She smiled and sat down across from me. “I wanted to talk to you about…something.”
Uh-oh. My stomach sank like I was on a rollercoaster. Why did she want to talk to me? What did I do? What did I say?
I licked my lips and leaned against the wall like she hadn’t set off my alarms. “Oh, what about?”
She sighed and stared out the window above Emersyn’s bed. After a long, silent moment, she scooted closer, without looking at me. “I know you must think I don’t love you as much as Emersyn, but I do. And it’s because I love you so very much that I’m going to show you something. Something you mustn’t tell anyone.”
My pulse quickened and my anxiety kicked into gear. “Even Emersyn?”
She pursed her lips and thought about it. “Don’t go out of your way to tell your twin, but if your gut suggests you should, then okay.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded. What’s happening?
She unbuttoned her emerald green cardigan then peeled it off. My eyes widened. Her entire right arm was covered in a giant tattoo of black vines. From her shoulder all the way down to her wrist. I hadn’t noticed it before, but then again, she always wore long-sleeved shirts. In Florida. Tegan, you’re slipping. Though I didn’t understand why she’d hide it. There was something familiar about the lines. It was right on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t place it.
She flipped her hair over her tattooed shoulder and pointed to her chest…to a mark just below her collarbone. It almost looked like a heart shape. It was light pink and shimmered like a crystal. And it was entirely, 100 percent familiar.
My jaw dropped. My heart pounded so loud it drowned out all the other sounds in the room.
“Do you know what this is?”
I pulled down the collar of my own shirt. The mark on her chest was identical to the one on mine. I shook my head. “Tennessee said it was a demon sting?”
“Is that what he told you?”
I nodded without taking my eyes off the mark.
“When a witch meets their soulmate, this glyph appears. It’s instant. It burns like you’ve been branded.” She looked down at her arm and smiled. “You’ve taken to wearing high-collared shirts recently. Rather modest for you, isn’t it? I had a feeling, and then I saw the way he held you last night. Once you were out of his arms, I saw the glyph on his chest.”
“Are…are you…are you saying… Mom…”
“Tennessee is your soulmate.”
My breath left me in a rush so fast my head spun. I reached out and held on to the wall for support. My face turned hot as heat flooded my veins. I fanned my face with my other hand. Soul. Mate. Tennessee was my soulmate. Tennessee. My soulmate. Oh my God. Tennessee is my soulmate? Goose bumps broke out across my skin. My heart completely stopped functioning.
Finally, something made sense. There was a reason for the way I felt about him. I’d thought I was losing my damn mind. I’d asked myself over and over how I had such intense feelings for some stupid boy I’d just met. He wasn’t some stupid boy after all.
“As you’re around each other more, the glyph will grow and morph until it covers your fingertips. I had to put a spell on my and your father’s hands to hide it from you.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “This glyph marks the connection between souls. It will change color and shape to reflect what’s inside. It also works like a beaconing system. If he’s in danger or hurt, the glyph will tell you. Also, it’ll burn whenever he’s near you.”
“But…but we’re forbidden…?”
She nodded and looked away from me. “Yes. For now.”
“Then why tell me? This is torture.” I groaned and leaned back against the wall. “And why is it a secret?”
“I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to be scared about what’s happening to you. You can’t be with him right now, and I know firsthand how hard it is to be separated from your soulmate. It’s absolute hell. I wanted you to know that he feels the same way you do. He is yours, even if you can’t have him yet.”
I nodded and tears rushed to my eyes. My throat burned. I’d trusted him, and he lied right to my face. My heart twisted. He’d known from the start, from the night he kissed me. He’d known. And he kept it from me.
“I know this is a lot. I’m here if you need to talk.” She stood and walked toward the door. “Just remember, this is one more secret for you to keep, High Priestess.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Tennessee
Out of the 180 novels on my bookshelf, there wasn’t one I hadn’t read. Some of them more than once. Which meant there wasn’t one exciting enough to distract me from my never-ending thoughts about Tegan. My father had an extensive library in his office…but I wasn’t giving him another opportunity to question me on my behavior. In the twenty-four hours since he’d caught me clinging to Tegan’s unconscious body, he’d lectured me about five times on why she was forbidden. He kept sniffing for more information, like he thought I’d slip up.
But I held my story. I was emotional after losing Cassandra and Libby. Simple as that.
So it appeared reading for distraction was out of the question. I’d already flipped through the channels on cable. Nothing worth watching. Looked like I was stuck with my own misery for company.
I looked up to my ceiling fan. I wonder how many times it goes around in one minute? I raised my left hand so my watch was parallel with the fan, then narrowed my eyes on the fan blade with a black scratch on it.
My soulmate glyph seared to life, burning a hole right through my chest. I hissed through clenched teeth. Tegan. My pulse quickened. Why isn’t she home? It’s too dangerous to be out alone.
My thoughts were halted by my bedroom window flying open. The glass rattled against the wooden frame. Pale, feminine hands gripped the windowsill. Even without the burning beaconing system, I would’ve recognized her chipped black nail polish. Her head popped into view as she hoisted herself up and over the ledge like she’d done this a million times. Knowing her, she probably had. Her studded black combat boots hit my cream-carpeted floor with a soft thud. She straightened to full height, flipped her long purple-tipped hair over her shoulder, and searched for me within the darkness of my room.
I meant to call out for her, or to will myself to glow, or will the lights on…anything to signal where I was. But the look in her eyes locked me in place. Her peridot-colored green eyes were sharp and hot, like she’d stormed over with a purpose. One I suspected I wouldn’t like. My glyph exploded like an atomic bomb.
Tegan hissed. Her shoulders rose and fell rapidly. She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. The lamp beside my bed turned on, and her eyes met mine in an instant. She grinned. “There you are.”
There was something about the wildness in her eyes that sent shivers down my spine and a rush of heat through my veins. I licked my lips and searched for something to say. Tegan sauntered across my room with that grin plastered on her face. I sat up and started to get out of bed, but she jumped onto the bed with me. Her knees hit my mattress on either side of my hips, straddling me and pinning me in place. I gasped. She gripped my shirt and pulled my lips to hers.
Her kiss was like fire. Wild, raw, and demanding my attention. It was an attack…and I liked it. Her hands cupped my face and squeezed me closer. My control snapped. My body trembled from head to toe. I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her tight to my body. The warmth of her skin seeped through my thin shirt and ignited a new fire inside me. She tasted like sweet iced tea and sunshine, and I wanted more. Kissing her was pleasure and pain. Fun and torture. The sweetest agony and the sharpest delight. This girl absolutely wrecked me. I put up ice and cement walls around my heart, and she just plowed right through them. I was lost to her. The falling part was in the past.
Her hands left my face and slid a scorching path over my shoulders and down to my hips. She slid her fingers under my shirt then dragged her nails up my back. Cold air brushed over my back, but it did nothing
to ease the heat radiating off of her. She sank her teeth into my bottom lip and pulled until mine bounced back. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, but I didn’t care. I just wasn’t ready for her to stop.
She licked her lips then pressed them to mine again. Her tongue brushed mine once before she pulled back again. My chest burned, though this time from lack of oxygen.
She ran her fingers along my neck and over my collarbone. She smiled and it lit up her face. “I had to see it.”
“See what?”
She chuckled and tapped on my chest, right over my glyph.
Wait. My shirt is off. I gasped and looked down to double-check. My soulmate glyph sparkled up at me. The vines pulsed and burned as they spread over my shoulder in front of my eyes.
Tegan inhaled sharply, bringing my gaze back to her. She pulled the collar of her shirt down and inspected her skin. I’d seen it once before, that day on the beach, but I’d never get sick of seeing it. We were alone in my room. No one else to stop me. I reached forward and pushed her long black strands over shoulder. My fingers trembled as I moved her shirt out of the way. I exhaled a shaky breath. Just like on my skin, the glyph spread across her skin in dark red vines.
Then her words registered in my mind. I had to see it. I blinked. It. She’d said it. Did she know? How could she know? Why else would she have come here?
“Tegan…”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Demon stings can sometimes leave marks. But don’t worry. If it was going to kill you, it would’ve by now.”
“Tegan…I…” I what? What could I say? What am I allowed to say? I didn’t even know for sure if she knew.
“Lied to me?” She narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Looked me right in the eye and lied to my face?”
My stomach dropped. “Tegan, I…I…”
She rolled her eyes and climbed off my lap. “A flustered Tennessee is kinda cute.” She walked to the center of my room then spun to face me with her arms crossed over her chest.
I sighed and hung my head. “Listen, I’m—”
“My soulmate? Yeah, we’re past that. I’m looking for information I don’t know.” She arched one black eyebrow at me. “That’s where you come in, gorgeous.”
I cursed and got to my feet in front of her. How the hell does she know? Who told her? I scrubbed my face with my palms. It doesn’t matter. She knows. Now what do I say? There was only one thing to say, actually. “Tegan, I’m sorry.”
Her face fell. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Tennessee.” She began pacing the length of my room.
“Tegan, I am sorry.”
“Do you have any idea what this has been like for me?” She stopped and turned toward me. “Do you have any idea how terrifying my feelings for you have been? At least you knew what was happening. I’ve been freaking out. Normal people don’t feel like this for someone they just met.”
Like this. They weren’t those three little words, but they may as well have been. My heart pounded. The glyph pulsed, like it was celebrating the new attention.
I reached out and hooked my finger on the waist of her jeans, then pulled her close. “I’m sorry. It tortures me every minute of the day. You’re always on my mind. Every time I see you, I have to stop myself from telling you. That day on the beach, when you showed the glyph to me, I didn’t know what to say. It caught me off guard. I just wanted you to know it wasn’t going to hurt you.”
She peeked up at me under black eyelashes. “Which is why you told me not to show anyone.”
I nodded and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Nothing has changed there,” I whispered. I still can’t be with you. I still can’t tell you the real reason why.
“I know,” she whispered back. She sighed and rested her forehead right over the glyph. “I know we’re still forbidden. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Why are you here?” I kissed the top of her head. “Talk to me.”
She pulled back and shrugged. Her slim fingers traced over the lines of my glyph. Her caress was gentle torture. My fingers itched with the need to hold on to her. What are you thinking? I swallowed roughly, trying to calm my runaway heart.
“My mother knows. She’s the one who told me. I just…I needed to see it with my own eyes, ya’ know? I needed you to know that I know.” She stepped up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against mine…then pulled away far too soon. “I’m not going to break the law. I’m going to change the law. I’m gonna fight for you, Tennessee. I needed you to know that.”
I smiled. “I’m counting on it.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Deacon
“Right, I was late. But I told her that Mick tried to skip the kale-and-banana blend again—”
“Wait, hold on,” I interrupted with a wave of my hand. “Is your story about juice?”
Patrick blinked over at me. “Yeah.”
“Okay, can you start over?” I leaned back against the cold, covered-in-bacteria, metal subway seat and nodded. “But text it to me so I can wait five seconds, then respond with ‘lol’ like it was entertaining.”
“Deacon!” Carrie hissed and smacked my arm.
Patrick just stared at me with his jaw dropped. He looked over to our other three friends who were doing their best to hide their laughter.
I winked and gave my friend a thumbs-up. “I appreciate it.” If I had to listen to one more story about kale, I was going to break something. Maybe if he was a fitness nut or healthy nutrition guru, then I’d hear him out, but Patrick only followed along with trends like the blind little sheep he was.
If I had to be the wolf, then so be it.
The subway hit its brakes then crawled into the station at Spring Street. I stood and walked over to the door, desperate for oxygen that didn’t smell like urine and old Chinese food. The lights overhead flickered as the train rumbled and shook before rolling to a stop. I reached into my back pocket and pulled my pack of cigarettes out. I flipped the box open and used my teeth to pull one loose from the box. The doors opened, and a wave of hot, sticky air slammed into my face. It smelled like the locker room of an abandoned gym. I stepped out and hurried toward the stairs.
“You really shouldn’t smoke, Deacon.” Molly shook her expensive, salon-made blonde head at me. “It’ll give you cancer.”
“Hey, Mol, do you still use the tanning bed every other day?”
She narrowed her brown eyes at me and opened her mouth, then shut it again.
“I heard the clubs down here require you to check your hypocrisy at the door. There’s probably a room for you to hang it up all nice and pretty.” I rolled my eyes and kept walking while patting my jean pockets for my lighter.
I knew smoking was disgusting. I knew it caused cancer, horrible versions of it too. I also knew it pissed my parents off to a delightful degree. I simply didn’t know how to make the quitting part happen. I’d asked the healer in our Manhattan infirmary for a cure potion. She told me a witch at my age needed to curb his addiction problems the all-natural way. The human way. I told her…well, a lesser witch would’ve hexed me for what I said. My parents were furious with me. So there was a silver lining.
“Can someone remind me why we left the Upper East Side? We don’t belong down here.” Carrie wrinkled her nose in distaste. The diamond in her nostril was big enough to buy an apartment for a family of four. “It smells.”
“This is Manhattan. It smells everywhere. Breathe through your mouth like the other eight million residents here.” Ah-ha, there you are, lighter. I flicked it on and held the flame to the cigarette propped between my lips. Once it was lit, I spoke around it. “We’re following the yellow brick road for new adventures, Toto.”
Finally. I’d begged my friends for months and months to venture out of their members only clubs. My parents told me using magic on your Sapien friends was unacceptable. It was their only rule I never broke. Well…almost never. I kept my magical interference to little things. Painless things. So, I had no idea how I manag
ed to convince them after all that time, nor did I know what this new club was going to be like, but it was a breath of fresh air I wouldn’t turn down.
“Excuse me?”
I paused and glanced over my shoulder. A young guy a little older than myself jogged up to us. I cocked my head to the side and pushed my magic out, searching for his energy. The guy was dressed relatively nice, with designer boots and leather jacket. His aura was calm and peaceful, so I raised my eyebrows in greeting. No self-respecting New Yorker openly smiled at a complete stranger on a subway platform.
“Sorry to bother you, but is there a way to get to the uptown train from this side?” He frowned and pointed a tan finger toward the track on the opposite side of us. “I came down the wrong side.”
I took a puff on my cigarette then pulled it out to speak, exhaling the smoke through my nose. “You have to go up to street level, cross over, and come back down.”
“So, I have to pay again?”
I shrugged. “Unless you want to run across the tracks.” I turned, put my cig back between my lips, and resumed my path toward the stairs.
“Mister, no!”
“What you doin’, bruh?”
I spun and scanned the platform behind me. There were only a handful of people there, and they all shouted toward the tracks. I frowned and glanced over…and my jaw dropped. That guy with the designer jacket had jumped onto the track and was walking across.
My stomach dropped. I ran to the edge with my heart in my throat. He’d actually listened to my sarcasm and took it as solid advice. Where the hell was this guy from? Didn’t he know sarcasm was the native language in Manhattan? I opened my mouth, and my cigarette fell out. The tip landed on my arm, searing my skin. I hissed and shook my arm without taking my eyes off the guy.
“Deacon, do something!” Patrick shouted.
“Yeah, give me some of your kale juice, and I’ll run it over to him.” It was not my fault the crazy dude went down there. I hadn’t used even a smidgen of my magic. But still. Damn it. Maybe I could help him somehow. I would’ve given him money if he was that desperate. “Dude, get your ass moving before that express train redecorates Spring Street with your insides. And watch out for the third rail!”
The Brave Witch Page 21