For some reason, I ducked. I knew I should have jumped in front of her and tried to talk to her. That was what Kessler had asked us to do if we saw her. But in that moment, as she prowled between Emersyn’s car and the one next to it, I decided to hide. Not in fear…but in curiosity. Tegan was smart, dangerously so. And I learned at the dance just how skilled of a liar she was. If I confronted her, nothing would be learned. So, I hid just low enough to conceal myself but still able to see through the window to the other side.
When she stopped on the opposite side of the car from me, I thought I’d been caught. Except she just stood there staring at the school. I frowned and eyed her carefully. Her pale green eyes widened for a moment…then narrowed into little slits. What is she looking at? I peeked around the hood of Emersyn’s car, but the only thing I saw was Tennessee standing beside his Jeep at the front of the lot.
Wait, no. Not just Tennessee. He was surrounded by at least a dozen girls with shorts several inches too short for dress code. They smiled and giggled up at him. Some of them actually touched him. Tennessee just looked around with a guarded expression, like he, too, wasn’t sure what was happening.
It wasn’t that strange to see girls fawning over the guy—he was obviously extremely attractive. Most girls referred to him as beautiful. Which, I had no problem admitting was true. The problem was why were they there? And why so many of them? Cooper, Easton, and Braison walked around the front of Tenn’s Jeep. They walked up to our Emperor with mischievous grins and handed out high fives. Tennessee looked awfully uncomfortable. Peabo and Atley clapped from the steps leading to the gym.
“Do you see what I meant?” an unfamiliar voice said from nearby.
I glanced over to Tegan and gasped. Henley stood beside her, leaning against the car. Tegan’s cheeks were flushed. Her hands were in fists at her sides. Rainbow-colored mist swirled around her arms. The ground rumbled under my feet. Thunder roared from the clouds over our heads. I’d already picked up on the tension between Tegan and Tennessee—sensing people’s desires was the name of my game—but I hadn’t realized it went deeper than attraction. The murderous look on Tegan’s face suggested I’d missed more than I realized. The energy pumping out of her was raw, hot jealousy, and it burned my nostrils.
“Why do you adhere to their rules when you’re more powerful than all of them combined? You could be the Queen of Darkness. You just have to claim what’s yours.” Henley moved to stand in front of Tegan. She smiled with her bright red lipstick, and my stomach turned. She held her pale hand out in front of Tegan. “Come with me, and I’ll show you how.”
NO! Emersyn’s passenger side windows fogged over. I jumped up to stop her, but I was too late.
They were gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
Deacon
I spun on my toes to yell out for my Coven-mates, but they were already rounding the corner of the gym. I cursed. A quick glance around confirmed that Tegan wasn’t there. Smooth move, Deacon. Idiot. Why didn’t I interrupt sooner?
I gave one last final look then sprinted to catch up with my friends.
By the time I caught up to them, they were crowding around Tennessee’s locker in the main building. I stopped running a classroom distance away and took a deep breath. The last thing anyone needed was to panic. Once I was sure my voice would sound normal, I strolled over to them like it was any other normal day.
“Hey, D, man, you just missed a show,” Easton said with a laugh.
Tennessee rolled his eyes and dug through the stuff in his locker. “You really didn’t.”
Easton groaned. “Dude, those girls were all over you!”
“Girls are always all over him,” Braison said with a smile and leaned against the lockers. “Maybe you’ve just forgotten in the last five weeks when he was gone.”
“This was different though,” Atley said while fidgeting with his mohawk. He had black bands tattooed around his wrists, which I definitely didn’t understand.
“He’s right,” Peabo added. He nudged me and wagged his eyebrows. He might’ve looked a little devious if not for the angelic golden curls. “They’ve never been like that. You should’ve seen it.”
I chuckled. “I did, actually. I was in the parking lot on the phone.”
Tennessee shook his head. “Did you stop to think why it was so different?”
“Maybe they missed you?” Cooper laughed. “You have been gone for a while, even longer than the rest of us.”
Tennessee stopped his digging and turned to glare at Cooper standing behind him. “Not you, too.”
“I mean…you wore fangs, Tenn.” Cooper shrugged.
“Unbelievable. Why aren’t they all over Deacon after his little tango performance, then?” He raised his eyebrows and looked around at all of us, saving me for last.
I didn’t miss the extra glare when he got to me.
Easton waved his hands in the air. “Man, I don’t care why—the point is they want you. When was the last time you dated? Was it Libby?”
I frowned. “You dated Libby?” No one had given me that bit of information.
Tennessee rolled his eyes at Easton. “For not even a month in eighth grade. It was nothing.”
Cooper cleared his throat. “Maybe he has a point, Tenn. Maybe it would be good for you to date?”
Tennessee spun on his toes. His eyebrows were arched practically up to his hairline. “Right, because you have room to talk? Even if I wanted to date, I’m not allowed, remember?”
“Why aren’t you allowed to date?” I asked.
Cooper opened his mouth then shut it again and nodded. “Because that was the lie we told the twins. Them and Tennessee aren’t allowed to date until they’re middle-aged. Which means he can’t, at least not until we close the Gap in Salem.”
“Oh. Right. Gotcha.” I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest. They couldn’t see my glyph. I made sure of it every morning before I left the house, and then every few minutes afterward.I was already thinking about Emersyn, so the mere mention of dating made my stomach fill with butterflies.
Tennessee sighed and turned back to his locker. He pulled two textbooks out then slammed the metal door closed. “While you were plotting my hypothetical next romantic entanglement, I was busy noticing that all of those girls were under mind control. Which is a level of possession, in case you forgot.”
That made my spine tingle. I stood up straight. Wait a second. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. A bunch of barely dressed girls drooling all over Tennessee, Tegan’s barely masked jealousy, and then Henley’s tempting words. It was staged. By Henley—or the demon controlling her body. She—it—had planned it specifically to get Tegan to listen to her. My stomach turned. Crap. Crap. Crap.
Atley scoffed. “Why would that demon want to control the minds of silly Sapien girls?”
Peabo scratched his forehead. “Yeah, and why you?”
Easton ran his hand through his hair. “If the point was to shake things up, why not target Lily and me? We’re the only couple in The Coven. So yeah, why you? What’s the goal there?”
Because of Tegan. I frowned. There was a piece of this puzzle missing. I needed to tell Tenn what happened in the parking lot, but my instincts were telling me I had to do that privately.
Tennessee turned to face us. “I don’t know. Mayb—” He gasped. His mismatched eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
I glanced over my shoulder then spun back around. Tegan sauntered down the hall, headed straight toward us. What? She’s back? She’d just left with Henley not even five minutes prior.
“What is that on her chest?” Atley asked.
“Oh my God,” Easton whispered.
An ice-cold blast of energy slammed into my back.
“What the hell?” Cooper shouted.
“Guys, what is that? What am I not getting?” Atley asked again.
I frowned. On her chest? It was just a heart-shaped red purple— I gasped. “Oh my God.”
My jaw hit th
e floor. Tegan had ditched her leather jacket and was wearing the same black mesh bodysuit she wore to the dance. I had to admit it looked hot paired with her jeans and boots. But all of that I registered subconsciously. All I focused on was the pinkish-red heart-shaped crystal glowing from the center of her chest, just below her collarbones. I knew what that was. I had one just like it, but a different color…and definitely linked to someone else.
“Whaaaaaat?” Braison whispered.
“Oh my God,” Easton mumbled again.
Tegan showed off her soulmate glyph loud and proud as she headed right for us. Dark purplish-black vines spread from the crystal over her chest, around her right shoulder, and then halfway down her arm. To the Sapiens, it would just look like a badass sleeve tattoo. But to a witch…it meant she had a soulmate. And it definitely hadn’t just happened. It took months for the glyph to grow down to a witch’s elbows.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I whispered.
“What the hell am I looking at?” Cooper yelled, but it sounded more like a growl.
Tegan’s pale green eyes were locked on something ahead. Everything around us ceased to exist. The world seemed to slow down. When she passed us, she looked Tennessee straight in the eye, then winked and blew him an air kiss. All without even slowing down. We all watched her saunter away then turn right down the next hallway.
Cooper turned to face Tennessee with fire in his eyes. He jumped forward and threw Tennessee against the lockers. Metal rattled and shrieked in protest. Tennessee’s face was white as a sheet. My brain screamed at me to step in because shit was about to go down, but my body refused to move. It was frozen in place by shock.
With a vicious growl, Cooper reached forward and ripped Tennessee’s shirt open down to his ribs. “NO!” he yelled and shoved Tennessee’s shoulders.
Tennessee just blinked and let himself be thrown around, like he was too shocked to function. He didn’t try to defend himself. He didn’t try to deny it, not that he could. There on his chest was the exact same pinkish-red heart-shaped crystal that we just saw on Tegan.
Easton snapped out of his shock faster than I did. He leapt forward and pulled at Cooper’s shoulders. But Cooper had fisted Tennessee’s shirt in his hands. He shook him violently, all while yelling and cursing incoherently. The back of Tenn’s head smacked against the lockers. His eyes finally sharpened, like he’d snapped out of it. I felt the pull of his energy as his magic sucked in the air around us. I slid over the tiles by the sheer force of his power. Cooper didn’t seem to notice. He pulled him off the lockers then threw him back against them—still screaming.
Tennessee narrowed his eyes. He raised his arms, and Cooper flew in the air. He straight up threw his six-foot-three frame across the hall without even touching him. Cooper slammed into the burgundy lockers across from us. Metal shrieked in protest and rattled. A wave of wild energy and raw power erupted from the impact like a nuclear bomb. The lockers shattered into pieces one by one in the craziest version of dominos I’d ever seen. I braced myself, but I didn’t have time. Tennessee’s power hit my chest and knocked me off my feet.
I groaned and rolled to my side. The hallway was a disaster zone. The overhead lights were cracked and flickering. Classroom doors were dangling off their hinges. Clocks and framed pictures crashed to the ground. Every locker up and down the hall was left to rubble. The tiles under Cooper were shattered. Easton was on his back, but his body was covered in metal armor. Braison was lying on top of Atley and Peabo, with his arms spread like he’d been shielding them.
I sat up and the world spun. Other students cried out in the distance. When I looked, I found dozens of other people scattered through the hallway with wide eyes. Their terror-filled auras stung my senses. The only person still standing was Tennessee.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds.
Cooper jumped back to his feet and charged Tennessee with a battle cry. I expected them to stumble back, but I should’ve known better. Tennessee’s magic was a forcefield of strength. He absorbed Cooper’s attack without even stepping back. He wrapped his arms around Cooper’s, tying him up from being able to swing.
“I can’t believe you!” Cooper yelled.
Tennessee snarled. “You have no idea what this is like!” he shouted back.
Easton jumped in between them in his full body armor. He somehow peeled our Emperor and Star off each other, then dragged Cooper back until there was a whole hallway between them. “Whoa, shit, guys. WHOA.”
Braison, Peabo, and Atley sat up across from me, watching with slacked jaws and wide eyes. None of them made an effort to move or get involved.
“All right, dude, all right.” Easton held Cooper back against the broken lockers. “Just calm down.”
“CALM DOWN?” Cooper thrashed and tried to get away, but Easton held him down. “I’m gonna kick his ass!”
“COOPER,” Easton shouted.
But he wasn’t listening. He was beyond listening. His muscles were flexed. His pulse pounded in his veins. His face was bright red and his pale green eyes held more heat than a balefire. He glared at Tennessee like he wanted to rip him apart piece by piece. “How could you? How could you? She’s my sister! You know the rules. You know why!”
“Cooper, c’mon man, he can’t control it,” Easton said in a calm voice.
“Bullshit! You lied to me! All this time, huh?” Cooper snarled and shoved Easton off. Then he charged toward Tennessee. “Nothing going on between you two, huh?”
I leapt forward, blocking his path. I raised my palms and summoned my magic, then let it flow through my words. “STOP. Go home. Now.”
Cooper skidded to a stop. My gift of persuasion swept through him in an instant. He spun on his heels and hightailed it for the parking lot. Once he pushed his way through the doors and outside, I took my first real breath in minutes.
“Holy hell,” Easton said with a sigh.
I blinked and looked around. It looked like an earthquake had come through town. Then again, the Earth was one of Tennessee’s gifts. I glanced up and down the hall at the Sapiens. They were scared and anxious. They looked around for answers but couldn’t find any.
I cleared my throat then pushed my magic out in every direction. “It was just a small earthquake. Everything is fine now. Go see the nurse to make sure you weren’t hurt.”
I turned back around to survey the damage. Tennessee slid down the lockers and landed on his ass. The guy looked utterly defeated. His tan skin was pale and a slight green color. His face was just…blank. His eyes were empty, like he’d gone completely numb. He just sat there, staring at the ground. His shoulders rose and fell as he breathed, but he made no effort to move.
Well…I’ll…be…damned.
“Well…” Braison cleared his throat. “Guess that answers the question about why the demon targeted Tennessee.”
Yeah, and I think it worked.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tennessee
I had no idea what time it was when I forced myself to give up looking for Tegan for a while and go home to face my father. Because there was no way the entire witch species hadn’t already been informed of my infraction.
I’d parked my Jeep in the driveway a few hours ago then went for a walk. I jumped over the fence from my neighbor’s yard into my own backyard. The sun was still out, but it was fading, which meant I was probably late for dinner. Then again, without Cooper living in the house, no one actually cooked. My father and I would order takeout like every other night. It was working for us, despite Cooper’s concerns.
“Where the hell have you been?”
I frowned and looked up to find my adoptive brother sitting on the wooden bench outside our back patio. Well, well, well, speak of the devil. I didn’t answer or acknowledge his question. He didn’t deserve it, and I didn’t trust myself. He seemed to be uninjured from my lack of control at school, which was both a relief and a damn shame. How could I? What kind of question was that? I clenched my teeth and s
tomped toward the door. He’d moved in with his family, so he didn’t need to follow me in. He didn’t need to even be here.
He jumped in front of me, blocking my path to the door. His big body that resembled his father’s was right up on me, chest to chest. He was only an inch taller than me, but thanks to my boots, we were always eye to eye. “I asked you a question.”
“Get. Out. Of. My. Face,” I said between clenched teeth. That Irish Spring soap scent of his shot my anger level up a few notches.
“I asked you a question,” he repeated with his chest puffed up like he wanted to fight.
“I don’t answer to you,” I growled right in his face.
“You answer to your Coven. You’re not the boss,” he yelled.
I frowned. Why did everything always circle back around to that? “Maybe I should be.”
“Oh, gonna pull the Emperor rank when it’s convenient, Tenn?” Cooper narrowed his pale green eyes into slits. His breath was hot against my cheek. “Maybe I should kick your ass.”
“You can try.” I laughed deep in my throat. “Oh, wait, you already did. At school. Now get out of my face.”
He shoved me in the chest, pushing me back only one foot because I let him. I had no interest in fighting him. I hadn’t meant to throw him so hard back at school. But he had some audacity to come at me with guns blazing like I’d done this intentionally. I wasn’t going to engage. I just wanted to go in my house. But then he cocked his right arm back and swung his fist right into my jaw.
And I just snapped.
All of my fear and anger over the last few weeks erupted out from where I’d buried it deep within. He had some nerve. My magic burned in my veins. It wanted out. It wanted to release the tension inside. My body took over. I felt my power pull my arm back. I let it fly with every ounce of anger inside me. My fist slammed into his nose.
The Broken Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 4) Page 9