My father and Timothy were sweating and breathing heavily, but Tegan barely looked at them. Her light green eyes were watching something to my left. She was completely distracted. I frowned and followed her gaze. Henley. My heart pounded in my chest. Our possessed friend was shouting in another language and shooting dark magic at…my mother. Not just my mother, but a dozen of my mother. With her astral projection, she’d surrounded Henley and attacked.
“Thirty seconds!” Bentley yelled out.
Oh my God. My stomach turned.
Deacon’s red lightning was relentless, firing through my flames. Demons shrieked and exploded into puffs of smoke. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother shoot a spell right into Henley’s chest. Henley screamed and flew into the air. Tegan appeared in a cloud of smoke and caught her before she hit the ground. Mom shouted at her to stop, but Tegan wasn’t listening.
Her head snapped up, and her green eyes locked on something behind me. No, not something. Bentley. I recognized the look in her eyes. It was pride and love, the same expression she wore when Bentley was initiated into The Coven. Her black hair whipped around her head.
She opened her mouth and screamed, “NOW!”
Chapter Forty-One
Tennessee
I spun at the sound of Tegan’s scream. She was on her knees holding an unconscious Henley in her arms…and she was staring right at the Gap.
Sparks flew from the crystal fence, followed by a cloud of purple mist.
Bentley’s shaggy brown hair popped into view as he screamed, “SAFFIE!”
Tegan jumped to her feet and moved toward the fountain, dragging Henley with her. She screamed words in a language I’d never heard, but they sounded like a spell. I spun around to call for Kenneth, but he was lying on the ground. Constance was on her knees beside him, wrapping something around his head.
“Constance?” I yelled.
She looked up and met my stare. “He’s alive!” she shouted, then went back to work.
The ground trembled so hard it knocked me off my balance. I dropped to one knee and turned to look at the fountain. A massive beam of pure white light shot out of the fountain and into the sky.
I stopped breathing. Everything around the courtyard froze. Even the demons stopped. Saffie flew around the fountain waving her wand at the cement. Sparks flew and it rained glittery dust. Clouds rolled over our heads and roared like lions. Lightning shot out of the sky and struck the crystals around the fountain.
Bentley flew into the air. Tegan threw her hand out, and he froze midair, hovering ten feet above the ground. Deacon glanced back and forth between Bentley and Tegan, then jumped up and plucked our Hierophant out of the sky.
I wished I could see her face, to read her emotions, but all I saw was wild black hair whipping around in the wind. She raised her hand, and lightning touched her fingers. Blue light erupted like a bomb from inside the fountain. Bubbles floated into the air, coiling around the white beam of light.
The crystals!
My pulse quickened. The crystals moved like a flash flood, covering each and every inch of the beam until it looked like a giant spiderweb. Just like the wooden planks, the pieces fit together like a puzzle. In every spot two pieces touched, a golden glow poured out.
“What is that?” Willow said in a soft voice.
Chutney coughed. “What’s happening?”
“Oh my Goddess,” Timothy mumbled from behind me.
The sky lit up like it was the Fourth of July. Light erupted and filled the night in every direction. Demons shrieked and scurried toward the fountain.
Braison spun around in front of me, his eyes wide. “Is that the greater demon coming through?”
There was a loud bang, then bright white light blanketed the sky. I covered my eyes and looked away. Little specks of water rained down on us. They were ice cold and tingled when they hit my skin. When I looked back up, the only light in the sky was the First Quarter Moon. Everything else was black. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and hit the button. Twelve o’clock.
“The Gap is closed,” my father whispered.
We did it. We closed the Gap. We fulfilled the prophecy.
My Coven-mates shouted and screamed. They jumped up and cheered, giving each other hugs and high fives. I should’ve been elated. I should’ve been celebrating. This was a major win for us. For our entire species. Over three hundred years of hard work and waiting, and we finally closed it.
But I felt no happiness. Not when my soulmate was playing for the other team.
She glanced over her shoulder at the celebration behind her. I braced myself for an attack, for an outburst of her anger. Instead, she jumped to her feet and ran, dragging Henley’s unconscious body with her. I frowned. Running was not Tegan’s style. I got to my feet to chase after her, but she slipped through the portal Henley had opened and disappeared.
The pain in my chest subsided. A second later, the portal closed.
I stood there staring at the spot she’d vanished from with my heart crumbling inside me.
“Let’s clean these suckers out!” Easton yelled and ran forward.
There were still dozens of demons scrambling around the courtyard. The rest had gone through the portal before Tegan and Henley, but once their master was gone, their exit sealed. My Coven-mates charged into battle with smiles on their faces and a little pep in their step.
I didn’t move. They didn’t need me. A few dozen demons with an entire Coven of witches? Well, almost an entire Coven. It didn’t matter if Tegan had left. It wasn’t going to take long to finish the rest off. Especially with the adrenaline of success pumping through their veins. I just didn’t know how to react. How to function. I realized a step too late that I’d subconsciously clung to hope that this was all some charade of Tegan’s that we’d laugh about later.
Wait. I frowned and rubbed at my chest. The pain in my chest wasn’t my heart breaking into a million pieces… It was hot and pulsing against my skin. Warm energy so powerful it could only be one person tickled my face. I looked over at the forest and found a pair of pale green eyes watching me. TEGAN.
She turned and ran, disappearing through the trees.
If she didn’t want me to follow, then she should have teleported. I raced after her…
Chapter Forty-Two
Tennessee
It took me two seconds to catch up to her. I could’ve reached out and grabbed her by the arm. I was close enough that her long black hair almost whipped me in the face. Close enough to see the tips of her hair had faded to pink. Close enough to smell the cucumber scent of a shampoo that wasn’t hers mix with the hint of saltwater.
She glanced over her shoulder and gasped. Her green eyes sparkled. She jumped off the pathway and ducked between the trees. I followed her without missing a beat. The glow of my sword lit up the trees in front of us. I caught a glimpse of the vines scrolling down her right arm, and then she was gone.
“No!” I slid to a stop and looked around. “Tegan!”
She didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. The fire that connected us burned in my chest, telling me she was still nearby. I pushed my magic out, and it slammed into her aura. It tingled along my skin like she’d brushed her fingers down my arm. The hair on my arms stood tall. I shivered but warmth filled my body. I ran toward the energy, using it as a beacon. A lighthouse in the storm.
I ran until her energy surrounded me, like I walked into a cloud. Every nerve ending in my body lit up. I willed the glow of my sword to fade, leaving me alone in the dark with only the trees and the tease of her presence. My heart pounded in my chest so loud I knew she could hear me. I looked around, waiting for her to slip up and give herself away. I had no idea what she was doing. Why run when you could teleport? My only hope was that she wanted to talk to me.
“Tegan! Stop!” I yelled. “It’s just me. Stop.”
A flash of pink flickered in my peripheral vision. I sprinted toward it without hesitating. With every step, the heat in my
chest grew hotter and hotter. Just when I thought I might actually burst into flames, I spotted the sparkle of her pale green eyes. A gust of wind rushed up from behind me and surged upward toward the sky.
My eyes widened. Two can play that game. I dug my heels into the dirt and pushed off my feet until I was soaring through the night air. My sword slipped out of my fingers and crashed to the ground down below, but I didn’t care. She wasn’t going to fight me. Even if she did, I wasn’t going to fight back. If it came to that, I would rather die by her blade than strike her with mine.
I looked up and saw the silhouette of her body against soft golden light. I knew where we were now. Lookout Tower. My stomach filled with butterflies. If she went in our hideout zone instead of teleporting away, then there was a chance she wanted to talk. I hoped. I prayed. I flew up and landed on the balcony. The second my feet hit the wooden planks, I charged into the treehouse.
Tegan stood facing the door with her arms hanging down at her sides.
I slid to a stop a few feet away from her. For a moment, we just stared at each other. My chest burned. I felt like I couldn’t take a deep breath, or everything inside me would crumble. This girl standing in front of me was the key to my whole world. She was everything I never knew I needed. She was the one thing I couldn’t live without. The one thing that could destroy me.
“Tegan, please.” My voice cracked. I was not too proud to beg. I was more than willing to get on my knees and plead. I swallowed through a hot lump in my throat. “Please. Just talk to me.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Tegan
“Please. Just talk to me.”
Didn’t he know I wanted to? Didn’t he know this was killing me? I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell him…to make him see. But he wouldn’t. He wasn’t capable. It would only hurt him more. His soul was as pure as the magic inside the Garden of Eden. He was all right and never wrong. He was peace and power, a fierce protector. He was everything I never would be.
I loved him more than the magic flowing through my veins. I needed him more than the air I breathed. I stepped forward until I saw my own reflection in his mismatched eyes and his hot breath swept over my face. His hair was a tangled, disheveled mess hanging down to his shoulders. His chest rose and fell rapidly, like he was struggling to breathe. The pink crystal of his soulmate glyph pulsed with energy, glowing like a nightlight in the dark. My pulse felt like a runaway freight train rushing through my body.
If I couldn’t tell him…then I would have to show him. I reached out and grabbed him by the key hanging around his neck.
He gripped the back of my head. “Please, Tegan. I’m begging you. Talk to me.”
I wasn’t sure if I pulled him down to me or if he dragged me up to him, or maybe it was both. We crashed together, stumbling across the treehouse. His lips found mine, and everything else disappeared. All I knew was the heat of his skin burning through his clothes and the feel of his tongue sliding against mine. My chest burned. My body ached. I gasped against his lips. I’d kissed him before, but never like this.
He cupped my jaw and deepened our kiss. His lips were hot and relentless, driving me to the edge. We stumbled back until my legs hit the sofa. I fisted his shirt and pulled him closer, letting the weight of his body push us into the cool, soft leather. But it wasn’t enough. I needed all of him. I reached down and slid his shirt up the length of his body and over his head.
When he leaned back down over me, my body ignited. I groaned against his lips, nipping at him with my teeth. His smell of fresh rain surrounded me, overwhelming me as his body pressed into mine. I slid my hands up his sides, tracing every curve of muscle and over the wings of his shoulder blades. I wanted to memorize the feel of every little scar with my fingers. I knew what I wanted. I knew he wanted it, too. And I was going to let us have it. Where my words would fail me tonight, my body would not. I couldn’t tell him all the things I needed to, that he deserved to know, but I could show him with this one stolen moment.
This was Tennessee. My soulmate. The missing piece to my puzzle. The key to my heart. The light of my life. He was the air I needed to breathe, the food I needed to eat. He was life, he was my life, and here in this treehouse tonight, he was all mine.
I shifted under him, pushing my body against him and wrapping one leg around his, pinning him to me. I heard the rough rasp of leather between his fingers as he dug his hands into the sofa on either side of me. He groaned against my lips, mumbling my name, and it lit a fire inside of me. I dragged my fingers down his back, then slid them around the front and under the waistband of his jeans.
He gasped and tore his mouth away from mine. His body went still above me. He pulled back and looked into my eyes with hesitation and concern. But there was also a hunger I’d only gotten glimpses of in the past, a desire that was begging to be set free. The burning heat in his eyes might’ve frightened some, but this was Tennessee. He was mine…and he loved me as much as I did him.
“Tegan…?” he whispered, his beautiful mismatched eyes searching mine.
I clutched his shoulders and pulled him closer. “Don’t you dare stop,” I whispered back. I wrapped my legs around his hips and squeezed him tight.
He cursed and a light flickered in his eyes. He made a low, growl-like noise in his throat and crashed onto me. His lips found mine in an instant. The weight of his body pressed me into the sofa. His fingers slid under the hem of my shirt, pushing the thin cotton up and over my head.
And then his hands were everywhere at once. I was so lost in his lips and his tongue crashing against mine that I didn’t process my clothes being peeled off until the heat of his skin covered me from head to toe. He lifted himself up, rolling his body against mine. I felt him suck in his breath and bury his face in the crook of my neck. His teeth grazed my skin. I tangled my hands in his hair and held him tight.
The whole world could’ve burned to ashes right outside the treehouse, but I wouldn’t have heard it over the heavy pounding of our hearts and our ragged breathing. His hips rolled against me like the gentle waves of the ocean. There was nothing between us but the warm night air, sweat and the frictionless slide of our bodies melding into one. It was just us, and nothing else mattered. It was only me and him, exploring each other, connecting on a level I never knew existed.
I thought I loved him before…but now I knew I’d never be the same.
Chapter Forty-Four
Deacon
“Something tells me if Tennessee wanted to be found, he would be,” Emersyn grumbled.
I smirked. “Funny, I do believe we said the same thing about your sister.”
Emersyn groaned and kicked a rock. Her platinum blonde hair was loose and hanging around her hips in wild waves. “Just because we haven’t found him does not mean he’s gone to the dark with Tegan.”
“Tell that to the elders.” I chuckled, though it wasn’t funny.
The Coven as a whole were losing their minds over the sudden disappearance of our Emperor. Honestly, I couldn’t blame them. Somehow, we’d managed to lose him. The last anyone saw, he was standing in the courtyard with us after we closed the Gap. But no one remembered seeing him leave. It was barely after sunrise, which meant he’d only been missing seven hours, but when Kessler woke to find he hadn’t returned, everyone went into a tailspin.
“I did. Several times!” Emersyn ran her hands through her hair and pulled at the pale strands. “Last night was hard on him. Why wouldn’t he want to be alone?”
“Would you rather be alone right now?”
She stared at the ground and sighed.
I nodded. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Reading people was kind of my thing, and my soulmate had kept several feet between us all morning. Translation: I want to be alone. I turned and stepped off the paved pathway running through Fantasy Forest.
“Deacon, that’s…that’s not what I meant.” Her voice was soft and almost musical. “Deacon.”
I paused and turned halfway toward her
. “Yes, it is. And it’s okay. I’m a big boy, Emersyn.”
Her face fell. Those golden eyes lost a little of their sparkle. “Deacon…”
“Tennessee isn’t the only one torn up over Tegan’s actions. I’m gonna look on this side, so why don’t you go see if he’s sleeping under a tree on the other side?” I turned and walked through the sprawling oak trees. She wanted to be alone anyway, and I respected that.
My body ached. My head pounded like there was a jackhammer inside. I needed more sleep. The sooner we found Tennessee, the sooner I could go back to bed.
The sun poked through the leaves like little lasers, burning my retinas. Every crack of a twig and chirp from a bird echoed through my ears. I was hungover, and it sucked. At least when I partied back in Manhattan, I’d have a good time before waking up with a hangover. A glass of Gatorade, some Advil, and a cleansing spell was all I needed. I had no idea what happened during the fight last night, but nothing was making me feel better.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. When I pulled it out, I wasn’t at all surprised to see Cooper’s name on the screen.
I slipped the headphone on my ear and answered his call. “Tell me you found him.”
Cooper cursed. “I was gonna say the same to you. Where you at now?”
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