Night Witch (Weatherstone College, #2)(48)

Sara met my gaze, her eyebrows briefly lifting before she went back to her food. We all knew why Belle had been distant over the winter break. Or at least we’d had a very good idea, and she’d just confirmed it.

Belle was firmly on Team Elder Monroe, who, by all in dications, thought I was a demon-witch who needed to be put down.

The only part I couldn’t figure out was why he hadn’t tried to take me out yet. Was he waiting for evidence? Was the suppression potion screwing with his plans to catch me in the act and justify his murder to the council?

Whatever the reason, I couldn’t let my guard down around Belle. No matter how much I wanted to confess everything to her, she was her father’s little spy—this time with full knowledge of what she was doing.

The rest of dinner was quiet and awkward, and with my stomach in knots, I found it difficult to eat my sushi. It was only Logan nudging my plate and keeping his flinty gaze on me that had me choking down the remains.

Every time I took a bite, his hand slid up my bare thigh, tracing the sensitive skin. Rewarding me. “I know what you’re doing,” I muttered, glaring at him. All the while my magic writhed inside, happy and buoyant. My energy liked it when our mate touched us.

“Good girls get rewards.” A finger traced over the wet lace of my panties, and my breath hitched.

“Belle!”

Trevor’s shout had me jumping in my chair, and Logan withdrew his hand, looking far too pleased with himself. When my brother raced to our table, Belle’s face crumpled, filled with sadness and need. Her first real display of emotion. She tried to school her features back into neutral lines, but she couldn’t quite manage it. Her eyes were screaming for him, and even as she iced me out, she couldn’t do it to Trevor. There were real feelings between them.

“I’ve been trying to find you all day,” he said, grinding to a halt at her side, emanating a frantic energy I’d never felt from him before.

I’d always worried my brother would be the one to break Belle’s heart. But now, thanks to Elder fucking Monroe, I had to worry that it would be Belle who would destroy their relationship before it truly had a chance. Trevor hadn’t let himself care before, moving through witches like they were free popcorn at the movies, but I had no doubt he was a complete goner over Belle.

“Can we talk, sweetness?” he whispered, but we all heard.

Belle’s eyes briefly met mine, and I kept my expression completely blank. “Yes,” she choked out, jumping to her feet and throwing herself into Trevor’s arms. He held her close as she murmured over and over how much she missed him.

The entire scene broke my heart because there was no way Elder Monroe knew about this relationship, when he clearly hated our entire family line. I wasn’t sure what would be stronger in the end: Belle’s trust and loyalty to her father or her love for my brother.

Their bond, which had started to develop last year, had only grown stronger with time.

My worry exploded tenfold, and I prayed to the goddess that there was a way this could all work out. The happiness of my family was as important to me as my own, and I was determined that Belle and Trevor would have their time.

Even if I had to crush Elder Monroe to make it happen.





Chapter 22




My first week at Weatherstone lured me into a false sense of security. Classes hadn’t been bad, and even with suppressed magic, I still made ground with my skills—in all areas except the one that differentiated me from my peers: my reaper abilities, which allowed me to draw on the souls of monsters from Purgatory. All necromancy was out of bounds for me, and I found myself lingering near the graveyard, even though I’d never voluntarily step foot in there again.

As the term progressed, classes got harder, and I ended up in the library most evenings, studying my ass off. Logan never let me skip dinner, though, and I slept in his room every night, even if half the time I was too exhausted to do more than pass out in his arms.

He kept the dreams away, just as he’d always done, but my fatigue continued to grow until I was barely able to keep my eyes open through the day.

It was late on a Wednesday morning when I heard the rasp of my name. It broke through sleep, but when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t find the strength. I was just so tired. I wanted to fall back into the darkness hovering around my mind and lose myself. A jolt of energy slammed against my own, punching through the suppression potion and sending me shooting up like I’d been stabbed in the ass.

“Whoa,” I cried, vision blurry at first until everything came into focus. Logan stood at the side of the bed, his eyes darker than I’d ever seen, his chest heaving.

“Paisley,” he rasped. “Baby . . . Are you here with me?”

The fog remained around my brain, but I was no longer drowning in darkness. “Wh-what happened?”

Logan dropped to his knees beside the bed, reaching out to wrap his arms around me. “You were fading.” His voice broke, and I would have done anything to erase that tone of devastation. “I felt your energy waning until your powers flickered and almost faded.”

“Fading . . .” The opposite of a magical bloom, it usually happened right before death. I shook my head to clear the last of the fog. “How did you bring me back?”

He pulled me even closer, dragging me to the edge of the mattress. “Pure fucking power,” he growled. “I jolted you with my energy, filling you up as much as I could through our bond.”