Page 16 of A Touch Enchanted

Strong hands gripped my hips from behind. He didn’t need to say a word. I would’ve recognized his clean, woodsy scent anywhere. A hot, pulsing beat filtered through the speakers. He moved against me, and my palms began to glow as we gave ourselves over to the music.

He spun me around and pulled me against him. “I’ve missed you these last few weeks,” he whispered into my hair. “So fucking much, you have no idea.”

I knew because I’d felt it too. Every day that we had gone without speaking, a little piece of me had died. He was too much a part of me. “If you do that to me again, I will never forgive you. I mean it. I will cut you out of my life as if you’d never existed.”

“And I’d deserve it.” He gripped my shoulders. “There is so much I need to tell you. So much I—” He froze as he stared over my shoulder. “Oh, shit.”

I spun around in time to see Galen head toward the bar. The Aquarius to Kenna’s Leo. Galen never came to the bar. He spent most of his nights buried in research, forgetting to eat if his mom or Brooke didn’t bring him meals. The only time I’d seen him out recently was at town hall meetings, but that was also for research.

We both watched in fascinated horror as Galen reached over the bar and grabbed Kenna’s hand. Both of their eyes widened with shock. His palms flared with a bright purple light, then he disappeared altogether, while Kenna’s palms glowed lime green.

Right before fire burst from her hands and set her bar ablaze.

Chapter six

Violet

Pandemonium.Thatwastheonly word I could use to describe the scene before me. If I’d been asked to write it down, the letters would’ve been jumbled and slanted in opposite directions—a rare time when my thoughts might’ve properly translated to paper.

The smoke alarm blared as people screamed and ran for the exit, pushing each other out of the way and trampling over their neighbors. One of the old wooden beams in the ceiling had gone up in flames immediately. Fire licked at the wall to the left of the dance floor. The sprinklers overhead opened and shorted out, sputtering out droplets of water that were as useful as a squirt gun at a bonfire.

Audrey and Wes stood and pushed their palms outward, their chairs clattering to the ground behind them. Their hands glowed with a brilliant golden-green light as they drenched the walls and ceiling of the bar, putting out the fire before it could do too much structural damage.

I hadn’t even seen Finn or Thora move. I blinked once and they were still in their chairs. I blinked again and they’d already healed two tourists who’d gotten crushed beneath the hoard of people still pouring out of the exit. They moved with impossible speed, healing everyone who had gotten burned or stepped on in the very brief, but terrifying fire.

“This is why I shouldn’t walk up to Cole and touch him at a town hall meeting,” Brooke said as she stood beside us and watched Wes and Audrey calm the remaining patrons.

The three of us were the only ones left on the dance floor. The only ones who hadn’t panicked and started running from that first burst of flame.

Kenna’s eyes met mine across the room; their sea-green color had darkened and dilated with shock. If she hadn’t been so hellbent on denying her magic, this probably would’ve been a lot easier for her to swallow right now, but even so. There was a huge difference between being told you have magic and lighting your place of business on fire. She had my full sympathy.

Galen flickered for a moment before he reappeared. Invisibility in the wrong hands could have devastating consequences, but Galen didn’t have a nefarious bone in his body. It wouldn’t even occur to him to rob a bank or peer at people in the shower.

A guilty expression stole over his features as Kenna’s shock wore off and was quickly replaced by a rage so strong, I could feel the heat of it from across the room. Completely justified rage, if I was being honest. Galen had no clue what their magic would do. He had no right to come to her bar in the middle of her shift and touch her without her consent.

It seemed he fully understood how bad he’d fucked up, too—since he let Kenna go off on him without uttering a word of rebuttal. He might’ve been soft, but he wasn’t a pushover. The two of us were very similar in that respect.

Though the things that had hardened him were much different than mine. Everyone knew Galen’s story. Unlike the other Wilder boys, he’d grown up on the island before he’d been adopted by Hank and Darla. He’d survived horrors most people couldn’t imagine in their worst nightmares. The kind of stuff that would’ve twisted anyone else.

Kenna rubbed her bright pink cheeks, then quickly pulled her hands away as if she feared she’d burn her face off. If this didn’t open her to discussing magic, I didn’t know what would do it. There was so much she didn’t understand. Starting with the side effects, judging by the confused and frustrated expression on her face.

She’d have to be prepared to learn quickly, though. Once the curse got wind that they’d used their magic, it would only be a matter of time before it targeted them. Donovan and I would be the focus for the next few weeks, at least until it either trapped everyone here or we stopped it. That would buy them some time. But sooner or later, they would need to get over their issues and practice. Kenna specifically, since her power would require a certain amount of control.

But I hadn’t even been able to get her to admit she’d felt the earthquake the night Thora came home. And Kenna liked me. I had no idea how Galen was going to get through to her.

Once Wes and Audrey had ushered the rest of the crowd outside, while Finn and Thora remained in the parking lot to check for any missed injuries, Kenna closed the bar for the rest of the night. The adrenaline from what had happened had fully worn off. Galen shifted his stance, his gaze darting to the door. He probably wanted nothing more than to escape, but also understood that would make him a coward and an asshole of the highest order.

This was his fault. He needed to deal with the consequences.

Kenna collapsed at a table and dropped her head into her folded arms. “I set my fucking bar on fire. What am I supposed to do with that?”

Galen approached her cautiously, like she might snap his neck if he got too close. It was probably tempting for her to do so. “Kenna, I’m so sorry. I’m—”

She lifted her head and shot him a glare so potent, I was surprised more fire didn’t erupt from her hands, even when they weren’t touching. “Just stay the hell away from me. You’ve done enough damage for one night.”

“What the fuck, dude?” Finn smacked Galen across the back of his head. I’d thought he was still outside. That speed power was disorienting. “You know better than to touch a woman without her consent. Mom would have your hide if she found out.”

Galen paled. “I know. I fucked up. It won’t happen again.”

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