open palm turned down over the fish as they struggle to reanimate them.

Eventually, I hear several oohs coming from the members of the clan to my left, and I turn to discover the fish on Tibik’s table wiggling frantically.

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