Page 7 of Wrong Mate

“What you did to those witches and the wolves.”

“Are you going to yell at me?” she asked. With how exhausted she was, she didn’t think she’d have the energy to pretend it didn’t bother her.

“No. I’m not goingto yell at you. I’ve seen my fair share of witches and warlocks. I know they don’t take their time, and they rarely call on the elements, unless you count fire, to help them escape.”

Leah sighed. She ran her hands over her face, pushing her hair out of theway. “There’s always a fine line between good and evil. Calling upon evil or bad magic is easy to do, and it’s efficient, but it comes with a cost. I could have sent fireballs heading toward them, or other things, but instead I called upon what was around us.”

“And that doesn’t come without its cost. You’re pale,” he said.

“Yes, there is always a cost for calling on something so powerful. Always.” She laughed.

She crawled to her knees and then stood, feeling a little wobbly on her feet.

“It does make me wonder why people think I’m so powerful,” she said.

Killian grabbed her before she hit the floor. “I’ve got you,Princess.”

“Princess? Are you trying to bemean to me?”

“You’re powerful. I have never seen another witch call upon nature for help, not do what you just did. I imagine word will get out soon enough.”

Leah groaned. “Which means we’re going to have plenty more early morning visitors.”

“If we had gotten up at first light, it wouldn’t have happened. We have already lost hours with this nonsense. We must leave.”

Killian grabbed her hand and they started walking. After several minutes, Leah realized they were moving toward a main road.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The forest is not as safe as I’d hoped. Good and evil still abide by one law. Humans cannot know about us, so we’re going to have to make this journey close to humans.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, right? That is dangerous. I was surroundedby humans when I was a kid. Trust me, this is a bad idea.”

“Trust me, right now, this is all we have.” Killian grabbed her hand, and they crossed the main road, and stepped onto the grounds of a garage. They were still soaking wet from their little trip into the river, or lake, or whatever the hell that water was. “We need to get out of these clothes.”

****

They had stopped in a small town, one that had a clothing shop. Leah had changed into a pair of jeans and an oversized shirt, and Killian had done the same. Now they were sitting in the main diner in town.

He noticed they had attracted some attention, but he kept his focus on Leah. She had gone pale during her spell. He didn’t have a clue what she was doing until he saw the additional trees coming out of the ground.

In all his years of fighting, not once had he seen any witch call uponMother Nature for help. He saw it came with a great cost, just not as big of a cost as bad magic did.

Killian ordered them both plenty of food and he stared across at Leah, who looked around her. Her parents had warned him she didn’t get the chance to grow up around humans. Leah had come into her magic as a child. It had put herself and other humans at risk as she’d been unable to control it. That was why they had to go to the coven. Also, Leah’s gifts put her on the “Most Wanted” list. Some wanted to harvest her, others wanted to sacrifice her. He wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her. Killian knew he was already going to be costing her a lot by doing what he needed her to do.

“Have you been around … humans before?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And, what is it like?”

Killian laughed. “No different than it is now.”

“My parents had hoped to bind my magic. You know, kind of like a put-it-on-hold spell.”

“Did theytry it?”

“Yes, nothing worked. That was when the coven said my magic was too strong to be put on layaway.It’s why I got to grow up surrounded by magic and the coven. They also believed it was the best solution to stop me from turning evil.” Leah sighed. “Some of my classes were focused on me not turning to bad magic.”

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