Logan and I decided to make dinner together. It’s been a while since I baked anything and I was itching to get into the kitchen.
It was extremely fun, especially because he kept sticking his finger into the batter for the brownies and he would always pull away before I can whack him with the spatula.
When we were done, we went to our room and he sat up against the headboard while I leaned against his chest as he fed me brownies.
“Were you able to get in touch with Aubrey?” I asked and he nodded.
“I spoke to Evan and they’ll be here tomorrow with their son.”
“He agreed to that,” I was shocked that he did, if anything, I expected Evan to put up a fight about letting their son into anther territory.
“He didn’t want to at first, believe me.” he scoffed, “But then he realized that it was for his benefit, not mine. He finally agreed on the condition that he comes with guards.”
“He’s a bit over protective; we would never hurt him or his son.”
“I think he’s the right amount of protective,” he ran his hand through my hair softly; “I think I would do the same if I were in his shoes. I’m pretty sure I’ve already done worse when it comes to you.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that grew on my lips at his words. He leaned down and gave me a soft kiss on my lips. I was about to lean more into it when I felt a searing pain at the back of my head.
I pulled out of his embrace and threw up at the side of the bed. Logan was at my side in an instant and he rubbed his palms against my back in a soothing manner while I dry heaved.
“Is it the baby?” he asked and I shook my head which proved to be a big mistake because it made my entire body feel out of balance, “Then what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I began but I barely finished my sentence and I was throwing up again.
My entire body ached, my head was pulsing and my skin felt like lead. My bones felt completely weighed down and my head continued to spin on its axis. I felt Logan’s presence near me but it did nothing to ease the pain I was feeling. It got so intense that I let out an involuntary scream.
“It hurts,” I managed out through my sore throat, “Everything hurts.”
Logan pulled me from the edge of the bed and into his chest. I could feel his heavy breathing and hear the quick pounding of his heart. From the bond, I could sense his worry and fear, hidden underneath it all was concern and anger.
“Logan,” I tried to pull away from him. I probably stink of vomit and I’m shivering every few seconds.
“No,” he held onto me tighter, “I’ve got you; you’ll be fine.”
Another wave of dizziness hit me like a freight train, my head started pounding again and black dots danced around my vision. This time I muffled my scream into his shirt. He held onto me impossibly tighter while stroking my back and the curls at the nape of my neck.
It wasn’t until my voice was hoarse from screaming that I realized a few tears had leaked out and stained his shirt. I buried my face in his chest to hide from him.
Why does this always happen? Why do I always get stuck in situations where he has to care for me? It would have been better if we never even met. His life would probably be a lot better without me. If this witch killed me, he might have a better-
“Stop,” I heard Logan ground out, “Just stop, I can hear your thoughts down the link and just fucking stop.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled because my headache wouldn’t let me speak any louder, “I just don’t want to be a burden.”
“I love you,” he said through gritted teeth, “I don’t think you’re a burden. I love you and I want to protect you.” I sniffled at his words. “Don’t you ever think otherwise. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I breathed and he pressed a kiss to my forehead in response.
We sat there for a few minutes. The pain would appear and then disappear then all of a sudden, just as quickly as it came, the pain completely disappeared and I was left feeling a bit weak.
I tried to pull away from Logan but he wouldn’t let me.
“I feel better,” I tried to explain, “I just want to clean up the mess and brush my teeth.”
“No,” his tone left no room for discussion, “Go to sleep, I’ll clean it up.”
“But-,”
“It’s after midnight, you were like that for over two hours, you need to rest.”
I tried to complain but he didn’t even respond to me. He just started massaging my scalp in a similar pattern that made my eyes begin to droop.
“Sleep baby,” were the last words that I heard before the darkness took me.
**********************
There was a bit of shuffling and some muffled voices in the room. I ignored it because I’m sure it’s Logan on the phone with someone.
I was already half way back into falling asleep when I felt a presence in front of me. It’s not Logan or anyone I knew. The hairs at the back of my neck prickled and I peeled my eyes open slowly.
The first thing I saw was a pair of dark eyes and I let out an involuntary shriek as I sat up. Everywhere went silent and I realized that the eyes belonged to a little girl with hair as white as snow.
She had soft but very sharp features that made you want to look twice. Her eyes were dark but had an unnatural mixture of purple and green swirl in her irises. She was wearing a pale pink night dress and for a second I thought I was dreaming until Adamaris rushed over and pulled the girl to her side.
Adamaris didn’t look any better dressed either; she was wearing a pair of purple pants and a plain black shirt that was singed and torn in a few places.
“What did I tell you about sneaking up on people?” she chided the little girl who just shrugged in response, “My apologies, this is my daughter. You’ve met her before; briefly.”
“I’m Celeste,” the little girl held her hand out to me and Adamaris looked ready to explode.
“I told you not to give your name to strangers.”
“It’s okay,” Celeste shrugged, “She knows me.”
I looked up at Adamaris who just shrugged and rolled her eyes. I realized Celeste still had her hand out so I took it and gave it a firm shake. The moment my hand came in contact with hers, different images flashed through my eyes.
One of my lying on the floor in a pool of blood, a flash of deep purple nails, white hair, a plump baby’s leg and curly dark hair that reminded me of Amelia’s.
She pulled her hand away and the images left my eyes as quickly as they came. She gave me a reassuring smile as if to say, I saw them too.
“Now that we’re done with the introductions,” Logan’s voice came from the door, “What the hell are you doing here at 4 a.m.?”
“We had nowhere else to go.” Adamaris said softly, “She came for us.”
“The witch?” I asked and she nodded, “Are you okay?”
“Thankfully, Celeste saw that she was coming, and we were able to pack up in time. But that’s not the real problem.” She turned to me, “She bonded with you.”
“I don’t understand, I thought I was bonded with you.”
“We’re bonded together but she bonded with you.” I looked confused so Adamaris sighed, “There’s a potion, it’s blood magic but it can allow a witch bond with you without knowing your name; she bonded with you and I know that because after dueling for a while, she told me.”
“She set fire to my field and I attacked, she used a spell so I couldn’t see her face. We fought for over an hour and then she told me that as I attacked her, it hurt you because she was bonded with you. Did you feel anything; maybe a sickness of some sorts.”
I turned to Logan who had his jaw locked tight. He looked downright pissed at the situation. I swallowed, turned back to Adamaris and nodded.
She let out a sigh of frustration, “This just got a whole other level of complicated.”
“What do we do now?” I found myself asking.
“We need to find a way to kill this witch.”
“You just said she’s bonded to Charlotte,” Logan spoke, “Doesn’t that mean that if he dies then Charlotte does too?”
The look on Adamaris’ face let me know all that I needed to. I found myself turning to Celeste and she gave me a nod. Suddenly, the first picture made a whole lot of sense.